Kiwifruit harvest kicks off in New Zealand after rain-delay
Metservice meteorologist, Georgina Griffiths, said it was the wettest two-month period recorded for the area since records began in 1890, although there had been individual months that had recorded higher rainfalls.
Nikki Johnson, the chief executive of the industry body, NZKGI, said growers were being advised to keep a close eye for signs of Psa, which swept through the region from 2010 to 2013.
The wet weather, which hit the Bay of Plenty particularly hard, has not had a huge impact on the kiwifruit harvest but it has slowed things down a little.
"We have had three or four weeks of consistently wet weather so it just means that there is less fruit being harvested," Johnson said.
"We have now had a week of sunshine. The harvest is happening at full speed, so we don't anticipate any long term issues - it's just a slower start to the season than we had anticipated," she said.
Johnson expected the "green" harvest be slightly down this season, compared with last year's unusually big bumper crop, and for the "gold" crop to be about the same size as last year's.
source: nzherald.co.nz
