Farmers, wine industry lend support af ter storm

large stockpile of broken posts sitting in storage areas around Marlborough’’, Massey said. He said figuring out the logistics and co-ordinating the collection of posts was a work in progress.

Federated Farmers Golden Bay president Wayne Langford said he was heading down south next week to ‘‘repair a few fences’’, but the message was, the recovery stage would be more of ‘‘a marathon than a sprint’’.

‘‘Certainly if farmers are looking to help, any time over the two months would be considered valuable. It doesn’t have to be full-scale fencing or digger work, just people to clear fences and debris – manual work that anyone can do.’’

There was definitely a need for feed as there were many crops damaged and food lost, but it wasn’t the first priority, he said.

‘‘Thankfully the Nelson Tasman area has had a pretty good year. There’s extra supplementary feed around, so no doubt we’ll see that heading down from this area.’’

But it’s not just manpower and supplies the farmers need. Langford said during these tough times it was important that friends and family reached out to their counterparts down south.

‘‘Give your mate a call and check in and see how they’re doing.

‘‘It’s going to be a bit of a long-term process to get out of this, so a call every week or two wouldn’t be a bad idea, just to keep their heads up and their spirits going. It’s a bit of a tough thing to go out onto your farm every day and see it battered and bruised like a number of those farmers will be doing.’’

To offer services or supplies, visit www. fedfarm.org.nz