Agriculture Minister, Hon Damien O’Connor classified the recent flooding in the Canterbury region as a medium-scale adverse event

In his announcement he said that this “ensures funding of $500,000 for flood recovery measures”.

The Minister is also looking at other recovery measures such as an Enhanced Taskforce Green work programme to assist with clean-up and recovery, Rural Assistance Payments to help farmers with essential living costs, and flexibility through the Income Equalisation Scheme.

The Minister has said that “support is available for farmers who are short of livestock feed, or who have had bale age and fodder crops washed away or damaged by floodwaters”.

Farmers are also able to apply for early withdrawal from the income equalisation scheme subject to Inland Revenue’s discretion. Under normal circumstances, deposits into the income equalisation scheme must be held for at least 12 months. The application process takes around 20 days and must be in writing.