Scale of hardship for orchardists still emerging after Boxing Day hail

Friday, 1 January 2021

Apples at a Lower Moutere orchard damaged by a hail storm that hit the area on Boxing Day.

Motueka orchardists hit by a freak hail storm on Boxing Day are still figuring out the scope of the financial damage it caused.

The hail caused massive damage to orchards in and around Motueka, in some cases completely wiping out some fruit growers' crops.

In the aftermath, MP for West Coast-Tasman and Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor has been in Motueka to inspect the damage first-hand.

“For some growers it’s been absolutely devastating, for some there's been 100 per cent fruit loss. The challenge now is how to get those trees ready for next year,” he said on Friday.

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MP for West Coast-Tasman Damien O'Connor said it would likely take another week to fully assess the level of damage done.

O’Connor said the full scope of the damage would likely be apparent in the next week or so, given the time it would take growers to do a proper assessment.

He said there were several options on the table for the Government to provide support. These included the possibility of direct wage support to help keep staff on, providing professional advice for those badly affected, and potential tax concessions where needed.

New Zealand Apples and Pears Board director and Motueka orchardist Evan Heywood said the physical evidence of the damage was beginning to become clearer.

Brent McGlashen, of Mac Hops in Lower Moutere, west of Nelson, with hop vines shredded in a Boxing Day hail storm.

Heywood estimated about half of the region's gold kiwifruit had been ruined. He said apples were a trickier prospect, with there being significant variation in damage to crops on the edge of the storm.

“In the greater Motueka area through to Lower Moutere, there's not a lot of good fruit left – and that's the heart of apple growing in this district.”

Heywood said on his own orchards, about 90 per cent of the kiwifruit and 40 per cent of the apples had been written off – with some of the apples protected by recently built hail structures.

He said in terms of calculating the financial damage, most growers were still “at the start of the journey”.

“Insurance can take a few weeks to work through with some claims – but it never recoups all your losses, not by any stretch.

“Some growers don't have any insurance, so they'll be in a whole lot of pain financially, and then you've got everything between that. Every grower is a little bit different.”

Heywood said a lot of the hardship was still to come, as growers still had to prepare for next year's crop.

“The [damaged] fruit has to be removed now or at the end of the season. The workload hasn't diminished, the only thing that’s diminished is the value of your crop.

“It's demoralising, you put a lot of hard work into getting your crop to get it to where it is – and it all goes in half an hour or 40 minutes.

“They are a resilient bunch, they will manage to find a way through – but it's tough on people and families.”

Top of the South Rural Support Trust chairman Richard Kempthorne said the trust was available to help where it could.

“The main thing is to support people who are under stress and want help. All those people affected are stressed – some want to get through it themselves and there are others who may want some outside help.'

O’Connor said the recent closure of the Cedenco apple processing plant would also have an effect, effectively eliminating an option for orchardists to recover some of their losses through juicing.

Heywood said there would also be a flow-on effect in Motueka from other industries that serviced the orchards.

“People think it's just the growers who are affected but that’s not the case, it will filter right through the community.”