Friday, March 29, 2024

Wairarapa pea growers’ options limited

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Pressure is growing for Wairarapa pea farmers to get crops in the ground but there is no good news on other crops.
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While there were opportunities at varying levels, in terms of growing other crops, nothing was stacking up, arable industry representative Karen Williams said.

On July 27 the Primary Industries Ministry issued a two-year ban on growing peas in Wairarapa to wipe out the pea weevil that had taken up residence.

Williams was the arable representative MPI governance group tasked with formulating a response.

The group was working closely with the stakeholder group that included growers, MPI and industry leader representatives.

“Come autumn there may be other options for next season but for this season just leaving in grass and hoping for grazing is looking more favourable.”

Karen Williams

Arable farmers

Cereal grains were the main options from limited choices at this late stage but they were not stacking up financially.

Come autumn there would likely be more options available but right now the “do nothing” option was looking to be the best one, Williams said.

“To establish alternative crops on what is available now the cost per hectare against the return is looking very high risk and that’s not taking in what the growing season might be like.

“Come autumn there may be other options for next season but for this season just leaving in grass and hoping for grazing is looking more favourable, she said.

Williams said there was no magic bullet for an alternative crop but there was a direct connection with compensation.

Under the Biosecurity Act growers needed to show MPI they were doing their bit to mitigate losses by planting an alternative then MPI would look at making up the shortfall.

“The solutions package will deal with it if there’s a shortfall in crop growth margins between what we would have derived in income from peas and what we derive from an alternative crop.

“So that’s a bit of a tricky one the way alternative crops are stacking up,” Williams said.

If there was a silver lining to the pea moratorium it would be to formulate a cropping strategy for the future.

“For now it’s not good news but if we can take some positive from this it would be to look at what opportunities there could be for Wairarapa growers in the future.

“I would be keen to see that happen, a cropping strategy for the Wairarapa in, say, the next 10 years.

“No peas now may bring out brighter cropping options for the region if we look at what could be possible with some time to plan,” Williams said.

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