RECOVERY FROM DEVASTATING FLOODS IS POSSIBLE

Growers can recover from severe floods if they clear silt as soon as possible after the inundation, says Riwaka grower Paul Heywood, of Heywood Orchards.

Paul knows this is true because he and his family brought blocks of their orchard back into production from the floods caused by Cyclone Gita in February 2018.

“However, what we experienced was nothing compared to the scale of the devastation Cyclone Gabrielle has caused in the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions. I feel deeply for growers there, especially those who have lost everything. It is heart-wrenching.

“They need all the help and support they can get. Some may be able to recover from this, but I fear others may not. You only grow one apple crop a year and if you can’t harvest and sell it, that is devastating. It’s your only chance to make an income that year.” the wire to drag trees, posts and drape into piles to be burnt. Undamaged posts were also salvaged.”

In 2018, for two and a half hours, Riwaka experienced a localised cloud burst which brought torrential rain, causing the nearby Jordan Creek, which had become blocked, to send silt and debris cascading through kiwifruit and apple blocks on the Heywood orchard. The same storm caused severe damage to the Takaka Hill Highway – closing it for a week. It has taken four years to repair both the orchards and road to their original condition.

In one apple block, most trees were flattened but in another, trees were standing in deep silt. “We decided to walk away from the flattened orchard and concentrate on what we could recover,” says Paul.

The block was replanted, and this season will produce a commercial crop of apples.

The Heywood family also cleared the Jordan Creek, the cause of the flooding to their own and neighbouring properties. “The Tasman District Council had refused to clear the creek, which was overgrown with trees. We had planned to do it ourselves after the apple harvest. Hindsight is wonderful. If we had done it earlier, the flood wouldn’t have been as bad.”

That 2018 flood was just one of many adverse events, including hail, floods and fires, to impact the Heywood family orcharding business which had its beginnings in 1935. That was when Paul and Mike’s parents Arthur and Lilius Heywood, purchased a small block of land to farm fruit and tobacco.

Paul and Mike continued their parents’ tradition when they took over the business in the 1960s, managing the transition from tobacco to kiwifruit and apples. Now with their respective sons Evan and Scott also involved, the orchard business continues to expand.

The unpredictability of orcharding is something growers learn to live with, says Paul. “You never take the good seasons for granted because you know the next one may not be as favourable.”

One way of coping with the stresses of an adverse event is to keep busy. “When our orchard was hit with a cyclonic hailstorm one March in the 1980s, we picked and packed granny smith apples to provide work for our staff, even though it made no economic sense to do so. We felt it was important to keep everyone busy.”

The Tasman District Council had refused to clear the creek, which was overgrown with trees

That kind of resolve and resilience Paul believes, is thanks to the fortitude of his parents and grandparents, and is the same strength of character which he sees in intergenerational orcharding families, particularly in the Nelson region.