Agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank New Zealand has donated $50,000 to the Federated Farmers Adverse Events Trust to support farmers adversely affected by the wide-spread flooding which hit the Canterbury region in late May.
Rabobank South Island Regional Manager Micheal Dunn said the funding had recently been transferred to the Trust and would assist with the recovery of farming businesses, wellbeing support for those affected by flooding and specialist technical advice.
“The floods in late May had a devastating impact on a number of farmers across the Canterbury region with many reporting stock and feed losses,” he said.
“After consulting with our client council network, we decided to make the donation to the Federated Farmers Adverse Events Trust. The Trust is well set-up to assist affected farmers and our donation will help to ensure those who have been most severely impacted get the on-going support they need.”
Mr Dunn said the bank had been working closely alongside flood-affected clients over recent months.
“As a bank specialising in the agricultural sector, we are used to dealing with flood conditions and other adverse climatic circumstances and we have very good practices in place to support our clients whose businesses are affected,” he said.
Team members from the Rabobank Mid-South Canterbury help out with the clean-up following the floods in late May
“We're committed to supporting clients through periods of difficulty, and we've been working with affected clients on an individual case-by-case basis to assist them through the various challenges that have arisen.”
Mr Dunn said a number of Rabobank’s employees in the region had helped out on impacted farms in the aftermath of the floods, and that the bank was also investigating other practical initiatives to assist farmers experiencing hardships.
Rabobank New Zealand is a part of the global Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has more than 120 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank is structured as a cooperative and operates in 40 countries, servicing the needs of about 10 million clients worldwide through a network of close to 1000 offices and branches. Rabobank New Zealand is one of the country's leading agricultural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the New Zealand food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 32 offices throughout New Zealand.
Media contacts:
David Johnston
Media Relations Manager
Rabobank New Zealand
Phone: 04 819 2711 or 027 477 8153
Email: david.johnston@rabobank.com
Denise Shaw
Head of Media Relations
Rabobank Australia & New Zealand
Phone: +612 8115 2744 or +61 2 439 603 525
Email: denise.shaw@rabobank.com