YOUR INDUSTRY
GISBORNE GROWERS HIT BY TRIO OF MASSIVE RAIN EVENTS Kristine Walsh
Judco nursery/harvest manager Matt Sowerby in the tomato field he describes as a “salvage operation” after March’s catastrophic rainfall. Picture by Kristine Walsh
It rained, it rained again, and then it rained some more. Gisborne growers are counting the cost of one weather bomb after another. Gisborne's famous fertile plains turned into flood plains with March rains that in places exceeded centuryold records. But growers say the downpour can’t be seen in isolation: beforehand, they had setbacks due to heavy rain in November 2021, and afterwards – just before Easter – ex-tropical Cyclone Fili dumped a further 200mm on East Cape in the north, 100mm in Wairoa to the south, and 70mm on Gisborne city. While most of the greatest damage of all three events was seen on the East Coast, north of Gisborne city, much of that land is devoted to forestry and sheep and beef farming. So while coastal farmers were hit hard, the biggest impact on produce was seen on the western and southern sides of the city, where the highest volume of horticulture is concentrated.
26 NZGROWER : MAY 2022
Back in November, Gisborne District Council chief scientist Murry Cave described the rainfall as a “one-in-50years event”, which led to the declaration of a State of Emergency. But while that was short-lived the impact on growers had a longer reach, with the season set back when replanting was required for many hectares, particularly of sweetcorn, maize and squash. And some were not replanted at all, meaning a potential loss of production for processors like Cedenco. In March, it was even worse … from late Tuesday 22 March to late the following night, Gisborne was hit by 250–300ml of rain – around three months’ worth. A State of Emergency was declared and remained in place until 31 March; people were evacuated from their homes, hills slipped, rivers rose, and all roads in and out of Gisborne were closed. Two days later Minister of Rural Communities, Damien O’Connor, classified the storm as a medium-scale adverse event, unlocking $150,000 of immediate government support for farmers and growers, adding to the $175,000
