Harvest Update: 2026 Season in Full Swing
We are now in the thick of the 2026 harvest. Following on form the great spring we had of last year, the weather again has been on our side, providing the warm, dry window needed for harvest.

RMA and Water Issues
Water security remains a top advocacy priority as we move through 2026. On behalf of HBFA, please see Charlotte’s report

• Resource Management Act (RMA): We continue to work closely with the Government and Council to ensure the voice of horticulture is central to the new “Fast-track” consenting frameworks. Our goal is simple: long-term certainty for our growers.
• Water Storage: We are closely monitoring the progress of the Ngaruroro storage proposal and the revitalised Tukituki Water Security Project. Securing reliable water is the only way to future-proof the “Fruit Bowl of New Zealand.”

Upcoming Events & Industry Milestones

• Napier Port Primary Sector Awards Dinner: Celebrating our industry leaders on Thursday, 2 April 2026, at Toitoi. This is now the 6^th year that horticulture has been a part of this event so best of luck to the participants of this year’s Hort industry award
• Young Fruit Grower of the Year 2026: Our regional competition will take place 18–19 June 2026.
• NZAPI EXPO 2026 (Queenstown): Mark your calendars for 22–23 July 2026. This year’s expo has expanded to two full days of technical workshops, specialist sessions and the industry awards evening.
• New Zealand Horticulture Conference (Wellington): The following week HORTNZ have their conference at Tākina, Wellington from 28–29 July 2026. This will be an integrated event combining the main Horticulture and RSE Conferences.
• HBFA Industry Golf Day: May 15^th – keep an eye out for details

Call to Action: Young Fruitgrower of the Year 2026
Applications for the 2026 Hawke’s Bay Young Fruit Grower of the Year are now officially open!

We are looking for the next generation of leaders to step up. If you have a talented young person in your team under the age of 30, encourage them to enter. This competition is about more than just winning; it’s about networking, growth, and professional development.

I want to thank our sponsors and the dedicated HBFA team for their tireless work. To all our growers: stay safe, look out for your teams, and let’s bring this 2026 harvest home.

Kia kaha

Brydon Nisbet

President Hawkes Bay Fruit Growers Association

RMA Update

You may have recently received a letter from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) about a change to your resource consent expiry date. The key points are outlined below.

 What has already happened

• Your previously expired consent has been reinstated and automatically extended to 31 December 2027.
• You do not need to do anything for this extension to apply.

 What you now need to decide

You must decide what to do with the replacement consent application you lodged before your consent was originally due to expire.

You have two options:

• Withdraw the replacement application, or
• Leave the application in place, in which case HBRC will continue to process it (or keep it on hold, if within the TANK Catchment).

 HortNZ guidance

HortNZ recommends the following:

• If your consent is within the TANK Catchments:
  • Do not withdraw your application.
  • Your application will remain on hold until the Environment Court releases its decision on the TANK Plan Change (expected early–mid 2027).
  • No action is required from you at this time.
  • HBRC will contact you after the Court decision to confirm next steps.
• If your consent is outside the TANK Catchments and your activity has not changed since the consent was granted:
  • Withdraw your replacement application.
  • You will need to email HBRC to confirm the withdrawal.

Important notes if you withdraw your application

• Any processing costs incurred to date that exceed the deposit you paid may still be charged (there may be no additional costs).
• You will need to lodge a new replacement consent application before your consent expires in December 2027.

 If you are unsure which option is best for your situation, please contact Charlotte Drury on 027 322 5595 to discuss.

February 2026
As summer came to an end, February kept the region in the continued run of wetter than average conditions seen so
far this year. By the month’s end, regional rainfall totals sat at 124% of the long term average, with Southern Hawke’s
Bay (161%), Northern Hawke’s Bay (144%), and Waikaremoana (140%) all recording well above normal rainfall totals.
River flows across most sites followed this pattern, with some northern and southern catchments registering
particularly high flows. Soil moisture levels also remained above median levels across the region, reflecting the
sustained wet conditions of the past two months. Groundwater levels across the region were assessed as “Normal” for
February, with both the Ruataniwha Plains and Heretaunga Plains recording marked improvement and continuing their
upward trajectory.
Temperatures were near normal across the region, with maximum temperatures sitting 0.3°C above normal and
minimum temperatures 0.41°C above normal. The wet conditions also influenced recreational water quality, with
several sites—particularly central locations—exceeding guideline thresholds throughout the month. Despite this, many
coastal beaches maintained good conditions even with the unsettled weather. Air quality remained excellent
throughout February, with no PM₁₀ exceedances recorded in any of the airsheds.
Nithin Bala Murali
Climate Scientisthttp://Click Here

To read the full environment report see below

Monthly Environmental Report February 2026
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As we know, every season comes with its own specific factors that influence you as growers, and 2026 looks to be no different.

This season in HB started off relatively dry, sunny and warm, with not a lot of frosts or hail. While the wind challenged bees trying to pollinate, and growers trying to spray in spring, generally, it was a smooth start.

Weather windows for chemical thinning were available; trees were generally happy with active shoot growth. Spring had significantly less rainfall than normal and late November soil moisture levels saw the need for irrigation systems to be fired back into life. Sunny warm conditions had very high ET values for October, November and the first half of December.

Mid to late December saw changes to the dry, with rainfall events topping up the soil and putting the irrigation need back on hold. This has continued into the later part of the growing season with ongoing rain events creating little to no need for irrigation for the last few months. Growers that are on the edges of the rivers have seen multiple high flow events top up their soil moisture, despite some of these events not being connected to localised rainfall on the Heretaunga Plains.

The variation in received rainfall across the Heretaunga Plains during events in the 2026 growing season has been vast. Additionally, since the beginning of January there have been 27 days with a maximum temp above 25 degrees making it easy to feel that irrigation applications should be justified. Soil moisture management therefore needs to be assessed using specific data on each block of trees.

What does this all mean for the fruit in the 2026 harvest?

· The good chemical thinning and shoot growth conditions have increased tree vigour. This increases risk for apple leaf curling midge, powdery mildew and Calcium disorders in fruit.

· Carbohydrate has at times been partitioned to excess shoot growth instead of all for fruit growth, this could have a negative impact on fruit size.

· The season length is shorter than 2025 and this would likely give a smaller size than 2025.

· However, in 2026 where fruit has been thinned early and to good fruit numbers this should give a good average size.

· Sunlight and heat levels have been good, however sunburn levels are up in some blocks, especially where summer pruning has overlapped to a following high heat event.

· Fruit colouring conditions have been about normal close to harvest. Where crop loads are excessive or canopy light levels are low, there have still been colour development issues.

· Go date Brix has been a struggle in some varieties, often coupled with low fruit pressures. This is exaggerated in blocks where soil moisture has remained high for the late part of the season, caused either naturally by increased ground water conditions or by over irrigation.

· Fruit quality in 2026 looks to be a mixed bag, highly influenced by the specific seasonal situations of each of the individual blocks.

I believe 2026 season will be remembered as the year that looked good on paper but did not always deliver the final results, block specific factors are having a big bearing on the final fruit quality.

We need to identify what happened this year to each block and then understand what these results might mean for next years crop.

Jonathan Brookes AgFirst HB Ltd

Kia ora

Greetings to all our members and supporters of HBFA

The year has started off in full swing, summer has given us some excellent fine days and so I imagine everyone has had an enjoyable break.

Picking is well underway with Royal Gala strains, Rockit, Piqa®Boo pears to name a few. Early indications show good pressures and SPI’s although as we know these measures can drop very fast especially with the hotter days. Colour development has also been slower due to the heat. This last week has seen a drop in temperature at night which will be great for increased stronger colour.

The 2026 Industry Awards: A Night of Excellence

Early February HBFA in conjunction with EIT and PITO held our 2026 Industry Awards, a highlight of the HBFA calendar. Coming together at the start of the year serves as a vital reminder of the calibre of people we have in our region.

· NZ Diploma in Horticulture Production, Level 5, Fruit Production: 2 graduates

· NZ Diploma in Horticulture Production, Level 5, Post Harvest: 1 graduate.

· NZ Certificate in Horticulture, Level 4, Fruit Production: 17 graduates

· NZ Certificate in Horticulture Production – Level 4 Post Harvest: 1 graduate

The Fred Horrocks Memorial Award is awarded to the topmost outstanding graduates at level 4 – this year’s recipients were Kevin Kooijman from EIT and Laurie-Ann Newton from ITO.

Scholarships

The Hawkes Bay Fruitgrowers Charitable Trust in conjunction with the Horticentre Charitable Trust, provides scholarships to our local students. This year we gave out 19 scholarships to our years 1, 2 and 3 – studying fruit production. We awarded 8 diploma scholarships in fruit production and post-harvest.

There were also 12 HortNZ Industry Trainee Scholarship awarded.

Well, done to all our recipients

The night also consisted of HBFA’s industry awards for 2 categories. 1 – Emerging Achiever Award – This award recognises an individual who has demonstrated their ability to positively impact horticulture and who shows effective, values-driven leadership — strengthening relationships within their workplace, their teams, and across the wider industry. We were pleased to announce the winner of this award went to Malandi Fourie. Assistant manager at T&G Global

2 – Fourneau Award is an accolade that celebrates innovation in the fruit-growing sector—innovation that drives efficiency, enhances sustainability, and improves safety

within our industry – this year’s recipient of the Fourneau Innovation was awarded to Wade Taylor, the owner of Brimar Vegetation Services.

I want to thank all our sponsors and supports who made this night such a success.

We are keeping a close eye on the water allocation situation – Richard Pentreath is a member on the water group and will give us an update in next month’s newsletter. I encourage you to read Charlotte Drury’s update as she is HORTNZ’s representative in this space.

I had time with our newly appointed Mayor Wendy Schollum early in the month to share about what HBFA does, how along we have been around and our concerns namely protecting prime horticultural lands and of course water. By all accounts she seems very supportive and understands the importance that the fruit growing industry contributes to our local economy. I have invited her to speak at our HBFA young grower competition dinner on the 19th of June.

All the best to everyone who grows fruit, stay safe and have a productive and profitable harvest.

Kia kaha Brydon Nisbet

President Hawkes Bay Fruit Growers Associatio

Fundamentals of vigour management

Understanding the cause of your vigour in each block is key to establishing the most effective, cost-efficient management tool.

Back in 2018, the late John Wilton was concerned about the level of vigour seen in intensive plantings having a consequence on bud quality and fruit quality (colour and poor carbohydrate partitioning). 8 years on, and we are having the same conversations! In saying that carbohydrate balancing is key and vigour reduction can be taken too far. Ranking blocks in order of severity can help to prioritise areas for investment.

A useful way to think about vigour management is through the Liebig’s Barrel principle. It reminds us that until the most limiting issue is fixed, everything else is just plugging holes. As an example, fighting vigour using regalis does not fix the underlying issue if the growth is a result of excess Nitrogen. Identifying the cause of excess growth can be tricky with many factors influencing plant growth. To go into them all we would need a few more pages, but to list a few of the most common:

Tree structure –Fruit is the cheapest most rewarding form of vigour management. Does the canopy structure provide enough ’framework’ or ‘metres of fruiting wood’ to comfortably hold the target crop load in singles and/or even doubles (on preferred sites).

Wood texture should also be a consideration. As we have moved to more formal precision systems, the ‘fill a wire’ concept has been followed. This has been absolutely essential to fill the canopy and achieve cumulative yields; however a replacement programme must be implemented to ensure the larger, less fruitful, higher vigour units can be rotated out.

Pruning should focus on balancing carbohydrate. managing excess vigour and setting up high-quality wood for next season. Summer pruning is a highly effective tool for vigour management, but timing and execution will determine the response. E.g. for example, flush cutting when minimal regrowth is required, and stubbing when a stronger response is needed. Summer pruning off a weak/settled/terminated dart is counterintuitive to vigour management, and fruit quality.

Irrigation deficit is an ongoing balancing act that no one has truly mastered. Have your ever heard the saying, “treat ‘em mean keep ‘em keen?”. The first sign of plant stress is vegetative termination. If shoots are still growing, they are more than likely getting sufficient water. This comes back to the fundamentals of irrigation management – where is the active root zone and how is soil moisture behaving at each profile depth.

Combatting the vigour war will not happen overnight, but determining each blocks root cause will aid in making effective, cost-efficient decisions, leading to improved productivity and fruit quality.

Meg Becker