As the recovery effort in Christchurch moves into its second week following last Tuesday’s earthquake, organisers of the suburban cleanup are suffering from an embarrassment of riches.

The Federated Farmers' call for rural volunteers to help move debris and sediment from the streets of Christchurch has well and truly been answered, with thousands donating time and equipment towards the effort.

The volunteer group has been dubbed the Fed’s “Farmy Army”, and already dug, scooped and wheeled thousands of tonnes of sand out of the Christchurch suburbs.

Federated Farmers earthquake response spokesman John Hartnell says they’ve simply run out of work for volunteers to tackle.

"Look we know we've got this student army coming through, farmers, independants and church groups all helping out.

"It's great but with so many people helping, sometimes you can miss little pockets or cal-de-sacs in the city, we need people to phone in and tell us we've missed you so we can send a flying squad out to deal with it."

Agriculture Minister David Carter says he’s happy with the level of enthusiasm shown by Canterbury locals in the push to clear the streets.

"I really take my hat off to the feds, they're organising this work completely unprompted, trying to help people get back to some sense of normality." 

Federated Farmers says anyone in need of help, be it the clearing of driveways and roads, removal of furniture and carpet, or anything else, can call their helpline, 0800 FARMING (0800 327 646.)