New Zealand asparagus growers faced with low local demand and no exports

More than 100 hectares of asparagus will not be harvested in New Zealand this season. Local demand has fallen sharply due to the closure or downsizing of restaurants in Auckland and Waikato and the lack of sales in supermarkets. Any export, which in the past has swallowed part of the production, will not come to fruition. In one of New Zealand's most important growing areas, the Waikato, up to a third of the harvest, 50 hectares, is left to run wild. Australia used to export asparagus to Japan, but higher labor costs and other problems prevented New Zealand from competing in that ...