Warwick Paulson and his grower clients are working through the most challenging citrus season he's ever seen. Near the Waipaoa River, the 50 part-leased hectares Paulson uses mainly for stock still shows many signs of the wall of water that rushed through during Cyclone Gabrielle.
“At the moment that land is pretty-much a write-off,” Warwick says. “It's so wet we just can't get in to do any repair work. So we've definitely lost a year's income plus any reinstatement costs, but we hope that by spring it will be dry enough to get down there and get stuck in.”
At his home orchard – Terrace End Farms – Warwick grows a mixed bag of lemonades, Satsuma and Encore mandarins, limes, Meyer lemons, and Navel and Valencia oranges, with more mandarins and oranges at a recently-purchased 5ha holding a few kilometres down the road.
After two cyclones, relentless wet weather and three States Of Emergency this year alone, Warwick admits it's been hard going for most, if not all, of them. Warwick is optimistic the region's hardy citrus plantings will survive and that next season will be better, but for now he and his partner growers are just doing the best with what they have.
Source: hortnz.co.nz
