A family-owned blueberry orchard in Hawke’s Bay has been “stripped” of all its crop, with thieves making off with hundreds of kilograms of berries.
Bay Blueberries, a staple of farmers markets in the region with a headquarters near Hastings, was hard hit by Cyclone Gabrielle in February and rebuilding with its summer crop.
It said someone had “decided to pick our current ripe variety in the middle of the night between [January] 1 and 4. They stripped all our berries; ripe, nearly ripe and unripe.
“This has affected our family, employee families, customers and markets. We think it’s unfair to target growers trying to recover their business after Cyclone Gabrielle and our team who are committed to growing beautiful fruit for our community,” the business said.
