Too hot to handle

from HB Today - Farming Outlook April 2022

New investigation into native honey

Too hot to hand le

By Victor Sanders Vet Services Hawke’s Bay

Crops are an integral part of many systems, supplying supplementary feed when pasture covers get tight during autumn and winter. Unfortunately, nothing in life is ever that simple with many of the popular choices for crop being higher risk for nitrate accumulation, placing us between a rock and a hard place when push comes to shove. Heading back to science class for a second, nitrate occurs naturally in the plant as a source of energy for growth. When ruminants graze, nitrate is converted to nitrite in the rumen which is then converted to ammonia. The ammonia is used as protein for the normal bugs in the rumen. Nitrate levels in plants vary naturally but can become too high after periods of low temperatures, low sunlight, periods of stress (such as droughts), application of nitrogen fertilizer and in young plants. Plants that are rapidly growing after a period of stunting are the most dangerous. Commonly incriminated plant species are oats, brassicas and annual ryegrass, Problems arise when the levels of nitrate are very high as a lot of nitrite is produced in the rumen. When the rate of nitrite production is too much, it exceeds the normal conversion rate to ammonia and spills over into the blood. Once in the blood, nitrite reduces how much oxygen is carried in the blood causing the animal to show signs of low oxygen. Commonly associated signs are sudden death, struggling to breathe, incoordination and weakness. Fortunately, there is a treatment if the animals are not too severely affected and are caught early enough. Unfortunately, it is an off-label product meaning a default meat WHP (91 days) will apply. If you see any signs, get them off the paddock immediately. Prevention is the best cure when it comes to nitrate toxicity. Simply bring in a sample of the crop/pasture to your local clinic and ask for a nitrate test. The test allows us to see the current levels of nitrate in the plant and if it is safe for stock to graze. Management practices can also help reduce the risk of nitrate toxicity if we need to feed stock on crops that have moderate levels.

These include ensuring stock do not go on hungry, feeding in late morning and early afternoon, supplying some supplementary feed such as hay while on the crop, checking the animals regularly when they are on crop and lastly, restricting how long they are grazing for to no more than one hour.

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Working together through challeng ing times

By Brydon Nisbet President of the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association

Across our region the main fruit harvest for 2022 is well underway, and for many it’s nearly all over. But one thing for sure, it’s been one of the most difficult harvest seasons to date or at least since I’ve been involved in the industry. We have had the effects of Covid in our community and within our workforce. Our growers were up to the task with strong and robust H & S procedures which has helped greatly in the managing spread amongst staff. This has added to the acute labour shortage amongst our harvest crews. Our post-harvest supply chains have been stretched with shipping delays and staff shortages. Our three major providers of RSE workers, Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga also had nationwide lockdowns as they experienced their own outbreaks of Covid. Tonga was also devastated by the volcano eruption on the 15 January. Hawke’s Bay had its own wild weather events contributing to the wettest growing season I’ve ever experienced with some areas receiving up to 175mls of rain in 12 hours. However, the history of our industry and of the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association show it’s always in these most trying times that innovation and the strength of our community come together. We have heard of neighbours sharing labour, ensuring that growers have the equipment and staff to get through their picking. On a larger scale we have witnessed industry members working tirelessly to support our workers from the Pacific. Our industry has fantastic pastoral care networks in place for our RSE. There has been work behind the scenes especially for our Tongan friends, contributing to relief plans for the rebuild post eruption. Our wider community has banded together to assist those orchards affected by recent flood damage, here, and in our neighbouring regions. I want to thank our own community for their continued support of our industry. The future of HBFA is looking bright too. We currently have a full executive committee with a wealth of industry knowledge and a mix of small growers, corporate managers involved in apples, stonefruit, kiwifruit, organic production and postharvest operations. We have some exciting initiatives due to be announced soon. We want to continue our focus on supporting our growers through protecting, fostering, and promoting fruit growing in Hawke’s Bay. We have appointed Megan Dravitzki as our Business and Relationship Manager, who brings fresh energy with new ideas and a collaborative approach, making us well equipped for the future. Lastly, we can’t wait to come together to connect, celebrate, and kick up our heels at the Hawke’s Bay Young Fruitgrower of The Year. This year’s field competition is being held at the Hasting showgrounds from 9am – 5pm on May 26. It’s free to come along and cheer on the local candidates, and your favourite tug of war team. On Friday the 27s May it’s the Young Fruitgrower of the Year dinner and speech night. This is an outstanding night of fun and connecting with industry people – it’s been a difficult year so far – so I encourage our growers to come and celebrate our fantastic industry.

Pickers stretching before work.

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By Jake Cope, Metservice

Hawke’s Bay has had more than its fair share of headline grabbing weather over the last 18 months, stretching back to the extreme flooding seen in Napier in November 2020. This heavy rain was described as a 1-in-100year rain event, but just a year later in November 2021 another similar sized rain event occurred. Then early this year, two further major heavy rain and flooding events occurred, one in early February and one in late March. Given that we’ve seen several 1-in-100-year events in quick succession, it’s fair to question what this term means. We’re talking about return periods, a way of expressing the probability of an event of that magnitude or greater happening in any given year. The longer the return period, the less likely an event is to occur. A 1-in-10-year event is 10 times more likely to occur in any year than a 1-in-100-year event. Another way of thinking about it is that a 1-in100-year event has a 1% chance of occurring in any one year, on average, over a long time. An event like this could be expected to happen 10 times in a thousand years. Return periods are specific to each location and are calculated using historical data for that place. A rain event considered a 1-in-100-year event for Hastings would have a much shorter return period somewhere wetter, like Milford Sound. This is one reason we seem to have these events more frequently than the return period would suggest, if we get a significant event in Havelock North, and another in Wairoa then we’ve had two in Hawke’s Bay, but just one in each place. Whilst the terminology can be a little confusing, it’s important to understand that a 1-in-100-year event does not mean that the event will occur every 100 years. It also doesn’t mean that just because we have had one such event recently, we won’t get another one for a century. On a standard die you have a 1-in-6 chance of rolling a six, even if you just rolled a six last time. However, just like a weighted die, not all years are created equal. The last two years have seen La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean. La Niña is when sea surface temperatures here are cooler than normal, which in turn enhance the easterly trade winds. It may be a long way away, but this has an impact on New Zealand weather maps. Through La Niña summers we’re more likely (when compared to non-La Niña years) to see high pressure around the Chatham Islands, and an increased frequency of low pressure systems in the northern Tasman Sea. Low pressure is associated with wind and rain, and as these features sweep across the upper North Island, they can become slow moving thanks to the Chatham Island high. This holds them in place and easterly winds on the southern flank of these lows can drive heavy and persistent rain over Hawke’s Bay.