New free flood recovery app cloud farmer, for farmers

Te Matau-a-Māui - A business behind farm management software app has launched a free flood recovery app to help farms affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.The flood recovery will give farmers one less thing to worry about. It’s a free cloud-based information storage app can help tracking and recovering from recent flooding a much easier task.

Gretchen King, managing director of Cloud Farmer, says it is such an important project for them.

“Our Family farm is near Porangahau, central Hawke’s Bay, and we got away relatively unscathed with minor damages and a loss of access to the farm,” she says.

“But we’ve been busy since the cyclone helping friends and neighbours with the clean up. My heart is aching for farmers in the region who have lost hundreds of hectares, stock and so much worse.

“So we wanted to do something productive to help farmers, the way we know best.”

The flood recovery app has a range of features chosen to help recovery after adverse weather events.

These include tools like recording animal health records, attaching photos and insurance documentation, holding receipts and quotes required for MPI grants, managing communications across staff, accessing the national feed co-ordination service and registering for Farmy Army assistance.

Just like the cloud farmer app, information can be added to the food recovery when farmers are offline, making it easy to use wherever they are on the farm.

The app also includes important information from Federated Farmers and support services like Farmstrong, Rural Support Trust and mental health support agencies as well as key contact information.

The Cloud Farmer team knows the extreme mental stress that’s caused by events like Cyclone Gabrielle. They’re pleased to do anything to relieve the pressure and support farmers just like themselves.

Katie McCabe, business manager for Cloud Farmer, understands the support farmers need. That’s why she’s made sure the flood recovery app includes important well-being tools to give farmers access to mental health support and the right contacts.

“We were already noticing the decline in farmer optimism following a tough season, and unfortunately it's not isolated to the Hawke’s Bay as we have seen floods across the North Island and the opposite challenge of drought down south,” she says.

“We want to encourage farmers to reach out for help if they are struggling with their thoughts. That’s why we feel an important part of the app is making it easy to get in touch with mental wellbeing support if you are in need.”

The Cloud Farmer team wants help to spread the word about the free app to help as many farms as possible to coordinate their recovery.