Govt aid for storm-hit farms?

Press, 21 January 1983, Page 3

Govt aid for storm-hit farms?

Uninsured farmers in the hail-struck Halswell. Prebbleton. and Lincoln districts could get Government aid. said the member of Parliament for Selwyn, Miss Ruth Richardson, .yesterday. Canterbury's tornado cut a disastrous swathe through ripening barley, wheat, and clover crops, causing damage costing many thousands of dollars. Crops were cut to the ground and severely damaged on about 100 farms in a narrow strip ■ about 40km long and skm wide, from Leeston towards the Port Hills, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Miss Richardson will meet farmers tomorrow’ morning to discuss aid options. She wants many to attend so that she can make a strong cause to the next caucus meeting oon in Wellington. 4 Two forms of aid were possible — ex-gratia payments or Rural Bank facilities — said Miss Ricardson. Bank assistance was most likely. . Loans could include one in which the principal and interest were deferred for several years. Rural Bank facilities would allow farmers to recover their commercial positions. Growers of some traditional crops, such as wheat, had negotiated insurance deals, she said, but produce growers were not covered. Miss Richardson said that

growers' representatives should take the initiative in calling for coverage to ensure that more crops were insured. Tt is unfortunate that it takes something of this magnitude to bring these things to a head." she said.

Tomorrow's meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on the Prebbleton property of Mr John Busch, of Busch Growers. Mr Busch estimated his losses at about $lOO,OOO. Growers did not insure their produce, he said, because the premium for hailstorm coverage was about 20 per cent of the value of crops.

Some farmers reported that large, jagged hailstones, 10cm across, played havoc with vulnerable, ripe barley seed-heads, said Christchurch farm advisory officer, Mr Sam Henry. Harvesting had just begun of most cereal crops though wheat had not suffered as badly as barley, he said. Some wheat fields had only 25 per cent of the grain left, and it would still be worth while harvesting this. The area hit was a densely cropped area and the Ministry had yet to carry out a more accurate survey of the damage.

. “In terms of the whole of Canterbury, it is a small area, but for farmers involved it is disastrous,” Mr Henry said.