Tuesday, 18 November 2014 00:00

Growers don’t hail storm

Written by 
Horticulture NZ president Julian Raine. 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.

More like this

Featured

Nichol is new PGW chair

A day after the ouster of PGG Wrightson’s chair and his deputy, the listed rural trader’s board has appointed John Nichol as the new independent chair.

Fieldays to rebuild Mystery Creek services building

The iconic services building at National Fieldays' Mystery Creek site will be demolished to make way for a "contemporary replacement that better serves the needs of both the community and event organisers," says board chair Jenni Vernon.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Quid prod quo?

OPINION: Ageing lefty Chris Trotter reckons that the decision to delay recognition of Palestinian statehood is more than just a fit…

Deadwood

OPINION: A mate of yours truly recently met someone at a BBQ who works at a big consulting firm who spent…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter