Collaboration key for the Tasman’s 2022 harvest

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Lucy Bond pruning on Thawley Orchard

Collaboration key for 2022 Tasman harvest

Tasman orchardists have tackled the ongoing labour shortages head-on this season, banding together to share the employment pool so the 2022 crop was harvested. ANNE HARDIE reports.

Heading into harvest, growers knew that with the labour constraints, it was going to be a challenge to get crops off trees. Apple and kiwifruit grower, Evan Baigent, says Covid-19 caused continuous disruptions on orchards too, with workers either falling ill with the virus or unable to work due to being classed as close contacts.

“From one day to the next you wouldn’t know how many pickers you would have,” Evan says. “But what was really beneficial this year was growers helping growers out by sharing Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme workers.”

He says growers were constantly on the phone with other growers to find pickers. When windows in the harvest arose between varieties on one orchard, pickers moved on to another orchard that needed a variety picked. “It seemed to work really well,” says Evan. “Most people got their apples picked generally on time.” The same applied for kiwifruit, with the start of Tasman’s gold kiwifruit crop – the majority of the region’s kiwifruit – harvested in April, right in the middle of the main apple harvest. By sharing pickers, Evan says growers were able to get crops harvested. Packhouses had the same issues with Covid-19, with some forced to slow production as the virus reduced numbers available to work each day. RSE workers who were due to arrive in March for packhouse work were delayed because of Covid, and the volcanic eruption in Tonga which made communication challenging. Motueka Fruitgrowers’ Association chairman, Richard Clarkson, says some growers tried a few different strategies at harvest to alleviate the labour challenges,

such as picking harder, earlier. Overall, he says it took more planning to make it work this year. Richard says he doesn’t see the labour shortage being resolved any time soon, despite the government’s talk. New Zealand’s borders were closed so long that he says many of the potential overseas workers are looking elsewhere now. Immigrating workers also want to know they will be able to get back home should a repeat of recent events transpire. “I don’t think the industry is as confident as the government,” Richard says. Despite the labour challenges, Tasman fared better than its North Island counterparts thanks to a good run of autumn weather to get fruit harvested. A good-quality crop of apples was picked, even though volumes were down 7 percent on initial estimates – attributed to the lingering impact of last season’s hailstorm as trees recovered from damage. Evan says the hail had an impact on Braeburn apples, while Royal Gala and Koru also produced less fruit. On the other hand, varieties such as Pink Lady and Envy had heavier crops this year. Tasman kiwifruit growers had a very good year for both volume and quality – reaching a record 5.2 million trays of fruit. The pack-out was normal, the average size up and volume equalling expectations. Mainland Kiwi Growers Entity business and supply chain manager, Luke McKay, says the region harvested 16,000 trays per hectare, a record crop. The larger crop is attributed to larger fruit which averaged size 26. About three-quarters of the region’s crop is made up of gold kiwifruit, constituting approximately 3.85 million trays. A big relief for the region’s kiwifruit growers was Zespri’s charter vessels picking the fruit up from Port Nelson and being able to ship it in a timely fashion to its global markets. Luke says more bulk reefers shipped kiwifruit out of Nelson this year which worked well, though he would like to see a greater mix with container shipping in future for the flexibility they provided, both on the day of loading and to markets.

Evan says Zespri’s charter programme has been beneficial for the region, enabling kiwifruit to be shipped out of Nelson throughout the season. By contrast, shipping was a struggle for the region’s apple industry. Container ships regularly skipped Nelson’s port and getting fruit onto ships depended on the scale of the shipments and the relationship each exporter had with shipping lines. “Shipping is really volatile,” says Evan. “Nelson seems to struggle because we aren’t a deep-water port. I can’t see any change and it’s a real issue going forward.” Richard says the ability to get fruit out of Nelson is now the biggest issue facing the industry in the region – adding that ships also skip the port because it is not in a direct shipping line, and the shipping lines concentrate on getting ships to larger ports on time. “We just didn’t have the boats and containers to shift fruit and if you can’t get fruit to market, you can’t sell it.” Richard says the last thing growers want is to have their fruit stored for a long time and then repacked. Alongside the challenge of getting fruit onto ships was the increasing cost of shipping, which Richard says has had a huge impact on growers, alongside other costs going up for labour, fertiliser and diesel which has hit an all-time high. On a positive note, the upcoming Nelson Young Grower of the Year competition is a chance for the industry to celebrate its successes and recognise emerging talent in the Tasman region.