increase font size
Grower mood in Hawke's Bay is quite upbeat because of a good apple season.
Brydon Nisbet, the president of Hawke's Bay Fruit Growers Federation, says the mood of growers in Hawke's Bay is quite upbeat because it's been a good season for apples.
He says it's been one of the best springs for many years and there was good rain around Christmas.
"All the crops are looking great, the colour is fantastic, size is good and that brings optimism for the growers - that's the part that's right," he says.
The second part of the equation is out of the hands of growers, he says.
Nisbet says the big issue is the returns that growers will get for their apples.
He says on top of the cost of dealing with the recovery, growers are facing the high cost of wages, compliance costs and rising on-orchard costs.
"So, the export prices need to be good. We have the dollar in our favour but we need to sell our crops for a really good price when the margins are in our favour, so we can not only pay for what we have done this season but also make a decent profit - and that is the hard part," he says.
As we move into the late-summer and autumn period, much of the country’s fruit growing regions are entering operationally critical windows of the horticultural calendar. The question on grower’s minds is ‘what is the outlook for the March-April harvest?’
Hawke's Bay apple grower Taylor Corporation says a standout 2026 season, coming after a few difficult years, is boosting optimism among growers.
The 2024-25 season apple harvest has “well and truly exceeded expectations”, says Apples and Pears NZ chief executive Karen Morrish.
Sales of premium brand Envy apples are booming in Taiwan.
New Zealand’s apple and pear industry has surpassed $1 billion in orchard gate returns (OGR) for the first time.
Some of New Zealand’s best-loved food brands have been quick to sign up for a new campaign which reinforces their home-grown status.
New research is helping farmers better understand and manage fertility, with clearer tools and measures to support more robust, productive herds.
Southland crop farmer Mark Dillon took out his fifth New Zealand conventional ploughing title at the NZ Ploughing Championships held over the weekend at Methven.
Ensure your insurance is fully comprehensive and up to date because as a rural contractor you don’t know what’s around the corner.
Waikato farmer Walt Cavendish has stepped down as the spokesman for a controversial farming lobby seeking greater protection for New Zealand farmers against inferior imports.
A verbal stoush has broken out between Federated Farmers and a new group that claims to be fighting against cheaper imports that undermine NZ farmers.
OPINION: If you ask this old mutt, the choice at the next election isn't shaping up as a contest of…
OPINION: A mate of yours says we're long overdue for a reckoning on what value farmers really get for the…
