High vegetable prices likely to continue

In my 40 seasons of growing, I have never seen it this wet. It has been wet since last May. For 15 months we have had wet conditions. Garland Joe

Higher vegetable prices are expected to continue as Manawatu growers endure a wet season described as the worst in 40 years. Damp paddocks are so bad that in some areas vegetables are rotting in the ground.

Potato grower Terry Olsen, at Opiki, near Palmerston North, said it had been an unusual and difficult year for growers.

‘‘It has been exceptionally wet all year. Water has been lying about or just under the surface and it has rotted some of our potatoes.’’

The Manawatu grower works with peat, sandy soil and some heavy soils.

Olsen said he had tried to minimise crop losses.

‘‘But digging in these conditions is hard on the people, the machines and the soil.’’

He said fine weather had dried out some paddocks.

But he said there had been no wind, and rain lately had made paddocks wet again.

Northern Manawatu grower Ian Corbett, who grows potatoes on land from Feilding to Rangiwahia, said it had been wet since planting last September and the season right through had been ‘‘challenging’’.

He had also experienced some potato losses from rot, he said.

Corbett, said the land around Feilding was heavy, but he grew more potatoes on land that was volcanic and drained more around Rangiwahia.

‘‘Cultivation, spraying and harvesting have all been difficult. With harvesting there is still a long way to go. We are about half way though and more rain is forecast.’’

Vegetable grower Garland Joe said they were having trouble planting crops and had experienced tough growing conditions and trouble harvesting.

‘‘In my 40 seasons of growing, I have never seen it this wet. It has been wet since last May. For 15 months we have had wet conditions.

‘‘It hasn’t been cold. Our coldest months are usually July and August. But growth of produce has been erratic.’’

Joe said they had also lost some product in wet areas of paddocks.

‘‘You could say crops were grumpy. Nothing is growing as we’d like.’’

Joe grows pumpkins, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and celery at Whakarongo, just east of Palmerston North.

Shortages of most vegetables were expected to continue for a few months yet, he said.

Paul Wycherley from Riverside Orchards near Ashhurst in Manawatu said the continuing rain and wet conditions underfoot had kept all vegetables in short supply.

The company grows orchard fruits.

Wycherley said he did not see the produce shortage being alleviated before October.