Ideal weather for Wattie’s largest ever beetroot crop

February 29, 2012

Ideal weather for Wattie’s largest ever beetroot crop

$5 million upgrade to cater for increased volume

For many in Hawke’s Bay, this summer may not have lived up to the expectation of a summer to remember. Among the exceptions will be those planting, growing and harvesting Wattie’s largest ever beetroot crop. Forecast at 11,500 tonne by season end, it will be four times the size of previous years.

The beetroot line at Hastings has been upgraded at a cost $5 million to cater for the increased volume. This spend has increased capacity and streamlined the way in which the crop is managed at the factory.

Agriculture Manager Ivan Angland says this is the largest beetroot crop grown in the history of Wattie’s, and next year it is scheduled to double again.

“The big step up in the beetroot crop is due to the relocation of production from Australia to take advantage of the overall scale of our Hastings production site. The large additional volume is for the Australian market.

“Already we’ve been harvesting beetroot for about six weeks, longer than previous seasons, and we will continue through until the end of April.

“As it happens we have had very favourable conditions for this crop in the Bay this year, with occasional rain but no prolonged heavy downpours. We have an excellent quality crop, including baby beets, and the larger retail and food service varieties.”

Mr Angland said the hugely expanded crop meant more options for growers, and for this season there were plantings in ground not previously used for beetroot, with good results. Wattie’s crop agronomist Tim Agnew works closely with growers to maximise quality and yield.

“A lot of hard work and planning has gone into managing the production increase from planting through to the processing the bigger crop. It has been a real team effort.”

To harvest the larger crop, Wattie’s has purchased two new beetroot harvesters from Denmark which it operates.

Wattie’s uses the same beetroot variety (Globe) for its baby beets and ‘grown up’ beetroot which is sliced into large rounds for retail, as well as foodservice and restaurant customers for use in products like hamburgers.

Wattie’s started growing and marketing beetroot in 1944.

ENDS

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