Mt Erin cuts ribbon on new packing facility

2

1 Project management team thrilled with their new set-up: Overall project manager Craig Petersen (left), former general manager Gary Wake, and Tomra project manager James George 2 Packing underway on opening day. Stonefruit are an important part of the packing operation

An initiative started by a group of like-minded growers to pack and export their own fruit reached a new level with the launch of a new state-of-the-art packhouse in December.

By Rose Mannering

The venture began in 2012, when a group of Hawke’s Bay growers banded together with other industry investors to purchase Mt Erin Fruit Services in 2012, looking for control of their apple crop beyond the farm gate. Fast forward to 2020, eight families of Hawke’s Bay’s wellestablished growing community were thrilled to present their new facility to the fruitgrowing industry at the opening on December 11.

Sally Gardiner joined the group in late 2019, a professional chair with interests in kiwifruit in the Bay of Plenty, and now also apples. The newly fitted out packhouse has a capacity of 30,000 plus bins. An old two-lane grader has been replaced with a Compac/Tomra four-lane grader. Fully automated defect sorting reduces the need for people on the sorting tables. A Spectrim colour defect sorter with infra-red allows for a highquality output from the new set up. UltraView, using the latest technology, can check the calyx and stem-end of the apple for any unwanted travellers or defects. The whole packing set-up is run from the control room stationed above the packing lines. The UltraView inspection module significantly improves detection of difficult defects located in the stem bowl such as stem splits in the fruit. UltraView integrates with Spectrim to increase line efficiency and eliminate slowdowns that can occur when packing lots with a high incidence of defects. UltraView continues to reduce the need for manual grading on the line and supports the adoption of pack automation solutions.

Fruit handling is reduced with auto fill trays, and although the group have not gone as far as robotic stackers, an easier set-up will mean palletising fruit is less physical than previously. At the packhouse opening, Sally says the growers should be commended for having the vision to control their business beyond the farm gate. “They should take pride in a job well done,” she says. Craig Wilson, speaking on behalf of the grower shareholders, says the group has made phenomenal improvement to the packing set-up since their first investment in 2012. “Some of us are a bit stubborn but we have a common goal which has helped us to get on and make it happen,” he says. Since 2012, the group has built five additional coolstore rooms, a container load-out bay, and installed a highpressure apple washer and water filtration system. Craig commended the work of project manager Gary Wake who has ensured timeframes were met despite many challenges, not least undertaking the development during a worldwide pandemic. The grower shareholders, who collectively farm more than 200ha of orchard, are mainly from the Korokipo, Puketapu and Dartmoor areas of Hawke’s Bay. Craig and his wife Gill orchard at Puketapu, Des and Lesley are in Dartmoor, Mark and Leah Ericksen are fourth generation orchardists at Waima, Korokipo, and the Kilmister family are also in Korokipo Rd. Other families include the Halfords, Parsons and Riddells.

Commercial agreements were signed up just as the country went into Level 4 lockdown, and the packhouse, which can pack both apples and stonefruit, was first put through its paces packing early apricots at the beginning of December. Stonefruit are a big part of the group’s packing operation. Newly minted Tukituki MP Anna Lorck congratulated the Mt Erin Group for their efforts: “it was ballsy – well done to the Mt Erin team,” she said at the opening, attended by over 90 growers and suppliers. The group harvest, pick, pack and export only the best quality apples to more than 50 countries worldwide. “We supply all the major apple varieties including Royal Gala, NZ Queen, Fuji, Braeburn, NZ Rose, NZ Beauty, Granny Smith and Pink Lady,” Craig says. “Mt Erin Group's strength comes from its collective size, knowledge, and expertise gained over successive generations of family owned and operated orchards. We live and work on our land, growing world-class apples, just the way they should be.”