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Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Southland and Clutha and Queenstown Lakes districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the region
A $100,000 drought relief package for Southland and Otago farmers has been announced by the Agriculture Minister.
The Government has announced support for Southern farmers and growers as they deal with the impacts of the current drought. Agriculture Minister Damien O'
SUPPLIED Orchardist Bruce Mitchell left six blocks of royal gala apples on the trees this season due to a lack of pickers. “I was desperate and did everything I could to find people to harvest the apples, but on the day, we started, I was expecting 20 pickers and only two people turned up, so we physically couldn’t pick 40 per cent of the gala crop.” Mitchell is among hundreds of orchardists and exporters who have left export quality fruit on the trees or compromised quality with fruit not picked at the optimal time. “We can’t continue to spend money on keeping our business alive...