0800 DROUGHT back for Gisborne/Wairoa farmers

Federated Farmers successful 0800 DROUGHT (0800 376 844) line is back matching farmers with feed to sell, with those needing it. The line will also put members of Federated Farmers in contact with other service providers during the current Gisborne/Wairoa drought.

“0800 DROUGHT is a remarkably simple concept,” says Frank Brenmuhl, Federated Farmers adverse events spokesperson.

“Federated Farmers provides a platform for farmers supplying or seeking feed. This service is free to members, though of course, farmers still have to buy in the feed.

“Federated Farmers has sent a text alert to all Gisborne/Wairoa members and expects the first weekly feed list to be posted on the Federation’s website this Friday (24 April). A link will be provided in the Federation’s weekly e-newsletter, The Friday Flash,” Mr Brenmuhl added.

The Federation also took issue with some groups pushing a political agenda by linking the localised droughts of 2009 with climate change.

“All farmers know climate change is real but the dryness in the North Island is nothing like previous droughts.

“Instead of being widespread we have a collection of random sub-regional micro-droughts. Some farms are parched, yet a couple of kilometres away, a similar farm is coping,” Mr Brenmuhl continued.

“In January, NIWA predicted a La Nina weather pattern lasting until May. La Nina normally brings average to above average rainfall on the North Island’s east coast and below average rainfall in the South Island, yet we’ve had the reverse.

“That’s why I am disappointed to see groups that know nothing of farming taking cheap potshots at this time. To say farming might have to be abandoned in Gisborne/Wairoa is absolute nonsense.

“You can’t put the earth’s climate into stasis as some seem to believe we can. Just look at the Sahara Desert. Six thousand years ago it was a place of trees, grasslands, lakes and people. Now that’s climate change.

“Farmers will work with researchers to develop more suitable animal breeds, drought resistant pasture and new farming practices. Farmers just don’t give up, they get better.

“An example of this work is a drought-resistant clover cultivar being developed by Dr. Rainer Hofmann’s team at Lincoln University. It is showing a great degree of promise and research like this is the key to farming’s future,” Mr Brenmuhl concluded.