Katikati avocado growers Eddie and Carol Biesiek and daughter Laura Young (left) are still cleaning up debris after September's storm. Photo / Brydie Thompson
An avocado grower who lost 60% of his crop in September’s devastating windstorm is considering replanting with kiwifruit.
Katikati grower Eddie Biesiek said that, in his view, most growers would “take all the financial hit themselves” from the storm.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has classified the strong winds, which disrupted more than 400 orchards on September 13 and 14, as a localised adverse event.
Government agencies and councils have made support available for affected growers.
But Biesiek said that, if growers had any other form of revenue, they did not qualify for financial support. He and his wife, Carol, received superannuation.
While speaking to NZME, Biesiek was still cleaning up debris from September’s storm.
His orchard had good shelter, but the winds were “so strong, nothing could survive it”.
“It doesn’t just blow over and go away. We continue digging into our savings to pay the bills.”
He said the fruit loss in his orchard had cost him more than $70,000 in revenue, and his business would probably run at a loss for the fourth consecutive year.
The couple would not receive an insurance payout because “it’s not possible” to insure against unpredictable weather events.
They were reassessing their situation and had requested information from their packhouse about converting to green kiwifruit.
But conversion is an investment. They would have to knock out 200 trees, then wait five years before they generated any income, he said.
The alternative was to heavily prune his avocado orchard to bring the heights of the trees down as a preventive measure against future storms.
Those were the only viable options, he said, as avocado growers could not sell their orchards, even if they wanted to.
“Would you buy one? There are better ways to invest your money.”
In his view, when agencies talked about support, they meant moral support.
“There’s never anything financial, so the grower takes all the financial hit themselves.”
New Zealand Avocado chief executive Brad Siebert said the MPI classification enabled agencies within and outside government to “pull on the levers that they’re able to under these conditions,”.
“It was the pathway we needed to walk down to make sure that there was recognition that there was a significant impact on a subset of our growers.”
NZ Avocado submitted an impact assessment to MPI, comparing weather across different seasons to show that September’s winds were an “anomaly”.
Aside from the damage, the wind direction also proved the uniqueness of the event, he said.
The assessment also detailed the scale of impact, financial and economic consequences, recovery needs, seasonal implications and mitigation strategies.
Siebert said MPI notified the Inland Revenue Department, Ministry of Social Development, the local council, and Bay of Plenty Rural Support Trust to provide further support.
MPI director of compliance and response Glen Burrell confirmed it had been working with NZ Avocado and the trust to support affected growers.
MPI’s On-Farm Support Team was also available for one-on-one support.
Inland Revenue said its response was at an individual level.
Various relief provisions were available to customers whose tax affairs were affected by an adverse event, including adjusting instalment arrangements for outstanding tax debt or tax write-offs in cases of extreme financial hardship.
Chelsea Goodall, from the rural support trust, said it focused on providing wellbeing support to growers through pastoral care and wellbeing referrals, mentoring and peer support, and community support activities.
One of these activities was a grower meeting co-hosted with NZ Avocado in Katikati on September 24.
“Our key outcome is to ensure that affected growers and their families are well supported through recovery - both in terms of wellbeing and connection to the wider community network.”
Western Bay of Plenty District Council chief executive Miriam Taris said some directly affected growers might be able to defer their rates payments until March 1, if the criteria were met.
“This approach is consistent with how council has responded to previous weather events, most recently Cyclone Gabrielle.”
The grower would need to provide evidence of crop loss or income loss of greater than 80%.
Growers must disclose the extent of insurance coverage or whether other compensation was available to mitigate the loss. If this were available, deferment would not apply.
An application form would be available on the Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s website for affected growers to apply for the deferral.
Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in classical studies from Massey University.