Flood-weary farmers want more Govt cash

Angry farmers want the prime minister to bring the cash to fix what they say is Environment Canterbury’s (ECan’s) mismanagement of the region’s rivers.

Left with a cleanup bill of more than $1 million, and with the farm’s fencing and irrigation infrastructure not insurable, Ashburton Forks farmer Darryl Butterick is angry he has to return shingle to a river ECan has been paid to maintain. ‘‘[Their] s... came out of the river. Put it back and get the river off my property.’’

Butterick alleged the Ashburton River had been mismanaged for 40 years, and the May flood was not a natural disaster.

‘‘If ECan had maintained those rivers like they were supposed to, there would have been ample room for the water inside those banks.’’

Sixty per cent of his farm was in ruins, and he needed machinery to clear the shingle and silt that had turned his land into an ‘‘expensive bombsite’’ – but he had to do it slowly because of the cost.

Locals had been supportive and offered some help with machinery but ECan had ‘‘stepped back and sideways’’. Butterick was scathing of the $500,000 the Government had committed to flood relief, describing it as ‘‘insulting’’. ‘‘They seem to think farmers sit on an endless pot of money but that is not the case. Where are you supposed to get $1m to redevelop your farm?’’

A growing chorus of farmers in Mid and North Canterbury believe ECan should be held responsible for flood damage on their land. They also hope Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will announce more funding when she returns to Ashburton on Thursday.

Mid-Canterbury Federated Farmers president David Clark said the lobby group was in an ‘‘ongoing discussion’’ with the Government on what assistance might be provided. Clark said the one-in50-year flood capacity of the Ashburton River had been significantly reduced because 1.3 million cubic metres of shingle had built up from natural degradation in the Southern Alps.

‘‘This is not a normal flood event. It is not a water problem. It is a shingle problem.’’

Clark said there needed to be discussions about how to manage the shingle that was deposited and then constrained by stopbanks. He said ECan could be held responsible for not clearing the shingle.

Ecan Mid-Canterbury councillor John Sunckell said in hindsight the council could have done more to maintain the rivers but that had proved challenging since it lost government funding for maintenance and operational work.