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PIOPIO’S ROADSIDE BERRY BUSINESS

The King Country is not known for horticulture. The up and down landscape is better suited to the sort of agriculture that runs on four legs. That’s what makes Piopio Berry Orchard special and a surprise to find on the road to Taranaki.

It’s a busy hub at the end of a rank of signs advertising strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries – along with the coffee, smoothies and ice creams essential to berry growers today.

Behind it are Mike and Angela Roy.

Mike comes from an apple-growing background, having obtained a horticultural qualification through Massey in the 1980s. Mike and Angela ran their own orchard at Ohaupo ten minutes south of Hamilton on SH3, which is still landmarked by two 2.5m cartoon cows Mike built near the roadside.

In 1993 they bought the Piopio site 20 minutes’ drive south of Te Kuiti and just a few clicks from the settlement of the same name, and ran both operations for two years.

The orchard was originally planted in the 1980s. When we bought it we sold fruit, vegetables and berries but then we decided to concentrate on berries.

“When we got here it had a 4ha block of blueberries and a small orchard with older varieties cultivated using the old-style ’Lincoln Canopy’ method. We dismantled it and re-used the materials.”

Today, Piopio Berry Orchard comprises 6ha of blueberries, all under bird netting, 2ha of strawberries – with half of the varieties (Albion and Monterey) under tunnel housing and the other half (Camorosa) in the open, and a couple of hectares in raspberries and blackberries.

It’s a very simple business, we grow, sell fresh or freeze

In a ’normal’ season Piopio produces around 50 tonnes of strawberries, 30 tonnes of blueberries and five tonnes of raspberries and blackberries. The aim is to grow more berries under cover in tunnel houses. This is to extend the fruiting period and match it to the time the orchard’s shop is open during the year.

“We sell fresh berries and a lot as frozen product. Our usual problem is we don’t have enough to meet demand,” Mike says.

Harvesting is by local workers, Angela explains.

“When we started here people told us we were mad and that we’d never get enough labour. But we found the local community was very supportive. We employ about

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