Newspaper Article 1994 – Hail slashes orchardists’ apple earnings

Hail slashes orchardists’ apple earnings

By Anna Peacock
Staff reporter, Hastings

Hawke’s Bay apple growers have lost more than 500,000 export carton equivalents in what has been one of the worst seasons for hail.

Three Waipukurau orchardists are the latest casualties added to a list of 105 growers who have suffered hail damage this season.

Their orchards were struck in a New Year’s Eve hail storm that gouged fruit and knocked out grafts, leaving one of the orchards with little crop to salvage.

Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Federation president David Mardon said possibly half of the 105 growers had hail insurance, but some were in desperate situations.

“Whether they (growers) can hang on or not only time will tell.

“It’s no good. It’s been tough enough coming out of last year,” said Mr Mardon.

The first hail storm hit Hawke’s Bay in November. Freak storms have continued to haunt growers during the crucial growing weeks leading up to harvesting.

Mr Mardon said crop losses would hit export tonnages from the region. “It’s taken out at least half a million export cartons and pushed more fruit into process.”

Sending fruit for juice was hardly viable at 5c a kilo ($20 a juice bin) considering it cost about $5 a bin to get the fruit to the processor.

The Government’s Task Force Green assistance would help, said Mr Mardon.

Some growers had walked away from their crops, leaving the fruit to drop off because there was nothing worth salvaging and they could save spraying costs.

The trees would be sprayed to prevent disease problems next year, and that would be all.

Those growers who had 20 to 30 per cent damage would face high costs trying to save the unharmed fruit.

“They’ve got to sort them in the orchard right through to the packhouse. It requires a lot of extra work,” he said.

Agriculture New Zealand horticulture consultant Lou Bird, who visited the Waipukurau properties last week, said damage ranged from 40 to 80 per cent. All the orchards were insured.

The devastation on one of the orchards was the worst he had seen.

Mr Bird had a “gut feeling” that there could be three or four more hail storms before harvesting the main export varieties started in the middle of next month, given the tropical weather Hawke’s Bay was experiencing.

The New Year’s Eve hail storm also damaged market garden crops of stonefruit, pipfruit, citrus and avocados at Bay View and the Esk Valley. However, damage was difficult to quantify.

One grower had lost 25 tonnes of apricots destined for the export market, said Mr Bird.

The highest rainfalls Mr Bird had heard of from the storm were 95mm of rain in 90 minutes in the Esk Valley and 63mm in 40 minutes at Waipukurau.

Christchurch-based horticulture consultant Alex Smith, who is assessing hail damage for an insurance company, planned to visit the Waipukurau orchards on Tuesday.

Growers would receive claim payouts at the time they would have been paid for their export fruit.

Insurance payments were based on the estimated returns for different varieties, less a 15 per cent excess.

Premiums are 2 to 3 per cent of the crop’s worth.

The Apple and Pear Marketing Board was assessing damage for its own estimates.

Photo captions –

Mr Mardon

Mr Bird