New Zealand: Tomato season 'toughest in decades'

Food processor Wattie's has finished harvesting and processing its 73rd New Zealand tomato crop after what its agronomists believe has been the toughest tomato season in decades.

However, the company says it has enough tomatoes for its needs.

Wattie's Crop Supply Agronomist Nigel Halpin says that after the coldest, wettest season for 50 years – more rain than during Cyclone Bola - the Hawkes Bay crop was saved by an uncharacteristically dry harvest period and the skills of the growers to maximise the harvest.

"The contrast with last season couldn't have been more marked – cold and wet, versus hot and dry. The paddocks with light, free-draining soils preformed best for us this year. These are the same paddocks that suffered badly in last year's hot, dry weather."

"After a planting period that was delayed by rain which forced us into night planting, and then a cold and wet summer, mother nature gave us great harvesting conditions. These conditions helped the crop ripen prior to harvest."

Wattie's grows its own variety of tomato in the Hawke's Bay across 415 hectares, on bushes rather than vines.

Tomatoes contribute to the total of around 130,000 tonnes of local fruit and vegetables grown for the Wattie's branded products annually.