Kiwifruit growers have largely weathered Cyclone Vaianu in good shape, with the industry reporting minimal damage despite less than 24 hours since powerful winds and heavy rain swept across the North Island.
In a conversation with RNZ, Colin Bond from Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated said that he was not aware of any significant damage reported by growers.
One grower in the Bay of Plenty reported losing part of their crop, while others in Northland, Coromandel, Gisborne, and Hawke’s Bay experienced only minor damage. Bond said he remained hopeful the forecast record harvest would still go ahead as expected.
He said the main concern was “wet feet” — prolonged soil saturation — along with wind-driven rubbing damage to the fruit.
“So as the fruit moves on the vine – rubbing against each other – and then making it difficult for that fruit to be sold as an export-quality piece of fruit,” he said.
Bond said there was a risk that some of the fruit may no longer meet top-grade export standards.
“The challenge will be after this wind event, just to make sure that growers can still maximise their pack-outs.”
“We’ll have a process through our post-harvest operators to make sure only the very best fruit gets to market.”
Bond said around five million trays of the red variety had already been packed and shipped, while gold kiwifruit were about 40% through harvest and green kiwifruit only around 10% complete.