Week of wind hits avocado crop

Photo / Brett Phibbs

Bay of Plenty avocado growers are counting the cost of the last week's wild weather, with some growers eyeing crop losses of 30 per cent or more.

Southland may have borne the brunt of the storm but farmers and growers around the country are also hurting from the high winds and heavy rain that have battered the landscape.

Avocado growers and vegetable growers around Pukekohe have seen winds damage over exposed crops and smashing greenhouses.

John Schnackenberg, chairman of the Avocado Industry Council, told NZPA the high winds of the past week were not as bad as the storm which battered Whangarei growers in 2007.

However, some growers in the Bay of Plenty, which was worst hit, could lose up to 30 per cent of their crop.

"A significant number of growers will be suffering significant loss from the effects of this wind," he said.

Some were on the cusp of export, with some sheds starting to pack for overseas markets. The industry had been hoping for a bumper crop and to export 1.9 million trays, but that could drop to 1.8m trays.

However, the local market was unlikely to be much affected following an extra setting of fruit in autumn, he said.

Avocados are vulnerable to wind damage, blowing fruit off the tree, rubbing them together causing blemish damage and actually blowing trees over.

What is not yet known is what damage has been done to the trees' flowers, just a few weeks out from flowering and fruit set. The wind damage to next year's crop may not be known for some months, he said.

Pukekohe grower and Fresh Vegetable Product Group chairman Keith Vallabh told NZPA he could not get a handle on the overall damage to crops in his area because he was too busy repairing glass panes on his own greenhouses.

Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson, who farms at Waimatua in Southland, said his province had borne the brunt of the weather in terms of severity, but the whole country had had its share of diverse weather.

"It's been wild weather in different parts of the country."

There was flooding in the Tararua and Manawatu districts, which were still seriously wet and this week inland Taranaki was under snow, as well as the Rimutakas up to the Central Plateau. Kerikeri experienced hail earlier this week.

However, farmers in snow-struck Southland could be hit with costs easily going well over $50 million, even up to $100m as lambs and calves succumb to the cold

Mr Nicolson said the impact was only a short term thing for the dairy industry, where production was down 20 per cent.

However, it was devastating for sheep and beef farmers.

"Wednesday was the worst day of my farming life really. I know there's farmers all over Southland, there was nothing you could do to beat the blizzard conditions."

During a drought they could sell down their balance sheet but with so many lambs dying, farmers could not sell down what they did not have.

"Some farmers will only tread water this year, it's survival and survival only."

Southland sheep and beef farmer and Federated Farmers' adverse events spokesman David Rose said the storm appeared set to surpass the economic loss to agriculture caused by the Canterbury earthquake, and he was expecting a "massive loss" in the South for the 2010-11 season.

"Sheep and beef farmers have spent the last 360 days preparing to have their stock in the best possible condition to lamb, only for all that effort to be undone by five days of sustained storms," Mr Rose said in a statement.

The Otago Daily Times reported meat industry cool storage company Polarcold is considering mothballing one of its two Dunedin plants and laying off up to half its staff in the wake of plummeting stock numbers - a problem further compounded by this week's storm.

- NZPA