New Zealand: Time ticking for Gisborne and Wairoa farmers to plant corn for the summer harvest

Time is running out for farmers in Gisborne and Wairoa to sow corn seed for the summer season. Sodden conditions caused by relentless rain have made it difficult to get tractors into the paddocks, forcing farmers to replant crops repeatedly - and it's threatening New Zealand's maize supply. Half a metre of raw silt was deposited on Bruce Jefferd's Tolaga Bay farm during Cyclone Gabrielle. Hopes of a dry winter were dashed and a wet spring followed. "Now we're facing a season of replants, late plantings - it's just difficult and the maize price has come back this year so it's quite testing," Jefferd said. If the ground is too wet, the seed can rot before it can germinate, or if it does, it ends up drowning and the whole lot needs to be replanted. Maize is Gisborne's main crop. "Doritos, corn chips, I think we do most of the popcorn for New Zealand and cornflakes and those breakfast cereals all come from our food bowl," Gisborne farmer Toby Williams said. The region also grows the ...