Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Drought could cause vege shortage or hit crop quality in Bay

By Sonya Bateson
Bay of Plenty Times·
17 Mar, 2013 03:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Bay people could face paying more for vegetables if the drought continues.

The dry conditions could cause a vegetable shortage in coming months, or the quality and size of crops could be affected, an industry expert warns.

Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend the drought was not affecting prices at the moment but could have a flow-on effect later in the season.

"It hasn't had a big impact yet, but we're worried going forward in terms of planting crops for production later in the year.

"If this carries on for another two or three months, we will be looking at an increase. It's all about supply and demand. Growers certainly don't make more money if supply is low and prices are high; the prices are high because growers don't have anything to sell."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It was likely the size and quality of vegetables would be affected, so while customers weren't paying more, the growers would be earning less, he said.

Mr Silcock said green vegetables would be at risk if there was no rain soon and kumara in Northland were already being affected.

The Fresh Market Gate Pa owner, David Stewart, said his best advice for customers was to keep an eye on the drought because there were no certainties about what prices would do in the coming months.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Potatoes could be affected.

"The spuds sit in the dry ground and they need moisture. It will be interesting when they start digging in April and May, the winter might be a difficult one for spuds."

Another vegetable that could be affected was the onion, Mr Stewart said.

"There's not a lot of big onions because there hasn't been enough moisture there for them to grow.

"That's going to be a repercussion of the hot weather. Same with lettuces in Horowhenua, they just can't get enough water to make them grow at the moment."

Mr Stewart said the vegetables would be fine if rain were to come in the next few weeks.

"With produce, there's always something expensive and something cheap. If the rain predicted for next week comes, there won't be any problems. We need two to four weeks of reasonable weather, which will still give ample time to get growth for winter."

Nosh Food Market owner Jamie Blennerhassett said it was anyone's guess as to whether local customers would be facing a price increase.

"We're experiencing difficulties getting spring onions, leeks, all types of crops, and they can't charge much for the quality.


Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The drought is definitely affecting size, but this doesn't always flow through to the consumer. Farmers might just get paid less ... The growers might have just as much fruit but smaller in size."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

live
Bay of Plenty Times

'Threat to life': Tasman District upgraded to red warning; flood water enters homes

10 Jul 10:17 PM
Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

'A sad loss': Why this prostate cancer treatment is 'disappearing' in NZ

10 Jul 08:02 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

10 Jul 07:24 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Threat to life': Tasman District upgraded to red warning; flood water enters homes
live

'Threat to life': Tasman District upgraded to red warning; flood water enters homes

10 Jul 10:17 PM

Electrical storms are set to hit at evening rush as Auckland braces for 16 hours of rain.

Premium
'A sad loss': Why this prostate cancer treatment is 'disappearing' in NZ

'A sad loss': Why this prostate cancer treatment is 'disappearing' in NZ

10 Jul 08:02 PM
Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

Kaitiaki fight pathogen endangering iconic Mauao pōhutukawa

10 Jul 07:24 AM
'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

'Current hotspot': Back-to-back national titles for Tauranga basketballers

10 Jul 06:13 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP