Harvesting difficult

• Published date: 26 January 2023

But it has been a double-edged sword as damp conditions are also making it harder for farmers to dry crops out for harvesting

La Niña has kept temperatures and humidity higher in the Waimakariri and Hurunui Districts these past six months.

Ashley Gorge dairy farmer Geoff Rountree says this seasons growth has been ‘‘phenomenal’’.

‘‘We are barely keeping up with the levels of growth, but as it has also been very damp, its causing delays in harvesting here so everyone is working hard to catch up,’’Mr Rountree says.

‘‘We too are playing catchup on the harvesting, simply because it has been hard to stitch together three straight days of dry weather.’’

He recorded 200mms of rainfall in November and another 120mms in December, and this has meant it has been hard to string three consecutive warm dry days together.

‘‘This has put us late harvesting this year.

‘‘Look at the grass around the place, normally it will be brown, but look at how high it is now and how green the paddocks are. Everyone is scrambling to get their crops harvested so we are all late,’’ Mr Rountree says.

Cust arable farmer Roscoe Taggart says the amount of rain, and the lack of consistent dry days, has been making it very hard for him and his neighbours around him.

‘‘We have had to be very aware of diseases as the grains get wet and stay wet.

It’s been...