Grower association director offers update on extent of damage caused by recent bad weather, as growers prepare to harvest this season’s fruit
The chief executive of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc, Colin Bond, says the country should still produce more than 200mn trays of kiwifruit this season, despite recent storms in parts of the country’s North Island.
Speaking to the Rural News Group, he described the storms as “a disaster” for a small number of kiwifruit growers.
“One has lost their full crop, another their house and in another case they can’t get onto their property to assess the damage because of a landslip,” he told the publisher.
However, he also indicated that the damage had been far more limited than was the case when Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country in February 2023.
Export marketer Zespri is yet to confirm what level the returns paid to growers for this season’s crop will be.
