The rain keeps coming and the number of our rainfall sites recording their highest annual total is steadily increasing. November totals were double the month’s average in the north of the region but a more modest 33% higher on the Heretaunga Plains. There were thunderstorms aplenty, helped along by temperatures that were firing on all cylinders – overnight temperatures an impressive 2.5°C above average. Soil temperatures were warmer than usual and finished the month on 20°C on the Plains. River flows were generously above average during November and both groundwater and soil moisture levels followed suit.
Thankfully we’ve ditched one of the two protagonists. The negative Indian Ocean Dipole event is no more and has returned to neutral mode. The La Niña should, fingers crossed, follow the same path towards the end of summer. The start of February, when I take my holidays, would be ideal. In the meantime, expect an unchanged pattern of weather, namely higher than normal sea level pressure over southern New Zealand and lower than normal to the north, more easterlies than usual and most likely normal or above normal rainfall and temperatures. Here’s hoping we all have a great Christmas break and a break from the rain.
Percentage of Normal Rainfall
Dr Kathleen Kozyniak
Principal Scientist Air
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
This award recognises innovation in the fruit growing sector, which contributes to improved efficiency, sustainability or safety in the fruit growing community. The trophy itself represents the linkage between “man, fruit and innovation” and was created in memory of Kevin Fourneau and donated to the Association by the Fourneau Family.
This trophy is only awarded when applications meet the criteria:
The winner will be announced at the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association Industry Awards Night on February 2nd 2023.
The deadline for nominations is midday on December 13 2022.
Nomination forms can be obtained by emailing manager@hbfa.co.nz
This year HBFACT and Horticentre Charitable Trust are funding three horticulture scholarship categories – Level 3/4, Diploma and Degree.
These scholarships are provided to encourage individuals domiciled in Hawke’s Bay to undertake further education or training in horticulture subjects relevant to pipfruit, summerfruit and kiwifruit. Studies can be through a University, Polytech or with other NZQA accredited providers. It is hoped that scholarship recipients will ultimately seek employment in Hawke’s Bay and pass on the benefits of their learning to the Hawke’s Bay community.
For more information and to apply, please visit
The Emerging Achiever Award recognises an up-and-coming individual who has positively influenced others in their workplace and has demonstrated qualities and outcomes that has positively impacted the business.
The recipient of this award will have worked in the kiwifruit, pipfruit or summerfruit sector for less than 10 years, whilst living and working in Hawke’s Bay.
The candidate must be nominated by a HBFA member (company, grower or business) and demonstrates a keen ability to positively impact horticulture by influencing others in a positive way.
Nomination Criteria:
The nominee must be working full-time and employed in the kiwifruit, pipfruit or summerfruit sector for less than 10 years
Nominees are eligible to win the award one time only
There is no age limit for nominees
Nominees must live and work in Hawke’s Bay
The recipient will be selected by the HBFA Awards Committee
Nominations must be received by 5pm, 12 December 2022.
The winner of this award will be announced at the HBFA Industry Awards Night on 2nd February 2023
Please email the completed nomination form to manager@hbfa.co.nz
The form can be access by clicking on the following Link: Emerging Achiever Nomination Form 2023
Kia ora koutou,
Our year is drawing to a close, with final classes this month for all years. The first years will be in for a Taster Day to get a picture of what study will look like next year – they have become familiar with a lot of small group practicals but next year, classes are very different, with a bigger theory component, and assessment work that has to be completed away from EIT. Next year we will be asking students to use our Record of Work App to capture evidence of their practical work, and hope that this is a step towards students using more digital tools as they progress at EIT, as well as making some assessment work more achievable.
Level 3 Fruit Production have one more class for Irrigation, and Level 4 have their final Growing Environment class. There are two more tutorials to help students complete their assessments. We need to confirm by 18th November whether students are going to complete everything this year . . . . please discuss this with them and let us know..
L5 fruit production are working through the second labour management assessment which considers the labour resources needed for an orchard season, how to recruit, train and manage. Some level 5 students will be presenting their research project this week. Some great ideas around pruning, shading and harvest quality. They are all feeling the challenge of speaking to group of people.
The Post Harvest students had an informative visit to Compac, hosted by Derek Batchelor. Its great to get out and meet a range of people involved in the packing industry.
Next year there will be fees. Each employer has a different way to manage this. If you are covering these fees, then an Employer Declaration must be completed and returned. These will be sent through to HR and yourselves in the next week. It is important students know what their situation is regarding paying fees, as they need to complete this on their enrolments, so please have this discussion with them.
Wishing you a successful, low stress thinning season.
Noho ora mai, from EIT
I want to start this month’s report with a huge congratulations to Regan Judd – sector manager for T&G, for winning the prestigious “Young Horticulturist of the Year” award last week. The event was held in Auckland and involved 7 outstanding individuals from all aspects of Horticulture who had each won their respective regional finals. It has been a 17 year wait for HB to win this event since Dean Astill in 2005.
Regan’s national success is testament not only to his ability but also his resilience and hard work – he is a 2x winner of the Hawke’s Bay Young Fruitgrower of the Year (2019/21). We hope that his success will inspire other young people currently employed in our local industry to put their names forward for this event which has now been running for 17 years since it was established by the association in 2005 (Dean Astill was the inaugural winner).
As I’ve touched on previously, HBFA is committed to supporting the industry to access labour – this is no easy task in a climate of record low unemployment. In early November the association led the “Pick the Bay” job expo at Tōmoana Showgrounds. This event was exceptionally well supported by employers with 23 exhibitors in attendance. While jobseeker turnout was underwhelming, it was a definitive and poignant example of the efforts our industry is putting in to attract local labour and I commend those of you who attended.
It is interesting to note that 65% of Jobseekers surveyed at Pick The Bay have never worked in horticulture before, and the same percentage were interested in receiving ongoing training and making a career from the industry. This supports the potential opportunity that exists to identify future permanent staff from your seasonal workforce.
The development of pathways for young people to enter the industry remains a key area of focus for the association. We are proactively feeding into HortNZ’s review of how the industry delivers career progression initiatives and will be advocating strongly for more investment and support to position fruitgrowing as a viable career option.
We have had a challenging spring with record rainfall in most areas. I’m hearing of ongoing issues relating to tractors, sprayers & mowers getting stuck down rows – surely things must dry our soon!
Along with crazy weather, the industry is dealing with several unique challenges spanning from staff shortages to regulatory hurdles and poor returns – it’s no wonder some people are feeling overwhelmed. We have a responsibility as an association to support the wellbeing of our members which is why we are getting behind is Mates4Life. This is a suicide awareness and prevention programme that is being delivered to workplaces and organisations across Hawke’s Bay. We are keen to build a wide network of support persons or “safety aiders”. These will be trained volunteers who will make themselves available to support anyone who feels the need to chat to someone they can trust. If you are interested in learning more about Mates4Life or would like to put yourself forward for training, please contact Dean Smith on either 027 233 9900 or manager@hbfa.co.nz
On a more positive note, early this month HBFA held our annual fishing competition – this is always a great event and I want to thank all our sponsors who give generously to make this such an outstanding occasion in our calendar. I’m advised that this year’s event attracted over 100 anglers, over 60 of whom went home with a prize.
The 2023 harvest season is now just around the corner and one thing I know after all my years in this industry is that you never get two seasons the same. I’m therefore looking forward to a great harvest for our region, with good weather, plenty of available labour and sustainable prices for our produce!
All the best,
Brydon Nisbet
HBFA President
Four things are covered in this months RMA update – TANK, the WCO decision, changes to the RMA, and replacement water permit applications
Update on TANK proceedings
In addition to our (HortNZ’s) appeal, there were fifteen other appeals lodged on the TANK decision. The appeals generally came from the ‘usual’ parties – Forest and Bird, Federated Farmers, Winegrowers, as well as a number of tangata whenua organisations and primary producers (e.g. Heinz Watties and T&G Global).
Some of the appeals are quite specific and limited in the parts of the decision they appeal, while others, such as that of Forest and Bird, are very wide ranging. Copies of all the appeals can be found here on the Council website: TANK Decision & Appeals | Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (hbrc.govt.nz)
The next step in the process is the opportunity for any submitter (or appellant) to join any of the parties as a s274 party – the reasons that you might do this is either if you support what the appellant is seeking, or if you oppose it. Becoming a s274 party means that you are part of any discussions to resolve the appeal. We (HortNZ) are likely to join most of the appeals as a s274 party – some of them because we agree with what the appellants have asked for, and in other cases, where we strongly disagree with what they have asked for. Section 274 notices have to be lodged by Wednesday 16 November. Once this happens, then the Environment Court will understand how many parties are going to be involved, and they can start to make a plan about how things will proceed. Generally mediation is the first step, to see if some of the appeals can be resolved through discussions. It seems unlikely that anything will happen before the end of this year.
In terms of impacts on your day to day operations as growers, the Council needs to give weight to the TANK decisions when processing applications – I expect this will be particularly relevant in terms of them considering ‘actual and reasonable use’. If you have used all of your allocation in 10 years 2010-2020, and you have water meter data to show that, then you shouldn’t have much to worry about. If you haven’t used your allocation, then you will need to put a bit of effort in to explaining this in any replacement water take application – why didn’t you use it – were you in a stage of redevelopment, or growing different crops? If you need help with this, please give me a call to discuss.
WCO (Water Conservation Order) Decision
The Environment Court finally released its decision on the application before it for a Water Conservation Order for the Ngaruroro River. In August 2019 the Special Tribunal recommended a water conservation order for the Upper Ngaruroro River and its tributaries. This decision was appealed by Forest and Bird (and other parties), and was heard by the Environment Court. The Environment Court have recommended a Water Conservation Order for both the upper and lower Ngaruroro River.
We have consistently opposed an order for the lower river, amongst other things because of concerns about how this might impact growers abilities to take water below minimum flows for root stock survival, and also the ability to construct dams on any of the tributaries of the lower river – which potentially will make water storage difficult. We are working through the decision to clarify our understanding, and will also be talking to the regional council. The courts recommendation still has to go through a couple of steps before it comes into force so it doesn’t have legal effect yet. The decision could also be appealed, but only on points of law (not simply because we don’t agree with it) – this is something that we need to consider further also.
In summary this is not the decision we were wanting.
Changes to the RMA
As you may have seen in the news the government is set to release the two new acts which will replace the Resource Management Act today. They are called the National and Built Environments Act, and the Spatial Planning Act. What will be interesting is the transitional provisions of these acts which should set out how we go from working under the RMA, to working under the two new acts. This will obviously take time and something I will explain when we understand what it will involve. At this point, there will be no immediate impact on you – it will be business as usual for a while longer.
Replacement water permit applications
Get them in!! If your water permit expires at the end of May next year (31 May 2023), you should have received letters from the regional council reminding you that you need to lodge your replacement application/s. If you’re not sure check.
Replacement applications need to be in by 30 November this year, which is only a couple of weeks away, so if you haven’t done so, get onto it. If you can’t get to it before then, you can apply for an extension, which would give you until the end of February next year (28 February 2023) to get your application in, but you need to have this time extension approved by HBRC before the end of November. This is a quick process – simply an email to the Consents Manager at HBRC which I can help with, so if you think you need more time, please get in touch – don’t leave it to the last minute!
Any questions, please get in touch – Charlotte Drury, charlotte@viewconsult.co.nz 027 3225595. There is a lot going on at the moment so if you think I may be able to help, please do ask.
Thanks,
Charlotte
Golly, we’ve now racked up four consecutive wet months thanks to October delivering above normal rainfall. The Heretaunga Plains, Tangoio and southern coastal parts of the region saw 40% more rainfall in October than usual and the Ruataniwha Plains an extra 30%.
River flows were all above average in October unsurprisingly and so too were the majority of the groundwater levels the Regional Council measures. Soil moisture levels have continued riding high. Spring is when we typically see a steady drop in soil moisture but it just hasn’t had a chance to happen yet. Instead we’re seeing levels either still at field capacity or at least above median levels for the time of year.
Air temperatures were a little grim during October. Daytime temperatures were 0.5°C below average, while overnight and soil temperatures were near normal. As we hit the middle of November, soil temperatures are starting to edge above average and sit between 17-19°C on the Plains, boosted by sea temperatures that recently have been rising above average.
The La Niña event, which has been the chief culprit of our wet weather along with a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, is expected to rattle on through the next few months and then wane to neutral conditions towards the end of summer. At this stage neutral conditions is the most favoured outcome of the forecast models, while an El Niño event gets second rating above a continued La Niña. But for now our La Niña influenced weather isn’t expected to change drastically. That means more easterlies and continued potential for them to bring moisture with them. Hence the seasonal forecast is for normal or above normal rainfall and near or above average temperatures. Heck, northern parts of the region have already received above normal November rainfall while southern areas are making inroads at 50-60%.
Percentage of Normal Rainfall
Dr Kathleen Kozyniak
Principal Scientist Air
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
We are now about a month into our Soil Moisture monitoring runs, and there has been some interesting results coming through following our wet winter and early spring.
The root systems have experienced flooded, anaerobic conditions, as the soils have been saturated for a long time and and only just starting to dry out. In some heavier soils, the subsoil continues to be at or above field capacity. Thus, deeper root systems may have minimal development due to being in poor growing conditions for such a long time and as a result, may not be operating at optimum coming into the growing season.
The La Nina weather system which delivered us a very wet few months, looks like it will weaken coming into the new year. Therefore, having a good overview on the behaviour of our soils as they start to dry out will be useful to ensure your trees have adequate available water.
Root systems are not at their healthiest following this winter period. Thus, coming into summer, poor development may cause drought symptoms in trees to occur more quickly than expected, as they have limited ability to access underground water reserves.
The two graphs below show a heavier and a lighter soil, where both are flooded at depth, but drying out in the top. In the two different soils, the top 200mm has been below the trigger point for almost 2 weeks. It will be interesting to note how this has changed following the showers experienced since the last readings.
Figure 1 A lighter soil, with the profile graph showing flooding at depth, but drying out in the top.
Figure 2 A heavier soil, very wet below 300mm, but drying out in the top.
Sarah de Bruin – AgFirst
I had a visit from Gaz Ingram the other day with a bit of memorabilia, some old spray programmes, that should be preserved in some way as they do help document changes in part of our industry.
The oldest is a compatibility chart put together for the 1966-67 season by The New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation Ltd. The next oldest are spray plans from the seventies by Skelton Ivory (and Trevor Ivory). I assume they were from the seventies as they have imperial measurements and we didn’t change to metric until 14 Dec 1976. The third is a Wrightson Horticulture spray plan from the eighties, dated again by assumption and familiarity. This has the pesticides down the side and pictures of growth stages across the top – very similar to a contemporary version.
I also have a 2018/2019 Pest & Disease wall chart from Horticentre Group, a Farmlands chart from the same year and then a current Summerfruit NZ MRL wall chart.
On the 1966-67 chart there are 41 products mentioned and on the Summerfruit NZ 2022-23 MRL chart there are 32 products, neither including herbicides or foliar fertilizers. The quantum is similar but the nature of the present offering is very different. In between times there has been a significant drop off in offered products, only 9 on the 1970’s Skelton chart and 22 on the 1980’s version. Some of this might be due to the offering being limited to individual company agreements.
The products that still remain today that are on the 1960’s chart include copper in its various forms, sulphur, streptomycin, mineral oil, sulphur and carbaryl. All the rest have gone and been replaced by soft, targeted products in the main. Other trends that are easily noted are monitoring before application and the use of on-orchard traps. I guess that if this comparison were to be made in a few years’ time then carbaryl will be gone as well.
What we have been advised is that there will be fewer new chemicals registered for stonefruit use in the future, i.e. the total number will go down as older chemistry is removed but not necessarily replaced. That behoves us to look after what we have got, to heed the recommendations about mixing key fungicides with protectant fungicides and to alternate product groups throughout the season.
We should be happy with the soft and targeted chemistry that we now have for insect control, with an eye to the future where other targeted products and alternative systems will be in place.
Now to find a way to preserve the old charts, and keep an eye on new developments.
The 2022 harvest season is underway with early nectarines, and cherries just around the corner. Let’s hope that the chemistry has done what we need it to through this period of wet weather – there will be a good market for fresh disease free stonefruit. The thinking is that consumers are a bit over apples, bananas and citrus. Its time for a taste of summer.
Richard Mills
Summerfruit Technical Advisor
021 632559
