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Farmers in parts of the North Island are pushing for an adverse weather event to be declared in their regions after significant periods with no rainfall.
Groups have met in South Auckland, Waikato and Taranaki to discuss applying to the Ministry of Primary Industries, which is in charge of declaring such an event.
Having it classified as adverse opens up funding.
Federated Farmers Waikato President Keith Holmes says farmers are making changes to try and get by.
"Farmers have been feeding out in a big way just to keep production going and offset the fact that grass has dried up and the feed's not there.
"In retrospect, dairy farmers have probably kept cows on for too long just trying to keep up that production."
A group including members from industry bodies met regularly to discuss the situation. Leedom Gibbs, Federated Farmers Taranaki president and chair of the Taranaki Rural Coordination Group, said farmers were facing challenging conditions.
"Our communities are coming under a lot of pressure. It's been really dry there - doesn't look like there's an end in sight.
"We're going through the process of putting together an application through to MPI to get them to classify it as an adverse weather event.
"What we're hoping to do is open up some support channels for our farmers so we can get along beside them and help them navigate some challenging conditions on farm."
MPI's Dr John Roche said they were keeping a close eye on the situation. He said most farmers were used to experiencing dry conditions in summer and prepared accordingly.
Roche said decisions on assistance for adverse events were guided by information from regional teams on the ground and the Primary Sector Recovery Policy.
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