The region's croppers have been hit to varying degrees by the heavy rains in the past week, with harvest delays and damaged and lost crops.

“It's certainly given us a few headaches. It's been a kick in the guts,” Coxco managing director Omi Badsar said.

Squash, sweetcorn, tomatoes, maize, apples, salad crops and others have been affected.

It has caused the acceleration of the grapes harvest while kiwifruit have also been affected but to a lesser degree.

Cedenco managing director Tim Chrisp said they had losses in their sweetcorn, squash and tomato crops.

“The team are working really hard to try to minimise those losses — to try to capture as much of the remaining crops as we can.

“Obviously this is very disappointing for our growers and our staff who work very hard to make the season successful.

“We anticipate crop losses of around 10 to 15 percent.”

Mr Badsar said Coxco's late season squash crops and grain crops had been badly affected.

“We will be losing approximately 60 to 70 hectares of crops, mainly squash, which amounts to about 10 to 15 percent of our total crop. It's still very wet in the paddocks but we hope to resume harvesting early next week.”

Maize harvesters have also been hit.

Viterra regional manager David Corrin said they faced a long harvest because of the rain.

“Obviously ground conditions are very wet at the moment. We need a long, dry period to get crops off. It's not particularly serious at the moment but if we get a lot more rain in the next few weeks, things may get serious for all crops.”

Richard Hyland, of Corson Grain, said the rain halted their harvest. They resumed yesterday.

“Damage is not too bad, but there is some concern about what the wet weather will have done to grain quality moving forward this season.”

Apple croppers have also been affected.

Scott Wilson, of Kaiaponi Farms, said the rain has made the season “challenging”:

“It's delayed our ability to harvest fruit, so we're in catch-up mode under challenging orchard and ground conditions.

“We won't know the full extent of any damage or losses until harvest is completed in two weeks,” Mr Wilson said.

“We've just had to push through under difficult harvesting conditions.”

Kaiaponi Farms produces about 65 percent of the local apple crop.

LeaderBrand general manager farming Gordon McPhail said the rain had been a “mixed bag” for them.

“There's been an impact on our ability to harvest and to plant but the teams have done a really good job in taking the opportunities that they can.

“We've been utilising our Pukekohe site as an alternative production source.

“Most, if not all, of our seasonal crops in Gisborne had been completed before the rain arrived.”

The rain forced grape harvesters to accelerate picking.

Gisborne Winegrowers chairman Mark Thompson said they have had to keep harvesting over the past week.

“We worked through when the rain let us and while there has been some damage in the vineyards themselves, at least the grape crops are in the wineries.

“So while it has not been the best harvest we've seen, there are some pockets of real goodness.”

Mr Thompson said Indevin finished the other day and GisVin should finish this weekend.

The rain had minimal impact on the kiwifruit season.

“It's delayed maturity and harvest a bit but it's not been a disaster for us,” local industry spokesman Tim Tietjen said.

“It's slowing things down a bit, that's all, so we'll be flat out in the coming weeks. It's fair to say at this stage that it's had little impact on the kiwifruit season, although for most there will not be the early season premiums Gisborne growers normally enjoy.”

Source - https://www.gisborneherald.co.nz