Maize harvest in New Zealand starts after grueling year
Maize (Corn)
New Zealand
Published Feb 22, 2023
Tridge summary
Waikato’s maize harvest is shaping up as a 50-50 situation where half of the crops will yield well while the rest will be poor as the wet summer takes its toll. A handful of early-planted crops have been harvested with good yields reported, but with harvest fast approaching, Waikato Federated Farmers arable chair Keith Holmes said he expects the harvest to be challenging following so much wet weather.
Original content
“In a season when grain farmers were looking to make windfall profits despite significantly higher costs, very few will and many are looking at total devastation,” he said. The federation must be vocal in getting financial help for affected farmers, he told a meeting in Hamilton with the organisation’s wider executive. “The extent of some of the damage is life threatening in every sense of the word, sadly,” he said. Holmes said it is likely farmers in Waikato will be asked to assist impacted farmers with feed, grazing space and machinery as the cleanup continues. While offers of stock feed to help are flooding in, he predicted these farmers may have more feed pressure closer to winter. The weather has also provided the perfect conditions for bugs. Fall army worm has now spread across New Zealand and has been found in 113 maize and sweetcorn crops. Corn leaf blight had also been found in parts of South Waikato, he said. Around the rest of the country, the very south of the South ...
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