Agricultural pilots enjoy bumper season
Topdressing and spraying pilots are reaping the rewards of stellar summer weather across the South Island and high sheep and beef prices.
Brent Harkerss of Ellesmere Helicopters Ltd said farmers were ‘‘certainly spending money’’ on crop dusting and spraying this summer.
‘‘We have noticed that there is a fair bit of positivity out there.
‘‘We have stayed pretty consistent right throughout the season, and there are a lot of jobs booked in for the autumn, which is reflective of buoyant returns,’’ Harkerss said.
‘‘Compared to the years of drought, brush weed spraying and pasture renovation have picked up this summer.’’
Ellesmere Helicopters operated on Banks Peninsula and the Canterbury foothills.
Eastern Otago air-ag operator, Graeme Gale of Helicopters Otago, said the fine weather was the main contributor to the bumper season.
‘‘We have had an exceptionally good run of weather which has allowed us to do the work.
‘‘It’s been a strong season, and we have been able to deliver a very good, high level of service because of the weather.
‘‘There has been no waiting for us doing the jobs, and from that point of view it has been fantastic,’’ he said.
Gale said the company, which had 15 aircraft, operated as far north as Palmerston and through into the Lindis Pass, Wanaka and Queenstown.
‘‘At the moment we have pages and pages of orders for fertiliser.
‘‘They [were] all waiting for some rain [to wash the fertiliser into the ground.]
‘‘Farmers don’t want to put nitrogen on too early and lose it in the heat. Timing is critical.
Ken Mackenzie of Mackenzie Aviation, Gore, said he had also been waiting on rain to spread fertiliser.
‘‘High meat prices have certainly helped because we have been very busy since September,’’ he said.
‘‘We can take more bookings.’’ Mackenzie said farmers usually delayed bookings until rain arrived.
‘‘Get rain, and the farmers will want to put fertiliser on is the normal rule.’’
Bookings can be expected to have increased after rain fell last Thursday and Friday.
Hanmer ag-air operator, Tony Michelle of Amuri Helicopters Ltd, said his business was still feeling the effects of three years of drought in North Canterbury.
‘‘Our farmer client activity is well down on what we would expect in normal conditions.
‘‘Regarding previously droughtaffected areas, while they have had good rains and are getting good growth, [farmers] tend not to spend a lot of money on things like weed control that they don’t have to do.
‘‘They have debt to deal with and stock to bring back in.
‘‘The fixed-wing [aircraft] on the back of a drought tends to pick up work quite quickly because farmers want to get fertiliser on, get production back,’’ Michelle said.
‘‘But the helicopter activity [weed spraying, pasture renewal] tends to take another 18 months to two years to come back into line with what we would typically expect. In a typical drought season helicopters are usually the first to get the chop.’’