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Horticulture NZ president Julian Raine.
ABOUT 40 pipfruit and kiwifruit growers in a concentrated orchard area of Motueka to Riwaka, west of Nelson, were affected by the Guy Fawkes-night hailstorm, says HortNZ president Julian Raine.
Many cases are now in the hands of insurance assessors and the true extent of damage won’t be known for probably another month.
“I suspect it will range from total write-offs to those able to be thinned out so it depends on each orchard, where it was and how the hail hit them,” he told Rural News.
Raine had not heard reports that staff had already lost their jobs, but says many affected growers will still have to thin their crops.
“You can’t just walk away because you can’t overload the trees otherwise you will swing the thing into biannual bearing. You’ve got to take off some of the crop load. If trees become overstressed they will only bear a light crop the following year.”
Although there is never a good time of year for hail to hit, Raine says at least it occurred before thinning rather than, say, a week before harvest – so some orchardists will have a chance to recover.
Most of the pipfruit crop, which comes from Hawkes Bay and other parts of Nelson, were not hit by the hail, so the national crop isn’t affected. “But it is devastating for a small number of people,” Raine 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?’
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General Ray Smith is giving a big shout-out to the horticulture sector, especially kiwifruit.
Zespri says global sales for the 2024-25 season topped $5 billion on the back of strong demand and market returns.
The head of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers organisation NZKGI says the points raised in a report about the sector by Waikato University professor Frank Scrimgeour were not a surprise.
The Meat Industry Association of New Zealand (MIA) today announced that Chief Executive Officer Sirma Karapeeva has resigned from the role.
The winners of the 2026 Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Industry Awards were announced at the annual awards dinner held at Copthorne Solway Park in Masterton on Thursday evening.
Environment Southland is welcoming this week’s decision by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to approve the release of Blaptea elguetai, a leaf‑feeding beetle that will help control the highly invasive Chilean flame creeper.
This March, the potato industry is proudly celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March alongside the International Year of the Woman Farmer, recognising the vital role women play across every part of the sector — from paddocks and packhouses to research, leadership, and innovation.
Fruit trader Seeka posted a record profit and returns to shareholders in 2025.
Recent weather events in the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne/Tairawhiti, and Canterbury have been declared a medium-scale adverse event.
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