Heat disrupts crop processing schedule
Hot weather leading up to New Year has accelerated crop growth by about two to three weeks compared with last year’s dismal summer season.
Viticulturist Nick Gill, who manages vineyards in the Waipara area north of Christchurch, said hot weather had made for a great start to the season, although some rain would be welcome.
Organising labour to pick grapes at harvest could become an issue but Greystone and Muddy Waters vineyards where he worked had their own team and also relied on travellers with work visas at the peak harvest.
Craig Howard of Marlborough Grape Producers Cooperative said growth was well ahead but growers within the Southern Valleys irrigation scheme were waiting to learn if the water would be turned off due to low river flows.
‘‘Finding labour for harvest is an issue although more so in central Otago where they do a lot of hand harvesting.
‘‘It’s perfect grape growing conditions at the moment. The next big job in the new year will be thinning the harvest when we’ll get a better idea of the crop size,’’ Howard said.
The Marlborough growers’ cooperative supplies bulk wine to overseas buyers who label it themselves. The sector has its own wine awards held in Amsterdam, and in November the cooperative won the gold award for its sauvignon blanc.
Other vineyards around the country have also reported advanced growth, but Howard warned it was difficult to predict the final result until autumn.
Vegetable and cereal growers have faced challenges with crops bolting to maturity in the heat.
Processed Vegetables board director David Hadfield said the hot weather in Canterbury had resulted in one of the pea crop phases being ‘‘bypassed’’.
‘‘They quickly got past their best stage when they’re nicest to eat. That happened during the 30 degree heat days a week or two back.
‘‘They’ll be used for stock feed and making silage. Growers have contract arrangements with the main processors Talleys and Heinz Watties where they will be paid for a percentage of the crop if it’s bypassed.’’
Keeping steady volumes going to processing and organising labour were major logistics exercises, Hadfield said.
‘‘We grow different early and late pea varieties to stagger harvests but in the recent heat the earlier variety was catching up with the later one.
‘‘Everything is about two weeks ahead. The last lot of rain a week ago was really helpful in cooling things even though we have irrigation.’’
The experience of other growers around the country varied considerably although most had hotter than usual conditions.
Some irrigation restrictions were starting to be imposed by councils such as Environment Canterbury, with web site information updated regularly.
At the irrigation Lake Opuha inland from Timaru, water levels were still above the level when restrictions would be imposed but the dam company was watching levels closely and expected them to drop sharply during January and February. The lake dried up in the 2015 summer.