Settled weather helps pea harvest

farm to the freezer.”

If the product is not delivered within an hour the quality of the peas begins to deteriorate making the location a main priority when travelling to various crops.

Settled weather has come at the right time for process (fresh) pea harvest in Canterbury.

Talley’s says it is finding the weather for the current harvest much more optimistic.

“We are at a good place in the season, with the quality of the crop looking better than last year,” Talley’s vegetable general manager Danie Swanepoel said.

He also acknowledged that their crops had received minimal damage from weather events.

“Fortunately, none of our growers reported any damage from the hailstorm in December, nor has there been any reports of pea weevil in any of our crops.

“We are about two-thirds of the way through the pea harvest, all of which is grown within one hour of our factory, with Rangitata being our furthest location, ensuring all the goodness is retained from the

“Once harvested, we sell our vegetables throughout New Zealand and to customers overseas in our export markets,” Swanepoel said.

Farmers are expected to finish harvesting process peas around the end of February.

While the vining pea harvest is winding down, the dried pea harvest is only beginning.

Planting of the process pea crops begins from July and are ready at the start of November, compared to seed (dried) peas which are scheduled to be planted in September and are harvested at the end of January.

Dried peas are processed, tested, and, providing the quality is right, they are then exported or held for domestic use.

These dried peas are primarily used for sowing to make processed peas that will be used for the following harvest season.