Farmers are having to dump their milk throughout the Coromandel as tankers can't get to them due to extensive road closures in the region.
The Transport Minister spoke exclusively to Newshub after surveying the roading network on a helicopter, describing the damage he saw as "extreme".
It's a tough tap to turn, because watching 3500 litres of milk go to waste is a sight no farmer wants to see.
Newshub asked one fairy farmer how devastating it was for him.
"It's not good, neither is having to dump it. There's a lot of hard work in there. Cows put a lot of hard work into it too," Gavin Clacher said.
Fonterra's milk tankers can't get to Clacher's farm in Whitianga because, like so many North Island towns, it's cut off from the country.
The only other road to Clacher's farm has also been wiped out.
"I had another phone call around mid-morning to dump today's lot as well," Clacher said.
Roading contractors are working from dawn to dusk to clear hundreds of slips across the Coromandel.
Newshub surveyed the damage from the sky today, with views of scoured brown hillsides and fallen trees littering the roads.
Transport Minister Michael Wood said the damage is extreme.
"We have major state highways and local roads, which are so damaged they can't be used at the moment. There is likely to be significant repairs required until they can be," he said.
"Pretty full and frank discussion with Minister Wood today is that unless we start building long term resilience into the roading network, then our community here, our district, will really start to suffer and that's already happening," said Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Len Salt.
On the ground, even essential workers were stopped from getting through as slips continued to move.
"We're just trying to get home. We've been stuck down at Whangamatā for the day, so we sort of have got no clothes," said tradesperson Corey Cole.
A destroyed network that is a huge worry for farmers who face more dumpings of milk.
"Hopefully they can get through because that's going to be a lot of heartache," said Clacher.
Heartache and a blow to the beating heart of the dairy industry.
