Season's first kiwifruit China bound
Zespri's first charter shipment of the 2024 New Zealand kiwifruit season is on its way to Shanghai.
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.
OPINION: The recent Federated Farmers / Rabobank 2024 Farming Salaries Report revealed strong growth in farm salaries over the past two years.
The low unemployment environment is one of the key factors driving on-farm salaries higher over the past 24 months, says Rabobank general manager for country banking Bruce Weir.
Fonterra has appointed a new chief financial officer, seven months after its last CFO’s shock resignation.
A seminar on rural dispute resolution has been organised at Lincoln University, Christchurch this month.
The legacy of Dr Peter Snow continues to inspire as the recipients of the 2023 and 2024 Peter Snow Memorial Awards were announced at the recent National Rural Health Conference.
One of Fonterra’s global customers, Mars is launching an ambitious sustainable dairy plan to work with dairy farmers and cut emissions by 50%.
OPINION: This old mutt well remembers the wailing, whining and gnashing of teeth by former West Coast MP and Labour…
OPINION: Your canine crusader gets a little fed up with the some in media, union hacks, opposition politicians and hard-core…