Geoff Lewis, an asparagus grower in New Zealand is experiencing the worst season for asparagus in the last 10 years according to him. The cause is the cold and wet spring the area has experienced this season.
"Temperatures have been down and the soils have been particularly wet, which has meant that harvesting has been quite difficult - the volume hasn't been there but also the physical harvesting has been very difficult for our staff." he said.
Things have been so bad that he has been forced to lay off nearly half the staff at his company, Horowhenua. The asparagus export market is worth about $2.5 million, and New Zealanders consume about 2500 tonnes of it each year. Sadly Mr. Lewis expects this to be the lowest financial year for the company.
