By Gianina Schwanecke of RNZ

Orchards around the Bay of Plenty have been hammered by strong winds as the avocado harvest gets under way.

Growers around the Bay and Coromandel have been busy clearing damage left by strong winds, which hit the region over the weekend.

Wayne Heays, of The Avocado Place, said it was the “worst wind” he’d experienced in his 15 years on the orchard near Waihī.

He was woken by the strong winds during the night, which prompted him to head out and secure things as best he could.

“It was just shaking the heck out of the house.”

While the house fared all right, Heays said the 1.2ha fruit and nut orchard took a hammering, with a lot of avocados blown off the trees.

It also caused damage to several greenhouses, as well as the worm farm.

“I knew there would be a bit of damage, but it was quite a shock to see so much damage.

“Everything just got absolutely belted.”

Heays said he was now busy cutting up and mulching trees, several of which had fallen on to his feijoa trees.

He and his wife had also been bagging felled avocados to donate to local food pantries around the region.

Tony Bradley is the managing director of Aongatete Avocados, which runs avocados and kiwifruit across three blocks near Katikati.

He said the big gusts caused damage to all 3ha of avocados and came at a bad time, with one neighbour about to start harvesting for the export market.

“We’ve lost a lot of fruit off our trees, particularly the exposed trees.

Avocados lying on the ground after being blown off their trees at an orchard near Waihī Beach.

“There’s been a lot of leaf loss, which is growing the engine, driving the fruit growth, so we’ll stall for a wee while.”

He said it had been a tough few years for avocado growers and this season had been looking good.

One silver lining was the losses might tighten supply and could improve prices for growers.

Now busy with clean-up, Bradley said the initial situation often looked worse than it was.

“When you can mow up, get rid of all the fruit on the ground, then it all starts to come better, you can still see a bit of fruit still left on the trees.”

He said one out of every 10ha of kiwifruit was also damaged, but bud development slowed by the cold meant the fruit should recover.

– RNZ