With the feijoa season drawing to a close one farmer in Waikato says he has 40 percent less fruit than last year.
Feijoas Photo: 123RF
Southern Belle Orchard in Matamata is owned by Frans de Jong and his family who have 3000 feijoa trees and export up to half the fruit.
Mr de Jong said the yield had taken a hit because of poor pollination and bad weather
"We were about 40 percent down. That is, of course, not good for business ... the main thing has been the bad weather in November.
"It's not only affected feijoas but I hear the same thing from other areas; kiwifruit have been affected too, and other fruit."
He said the weather had been tough for his business.
"It has been a challenge, we've had to send pickers home early. We hope to have these people here for about three months but some we've had to send away after six weeks."
Southern Belle Orchard also grows capsicums and chillies in a greenhouse and Mr de Jong said the weather has not helped those crops either.
"The dark weather in November has had an impact on that too because the capsicums started almost three weeks later despite the heat and everything (in the greenhouse) ... just the sun wasn't there to make things happen as well.
"We're a bit behind but we seem to be catching up."
Mr de Jong said while the risk of myrtle rust and guava moth were a worry, his orchard has not been effected.
