Strawberries in short supply across Hawke’s Bay after storms flood paddocks

The Strawberry Patch, in Havelock North, sold out of strawberries by about midday on Thursday and will be closed for Christmas Eve after rain and flooding. Photo / Paul Taylor

Strawberries are in short supply for Christmas in Hawke’s Bay after a season of stormy weather, with one farm forced to shut on its busiest day of the year as a result.

Ian and Maree Tucker, owners of The Strawberry Patch in Havelock North, said the business would be unable to open on Christmas Eve after heavy rain this week flooded their paddock and ruined their crop.

“We are absolutely devastated, this would usually be the biggest day of the year for us,” they said in a social media post.

“We hope people understand that this is completely out of our hands and we are very upset over the situation, we are trying our best.”

The store had sold out of today’s stock of strawberries by 1pm, but Tucker said they would have a limited supply available tomorrow.

The store traditionally enjoys huge lines of customers on Christmas Eve.

“You don’t want to disappoint people, so we decided it would be better to stay shut on Christmas Eve,” Ian Tucker said.

He said their fields flooded were also flooded last year, but they were able to pick fruit again two days before Christmas Eve.

“The first two weeks of the season this year went really well, but then we were hit by this weather.”

He said The Strawberry Patch has a long lease, and is continuing business as usual after the owners of the land decided to sell in November.

Ian and Maree Tucker took over The Strawberry Patch in April 2020. They will be closed for Christmas Eve after flooding destroyed their crop. Photo / NZME

Billy Scott, owner of Scott’s Strawberry Farm, said berry fruit had been affected nationally by the weather system over the North Island.

“We are still harvesting, but now the majority is second-grade,” Scott said.

“We are getting two-thirds second-grade when we used to get about two-thirds first-grade strawberries.”

He said they still had a good volume of strawberries, but they were opening later to process what they had, and today they had sold their stock and shut shop in about two hours.

Scott’s Strawberry Farm will be open tomorrow from 10am until they sell out again.

Scott's Strawberry Farm was also affected by the wet weather, and sold out by midday Thursday. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hugh Findlay, co-owner of Cherry Gold Orchard, earlier said he expected he would lose about half his harvest this season to rain.

Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers Association president Brydon Nisbet said that rain and cold weather had affected fruit growers in early spring, and ongoing rain throughout the harvest had reduced the volume produced even more.