Physical Factors
Climate
Several severe spring frosts over the blossom fruit set period in Hawke's Bay devastated this year's summerfruit crop. Only orchards in relatively frost-free areas, such as Bay View, or where good frost protection systems were installed, managed to harvest an economically viable crop.
Weather conditions through most of the harvest period were dry in Hawke's Bay with only 225 mm of rain from September to the end of February, which was very close to average rainfall for the period (see Table 1). Seventy-two percent of this rain fell in the months of September, November and February, with the February rainfall coming mainly at the end of the month when most summerfruit, except Golden Queens, had been harvested.
The dry weather through December, January and most of February enabled the bulk of the fruit to be harvested without brown rot problems, so packouts were better than last year. The early part of the growing season was particularly warm. Consequently, early varieties with a relatively low chilling requirement tended to mature slightly earlier than last year. Main crop and late varieties tended to be later in ripening due to the cooler than normal late spring and summer.
Low winter chilling adversely affected the performance of apricot varieties, such as Sundrop, which require high winter chilling. Its flowering was very delayed and fruit set was poor.
The cold spring gave summerfruit growers some nasty surprises with reduced temperatures and several exceptionally heavy frosts in the -4oC to -7oC range. These frosts were preceded by large masses of dry polar air moving into Central Otago that resulted in late afternoon dew point readings well below zero. This situation results in a rapid temperature drop following sunset and always produces severe frosts that last up to nine hours, stretching frost-fighting systems to the limit. By mid-October any unprotected blocks of fruit had been wiped out and many others sustained considerable losses where systems, especially those relying on diesel frost pots, simply could not cope with the intensity of frost and its duration. Water frost fighting systems faired much better, but even well protected blocks began losing fruitlets after several long nights of well below freezing temperatures.
The flowering period also experienced cold weather which affected pollination, and the air was so cold at times that rain frequently fell as hail. The combined growing degree days for September, October and November were only 73% of the same period in the 2002 year. Below average temperatures featured until the final week in November when the weather began to improve. By the new year a really traditional Central Otago summer was in full swing with endless hot, calm days resulting in vintage summerfruit growing and harvesting conditions.
Table 1: Hawke's Bay Weather Data
2002/03 |
Average |
2002/03 |
Average |
2002/03 |
Average | |
September |
9.5 |
11.3 |
53 |
32 |
107 |
49 |
October |
11.8 |
13.6 |
23 |
24 |
98 |
110 |
November |
13.0 |
14.8 |
54 |
61 |
129 |
147 |
December |
17.3 |
17.2 |
27 |
25 |
229 |
225 |
January |
17.2 |
18.0 |
12 |
56 |
227 |
254 |
February |
17.5 |
18.5 |
56 |
24 |
216 |
222 |
March |
16.6 |
17.2 |
46 |
39 |
207 |
200 |
April |
13.5 |
14.5 |
57 |
86 |
117 |
119 |
Source: NIWA (Whakatu Logger Site)
Table 2: Area Planted in Summerfruit (ha)
Crop |
Hawke's Bay |
Otago |
National | |||
1994 |
2002 |
1994 |
2002 |
1994 |
2002 | |
Peaches |
300 |
500 |
100 |
100 |
700 |
800 |
Nectarines |
300 |
200 |
200 |
200 |
700 |
500 |
Apricots |
200 |
200 |
500 |
400 |
800 |
600 |
Cherries |
* |
* |
100 |
300 |
300 |
600 |
Plums# |
135 |
95 |
95 |
100 |
340 |
408 |
Source: Statistics New Zealand 2002 Agricultural Production Census
* Cherry data not available for Hawke's Bay.
# Plum data not included in the 2002 Agricultural Production Census, so estimates based on previous farm monitoring reports.
Production
Hawke's Bay summerfruit production was well down, and estimated to be only about 35% of a normal crop. There was a massive range between individual growers depending on whether they had good frost protection or not. Many growers with no frost protection lost their entire crop. With good frost protection, crops were similar to last year. Plums were less affected than other summerfruit.
Central Otago growers interviewed for this review generally agreed that summerfruit production for the 2003 season was about 70% of a normal crop. This was caused by a number of factors including:
- direct blossom or fruitlet death from frosts;
- pollination failure during cold weather conditions;
- removal of older varieties that often stand cold conditions better; and
- the inability of some frost protection systems to cope with severe events.
The good news for the growers, who still had reasonable crops, was that there was very little hand thinning required. Hand thinning is a very expensive operation and occurs at a time when growers' cash flows are under considerable pressure. The other immediate advantage of the light crop of 2003 was the increase in average fruit size, which is important as larger fruit attracts a premium price and costs less to handle. The lighter crop also left the markets in an under-supply situation and this was reflected in returns to the growers that were considerably higher than the previous season.
Nationally, the 2002/03 season was the lowest summerfruit export crop for at least a decade, with only 1,967 tonnes exported (Table 3). Although cherry exports were up 42% last year at 712 tonnes, all other summerfruit exports were well down, particularly plums, peaches and nectarines due to the much lower volumes and very high prices available on the local market.
The 2002/03 season in Hawke's Bay produced the smallest process peach crop since the 1950s due to the major spring frosts. Golden Queen peaches were 80% down on a normal crop. No nectarines were available for processing this year, but there was a normal supply of plums.
Heinz needs to maintain process peach production capability at similar levels to recent years. They see an opportunity for increased supply of both nectarines and plums. A 5-7 year strategic plan for their process fruit supply is being developed with the view to demonstrating leadership and lifting the profile of peaches, nectarines and plums as a process crop.
Competition with the local fresh market and high levels of pre-harvest fruit drop were additional factors in the low supplies of process fruit this year.
Wattie 1, a recently introduced yellow-fleshed, earlier ripening variety from the Tatura breeding programme in Australia, is not cropping well in Hawke's Bay, so is failing to fulfil the objective of spreading the harvest season for process peaches. The industry is testing further promising varieties and is also considering spreading its production base beyond the Heretaunga Plains in order to spread risk and the harvest season.
Apricot processing, which is a dwindling outlet for mostly second grade fruit, continues to suffer from low returns that went down to 74 c/kg this year, considered to be well below the cost of production. Most blocks of apricots destined for processing have been removed as processors struggle to compete with cheaper imported product and cannot offer a viable price to growers.
Table 3: Summerfruit Export Volume (tonnes)
1997/98 |
1998/99 |
1999/2000 |
2000/01 |
2001/02 |
2002/03 | |
Cherries |
643 |
469 |
444 |
612 |
503 |
712 |
Apricots |
638 |
1 407 |
2 019 |
1 362 |
1 784 |
1 196 |
Nectarines |
850 |
726 |
594 |
249 |
177 |
45 |
Peaches |
120 |
133 |
173 |
66 |
9 |
5 |
Plums |
13 |
27 |
53 |
34 |
56 |
9 |
Total |
2 264 |
2 762 |
3 283 |
2 323 |
2 529 |
1 967 |
Source: Summerfruit NZ Incorporated
Contact for Enquiries
Farm Monitoring Programme Manager
Monitoring and Evaluation
MAF Policy
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0623
Fax: +64 4 894 0741
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