Danielle Adsett
Manager Market Access, NZ Apples & Pears
danielle@applesandpears.nz
Cyclone Gabrielle was a significant weather event that affected the East Coast of New Zealand, including the apple producing areas of Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, in February 2023. Rainfall and surface flooding had a disastrous effect on the apple sector, with a range of impacts including total tree loss, silt deposits up to a metre deep, and severe packhouse flooding in the most severely affected areas. In Hawke’s Bay around 2500 hectares of production land and 40% of the harvest was affected, and a further 30% (155 ha) in Tairāwhiti-Gisborne.
Immediately following the cyclone, New Zealand Apples and Pears Incorporated (NZAPI) staff began response and support activity, made exceptionally difficult in the short-term by loss of power and communications, inability to travel and personal impacts on staff. In the weeks following the cyclone, response activity became more coordinated, with NZAPI acting as a key collector and distributor of information for apple growers and the wider horticultural sector. Advice and recommendations were sought from consultants, retailers, the research community, councils and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), and collated and disseminated to growers in a range of formats to support orchard recovery. Technical topics included harvest support and food safety guidelines, silt management and removal, pest and disease control, and tree/crop management. Broader aspects included waste removal, mental health referral, and funding guidance.
This support activity continued throughout 2023 and into 2024. The extent of Cyclone Gabrielle’s impact on growers and their orchard operations was compounded by timing, just after the start of ‘Royal Gala’ harvest, which challenged almost every aspect of the harvesting and export programme in 2023. To maximise learning opportunities from this event and be better prepared for future events, NZAPI commissioned Plant and Food Research to provide a review which broadly summarised and referenced the material that was provided to growers, explored how advice was implemented and how useful it was, and provided a knowledge-bank and insights to inform the industry response to future challenges.
A summary of the lessons learnt:
Communication lessons learnt:
- Information needs to be shared through various sources (i.e. written, via consultants, website, text), and a clear communication strategy should be implemented
- Start immediately, be trustworthy and consistent, be brief and practical, be relevant and provide local perspectives, and reiterate the basics.
- Growers showed a preference for ‘pushed’ formats of information, such as email, social media, text and calls, as time and energy to seek information was limited in the chaos following the crisis.
Technical lessons learnt:
- Following a crisis where food is potentially contaminated, a thorough risk assessment must be conducted with urgency, to inform the best course of action to ensure food safety. In the case of Cyclone Gabrielle, growers were directed not to harvest any fruit that had potentially touched floodwater, until the presence and nature of possible contamination was established, and appropriate measures could be communicated.
- Various statements made immediately following Cyclone Gabrielle suggested that apple trees could die if exposed to waterlogging for as few as three days and up to 14 days. It transpired that these estimates were unduly pessimistic. Extended waterlogging that followed the cyclone found that apple trees on the Heretaunga Plains were more resilient to waterlogging and silt deposition than expected.
- Effective silt management decisions will require expert analysis and guidance. Key learnings were that there was no immediate urgency to remove silt, and there is a significant economic consideration before works should be completed. Practical assessments such as soil profile assessments to assess for waterlogging, and understanding silt composition will make a difference to the speed at which silt removal needs to take place.
Report:
Technical lessons from Cyclone Gabrielle response, 2023. This report has been produced independently by The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited for New Zealand Apples & Pears Inc (November 2024). Authors; Tracey Phelps, Natalya Egan and Dr Jim Walker
Acknowledgments:
Funding provided by Ministry for Primary Industries through the North Island Weather Events fund.