Weather has been good for growers

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 12

Weather has been good for growers

The recent change in weather with cooler nights and some heavy rain, has had a mainly positive affect on the market

. Mr Ron Bainbridge, of Market Gardeners, Ltd, sa(d although .the rain might cause a . temporary halt to some harvesting, it was on the whole beneficial for most growers.

He said the recent weather conditions could only, improve the tonnage on root crops such as potatoes, onions and carrots. •

And probably hoping for such a change are the growers of the earlyseason brussels sprouts, which made their first appearance on the market this week. • -V

The. first season crops from Oamaru were of good size and quality, and fetched between $l6 and $24 a 6kg bag. Mr Bainbridge said, “The price will ease as supplies increase over the next two or three weeks.” Another new line at the market this week was Bon Chretian pears, recommended as “the greatest bottling pear you. can find,” said Mr Bainbridge. Locally grown, the pears fetched $14.90 a crate.

The trend for lowpriced stone fruit continued again this week. Nectarines and peaches fetched between $5 and $7 a case, and plums between $6 and $l2 a case.

Apricots fetched between $7 and $14.60 a case, but Macfarlane and Growers said although apricots would probably continue for another two to three weeks the supply would decrease.

Red peppers fetched between $1.50 and $3 a kg, and green peppers between $1 and $1.20 a kg this week.

Locally-grown celery had some difficulty finding a market this week in spite of excellent quality and availability and fetched between $6 and $8 a carton. And in only fair supplies this week were all varieties of beans and courgettes. The weather has affected crops and subsequently prices have firmed a little. Beans fetched between $2 and $3 a kilogram and courgettes between $6 and $7 a 7kg case. Early season parsnips

were also fairly scarce this week.

Supplies of kumara have picked up and consequently the price has eased. Kumara fetched between $33 and ,$36 a 19kg carton. Short cucumbers, in particular, were a recommended buy this week. Short cucumbers fetched between 20c and 30c each, and telegraph cucumbers between 40c and 80c each.

Good-quality telegraph cucumbers were harder to find this week, and the price has been kept lower because of the abundance of outdoor cucumbers. Tomato supplies this week remained good but there was some doubt that the trend would continue. Outdoor tomatoes should be coming into full supply soon, but the cooler weather may delay their arrival on the market Local outdoor tomatoes fetched between $4 and $7.40 a 4.5 kg carton.

Hothouse tomatoes ranged in the price and fetched between $3 and $7 a 4.5 kg carton, depending on the origin. Kakanui tomatoes fetched the top price.

The demand for apples, Oratia and Albany Beauty and Gravensteins, continued a popular trend and the supply was keeping pace quite well. A new shipload of Ecuador bananas arrived during the week-end, and was greeted with a slight easing of price from last week. Ecuador bananas fetched $22.90 a carton and Tongan bananas fetched $20.50. Avocadoes remained steady in supply and price and the abundant supplies of watermelon kept the price between 50c and 70c a kilogram. Strawberries and raspberries remained scarce, and blueberries disappeared altogether as the season came to a close. North Island and local blackberries instead filled the gap, but although these fetched $l2 a tray of one dozen punnets the demand was not great. Strawberries, on the other hand, fetched between $22 and $2B a tray and raspberries, between $l5 and $24 a tray. The price on Australian grapes was down slightly this week, and the varieties fetched beetween $26.80 and $33.90.