New Zealand 2024 Growing Season Report
Planting: September & October
Harvest: Late January through to Early March – Main Harvest February ( 90% of the crop )
| Origin | Planting Time | Harvest Time |
| Canada | April / May | August / September |
| UK | April / May | Late July – September |
| New Zealand | September / October | Late January – February |
Organic Production for Howa Shoji
Contract Area as follows:
Planted Area: 56Ha
Estimated Crop: 110MT – 140MT prior to dressing
2023 – 2024 Season Outlook
Outlook for 2023 Growing Season for 2024 Harvest
For the last two years New Zealand weather has been heavily influenced by La Nina weather pattern
What does La Niña mean for New Zealand?When it’s neutral, trade winds near the equator blow from east to west. During a La Niña event, they are stronger than usual – pushing warm water from the Pacific toward Asia, Australia and New Zealand, bringing moist, rainy conditions to the north of the country
New Zealand is now in El Nino weather pattern, more “traditional” weather pattern for us
More hot dry winds from the West of NZ, higher temperatures, and lower rainfall on the Canterbury Plains
Spring Contracting with Growers – August 2023
2023 Spring was less competitive to the fierce crop competition in Spring 2022
Spring 2022 was really competitive with many high paying crops so we had to release our contract early to ensure we get the area we needed along with paying premiums to farmers to get crops grown
Spring 2023 still had slightly more crop options than usual however the “heat” had definitely reduced since last year
Farmer outlook
Farmers are still finding it extremely difficult to maintain profits in their business with their production costs still remaining 30% higher than normal
This is slowly easing from the highs of 2022 with costs reaching 45% increases.
Growing cost increases include Fertilizer, Irrigation, Chemical costs and now interest rates
2023/2024 will be another difficult season for New Zealand farmers due to high input costs
It is a tough balance for Midlands to keep our growers interested and happy but not losing sight of our end users needs to keep prices competitive. Without the farmer there is no Maple, however without the end user there is no market so we must all work together to achieve the result.
Spring Planting – September & October 2023
Spring conditions were normal for us with no real major weather events that impacted planting or changed the timing of planting
Some years we might have a wetter start to September which means more peas are planted in October however there was no issue this season.
Weather Pattern – September – December 2023
September
Very strong indications of El Nino presence with the first 2-3 weeks of September becoming “dry” from the warm winds from the West / Nor West ( North West )
This is traditional arrival of Spring for us with gusty Nor West winds that can be very strong at times
From the strong winds comes warmer temperatures ( early to mid twenties )
This combination removes a lot of moisture from the fields so after 2-3 weeks of this it was looking like we would be in for a hot dry season
We are lucky to have 100% irrigation to apply to our crops however if this weather was to continue irrigation applications still wouldn’t be enough to maintain the crops
Last week of September the Nor West disappeared with a front coming from South ( Antarctica ) bringing rain and lower temperatures
The timing of this was perfect!
October & November
October and November had identical weather patterns that have been really good for the Pea crops establishing.
Our week would consist of 5 days of 20 degrees, 1 day of 20mm rain with 1 day lower temperature of 15 degrees with cloud cover
This weather pattern consistently happened this way like clockwork week after week through October to the end of November
It is quite strange for Canterbury to have this stable and consistent weather pattern as we are normally extremely variable due to our location
We are used to seeing 25 degrees one day, 10 the next then snow, followed by sunshine
December
Early December had been Cloudier than usual however we were still getting Hot days in between so we knew this wasn’t impacting the Crop health
Lack of sunshine can impact the Pea plants, they need energy from the sun to produce peas in the pod
On wet or cloudy years the plant doesn’t get enough energy so it stops producing peas in pods and the plant itself can go a quite pale green
This December even with the cloud cover, we were getting some really good days so this has given the pea plants enough energy which they really do look fantastic
They are a nice bright vibrant green colour which I haven’t seen for a few seasons.
With the conditions being very favourable I feel that they may almost be “too good” as Flowering seems to be 7-10 days later this year
If I could appropriately describe the Pea crops this year it would be they are “teenagers”
They still live comfortably at home, Mum & Dad pay for their food and rent, so they have no stress
They are happy in their environment, growing and very relaxed.
One thing that would really kick them into gear to start flowering is clear blue-sky days with hot temperatures and this is exactly what we have had this last week
The weather gods have delivered sunshine to us lately which has kicked the peas into gear to start flowering and soak up all the energy from the sun
To summarise we are very pleased with current conditions, we have happy farmers and happy pea plants
Now we just need this good weather to continue at harvest time to have some happy end users
January – February
Conditions remained dry which is perfect conditions for harvesting and what we see as normal conditions for New Zealand
