The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is encouraging all farmers and growers affected by the May floods within the Mackenzie District to apply for support from a new $4 million fund for the Canterbury region.
Applications open on July 9 for the Canterbury Flood Recovery Fund, set up to support the region’s recovery from a one in 200-year rainfall event.
The funding grants are to assist flood-affected farmers and growers to recover from the flooding aftermath – a number facing significant costs not covered by insurance.
MPI have worked with Federated Farmers, DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Deer Industry New Zealand, and councils, to determine how the funding grants can have the greatest impact.
Funding grants will assist farmers to clear flood debris from their paddocks, such as shingle, boulders, trees, and silt, to enable pasture and fodder crops to be resown.
While 100 of the worst-affected farmers have been offered grants from the initial $350,000 fund established shortly after the May floods, they are still encouraged to submit new applications to the new fund if additional support is required.
Applications can be made retrospectively for clean-up work already undertaken. The size and distribution of grants will be determined once the applications have been received. Applications will be assessed by an independent panel, made up of individuals that sector groups have helped to select.
Panel members will confirm that funding grants meet the eligibility criteria and that the allocation process is fair, consistent, and transparent. MPI will contribute up to half of the clean-up cost for uninsurable works.
Applications open July 9, and close July 31.