Apple growers near Nelson have donated machinery to try to help counterparts in Hawke’s Bay, to salvage crops, and clean up cyclone-hit orchards. A truckload of equipment trucked from Motueka in Tasman district to Hastings on Tuesday.
Simon Easton, who grows apples near Motueka, initiated the aid, donating an 8-tonne digger. Easton, former chairman of the Motueka Fruit growers Association, said some affected growers in Hawke’s Bay were friends reports www.stuff.co.nz
Another local grower, Fairfield Orchards, had donated a “bobcat”, and a generator was due to be dropped off. Motueka-based trucking company, Westhaul, agreed to transport the equipment free of charge.