Flooding drowns hopes of meeting Christmas strawberry demand
Strawberry producers are struggling to meet local demand ahead of Christmas after heavy rain impacted crops.
The Strawberry Patch owners Ian and Maree Tucker announced on social media that their business in Havelock North would be unable to open for Christmas Eve after heavy rain in the region this week flooded their paddocks and ruined their crop.
"Not the post we wanted to be making this time of year but we will NOT be opening this Christmas Eve," they said in the post. "Unfortunately our crop is completely ruined, paddock is flooded and the rain has just been too much.
"We are absolutely devastated, this would usually be the biggest day of the year for us. Open Thursday and Friday 8:30 to 5:30 for fruit and vege, we will have some strawberries but nowhere near enough for the demand.
"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."
Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers Association president Brydon Nisbet said growers are doing it hard.
"This is one of the worst seasons. I mean last season, early '21 for the apple harvest was bad, because of all the rain we got. And then we've had so much rain in September and October, it just hasn't stopped."
"I actually talked to a grower yesterday, who said it's been hard. It's been hard, because they didn't get the big crop they thought, that you would expect, because of the rain all through September. And then the rain during harvest, that's caused splits. So there's less of good quality cherries around."
While it is too late for Strawberries and Cherries, Nisbet says it is possible for apple growers to turn the season around.
"So the apple season at the moment can turn around. If all of a sudden this weather stops and we get some nice good, hot, dry weather and cold nights, into later January, and February that can turn the season around for us, because you need the cold nights for your colour to come up on your apples. So it can still turn around but, we just don't want this to continue for too long."
