Corn makes Christmas hit

The beneficiary of that weather is sweet corn. Gordon McPhail, Leaderbrand general manager for farming, says the crop thrives on this type of weather. He says this meant that sweet corn was in shops two weeks ahead of the normal schedule with the result that they sold more than two million cobs before Christmas.

He says corn is one of New Zealanders' favourite vegetables and says its versatility makes it a popular choice for families - especially because it is very kid friendly.

"We pride ourselves on our corn grown here in Gisborne. It's our aim to grow beautiful green husks packed full of fat, sweet, yellow kernels. We harvest by hand so we're able to select the best maturity and quality, while reducing any damage," he told Hort News.

McPhail says growing corn is very dear to his own heart because one of the first jobs he had after graduating from driving tractors and picking broccoli was to grow the corn. He says Gisborne has always been a corn growing region and there's a cluster of world-leading corn growing entities based in the town for that reason.

"The sunshine hours, heavy soil types, being coastal and good day and nighttime temperatures are all factors in producing the sweetness of the corn," he says.

Another popular summer fruit grown by Leaderbrand is watermelons and as well as the traditional green on the outside and red on the inside, they have produced a new variety which has yellow flesh and a different flavour. McPhail says the aim has been to produce a melon with a higher flavour.

"Our real focus is to find something that is a real point of difference in the market," he says.

Better Roads Needed

Being based in Tairawhiti may have some advantages in terms of climate, but isolation from the rest of the country has always been a problem. This was highlighted two years ago with Cyclone Gabrielle and other rain events which cut Gisborne off from the rest of the country for days and hit growers like Leaderbrand.

Gordon McPhail says roading is going to be a slow burn issue for Gisborne because of the nature of the terrain both north and south of the town and they are not expecting any miracles.

"What we really need to see is some hard action on bypasses. You can repair the roads all you like but you have got some fundamental fractures in parts of the network which are always going to be there. I think that is something that as a community we must be a bit more aligned on and come together as to what the solutions are rather than focus on the problems," he says.

McPhail says Gisborne has got a lot of untapped potential, but the limitations start with the roading network we have at present.