NZ: Intense hail storm blitzes Motueka kiwifruit orchard
Horrell was with his accountant when the storm hit. He came home to find 30mm of hail at his back doorstep.
While he is insured, claims he made after hail last year meant his possible cheque would be reduced.
"The loss of potential earnings is quite high."
Horrell had 13 hectares of apple and kiwifruit orchard and a further 13ha of grapes across land in Lower Moutere/Motueka.
Five of his six blocks of apples were badly hit, all his green and gold G16A kiwifruit have been written off, along with one of his Gold G3 blocks, he said.
Hail stones up to 20mm cross had completely stripped his green kiwifruit vines.
"We will salvage what we can. But it will be about a month before we know the extent of the damage," Horrell said.
The volume of fruit salvaged would decide if Horrell ran his packhouse at the end of the season.
"If we don't it will mean a loss of jobs. But the district is short of packing capacity, however if our volume is low it will not cover the fixed costs."
It was the second year Horrell had been hit by hail. He had rot in his grapes last year as well.
"We are becoming a bit blase about disaster - which is not good. But all in all it has not been a good episode."
General manager of Riwaka's Fry Rod Ltd, Jared Fry, said around five hectares of its Peach Island kiwifruit block were destroyed in the first hail storm earlier this month. The hail had broken off young canes and stripped leaves. Fry said the company's orchards had been hit hard by hail in 2014 and "tickled" last year.
"Mother Nature is a hard mistress," he said.
Riwaka kiwifruit grower and NZ Kiwifruit Growers South Island representative, Paul Thomas, said the hail caused isolated pockets of damage across the region.
Damage to fruit already set meant reduced volumes.
"There has also been a lot of cane damage, which potentially affects next year's crop as well."
Source: www.stuff.co.nz/
