Good maize yields as season end nears

The region’s grain maize harvest will all be in within two weeks and it has been a good one. Some 40,000 tonnes of the golden grain will have been harvested by the time the last paddock gets done. Yields and crop quality have been above average. File picture

The grain maize harvest in the region is nearing its end and two of the companies involved say it has been a good one, with above average yields.

An estimated 40,000 tonnes of grain maize will have been picked by the season’s end.

“We have about 500 tonnes to go, about four days harvesting, and we should be finished by next Wednesday,” said Glencore Grain regional manager Dave Corrin.

“The wet weather has delayed the finish of the harvest just a little.

“Overall though, it has been a good season for us — with an easy harvest prior to the change in the weather, and we have been getting above-average yields,” Mr Corrin said.

Corson Grain procurement manager Richard Hyland said they probably had about a fortnight left in their harvest.

“We are still harvesting across the Wairoa, Gisborne and Tolaga Bay areas.

“The weather has been excellent and we are still well ahead of schedule, but the recent rain slowed things down a little.

“We have also been getting above-average yields, and the quality of the crop harvested has also been above average.”

Mr Hyland said this was the result of a very good summer and autumn up to recently.

“We should be finished by the middle of June at the latest.”

Some of the 40,000 tonnes harvested this season goes into the stock food industry, including the dairy market, and for human consumption.