Farmers despair as cyclone, weeks of rain ruin arable crops

Wairarapa arable farmer Karen Williams says the heavy rain at the weekend was the worst she's seen since 2004. Photo / Supplied - Karen Williams

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

Weeks of persistent rain have left arable crops sodden and led to farmers describing this season as the harvest from hell.

Three weeks of intermittent rain followed by Cyclone Dovi hitting at the weekend have caused widespread damage to arable crops around the country.

Federated Farmers arable chairperson Colin Hurst said talking to farmers who have been around for a while, some of them are calling it the worst harvest season they can remember.

"Farmer feedback from Canterbury and flooded parts of the Wairarapa are that up to half - and in some cases, all - of pea crops have been ruined.

"Wheat crops are turning black in Mid and North Canterbury which is likely to cause a shortage of good quality grain to turn into flour."

Hurst said yields will be greatly affected and in many places, crops will be downgraded in quality.

"Wet soil also hinders the natural drying of seed crops and so harvest is not going to be easy even as the weather improves.

"One farmer said that clover crops around Methven now resemble hay crops and the heads have largely disappeared into the foliage, with sprouting of those crops happening."

In Hawke's Bay, the harvest of vegetable crops like sweetcorn, beans and squash has been interrupted by the wet weather and in Waikato and Taranaki the cyclone has knocked over maize crops.

Photo / Supplied - Karen Williams

Wairarapa arable farmer Karen Williams said the heavy rain at the weekend was the worst she's seen since a large flood in 2004.

"We had over 90 millimetres of rain the weekend before last, more throughout the week and then another 150mm the weekend just gone, so it's created a big mess and flooded the paddocks, some crops have been completely submerged."

Williams said the Ruamahanga River which runs through her Gladstone farm flooded.

"The timing couldn't be worse. For most parts of the country February is harvest time and now some crops have been destroyed by floodwaters and others are still sitting in water which will cause issues with disease and sprouting."

"We had harvested the ryegrass but we still have our pea seed, barley and wheat in the ground which is now sodden," Williams said.

Photo / Supplied - Karen Williams

"If they sprout then the quality will be downgraded affecting the profitability of the farm.

"It's hard to say how much we will lose from this event but it will be significant, a couple of hundred hectares of crops have been affected."

She said it has been mentally tough looking at her crops underwater.

"You look after you cropping soils, you incur a lot of costs, with seed and particularly fertiliser, fuel with planting. You keep an eye out for pests and disease and then right at the end, a lot of rain comes in.

"You just see all of your hard work go down the drain."

The paddocks have started to drain away so Williams hopes she will be able to assess the extent of the damage in the coming week.