Some cropping farmers are facing a big cut in income after last week’s storms.Foundation for Arable Research North Otago and South Canterbury representative Peter Mitchell, who farms near Weston, said crops sustained damage in high winds and heavy rain.
Oilseed rape was the worst affected, with seed knocked to the ground in some parts of the region. Damage varied from very little to quite serious, he said.
'‘Some people might have lost a quarter of their yield. That’s a reasonable hit.’’
Overall, the harvest was ‘‘behind a little bit’’ on previous years because of a prolonged growing season fuelled by unusually high rainfall.
‘‘It’s not a significant problem yet,’’ Mr Mitchell said.
Ripening was slower, but generally cereal crops were expected to be be ‘‘reasonably good’’. Some was drooping a bit, which made it harder to harvest, ‘‘but it won’t lose too much yield’’.
North Otago was still in the very early stages of the harvest, with oilseed rape and autumn barley the only crops being handled now.
Mr Mitchell had not heard of any local ground being too wet to take the weight of harvesting equipment at this stage.
‘‘We wouldn’t want much more [rainfall].’’