Hawke's Bay growers swap processed vegetables for forage, grain
Most arable machinery switches between crops, but specialist pea, bean and carrot harvesting crews have lost work.
|November 6, 2026Listen to the full interview:
Hawke’s Bay arable farmers are replacing processed vegetable crops with forage, support crops and grain after McCain’s exit.
Ovenden Seeds co-director and Central Hawke’s Bay arable farmer Sam Reynolds says most machinery is interchangeable, but specialist harvest crews for peas, beans and carrots have lost work.
“We have to grow something. We have good soil. A lot of us have irrigation,” he says.
He says peas and beans fix nitrogen and are out early, leaving good grass for stock, so their loss is hard to replace.
Reynolds says he has put his pea area into a peas and barley forage mix for baleage.
He says a Central Hawke’s Bay seed processing facility would give growers more options.
“It’ll help, it’ll get people more options of higher value things to grow.”
Watch the full interview:
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