Relentless rain over the last month is causing huge issues for farmers and growers in the Hawke's Bay.
Heavy rain hitting Central Hawke's Bay in May. File photo Photo: RNZ / Jake McKee
The region's Federated Farmers president Jim Galloway said it had rained over half the days this month already and the end of last month wasn't much better.
"We've had a 150 millimeters of rain this month already, for the Hawke's Bay that's pretty high."
Galloway who runs sheep and beef and grows crops in Raukawa said it was incredibly soggy under foot.
"It's just been constant, we haven't had huge amounts like they did in Nelson and Tasman but because it's been carrying on for a while the ground hasn't had a chance to dry out.
"Today there is a bit of water lying around because the ground is wet its just running off and causing floods where there normally wouldn't be with just 40 mills."
Galloway said the ongoing rain was testing the patience of farmers in the region.
"For croppers it's been a real issue, we had a paddock of peas that was supposed to be in on 6 September but the paddock hasn't even been worked up yet and it might be another fortnight away before we can put it in.
"For people that do have crops in already in the low lying areas the seed has got wet and rotted so there's going to be some really patchy crops."
The lack of sunlight hours was taking a toll on stock and affecting grass growth, Galloway said.
"Animals like the sun and they do a lot better when there's sun on their backs especially the young ones so yeah it's not the best time for farmers in the area at the moment."
If farmers were having any issues or needed help they just needed to put their hand up and ask, he said.
Hawke's Bay Fruit Growers president Brydon Nisbet said the ground was so water logged even small amounts of rain were causing flooding in orchards.
"Tractors and sprayers are getting stuck and we are at the time now when we need to spray because bud burst has happened so we need to make sure we've got sprays on.
"So it's becoming a bit of a nightmare for some growers, if you can't get the sprays on then you really open yourself up for fungus diseases like black spot and once you get the embedded into the buds and onto the fruit you can never get rid of it."
Nisbet said this week staff on his rocket apple orchard got the tractor stuck five times trying to spray one block.
"Plenty of growers are making the decision to use helicopters for spraying because they're just making a mess in the orchard but that's a very expensive option."
Nisbet said on top of the rain, two hail storms tore through the Hawke's Bay in the last week.
"Some orchards have hail netting to protect their crops and I've seen some pictures where that netting has just absolutely collapsed with huge amounts of hail breaking it.
"The way the trees are now with the buds it's hard to tell how much damage the hail storms have caused, we will have to wait till the buds open."
The region needed 10 days of nice warm weather to help dry things out, Nisbet said.