The Kaipara District is the heart of kūmara growing in New Zealand. There are about 40 growers in the area that grow most of the country's kūmara. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The Kaipara District is the heart of kūmara growing in New Zealand. There are about 40 growers in the area that grow most of the country's kūmara. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland kūmara growers are hoping they will rebound from a dismal season as planting for new-season crops gets under way.
More than 70 per cent of the about-to-be-harvested kūmara crop was either destroyed in Cyclone Gabrielle in February, or wasn’t good enough quality to be stored for very long.
Ruawai kūmara grower Warwick Simpson says the poor yield has a flow-on effect as 5 per cent of each grower’s crop is used for seed the following season.
However, the Vegetables New Zealand director says there is hope for growers thanks to a Kūmara Seed Contingency scheme funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to ensure growers will have at least 77 per cent of the required seed for this planting season.
“There are some growers that weren’t able to harvest enough to cover all the seed need,” Simpson says.
“[MPI] provided just under $270,000 to provide funding for those growers that weren’t able to harvest enough seed so that they can buy seed off other growers so they can get going in this coming season.”
Simpson says he would typically use part of his crop to go into seed, however, thanks to weather events which led to rot in the kūmara, he was only able to harvest 10 percent of his usual crop.
“You can see how the numbers are getting smaller and smaller.”
The Kaipara District, where Simpson is based, is the heart of kūmara growing in New Zealand. There are about 40 growers in the area that grow most of the country’s kūmara.
Simpson said the implications of a poor season move through every part of the sector. To understand how it all happened, he casts his mind back to November last year.
“During that planting season, it was very wet and really limited to how much we could plant. So that was putting us on [a] bad foot to start with.”
Simpson says a lot of growers were down 80 per cent at that point.
Flooding in Ruawai caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Michael Cunningham
And then Cyclone Gabrielle happened.
“That was when we were just looking at starting to harvest. And, for example, the crops on my farm here were flooded for about five days. And you can imagine that causes a lot of rot and crop loss,” Simpson said.
While some growers came off better than those who lost their whole crop, Simpson says all growers were affected.
“It’s certainly led to some good conversations with the bank to get things through for the season.
“We use the income from the previous season to pay for the next season, and a lot of us lost that income so [we’re] having to go to the bank to get money to put this next season’s crop in.”
As a result, kūmara in-store has risen in price and a local packhouse is considering closing the doors in October as they don’t have the stock to work with, Simpson says.
The local Countdown supermarket has helped find work for packhouse workers who were also without work as a result, he says.
Simpson has kūmara growing in the blood. His father, who is now in his eighties, was also a grower.
He says this past season was the worst not only he, but his father had ever seen.
“The best way to support is, if you can afford to buy kūmara, then please do.
“And then certainly when we get into the next season when the price will come down, definitely support your growers and buy local kūmara - keep eating it.”
