A South Canterbury fruit grower says a financial loss is inevitable for his business once irrigation from the Opuha Dam is shut down.

Redwood Cherries and Berries, on the Pleasant Point Highway, will be one of the consent-holders of the Opuha Dam hit hard if irrigation is shut down on February 25.

"There will be no water, so our strawberries will die," owner Steve Malone said yesterday.

Malone and wife Jo started the orchard in 2005.

Once the water stopped it would be a "matter of days" before crops died, he said.

He predicted a loss of $20,000.

"We are picking strawberries every day, but once the water stops it will be all over rover."

His autumn crop of raspberries will also be affected, he said.

Malone explained the couple had a "sophisticated irrigation system" which involved planting strawberries in coconut fibre (within a bag).

The controlled method of growing produced a "better and longer crop", he said.

"We had hoped all of 30,000 plants would be planted this way in June. However, if there's no water we will have to look at planting in pots instead."

He said one option then could be to transport individual pots to another location where there is water.

Geraldine's Pukeko Gardens owner Ian Hughes said: "the damage has been done".

Hughes said he had lost a large number of his brassica crops [cauliflowers and cabbages] due to the heat and lack of water.

His water supply had "virtually all dried up", he said.

However, some other items he grew were doing well. "It's swings and roundabouts but even if we get two inches of rain tomorrow the damage has been done."

Pleasant Point farmer Alan Warren said while he had his own water supply, the "higher than normal ground temperatures" were contributing to lower yields.

"While we are not restricted with water, strawberries are not flowering as much as they do due to the higher temperatures, and if you're not picking the fruit, you are not selling it," he said.

Warren said the situation was worse for conventional orchard farmers.

"It's getting pretty serious."

He had seen the price of strawberries escalate over the past two weeks.

As the hot weather causes headaches for some growers there is an upside, Waipopo Orchards owners and brothers Danny and Peter Bennett said.

"The dry year has seen better fruit because there is less disease," Peter said.

The orchard has its own water supply.

The brothers felt for other farmers.

"It's not a very nice situation at all ... we certainly would like to see rain as there's nothing like rain," Danny said.

Source - http://www.stuff.co.nz