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STATE OF EMERGENCY: CANTERBURY FLOODS Words by Heather Woods
In the days leading up to 30 and 31 May 2021, MetService had issued a red alert weather warning for much of Canterbury. As growers and farmers did what they could to prepare crops, livestock and property, it was unclear just how extreme, dangerous and business-breaking the event would be. Then it started raining. The rivers rose rapidly, and what followed was an onslaught of water the like of which many had never seen. As banks burst and fields became lakes, local councils and Civil Defence Emergency Management worked under a ‘State of Emergency’ response helping communities cut off by flooded roads, and restoring key supply routes that had been closed off by broken bridges. Looking back on what was a wetand-wild few days, we spoke to growers from around the region who were on the front line.
Wind was the other factor, with vegetables like spring onions – which now have a nice bend to them – looking different from usual when they hit the supermarket shelf Expecting more than a few drowned potatoes In Southbridge, about 60km south of Christchurch central, Oakley’s Premium Fresh Vegetables was fortunate to only see around 70mm of rain fall on their main growing area. The ground coped well with the extra water. Their other two growing locations saw 130mm and 160mm respectively, so they’re expecting to find more than a few drowned potatoes in the crops still in the ground. Robin Oakley, founder and managing director of Oakley’s, said there will be a knock-on effect in the form of nutrient leaching and the effects of waterlogged soil in the crops still growing for winter and spring harvest. He would also expect a lot worse from another high-rainfall event in the short term. Robin considers them lucky that it wasn’t worse, and that those located by rivers that breached their banks likely experienced worse flooding across their properties.
26 NZGROWER : JULY 2021
The biggest impact was the effect on nutrients and fertiliser levels lost to the flood water that would have otherwise nourished the plants Leaching is just as important as the water damage. In the Lincoln area of Selwyn, Allen Lim at Jade Garden says they estimate that somewhere between 160mm and 200 millimetres of rain fell. With the soil pretty dry, that was a lot of water to deal with in such a short timeframe. Luckily, they didn’t see any infrastructure damage, but it certainly made the paddocks super muddy and difficult to get machinery into. But they were lucky in that there’s no river close by; they mostly saw ponding. For Jade Garden, though, this is the main growing season, so everything is currently in the ground. And while the volume of water was one issue to deal with, Allen is more concerned with leaching and their cap.
RAINFALL AT ALLEN LIM AT JADE GARDEN
160mm – 200mm IN THE LINCOLN AREA OF SELWYN
RAINFALL AT OAKLEY’S PREMIUM FRESH VEGETABLES, 3 GROWING LOCATIONS 70MM
SOUTHBRIDGE 130MM
OTHER
160MM
OTHER
