Berry growers unable to meet orders

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 22

Berry growers unable to meet orders

PA Nelson Berry growers will be unable to meet export orders this season because of crop losses caused by rain and lack of labour.

The secretary of the Rasberry Marketing Council, Mr Ted Anderson, said raspberry growers had expected a good season, but it now appeared tonnages would be down slightly.

“I think we’ve lost more than 50 tonnes,” Mr Anderson said.

The crop was all pre-sold with one or two sales conditional on the availability of fruit.

“From a contract point of

view we will meet our obligations but it is unfortunate we will probably not meet all our buyers’ requirements,” he said. Mr Anderson blamed the interaction between the wet weather and the lack of labour. As growers fell behind with their picking, their labour problems were magnified. There appeared to be fewer casual pickers coming in from outside the district, he said. Boysenberry exporters believe the total boysenberry tonnage will also be less than expected. Mr Keith Owen of New-

man’s Export, said the boysenberry harvest was weeks later than normal and deliveries to cool stores had been affected by variations in the weather. Harvests were sufficient to keep' pace with the shipping schedules to Europe and the United States, he said, but there was less fruit in store than normal years. Mr Owen said a settled period of two to three weeks would be critical to harvest the remaining crop. I ~