Neil Bateup. FILE PHOTO
LINGERING difficulties caused by the Covid pandemic remain a harsh reality for farmers.
“We still can’t say Covid is behind us – oh how I wish we could,” Neil Bateup, the chair of the Waikato, Hauraki and Coromandel Rural Support Trust, said.
“I had Covid two weeks ago, complete with headaches, feeling ill and needing three days of bed rest.
“Covid seems to be just another one of those things we must cope with, like getting the flu or some other kind of illness.
“You must look after yourself for a few days and hopefully it will come right.”
SILVER LINING? The first case of Covid-19 in New Zealand was reported on February 28 2020 and initially there some silver linings for rural folk, such as working well away from the general public who were all confined to their homes
“As essential service providers farmers were able to carry on their businesses during lockdowns. We were providing food and looking after animals, so the Government very much needed us to carry on with our businesses.”
Neil said in terms of support for vaccination farmers were no different from other parts of society, as they comprised both pro and anti-camps.
“But vaccinated or not, the consequences of the pandemic, such as labour shortages soon began to hit home, and these issues are still with us,” he said.
“Shortages of seasonal and farm labourers, contractors and processors, particularly meat processors are having ongoing negative effects.
“The problem is that farming just has to carry on. That position just has to be covered by somebody.
“Cows have to be milked, sheep have to be shorn and trucks need to carry stock to the works.
REAL DIFFICULTIES Neil said there have been real difficulties for King Country sheep and beef farmers who need to send their stock away to be killed, but who have been facing delays to do so.
“Fortunately, we have had good rain up till now so there is still feed around. At this time last year it was starting to get quite dry.
“I am on a dairy farm in North Waikato and at this time last year I was within about two weeks of feeding out silage.
“But as I speak, it’s still raining outside. We still have plenty of green grass, which is helping in the scenario where farmers are having to hold onto stock.”
Neil said much of the pressure farmers now felt was being generated by the unknown.
“When you have a challenge from something you know you can devise a plan to deal with it.
“But in the era of environmental changes, greenhouse gas emissions and so forth, there are for more unknowns.
“It’s a case of ‘what do all these things mean for me and how do I handle them’, none of us really know the answer to that fully.
“As farmers we’ve dealt with problems and challenges for hundreds of years, but we’ve always been able to plan around the issue concerned and deal with it. It’s not knowing what to do, or how to do it that causes the most stress these days because the full physical and financial implications of climate change remain an unknown.”
He said it had been tough on farmers who caught Covid in the early days, when they were forced to isolate.
“A lot relied on neighbours and friends when they were unable to get groceries from the supermarket. In some of these cases the Rural Support Trust and Ministry of Social Development were able to deliver groceries and medications.
“If they were an isolated location and unable to travel it was difficult during the height of the lockdowns. It’s a wee bit easier now thank heavens, as a farmer who is sick can rely on somebody in his household (who is well) to do their shopping for them.
“But at the end of the day farmers still have limited options in times of illness, with nowhere to run when things get bad. For example, in terms of staff shortages – if there was no one to do it, guess who still needs to step in and do it themselves.”
Farmers should not hesitate to reach out to the Rural Support Trust if they had any sort of problem that was bugging them. It could be anything, such as financial, relationship or employment issues, or even those to do with farm management . . .
“We can’t necessarily fix the problem, but we can help you work through your problems and find a way forward. For example, if it’s a mental health issue such as depression, we can help people get the kind of support you need, either medical or counselling wise.
“Or the assistance could be as simple as just providing somebody to sit down with and have a really good talk.”
