HORTNEWS
New apple ‘dazzles’ Chinese consumers – Page 4
Taming Covid! JULY 2020, ISSUE 11
WWW.RURALNEWS.CO.NZ
ISSN 2624-3490 (print) ISSN 2624-3504 (online)
Sudesh Kissun sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
THE HORTICULTURE industry has come out of the Covid-19 lockdown more resilient and with better people management skills. That’s the view of Vegetable NZ chairman and Dargaville kumara grower Andre de Bruin. He describes the way growers and workers adapted to new workplace rules during the lockdown as “fantastic”. Growers adapted a “togetherness while being apart” approach with workers asked to practice social distancing while on farms. The workers rose the occasion. On de Bruin’s kumara farm, harvesters were modified, screens erected to separate the driver, sorters and the bin person. The number of people on a harvester was reduced from eight to six. “Being on the harvester is normally quite the social thing…but during the lockdown there were barriers and workers couldn’t see each other,” he told Hort News. “They realised their responsibility and that we were doing this for their safety, our safety and food safety. “The team was fantastic.” De Bruin says for him this is the story of the vegetable sector – how growers worked to understand requirements to continue their businesses and how they successfully implemented changes. He recalls driving to one of his kumara farms on the first morning of the Level 4 lockdown. “It was the strangest day of my life, I was the only car on the road and everyone had cars parked at home. I have never seen anything like that,” he says. “It was like driving through an abandoned town and there was heavy feeling of responsibility…that I have got to do this right for all these people sitting in their houses. “We had a big responsibility, not
Vegetable NZ chairman and Dargaville kumara grower Andre de Bruin describes the way growers and workers adapted during the lockdown as “fantastic”.
CHANGE FOR GOOD ANDRE DE BRUIN believes Covid-19 is far from over, but it has already changed the way we do business. He says the way people buy their food has changed. “Growers are adapting to a new normal and it’s changing on a weekly basis as other
businesses open, change or close for good. It’s about navigating your way to ensure your business remains functional next week and next year.” De Bruin says one thing Covid-19 has proved is that New Zealanders wants safe, fresh and quality New Zealand-
only to supply people food but operating in a manner that we were not vec-
tors for spreading the disease.” De Bruin recalls there was “a lot of
grown vegetables. “When there is any potential for that to be disrupted, people are willing to stand in a queue half a mile long to get it from supermarkets.” He says this underlines NZ’s credential as a producer of top food.
talking” on the phone between growers as the country went into lockdown.
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Growers who normally wouldn’t talk were exchanging ideas with each other. One huge change was that seasonal workers, hired for planting and harvesting vegetables, had become essential workers. De Bruin says the attitude of workers to their job dramatically changed. “On the last day before the lockdown they were meeting and greeting each other and they were told that’s the last time they can do that. “They rose up to the challenge and the dedication they brought to work, day-after-day, was fantastic. “They knew were all in this together and that was really good.”
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HORTNEWS
JULY 2020
Major RMA reform need for future hort sector success Peter Burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
HORTNZ CHIEF executive Mike Chapman says a complete overhaul of the Resource Management Act is urgently needed for New Zealand to recover quickly from the effects of Covid-19. Chapman says the RMA needs to be streamlined, not for just a small number of major projects, but for all projects. He wants the scope of the RMA amendment expanded. He says the opportunity to remove unnecessary regulation is a key area in which NZ needs to take advantage because unnecessary regulation stifles growth. “For our Covid recovery, we need to enable
those industries that can grow, to grow, and grow rapidly to make up for those sectors that are in Covid decline,” Chapman told Hort News. “First, we need to look at the sectors that will lead the financial Covid recovery and then look at how we can enable businesses in those sectors to continue producing and expanding. We need to find the RMA blockages and remove them, and if the blockages cannot be removed, we need to reduce their impact. We need to achieve this through a holistic lens that considers not only the environment but the need to drive economic success and New Zealanders’ wellbeing.” Chapman says com-
it.
Mike Chapman wants proposed RMA amendments expanded to remove unnecessary regulation that is stifling growth of the horticulture sector.
mercial vegetable growing is an active example. He says the country has never needed these vegetables more than we do
today in the post Covid environment. He says closing down farmers markets and independent fruit and vegetable
retailers during lockdown resulted in 20% of New Zealanders not having access to healthy food when they most needed
Chapman believes it’s important that everyone in the country has access to fresh fruit and vegetables. He says, to do that, we need to empower and enable our growers to grow that food. “Our vegetable growers have endured static margins, increased production costs and exponentially increased compliance costs,” he adds. “Most of the compliance cost increases have come from RMA rules and regulations that have often been imposed based on pastoral farming, with no recognition that growing vegetables is very different to growing animals. “One size does not fit all. The other fact that
has been forgotten is vegetable growing has no meaningful impact on national water quality and contributes less than 1% to greenhouse gases,” Chapman adds. “And where there is an impact on water quality, it is very localised, and that impact is being progressively reduced by the growers.” He points out that all the vegetables in NZ are grown on less than 50,000 hectares. Dairy farms, by way of comparison, use more than 2 million hectares of land, and beef and lamb more than 8 million hectares. Simple logic, he notes, dictates just how minimal the environmental impact of vegetables is. @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews
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JULY 2020
International contacts helped NZ packhouse Peter Burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
THE EXPERIENCE of PSA – and the way Italy and China dealt with Covid19 – shaped how Trevelyans Packhouse proactively manage their way through the Covid pandemic. Te Puke-based Trevelyans is one of the largest packhouses in the Bay of Plenty. The company packs kiwifruit, avocados, limes and feijoas. It also provides orchard management services. Managing director James Trevelyan told Hort News that when word of Covid first came on the radar, his mind immediately turned to 2010, when he was in a meeting with the then boss of Zespri discussing what was happening with PSA in Italy. He says when PSA arrived in the country later that year, he had a good understanding of what was needed in NZ. Fast forward to January 2020 and Trevelyan was talking to a friend in Italy about the Covid-19 crisis who was involved in the kiwifruit sector in that
James Trevelyan leaned on his international contacts to help his business manage and thrive through the Covid crisis.
country. “When I put down the phone, I quickly realised that we needed to act now and talked this through with my team,” he says. “From then on, I kept in contact with this friend to learn how the Italians were dealing with the situation. I also had a friend in London to keep me briefed on the situation in Europe.” The other person who also helped
Trevelyan more effectively manage the Covid crisis was a Chinese cleaning lady at the packhouse. “She was from Wuhan, the centre of the epidemic, and I started asking her about how her family were dealing with the pandemic,” he told Hort News. “Later, I made contact with a Japanese man and the information that these people provided helped shape how we dealt with the crisis.” Trevelyan says social distancing was a problem, but screens were erected to protect staff and there was a strong emphasis on meeting hygiene requirements. He admits that production at the packhouse ‘creaked and groaned’ during Alert level 4. However, he says in the end they got through the crisis better than many others. Trevelyan estimates that he spent $500,000 dealing with Covid-19. This included obtaining extra labour, screens and tents and extra hygiene facilities. “But I am just so happy and relieved that we have been able to work and be relatively Covid free,” he says.
HORTNEWS
FINDING WORKERS, CHALLENGING JAMES TREVELYAN says his company has an excellent health and safety manager who is very thorough and, at an early stage, started preparing to deal with Covid when it arrived in NZ. “For example, our smoko room normally can hold 200 people, but with the restrictions on social distancing it could only hold 40 people – so we had to hire tents to cater for staff,” he told Hort News. “To add to the problems, in alert levels 4 and 3 we lost all our older workers. Meanwhile, about half of our overseas workers, whom we normally employ, could not get into NZ and other staff had
also left. So, we then started recruiting locally.” Many of these new workers came from the tourism sector, others were drivers and some from professional backgrounds. But this was no easy ride, Trevelyan says. Some of those recruited, he says, lasted just a day and at one stage the turnover was about 100 a day. “At one stage we had 1100 people on the site every day, but we were paying about 2000 people a week.” He says the retention of staff got better as the crisis went on and people realised that having a job was important.
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HORTNEWS
JULY 2020
New apple ‘Dazzles’ Chinese consumers NEW ZEALAND’S largest organic apple producer says it cannot keep up with the Chinese demand for New Zealand’s newest apple, Dazzle. Bostock New Zealand owner John Bostock says Dazzle is the best apple he has ever grown organically in his 30 years of growing organic apples. “Without any doubt, I believe this is the best apple since the worldwide domination of New Zealand Royal Gala. It looks and tastes amazing, it’s bright red and sweet and it also yields and packs well.” It’s the first year the company has had commercial volumes of organic Dazzle apples available for Chinese retailers. “We have been thrilled and delighted with the demand and reception in Asia despite these tough unprecedented times with Covid-
Jacky Qin, Bostock New Zealand sales representative in China with Vera Chen, NZTE business development manager.
19,” Bostock says. “We think in normal times Dazzle is going to be even better.” Bostock New Zealand has invested heavily in Dazzle apple plantings and will have 600,000 cartons in the next five years. Bostock Interna-
tional market manager Jane MacLean says the demand this season has also been driven by the continued growing awareness of organic produce in China. “Organics has been big this year in China in the wake of Covid-19. It has pushed more con-
sumers to search for safer food options with personal health becoming even more of a focus,” she says. \“We have seen the demand for our organic Dazzle increase significantly as a result.” The Dazzle apple is a large, red, sweet apple
which has taken 20 years to develop by Plant and Food Research in New Zealand and is targeted at the Asia market. New Zealand’s largest apple growers see it as one of the biggest apple developments in New Zealand since the launch of Royal Gala decades ago. “It’s sweet, it’s red and it’s crunchy. It is everything that the China market wants and is providing the perfect eating experience for Chinese consumers,” Maclean says. “It also has a long supply window. We can sell Dazzle in the markets from April through to September with very few quality issues. It’s not like some of the other apple varieties which need to be sold quickly as they don’t store well. Dazzle also ensures less wastage for the retailers, so it’s an attractive option for them.”
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BOSTOCK NEW Zealand has been selling organic apples direct to Chinese retailers for five years and Jane MacLean says this model is working well for Dazzle. “We have six major Chinese retailers who are buying our apples directly and work with service providers to supply into other supermarket chains. These are a mix of online and offline customers. We have some exciting new packaging and have recently launched in-store marketing programmes across China. This gives retailers confidence that we have made a significant investment and are backing Dazzle. Costco China is selling Bostock Organic Dazzle this year and has been very happy with the customer feedback so far. “Costco is a big organic customer for Bostock in several different countries. In China, Costco have partnered with Bostock to really push and promote the organic apple category to mainstream consumers. This is very positive for Bostock New Zealand,” says McLean. Bostock New Zealand is also exporting Dazzle to other South East Asian countries, North America and Russia.
HORTNEWS
Onion growers adapt well to changes – Page 15
ISSN 2624-3490 (print) ISSN 2624-3504 (online)
n helps Zespri Italian innovatio WS.CO.NZ WWW.RURALNE
MAY 2020, ISSUE
Peter Burke
peterb@ruralnew
10
s.co.nz
UIT packhouses ITALIAN KIWIFR with Covid-19 experience in dealing d to fast-track has helped New Zealan own packhouses to innovation in its new safety regudeal with stringent lations. and alliances Zespri’s chief grower
ey, told Hort News officer, Dave Courtn rules around social that when the new aces came into distancing in workpl were challenges in force in NZ, there s in place – this putting the new practice use efficiency for slowed down packho time. some of the packHowever, he says some which pack Zespri houses in Italy – dealing with this kiwifruit – had been
had experience in issue much earlier, ls and knew how these types of protoco apart. to keep people safely their ideas “They actually shared screens between around erecting ran their facilipeople and how they and videos and ties and sent us photos ey explains. Courtn tion,” other informa collaborative “There was a real to meet the new approach about how
operating under rules and how to keep quickly able to take them. So, we were devise our own systheir learnings and ones.” tems based in their tends to harvest Courtney says Italy it early and put it their green kiwifru they get orders, into coolstores. When pack it then. He they bring it out and y in NZ has industr it says the kiwifru the new proaround head its now got
operate. tocols and how to confidence in “Many have gained ment and we their operating environ pack-outs now. are seeing really good to some of the best up even are Some days of last year.” this varies across But Courtney says is no doubt the the industry and there had an impact on Covid protocols have . the how firms operate
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old Twenty-six-year Maatutaera Tipoki as Akonga, who works hand at a senior leading ulture, Llewellyn Hortic gs based in the Hastin area, is one of three finalists in this year’s enua inaugural Ahuwh r Young Māori Growe Award. He joins fellow ga’s nominees, Tauran Paora Brandon Darny Ngamoki Cross and Whangarei-based i, who Finnisha Tuhiwa g are also in the runnin . The for the 2020 award Māori Ahuwhenua Young rated award was inaugu ed to design is and in 2012 -coming recognise up-and young Maori in the lture farming and horticu the sectors. This year competition is for the full horticulture. See PHOTO 18. page on story JOHN COWPLA
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HORTNEWS
JULY 2020
Hort exports worth $6.2 billion in 2019 David Anderson
NEW ZEALAND horticulture exports reached a record breaking $6.2 billion in the year ending June 2019 – an increase of $720 million on the previous year. The sector earned more than 10% of New Zealand’s total merchandise export income last year. According to latest edition of Fresh Facts, published annually by Plant & Food Research and Horticulture New Zealand, the total NZ horticulture industry was valued at $9.5 billion in 2019. Fresh fruit exports topped $3.4 billion of this total – up by $54 million since 2018. Kiwifruit continues to be New Zealand’s largest fresh fruit export, valued at $2.3 billion in 2019. More than 545,800 tonnes of kiwifruit exports were sent overseas, two thirds of this to Asian countries. Apples were the second largest fresh fruit export, earning $829 million. New Zealand-bred varieties such as Jazz, Envy and Pacific brand apples are popular with overseas consumers and made up a quarter of apple exports. New Zealand supplied wine to 100 countries in
2019 earning more than $1.8 billion. More than 80% of NZ wine exports went to the USA, UK, Australia and Canada. Notable vegetable exports include onions which had a $170.3 million export value in 2019, more than half supplied to European markets. Some $129.4 million of potatoes were exported, mostly in processed form for the Australian market. New Zealand horticultural produce was exported to 130 countries in 2019. The top five markets were Continental Europe, Australia, the USA, China and Japan. Exports to Asia were $2.6 billion, 42% of total NZ horticulture exports. “A reputation for high quality fruits and vegetables produced using environmentally sustainable practices, in addition to well established trade routes, are vital for the New Zealand horticulture industry,” says David Hughes, chief executive, Plant & Food Research. “The horticulture industry experienced another year of substantial growth in 2019, thanks to the innovation and expertise of our growers and exporters. It is this innovation and
expertise that will enable our industry to adapt successfully to the challenges that COVID-19 is bringing. “At the same time, COVID-19 will offer our industry opportunities, particularly in terms of likely increased export demand for our fresh,
healthy produce,” says Mike Chapman, chief executive of Horticulture New Zealand. “With that in mind, I remain positive about the future prosperity of our industry on the basis that container supply, regular shipping and markets
Kiwifruit continues to be New Zealand’s largest fresh fruit export, valued at $2.3 billion in 2019.
remain open to our produce. The re-opening of res-
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that we have all outlets that use our produce open and operating.”
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HORTNEWS
How kiwifruit growers coped with Covid Peter Burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
NZ KIWIFRUIT Growers Incorporated’s (NZKGI) chief executive Nikki Johnson says growers came through the past season reasonably well – despite the problems created by Covid-19. But the growers organisation says labour still remains an issue for the industry with the possibility of fewer backpackers coming to New Zealand. NZKGI says backpackers make up about 25% of the current workforce, but they are now less likely to come to
NZ in the present Covid environment. Recently, the Government announced that $200,000 was being invested to help train people for jobs in the kiwifruit sector and make up for the shortfall of overseas workers – especially backpackers. “The reason that backpackers work so well is they are only looking for short term work – between 2 and 12 weeks – and we can give that to them and they are not looking for any more certainty than that,” Johnson told Hort News. She says this raises the
NZKGI chief executive Nikki Johnson.
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Due to Covid-19 closing borders, there is uncertainty about whether this may continue in the short term. Johnson says in this past season, the kiwifruit industry was unable to bring in many RSE workers when the border closed in March. However, the sector was able to utilise the services of some other RSE workers who’d been employed in other horticultural sectors and were stranded in NZ. There is now a concerted effort by government to get more locals to take up employment in the agricultural sector. Career opportunities are being promoted and training offered. In the case of kiwifruit, Johnson points out that over 50% of the normal workforce in the industry are New Zealanders and they are an important part of it. “Since Covid, we were lucky in finding people that were interested and
JULY 2020
we were able to place them in jobs. We operated a labour coordination centre where we had hundreds of people on our books that we were emailing every week,” she told Hort News. “We would ring packhouses and contractors and ask ‘do you have any vacancies?’ and we would tell those people where the vacancies were and so put quite a lot of effort into matching up people with jobs.” But the challenge for kiwifruit, as it is for some other primary industries, is that many of the jobs are seasonal – something that Johnson recognises. But she says there are more opportunities now for people wanting permanent roles. “Clearly there is a preference for permanent roles because that gives them certainty around their future, but because of their seasonal nature of our industry we can’t necessarily provide that.”
HOW THE SEASON UNFOLDED REFLECTING ON the how the season has gone for kiwifruit growers, Johnson says companies have done relatively well. The NZKGI issued growers with a number of protocols to follow under Alert levels four and three. These included systems to trace people’s movements and to institute strict requirements around hygiene and recording this data. “The one that was probably the most difficult was social distancing – especially under level four and three, when two metre social distancing was required,” she told Hort News. “That meant that the pickers who weren’t living in the same accommodation, which was most of them, had to maintain that separation all the time. That included when they arrived, when they had their briefings, when they were working and had their breaks. That was quite challenging because it meant having to spread the pickers out over a much wider space and having more bins so that they could maintain their distancing while they were picking and while they were putting the fruit into the bin.” Johnson says in some cases it required more tractor drivers to be available to pick up the bins. She says the other issue was staff turnover, which is not unusual in the sector. Johnson says some of the work is quite physical and some people who turned up for work on their first day discovered that they were not suited to the work. Despite the challenges, she believes the overall the impact of Covid-19 on growers was not huge and harvest was completely largely on time.
HORTNEWS
JULY 2020
Water changes welcomed David Anderson
NEW ZEALAND’S horticultural sector has welcomed the changes made to the Government’s freshwater reforms, which were unveiled in late May. It says the changes made to the original freshwater proposals, released last September, recognise the importance of growing fresh fruit and vegetables in this country. Proposed restrictions on horticulture intensification have been removed, which the sector believes would have put at risk the future of NZ’s horticulture industry that is now worth more than $6.39 billion a year and employs approximately 60,000 people. “We applaud the Government for the pragmatic approach it is taking to meeting the longterm freshwater quality improvements that we all want,” says HortNZ chief executive, Mike Chapman. “‘We feel the final decisions acknowledge that when it comes to land, water and the environ-
ment, growers know how to achieve the outcomes that the Government and consumers in New Zealand and across the world want.” Chapman claims these changes are recognition of the importance that the horticulture industry is allowed to expand and enable the primary sector to diversify. “As long as environmental bottom lines are met through audited Farm Environment Plans.” He says Audited Farm Environment Plans embody the good management practices that HortNZ has been promoting and working on with growers across the country. “This approach strengthens internationally recognised industry programmes that have been in place for 20 years.” Chapman believes the changes made to freshwater regulations will protect vegetable supply and improve food security by recognising the importance of key vegetable growing areas such as Pukekohe and Levin.
GIBBS AN INDUSTRY STALWART FORMER T&G chairman and long-standing director Tony Gibbs recently died, following a period of ill health. Gibbs led T&G Global for 16 years from 1995 until 2011. T&G says that throughout his tenure, the company grew from a domestic fruit and vegetable seller into a significant player in the international fresh produce industry, introducing new fruit varieties to the world – including Envy and JAZZ apples. Gibbs was an early and prominent proponent of ending the single-desk export monopolies in both the apple and kiwifruit businesses. Chief executive Gareth Edgecombe says T&G is grateful to Gibbs and his family for their passion, commitment and lifelong relationship. “Under Tony’s leadership and strategic direction, T&G reshaped its business to focus on its core strength of fresh produce and expanded its global footprint.” Gibbs was also a long-time mandarin orchardist based at Matakana, north of Auckland. The 72-year-old had a long history in business in New Zealand. Gibbs was probably best known as an executive director of GPG and was also actively involved with several of New Zealand’s biggest companies, including Vector, Tower, Wrightson, and Turners & Growers. In 2009, Gibbs was awarded a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business. – David Anderson
“With these areas, the Government has acknowledged that water quality can be improved at the same time as these areas continue to provide New Zealand with high volumes of fresh vegetables.”
Horticulture New Zealand says it looks forward to continuing to work with the Government and share the horticulture sector’s expertise to achieve freshwater and other environmental objectives.
The hort sector has welcomed the changes made to the Government’s freshwater reforms.
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HORTNEWS
Keeping export squash weed-free Mark Daniel markd@ruralnews.co.nz
HAWKES BAY squash exporter NH Packing Ltd is a family-owned business. The company grows 650 ha of its own squash and is also supplied by local growers to meet the demands of the export market, as well as growing a further 50ha of pumpkins for the local market. As part of the growing season, both crops require regular weeding. NH Packing became the first business in New Zealand to invest in an Einbock Row-Guard Cultivator, in late 2017. Hamish Thomas, who has risen through the ranks after joining the
business around 10 years ago, is the current cropping manager overseeing the growing operations at NH Packing. “I saw the Row-Guard on the Einbock website, liked what I saw, so I talked to our local dealer and Tulloch Farm Machines, the importer and distributor,” he told Hort News. Thomas notes that there is limited chemical control for weeds in squash or pumpkin crops, so mechanical weeding is a must. So much so, that the Row Guard is kept very busy during a season, which runs from mid-October until the first week of January. “The Row-Guard has allowed us to become more accurate and get
closer to the plants during weeding,” he explains. “So, it limits the amount of hand weeding we need to carry out — meaning it saves us time and money.”
At NH Packing, the Row-Guard is used to cultivate three rows of squash on 1.5m row spacings where – with squash plants smaller than the palm
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of a hand – the need for accuracy and precision is very important. “The machine is pretty accurate, so we can scoot along pretty quickly,” Thomas adds. “It needs a bit of speed to
move the dirt away, so it disrupts the weeds and
JULY 2020
leaves the plant free to grow without disruption.” A camera mounted on the Row-Guard is positioned to view either one, two or three rows. As the camera detects the plant row, it can side shift the cultivator up to 250mm either way to avoid taking out any crop. As well as cultivating their own crops with the Einbock, the company also offers the machine to its supplying growers, allowing them to make the most of current technology. Pulled behind a John Deere 6130R tractor, the Row-Guard is easily handled and typically operates at 8-10km/h, although in ideal conditions can motor along at a speed of up to 15km/h.
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