The earthquake ripped up farms along the east coast, trapping stock, damaging infrastructure and creating more stress for farmers already swamped with summer work.
Members of a popular online farming community have stepped up to help them out, with more than 50 people volunteering for a working camp to assist farmers around Kekerengu and Clarence with more than 50 people volunteering for a working camp to assist farmers around Kekerengu and Clarence.NZ Farming founder Tyler Fifield said the volunteers came from around the country and included retired farmers, as well as builders, drainlayers and fencing contractors.
"We know there are people in need - the plan is to keep these farms operational so the farmers can keep doing the day-to-day stuff," he said.
SCOTT HAMMOND/FAIRFAX NZ
Essential supplies are brought into the volunteers camp, near Kekerengu.
Fifield, who had visited farmers in the area to assess their needs, had encouraged them to visit the camp each night and write up jobs on a whiteboard for the volunteers to do the next day.
One of the main focuses would be walking fence lines to see where they had broken in the earthquake, something which was having a major impact on how farmers managed their stock.
SCOTT HAMMOND/FAIRFAX NZ
An earthquake-damaged house on Kekerengu Valley Rd, which was sitting on top of a fault line.
"People with these big farms have just ended up with one big paddock, they've got absolutely no control over their stock."
Volunteers would also be pitching in to help families whose homes had been red-stickered, improving whatever temporary accommodation they were staying in to make it suitable for winter.
Fifield said he knew of one couple who was staying in a campervan with their two young children after their house, which was only built a few years ago, was ruined in the earthquake.
He was working with them to draw up plans to convert a shed into temporary accommodation for them over winter, using materials salvaged from the ruined building.
A post on the NZ Farming Facebook page, which had more than 100,000 members, urged more people to pitch in and help, not just with donations but by offering their time.
"We are in the midst of a nationwide labour shortage, which means an open chequebook is simply not going to make a difference to many peoples living situations," the post read.
"What they need is people who are willing to give up a few days of their life to make the world of difference to theirs."
Fifield said many farmers he had approached about the volunteer camp were overwhelmed, as they did not realise they would get the level of help that was being offered.
However, some farmers wanted to wait until after winter, when the land had settled more, or after their insurance claims were processed, until they got stuck in rebuilding their farms.
Having the NZ Farming Facebook page gave him an ability to tell stories about farmers to urban communities, to help bridge the perceived gap between the two groups, Fifield said.
"There are these primary industry producers out here that are struggling and the meat people feed their kids, the milk they put on their table, that comes from these affected people," he said.
"I have no training in disaster response or anything, but see a need, go and do it.
"'Get amongst it', that's the NZ Farming motto."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/nz-earthquake/88176620/nz-farming-volunteers-heed-call-to-help-earthquakeaffected-farmers-in-southern-marlborough
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