Kia ora koutou,
The Industry Awards Night was a fantastic celebration of students achievements, and we were proud to see EIT students at all levels gain scholarships, and graduate, as well as see their managers be acknowledged on stage. Our thanks to the HBFA management team for organising such a professional, enjoyable night for our students.
Our Taradale campus is slowly getting repaired with several buildings, including R block, back in commission. It will be a while before the library and study areas are available for students, which is unfortunate.
All three years of the Hort trainee program have started, with the first years completing tractors, second years starting weeds and weather and third years, studying Level 4 horticulture, starting with compliance. We have good numbers for all courses, but will open up years one and two after harvest for a late intake, as per previous years. It was great to get industry support to push through discounted fees for 2024, and for employers to still receive the Apprenticeship Boost funding for this year. If you have any questions, please contact Clare or Steven.
The first class in the Fruit Production Diploma is a research project, which enables the students to fully consider all aspects of trial work in the orchard. They have already locked in their ideas for their trial and are working on their aims, background of theory and methodology. We have ideas ranging from the effect of summer pruning/reflective cloth on harvest parameters/size, as well as light interception.
The students goals are to produce a final report with a research poster and to present their project to their fellow students and some industry representatives. It will be a challenge; but it will expand their confidence and understanding. We can’t wait to see the end result and the presentations in August.
The Level 5 fruit production 2024 program has started, however we welcome students at any time during the year, so there is still time to complete courses this year. Post Harvest Level 5 will start in July, anyone interested please contact Chris cthorman@eit.ac.nz
Noho ora mai,
Clare, Chris and Steven
As we are all aware harvest is the last time growers get to really maximise the results for the year.
The fruit on the trees is what it is, but harvest management still provides opportunities to chase fruit value, and different harvest decisions that can make or lose money.
A key perspective to have during harvest is looking at each variety and block on its own merits and challenges, alongside understanding the bigger picture of the entire orchard.
The range in fruit value for most individual varieties is significant, and in many apple varieties it can be over $20 per carton range in export fruit returns from least preferred to most preferred. This value difference is driven from the fruit availability for market access, preferred fruit size for markets, fruit colour or harvest maturity specifications, however not all of these are as financially important in every variety or even every marketer.
Growers need to know the harvest parameters that really matter to your bottom line in your orchard blocks.
Should you look to delay harvest and take an increase in fruit size and potential red coloration?
Or is early fruit with fantastic storage and eating specifications the key to get the best out of the block?
What is the correct number of picks in your block to optimize results?
Does the block justify specific field grading to remove pests or disease that could be a market access issue? Or should you just tidy up quality issues to decrease post harest costs?
Does your harvest plan show peak demand where getting bogged down could be an issue?
Focus on where you have the greatest ability to maximise your profitability. Some variety block warrant extra effort and potential cost, some do not.
Once you have the block harvest specifics you need to ensure your harvest quality teams are focused in these specific areas (field grading, fruit size, colour, maturity). To do it, you must set up specific, clear and deliverable rules to the pickers that allow them to carry out their jobs as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Harvest is the busiest time on an orchard, with ongoing decision making needing to be done on a daily basis. Be sure to keep focused on looking for opportunities to maximise results for this harvest. Identify and record what has worked well, as well as identifying what could be done better for your blocks in the future. Good management brings good luck.
Jonathan Brookes
Agfirst Consultants (HB) Ltd
Technology is developing at a rapid rate, especially in our horticultural industry. Over the last year I have been researching, testing and developing tools that will help growers farm with precision in an affordable way.
You would’ve seen a number of maps like these below, whether it be blossom density, canopy density, tree height or fruit number, all of which give you data at a tree level allowing you to get accurate representation of a block. Different growers have different appetite for the level of granularity they will manage to. Some like to identify the problem areas, some use the data to representatively position scouting trees and some use variable rate sprayer technology to apply chemical thinners and/or PGR’s to only the trees that need it.
Below is a 7th leaf vigorous block of Envy(TM), one that is ready for its first year of growth suppressant. However, not every tree needs it. With ground truthing using geolocated maps you can identify at what level to turn the sprayer off, download the prescription map like the one below, plug it into the sprayer and you’re away. Using the example below, you’d be reducing your chemical output by 30% and reducing the variability within the block.
Growers also use these maps to quantify the proportion of each vigour category across a block to calculate a better yield estimate, direct fruit counters, leaf samplers and consultant visits.
With data comes opportunity and often the opportunity to farm more accurately. It’s a question of how you use the data to fit with your business and your processes. We are coming into the vigour mapping season so if you’re wanting to start in the precision line of management, give me a call.
Jack Wilson
Agfirst Consultants (HB) Ltd
To put it simply, November was wet and gave us a wetter than usual spring overall. Northern Hawke’s Bay bore the brunt of the month’s rain, recording a whopping 400% of average November rainfall. The only area falling within the normal range was the Ruahine Range.
It has left us with ample water resources to start summer. River flows were above average for the time of year, the same goes for groundwater levels and soil moisture ended November at field capacity. Cloudiness subdued daytime temperatures, which were below average for November, but nights were almost a degree warmer than usual.
The El Niño rocks on and is expected to last out summer. No two events ever seem the same and play out differently. We got plenty of spring rain from this one, helped along by warmer than usual seas around us and western tropical waters. Not much has changed there and not much has changed in the predicted pressure pattern for the next three months. It sees higher than usual pressure extending across northern New Zealand and lower than average pressure south of the country. This still suggests a bias towards westerly winds.
A westerly flow still holds the risk of drying us out, particularly with temperatures likely to be above average. But given how things have panned out to date and warm seas have persisted, near normal rain could well result. Christmas Day is looking very warm but showery for most of our region. Regardless of the weather, here’s wishing everyone a very festive, fun day after a very tough year.
Percentage of Normal Rainfall
Dr Kathleen Kozyniak
Principal Scientist Air
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
It that time for analysing and pondering for many people, though perhaps not for summerfruit growers. Thinking back through the year, it is the people that have made this one memorable. It most certainly has also been memorable for the weather but that has been commented on often enough. Inside the Summerfruit NZ team, we said goodbye to Andrea and welcomed Raj to the core team. Then Andrea came back in the new Horticulture Executive Services Limited (HESL) setup. The continued association with Sally Anderson as R&D Manager and being thankful for Kate Hellstrom’s leadership are right up there too.
Summerfruit NZ’s involvement in A-Lighter-Touch (ALT) brings us into contact with passionate people from other product groups, which then flows onto shared solutions. With ALT, we have developed new agchem products and have more in the pipeline. I am now thinking about orchard floors in a different way because of the understory project.
Being part of the Future Orchard Production Systems (FOPS) stakeholder group brings us deeper contacts with some of the people at Plant & Food Research (PFR), which benefits the industry in the long term, as well as in this project.
The new lead entomologist at PFR Hastings joined one of my walk arounds earlier in the year. We are now involved in research projects where we might have been overlooked previously. The Agchem manufacturers and retailers’ reps continue to be a significant part of keeping the industry running and I thank them for being open to answering my silly questions. The Summerfruit NZ R&D programme is now stronger than it has been for a few years, not just because there are a few more dollars available as well as the stronger relationships with a broad range of intelligent motivated people.
Cyclone Gabrielle’s effects don’t need to be highlighted again but it has led to some positive outcomes, with product groups sharing knowledge and resources, then acting in a coordinated manner. The HAG, or the Horticulture Advisory Group, is now seen as a go to group in Hawke’s Bay for regional and national bodies to consult with. This model could be rolled out to other districts with the involvement of local fruit and vegetable growers associations. After Gabrielle, I took up the offer of office space with the good people at NZ Apples & Pears and now consider them colleagues, which directly and indirectly benefits the summerfruit industry.
It has been a big year for Summerfruit NZ. I think we have pretty much done what needed to be done. Now we trust that the sun will shine on your trees and that there will be some yummy summerfruit for summer.
Richard Mills
Summerfruit Technical Advisor
021 632559
Kia ora koutou,
All classes are now completed for 2023. Classes will be starting again for 2024 in January, and students will be notified by text. Several buildings at EIT Taradale are still out of commission making timetabling difficult, however, the majority of classes will be at the Taradale campus in 2024.
If you are thinking of any training in 2024, please get in touch with Clare ASAP.
The level 5 2024 Fruit production program will be running from Wednesday the 24th of January at the Hastings Campus. The first paper will be the Research topic paper where students learn how to plan and manage a research program of their own. This paper is designed to expand the students knowledge so they have the tools to evaluate and analyse a planned trial on orchard.
Due to the harvest season there are only two days teaching in January and early February and then the program breaks until the 1st of May.
Applications should be sent to nhartley@eit.ac.nz
Wishing you all a peaceful and relaxing holiday-time.
Noho ora mai,
Clare, Chris and Steven
In a nutshell, ‘Actual and Reasonable’ use is a maximum annual volume that will be specified on the water permit that the regional council is currently processing, and that number cannot be more than the volume specified on your expiring water permit, or a smaller amount if you applied for less water AND if either of these numbers are available, the smaller of these numbers then the maximum annual volume of water taken and recorded by an accurate water meter between May 2010 and May 2020; or for irrigation takes, the crop water requirement calculated using IRRICALC (which assumes 80% efficiency and a 95% reliability of supply).
So what does that mean in practice?
Irrigators that don’t have accurate water meter data from 2010-2020 will likely be allocated the smallest volume of water, of either what their expiring consent allowed, or the crop water demand calculated by IRRICALC. You can access it here: Irrigation Requirements (mycatchment.info)
Growers whose maximum annual water use between May 2010 and 2020 is less than the crop water demand calculated by IRRICALC, would likely be allocated the maximum annual volume taken.
Some growers may not be allocated the same volume of water they have been previously. Below are some examples of what your numbers could look like, and what that could mean for the volume of water you are allocated in your new water permit:
Why is this happening now?
Despite repeated requests from the Primary Sector to delay this until after Christmas when more support will be available to help everyone work through this, and what it means for them, HBRC have chosen to push ahead with this. Apparently, they are getting multiple requests to hurry up and make progress, and now that they have the information and a system for providing it, they believe the most transparent and useful thing they can do is to get it out to people as soon as they can.
What happens if I don’t agree with my actual and reasonable volume?
You need to go back to the council and explain why you don’t think your volume is appropriate. You don’t have to do this straight away, but when you do, you will need to explain why you think a bigger volume is appropriate in your case, and you will need to provide some evidence to explain/support the bigger volume. There will be many different scenarios, but here are a few to help start people’s thinking about reasons why they could potentially justify a bigger volume than the actual and reasonable number:
* Have you changed your crop/s and now grow crops that require more water?
* Did you have an old orchard and have redeveloped part/all of it, so have younger trees which require more water?
* Have you installed soil moisture monitoring equipment and use that information to guide your irrigation?
* Did you have telemetry installed early in the 2010s? There were some issues with data transfer between some of the early water meters and telemetry units that were installed. Water meters were accurate, but data recorded by the telemetry unit was in some cases an order of magnitude more (those were picked up by HBRC) but some may also be an order of magnitude less. If you think this might have impacted your water record, request your detailed water meter record from HBRC if you don’t have it easily accessible yourself and look to see if anything stands out as being odd.
* If you were impacted by the cyclone, council has indicated that they are willing to delay the impact of any reduction in water allocation. 3 years is the time period they have indicated they may be willing to delay. If this would help you, you would need to explain why – for example, your orchard has been removed, you have planted process crops as won’t be able to get rootstock for at least 3 years, so need to retain your full allocation.
Something to also be aware of is that Council has indicated that if you do not accept the actual and reasonable volume they have calculated that your application will be publicly notified, which will increase the consent processing cost compared an application that is not notified.
What happens if I am not sure if my number is ok?
Sit on it. Council won’t do anything until they hear back from you either way, so there is no rush to decide. Talk to people about it – neighbours etc who are going through the same process, industry people, product group people, the council. Ask questions and get as much information as you can to enable you to make an informed decision.
If I accept my number, what consent term am I likely to get?
Council has indicated that it is likely to be 10 years, but there will be exceptions to this.
If I am happy with my proposed allocation what should I do?
Email the council on waterpermits@hbrc.govt.nz and confirm that you are happy with your actual and reasonable volume. Request draft consent conditions before your permit is issued so that you can see the whole proposed consent – all of the conditions, consent duration etc so that you know exactly what you are agreeing to. Council has indicated that these applications will be processed non-notified, so they will just need to work through their internal process, and then your consent would be granted.
HBRC contact information
You can ring through and ask to speak to a Consents Officer about your Heretaunga Plains water take. The mainline is 06 835 9200. You can also email waterpermits@hbrc.govt.nz. And there is also FAQs and some further information on the website www.hbrc.govt.nz and then in the search box type #HPwatertake FAQ
In a nutshell, ‘Actual and Reasonable’ use is a maximum annual volume that will be specified on the water permit that the regional council is currently processing, and that number cannot be more than the volume specified on your expiring water permit, or a smaller amount if you applied for less water AND if either of these numbers are available, the smaller of these numbers then the maximum annual volume of water taken and recorded by an accurate water meter between May 2010 and May 2020; or for irrigation takes, the crop water requirement calculated using IRRICALC (which assumes 80% efficiency and a 95% reliability of supply).
So what does that mean in practice?
Irrigators that don’t have accurate water meter data from 2010-2020 will likely be allocated the smallest volume of water, of either what their expiring consent allowed, or the crop water demand calculated by IRRICALC. You can access it here: Irrigation Requirements (mycatchment.info)
Growers whose maximum annual water use between May 2010 and 2020 is less than the crop water demand calculated by IRRICALC, would likely be allocated the maximum annual volume taken.
Some growers may not be allocated the same volume of water they have been previously. Below are some examples of what your numbers could look like, and what that could mean for the volume of water you are allocated in your new water permit:
Why is this happening now?
Despite repeated requests from the Primary Sector to delay this until after Christmas when more support will be available to help everyone work through this, and what it means for them, HBRC have chosen to push ahead with this. Apparently, they are getting multiple requests to hurry up and make progress, and now that they have the information and a system for providing it, they believe the most transparent and useful thing they can do is to get it out to people as soon as they can.
What happens if I don’t agree with my actual and reasonable volume?
You need to go back to the council and explain why you don’t think your volume is appropriate. You don’t have to do this straight away, but when you do, you will need to explain why you think a bigger volume is appropriate in your case, and you will need to provide some evidence to explain/support the bigger volume. There will be many different scenarios, but here are a few to help start people’s thinking about reasons why they could potentially justify a bigger volume than the actual and reasonable number:
* Have you changed your crop/s and now grow crops that require more water?
* Did you have an old orchard and have redeveloped part/all of it, so have younger trees which require more water?
* Have you installed soil moisture monitoring equipment and use that information to guide your irrigation?
* Did you have telemetry installed early in the 2010s? There were some issues with data transfer between some of the early water meters and telemetry units that were installed. Water meters were accurate, but data recorded by the telemetry unit was in some cases an order of magnitude more (those were picked up by HBRC) but some may also be an order of magnitude less. If you think this might have impacted your water record, request your detailed water meter record from HBRC if you don’t have it easily accessible yourself and look to see if anything stands out as being odd.
* If you were impacted by the cyclone, council has indicated that they are willing to delay the impact of any reduction in water allocation. 3 years is the time period they have indicated they may be willing to delay. If this would help you, you would need to explain why – for example, your orchard has been removed, you have planted process crops as won’t be able to get rootstock for at least 3 years, so need to retain your full allocation.
Something to also be aware of is that Council has indicated that if you do not accept the actual and reasonable volume they have calculated that your application will be publicly notified, which will increase the consent processing cost compared an application that is not notified.
What happens if I am not sure if my number is ok?
Sit on it. Council won’t do anything until they hear back from you either way, so there is no rush to decide. Talk to people about it – neighbours etc who are going through the same process, industry people, product group people, the council. Ask questions and get as much information as you can to enable you to make an informed decision.
If I accept my number, what consent term am I likely to get?
Council has indicated that it is likely to be 10 years, but there will be exceptions to this.
If I am happy with my proposed allocation what should I do?
Email the council on waterpermits@hbrc.govt.nz and confirm that you are happy with your actual and reasonable volume. Request draft consent conditions before your permit is issued so that you can see the whole proposed consent – all of the conditions, consent duration etc so that you know exactly what you are agreeing to. Council has indicated that these applications will be processed non-notified, so they will just need to work through their internal process, and then your consent would be granted.
HBRC contact information
You can ring through and ask to speak to a Consents Officer about your Heretaunga Plains water take. The mainline is 06 835 9200. You can also email waterpermits@hbrc.govt.nz. And there is also FAQs and some further information on the website www.hbrc.govt.nz and then in the search box type #HPwatertake FAQ
Many of you will have now received an email from HBRC outlining what they have calculated to be your Actual and Reasonable volume, which they propose would be the volume imposed on your replacement water permit. Many of you will have got a nasty surprise when you saw these volumes.
Our advice to you is as follows:
If you do not agree with the council’s actual and reasonable volume calculation, let the council know that you do not. The following wording could be used in your email to the council at this email address: waterpermits@hbrc.govt.nz.
The suggested wording is:
“The water volume proposed in your letter will not allow me to continue to grow. I consider the estimated Actual and Reasonable Use volume for my take to be inaccurate and by the end of April 2024 I will provide information that demonstrates that a greater volume is both appropriate and necessary in my case.”
Please contact and advise Charlotte Drury of your situation/volumes by emailing her on charlotte@viewconsult.co.nz
This will help us to know who has issues so we can ensure that you have help where needed, fully understand the scale of the issue, and will also allow the likes of HortNZ, HAG, NZAPI etc to push back on the council on your behalf.
We are planning to have a meeting/s in January to facilitate discussion from affected growers, help answer any questions, provide advice that could be useful to contest the council’s suggested volume.
If you are happy with the council’s actual and reasonable volume calculation, then let Council know that, but ask to see a full set of draft consent conditions before your permit is issued so that you can see exactly what you will get – the conditions, consent duration etc
Any queries, please get in touch with Charlotte Drury on 027 3225595 or someone from your organisation
Many of you will have now received an email from HBRC outlining what they have calculated to be your Actual and Reasonable volume, which they propose would be the volume imposed on your replacement water permit. Many of you will have got a nasty surprise when you saw these volumes.
Our advice to you is as follows:
If you do not agree with the council’s actual and reasonable volume calculation, let the council know that you do not. The following wording could be used in your email to the council at this email address: waterpermits@hbrc.govt.nz.
The suggested wording is:
“The water volume proposed in your letter will not allow me to continue to grow. I consider the estimated Actual and Reasonable Use volume for my take to be inaccurate and by the end of April 2024 I will provide information that demonstrates that a greater volume is both appropriate and necessary in my case.”
Please contact and advise Charlotte Drury of your situation/volumes by emailing her on charlotte@viewconsult.co.nz
This will help us to know who has issues so we can ensure that you have help where needed, fully understand the scale of the issue, and will also allow the likes of HortNZ, HAG, NZAPI etc to push back on the council on your behalf.
We are planning to have a meeting/s in January to facilitate discussion from affected growers, help answer any questions, provide advice that could be useful to contest the council’s suggested volume.
If you are happy with the council’s actual and reasonable volume calculation, then let Council know that, but ask to see a full set of draft consent conditions before your permit is issued so that you can see exactly what you will get – the conditions, consent duration etc
Any queries, please get in touch with Charlotte Drury on 027 3225595 or someone from your organisation
