YOUR INDUSTRY
SIGNIFICANT GAINS FROM NEW GROWING SYSTEM
Whenuapai’s Anthony Rakich of Danube Orchards is pleased with the efficiency and productivity gains achieved by changing his strawberry production from traditional in-ground growing to a raised, hydroponic growing system. Anthony’s family has always grown an area of strawberries alongside their pipfruit and plum blocks. Anthony recalls a photo of his father Arthur as a baby with his mother picking berries in the family’s original Henderson orchard.
“Strawberries have formed the majority of our business for a number of years, with just a small area now in apples and plums,” Anthony says.
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NZGROWER : AUGUST 2020
Anthony Rakich and Craig Lamb walk the rows of the table-top strawberry growing system that Anthony installed in 2019
Danube Orchards supplies the fruit direct to Foodstuffs. A desire to improve overall efficiencies and lower operating costs led to Anthony investing in a table-top growing system which he sourced from Haygrove in the United Kingdom for one hectare of growing area and 100,000 plants. This compares to the three hectares and 150,000 plants he had previously in traditional mounded in-ground rows. “It’s a two-tier system, two rows about waist height and one row around shoulder height. We were extremely busy last March and April, clearing the in-ground plants and levelling the blocks. Installing the growing tables and all associated irrigation lines, pumps, valves and drippers took longer than I anticipated. I started with two workers helping me and ended up with 10 workers to get to the point of setting out the coir-filled grow bags we get from Fruitfed Supplies and finally planting out the berry plants last June.” The installation project involved PGG Wrightson’s Advanced Irrigation Systems (AIS). “The team and I spent weekends laying and digging in the irrigation lines. AIS and Craig Lamb from Fruitfed Supplies worked alongside each other seamlessly to ensure I received the support and supplies needed to get operational.”
