The Christmas strawberry rush is the height of the season and carries on through until January. However many growers have been impacted by the early shortage of plants.
It’s a balancing act to produce top-quality strawberries.
There is only a small window of time in which a strawberry can be picked from a vine and then transported to the cooling room, and quality control is rigorous with the fruit. Supermarkets accept only A-grade strawberries.
The 168,000 strawberry plants are grown in bags that hold a mixture of coconut husk and sawdust, instead of soil. There are 45,000-60,000 litres of water required to keep the plants hydrated.
Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa’s $5 million investment in polytunnels and a netting structure protects their strawberry plants from birds and possums, as well as hail.
Group CEO Grant Huwyler said the Treaty settlements were almost like an economic injection into South Rangitīkei, Whanganui and Manawatū.
Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa has diversified into multiple different uses for their land such as a dairy farm, beef operation, commercial cropping, forestry and GP practice.
“It’s to give us that long-term sustainability that we aspire to as iwi, we see ourselves as a multi-generational investor here in our tribal rohe.”
Huwyler said the first year of the strawberry farm had been a big learning curve, but they’d seen significant improvement in their growing systems.
There were more projects in the pipeline to further develop and invest in the land, he said.
Currently, the strawberries are being sold domestically, but the potential for expansion into overseas exports is not off the table.
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
