COVID-19 blues

COVID-19

BLUES

Words by Elaine Fisher

The blue harvest was all but over when New Zealand went into Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown in March, but the industry didn’t completely escape the impacts of the restrictions.

“Because of the reduction in passenger flights, on which export fruit goes as cargo, the cost of airfreight tripled in some cases,” says Ben Bell, operations manager of Tauranga based BerryCo. “Fortunately picking of the last of the fruit was permitted as we were classed as an essential service, which meant we could continue to supply the domestic market. However, a lot of airfreight to Asia, Singapore and Thailand in particular got cancelled.” Ben says in New Zealand, most varieties of blueberries are picked between August and January with only a few of BerryCo’s growers of late varieties harvesting after lockdown. BerryCo’s licensed growers, who between them have around 80ha in the fruit, are mainly in the Bay of Plenty, Northland, Waikato and Gisborne regions. Dan Peach, chair of Blueberries New Zealand (which has around 100 members), estimates only about 15% of the national blueberry crop was harvested under lockdown. “In my own case, we were 80% harvested, while other growers had picked up to 95% of their crops,” says Dan, of Oakberry Farms Ltd in the Waikato. “Finding enough airfreight space for blueberries going to Australia was problematic in the first couple of weeks and it got really expensive to send to Asia.”

Left: Dan Peach, of Oakberry Farms Ltd in the Waikato is the chair of Blueberries New Zealand Right: Blueberries growing under cover

During the initial days of Level 4 lockdown Dan says many growers reported a drop in the number of staff reporting to work.

Once people could see that safety protocols were in place for hygiene and contact tracing, most felt more comfortable about going to work.

Dan says many Blueberries New Zealand growers are worried about the future impacts of Covid-19 on their businesses. “While there does appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel now, I think the next two to three years could be challenging, including because of the increase in the number of hectares planted in blueberries and the rising cost of labour.” However, Dan also says the industry has an advantage in producing a ‘superfood’ packed with nutrients which health conscious consumers are seeking. “Anyone producing whole food is in a good space right now, but that’s not automatically a licence to print money. Growers need to be smart and able to adapt to new challenges.”