Frost hit the vineyard or orchard overnight: your first 24 hours, and the cash after

The frost fans ran all night, the temperature dropped further than forecast, and by first light the new shoots look glassy and limp. In a single morning you’ve learnt something your bank account won’t show for months: next harvest is going to be smaller.

That gap between the damage (now) and the cash shortfall (late summer and autumn, when the fruit or grape payment comes in light) is what this guide is about. Here’s how to use the first 24 hours well, which Inland Revenue settings to revisit, and how quickly finance can realistically be arranged if you need it.

What should I do in the first 24 hours after a frost?

Treat the first day like a claim file and a cash-flow reset at the same time. The crop can’t be saved by paperwork, but the money side of the season can.

When	What to do	Why it matters
First light	Walk every block. Photograph damaged shoots, buds or blossom with the date and block name visible	Insurers, buyers and lenders all ask “how much, and where?”
Morning	Note overnight temperatures from your own station or sensors, and how long protection ran	Evidence that you managed the risk
Morning	Call your insurer and log the claim, even if the extent isn’t clear yet	Late notice is a common reason claims stall
Midday	Tell your winery, packhouse or buyer what you’re seeing	Contracts and advance payments may depend on volume
Afternoon	Ring your accountant to talk through tax settings and the year’s income	Provisional tax and deposits can be adjusted
Evening	Rebuild your cash-flow forecast from today to the next harvest payment	Shows exactly how big the gap is, and when it bites

Damage often looks worse — or better — after a week, when secondary buds push. That’s fine. Day-one records aren’t the final word; they’re the baseline.

How much will the frost actually cost my cash flow?

Most of a grower’s costs don’t fall with the crop. Pruning, spraying, canopy work, wages, lease payments, fuel and loan repayments carry on almost as normal. What falls is the income at the end.

A simple way to size it:

1. Expected income before the frost. Last forecast for the season’s fruit or grape payments.
2. Revised income. Your best estimate of yield loss, multiplied out. Use a range — low, middle and high.
3. Costs you can genuinely trim. Picking and harvest labour usually scale with the crop; most growing costs don’t.
4. Timing. Put each figure in the month it actually arrives or leaves. A winery may pay in instalments; a packhouse may pay progress payments.

The month where the running balance turns negative is your real deadline — not the frost date.

Which IRD settings should growers revisit after a frost?

Two levers are worth raising with your accountant this week. Neither replaces finance, but both can shrink the gap.

Re-estimate provisional tax. If you’re on the standard option, your instalments are based on last year’s tax — which may have been a good season. Inland Revenue’s estimation option lets you estimate “at any provisional tax instalment date, or any other date up until the final instalment date”, and it suggests re-estimating if you’ll earn more or less than expected. For a March balance date, the remaining instalments this year fall on 15 January and 7 May. The catch: if your estimate turns out lower than the tax you finally owe, interest is charged and a penalty can apply. Estimate honestly, not hopefully.

Ask about income equalisation. If you’ve parked money in the income equalisation scheme in better years, this is what it was for. IRD says a refund generally can’t be made within 12 months of the deposit, but it can allow earlier refunds for hardship and “any other reason we consider acceptable, including adverse events”. Refunds are requested in myIR and paid by direct credit. A refund counts as income in the year it’s paid, so time it with your accountant.

If a tax bill is already due. Inland Revenue can agree an instalment arrangement — but late payment penalties and use-of-money interest can still build. Our guide to what paying IRD late really costs sets out the numbers to weigh against a loan.

Need a figure in your head before you call anyone? Check what you could access in about 60 seconds — tell us it’s a frost shortfall and roughly when the gap opens.

Will the Government step in after a frost?

Sometimes, but don’t build the budget around it. MPI explains that it classifies adverse events as localised, medium-scale or large-scale, and that it “advises the Minister of Agriculture on the scale of the event, and the Government decides what support to provide.” Its list of typical events focuses on storms, droughts, floods, snow, earthquakes, eruptions and biosecurity incursions.

A frost that takes out a few blocks in one valley is usually a localised problem. Even so, it’s worth a call to your regional Rural Support Trust (0800 787 254) — they help with more than money, and they hear early when a wider classification is being considered.

What kind of finance suits a frost-damaged season?

Match the product to the shape of the gap. A frost shortfall is usually months long, predictable once you’ve done the forecast, and repaid from a future harvest, insurance or a property event.

Situation	Likely fit	Realistic speed
Wages and running costs until the next payment	Business line of credit — draw only what you need	Same day possible for smaller unsecured limits
A defined shortfall with a known repayment month	Cash flow loan, sized on turnover and bank statements	Often within 24 hours with statements ready
A large gap, or a bank that won’t move fast	Property-secured loan (first or second mortgage)	$20k–$250k possible same day; up to $5m possible within 24–48 hours
New frost fans, sprinklers or covers before next spring	Equipment funding, possibly with Investment Boost	Depends on the supplier and invoice
Wages due this week with nothing in the account	Start with our payroll-due checklist	Same-day options possible

Unsecured and cash flow options typically run from $5k to $500k. Property-secured business loans run from $20k to $5m, over residential or commercial property. All lending is for business purposes, and past credit issues or IRD debt are looked at case by case.

Why arrange finance now rather than at harvest?

Because right now your last six months of bank statements show a normal growing season. In March they’ll show a business that’s running short — and every lender reads that differently.

Arranging funding in October or November also gives you time for the slower pieces:

• Valuations. A desktop valuation can be quick; a registered valuation on a rural or lifestyle property takes longer.
• Trusts. If the land sits in a family trust, every trustee needs to sign and the lender’s lawyer will check the trust deed.
• First-lender consent. If you’re adding a second mortgage behind the bank, consent can set the pace.
• Unfiled returns. Get last year’s accounts filed. Missing returns slow almost every application.

A line of credit set up before you need it is there the day the shortfall arrives. Check whether there’s a fee for holding an unused limit before you sign.

A worked example from Central Otago

(Illustrative only.) A small cherry and pinot noir grower near Cromwell loses an estimated third of the cherry crop to a mid-October frost; the vines are lightly damaged.

• Day one: blocks photographed and logged, insurer notified, packhouse told the volume will be down.
• Day two: the accountant re-runs the year. Income will be noticeably lower, so they plan to re-estimate provisional tax before the 15 January instalment. An earlier income equalisation deposit is flagged for an early refund request.
• Day three: the revised forecast shows the account turning negative in late February, before the grape payment, with a gap of about $85k at its worst.
• Week one: the owner applies for a $100k line of credit sized on bank statements, with a property-secured fallback over the home if needed. It’s in place before summer, drawn in February, and cleared from the grape payments and the insurance settlement by winter.

The finance didn’t fix the frost. It stopped the frost turning into an IRD debt, a missed wage run and a stressed relationship with suppliers.

How do I avoid paying for the money longer than I need it?

Write your repayment plan before you borrow. For a frost season, the realistic sources are the insurance settlement, the next harvest, an income equalisation refund or a property sale or refinance. Put a date and a dollar figure against each, then add a buffer — claims and harvests both run late. Our guide to planning your exit from short-term finance walks through the questions to ask. And before you sign anything, read the offer for total cost in dollars, early repayment terms and default clauses.

A bad night in the vineyard shouldn’t decide your year

Growers carry more weather risk than almost anyone, and a frost-shortened crop is exactly the kind of gap fast finance is built to bridge — if it’s arranged while there’s still time to plan. That’s where we come in.

Start a quick enquiry — it takes about a minute and no credit check happens when you first enquire. Your details stay with us rather than being sent off to a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t light up with strangers. A real person who understands seasonal businesses reads what you’ve told us and calls you to talk through the options and the timing.

One request: fill the form in accurately. The size of the shortfall, when it starts, and whether there’s property available as security are what let us match the right option first time, and fast.

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