Growers count the cost of flooding

Gerald Piddock NEWS Weather

SOUTH Auckland vegetable growers are counting the cost of last week’s storm after it flooded paddocks and wrecked crops and infrastructure across the region. Record-breaking rainfall carved a destructive path through one of New Zealand’s biggest vegetableproducing regions.

South Auckland Vegetable Growers Association president Kirit Makan said all growers will have some degree of water or silt issues on their fields.

All growers can do now is wait for the rain to stop and paddocks to dry out, revealing the extent of the damage.

The association represents several hundred growers from South Auckland through to Walkworth in the north.

Onions are one of the worsthit crops. Growers had lifted the produce to the surface for drying prior to harvesting, only to have them washed away by flooding.

“Anywhere where the water has gone through, they have just floated away and washed down the road into drains,” Makan said.

“My dad’s had a bit of garlic wash down the road – it’s the same thing.”

Both of those crops would have to be written off, he said.

Growers are resilient, but the storm came on the back of an already challenging season, in which the wet December pushed the season back by at least two weeks.

“Now this is pushing us back even more. When the rain stops we’ll need a decent spell of fine weather to dry everything up. It’s frustration more than anything,” Makan said.

No amount of farm management could have mitigated this, he said.

“It came at the wrong time of the year when there is crop sitting on top of the soil. At any other time of the year where everything is still planted, the roots will hold it together.”

The floodwaters had carved through fields like a river, destroying neat rows of crop and depositing the vegetables in a corner of the paddock.

In one area the floodwater had rushed through a culvert, badly damaging it before spilling out onto the road.

“How much force does it take carve that out – and look at the hole it’s made,” he said. “The sheer volume is phenomenal.”

On a nearby road, workers were busy trying to reseal a road after the floodwaters from the paddock lifted off its seal.

Further on, onions from a paddock had floated across the road to a nearby subdivision of houses and lay strewn across the footpath and road. A plastic box filled with the dirt-covered vegetables had been placed on the berm.

Makan said the damage had to be put in perspective with the wider flooding in Auckland. “There are people in way worse situations than us from the rain.”

Potatoes New Zealand vicechair and Pukekohe grower Bharat Bhana said a lot of the damage to potato crops caused by the rain will not be seen until later.

Much of the crop in the ground is still growing and the damage will not be known until the harvest in June-July.

The rain will have washed away any soil nutrients, he said, slowing the growth of the crop.

It came at the wrong time of the year when there is crop sitting on top of the soil. At any other time of the year where everything is still planted, the roots will hold it together.

Kirit Makan

South Auckland Vegetable Growers Association

“The amount of water we have had in a very short time is not very good for our industry. There’s enough damage been done that if anyone thought that potato prices were going to ease up, it might take a little longer to do that.”

Bhana’s onion crop has been damaged, with floodwater washing the vegetable away.

“They are on the ground at the moment and we have only harvested a few – we have about 1500 bins in the shed out of 12,000 that we grow. All the rest are on the field drying or are still to be dug.

“Every time it rains there’s some more damage done. There’s enough rain that the water ends up going back into the onion through the dry leaves and starts to rot from the inside out.”

While harvest yields will be affected, selling yields will be impacted more, Bhana said. “There’ll be a lot more rejected onions because of the way the water has been.”

Growers desperately need the rain to clear and a sustained period of fine weather to let growers get on the fields and tend to their crops, he said.

“This year, as far as water goes, it’s probably the worst we have had. We’ve had a lot of rain through the summer and that’s done a lot of damage.”

Insurance advice after the deluge

• Be safe. When checking stock, driving, or assessing damage, avoid ooded areas and don’t do anything that will put your safety at risk. Continue to follow the instructions of Civil Defence.

• Avoid entering oodwater, either on foot or in a vehicle. Floodwater can contain sewage and contaminants, conduct electricity and mask hidden hazards.

• If water has entered your property, do not turn on your electricity unless it’s been inspected by an electrician.

• Do not drive vehicles that have su ered water damage.

• Lodge any claim as soon as you can on 0800 366 466 or through FMG Connect.

• Take as many photos of the damage as you can, and before you throw items out, as these will help support your claim. Mark and take photos of where ood water reached its highest on your property.

• You can carry out essential repairs, but take photos beforehand.

• Even in the case of minor repairs, take photos of the damage before you carry these out.