Avoscene September 2011

T H E N E W Z E A L A N D AV O C A D O G R O W E R S ’ J O U R N A L

Inside this Issue

Moving 5.8 million trays l Promotion updates

l

OCTOBER 2011

High density planting systems l Reed assessment l

Directors

Contents

Bay of Plenty Ashby Whitehead Ph 07 573 6680 alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz Far North Ian Broadhurst Ph 09 406 7308 m. 021 395 906 bernian.avos@xtra.co.nz Mid North Mike Eagles Ph 09 434 7271 m.eagles@xtra.co.nz At Large Roger Barber (Vice Chairman NZAGA) Ph/Fax 09 435 0785 barbers@ihug.co.nz John Schnackenberg (Chairman NZAGA and AIC) Ph 07 549 0717 jschnack@ihug.co.nz Tony Ponder (Vice Chairman AIC) Ph 07 572 3019 tony@southernproduce.co.nz Rest of NZ David French Ph 09 238 3359 or 0274 375 315 famille@ps.gen.nz Export Directors John Carroll, Andrew Darling.

Avoscene Advertising & Editorial Avoscene is published by the Avocado Industry Council For editorial contact: Natasha Mitchell Sun Media Ltd No.1 The Strand, Tauranga Ph: 07 578 0030 Fax: 07 571 1116 email natasha@thesun.co.nz For advertising contact: Daphne Keller at Sun Media Ltd email daphne@thesun.co.nz Design and production: Kym Johnson, Sun Media Ltd email kym@thesun.co.nz Printed at: Kale Print Subscriptions NZ $100 plus GST per year (four issues) In New Zealand NZ $27 per single copy

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Regular Columns Chairman’s comment CEO’s comment Export update Grower comment Organic comment Local market comment *New* Regional roundups

4 7 9 10 13 17 33

Features Avocentric – Don Rodee Local market quality tips Reading Your Trees guide launched Moving 5.8 million trays

14 18 32 52

News 2011 NZAGA AGM Export leader’s contribution recognised Grower Forum

Export market promotion update Local market promotion update Industry news

19 21 26 29 31 44

Research High density planting systems

Alternate bearing research Maturity colouration and fruit quality Reed assessment

36 38 41 47

Technical Pesticide labelling Tech transfer news

22 50

Don’t shoo It is always exciting at the beginning of the export harvest season as everyone gears up to start picking, packing and shipping. More so this year as we head into our biggest harvest ever. However there is usually a stumble before exports get started. Why? What is it about the New Zealand farmer psyche that he or she has to get up in the morning and shoot themselves in both feet before starting a day’s work? Yes, I am talking about the local market.

I wrote on this very subject twelve months ago – both volumes harvested and quality of fruit seen in stores. Ground Hog Day. Those growers who have arguably ‘owned’ the early shoulder season need to review their strategy given the volume of fruit now being grown and clear evidence that early maturities are not the preserve of the Far North alone. That said, passing an early season dry matter test does not guarantee that the fruit will provide a good eating experience for a consumer.

I noted 12 months ago that the problem starts with the grower, ably assisted by a harvest contractor happy to pick the fruit, a packer happy to pack the fruit, a marketer keen to establish a presence come what may and buyers keen on a ‘deal’. While we cannot counter an opportunistic grower harvesting a crop ahead of a mortgagee sale, there are at least three other players involved in the transaction who could have said “No”.

4

The Big Export Crop and Thinning Mother Nature has her way of controlling our high hopes and large crops: a vicious air frost in the Bay of Plenty in mid-August (immediately following the heavy snows) and the typical equinoxial gales that we are prone to during the spring. A number of growers have been hit very hard by the former, particularly around the Te Puke area (losses of up to 40% cited) and while wide spread damage has not been reported following the winds of 13-15 September a belated tour of my Katikati orchard indicates possibly up to 5% of the larger sizes on the ground in some places. Anecdotal packing information is identifying a shift in pack size profiles towards smaller suggesting I am not alone.

By NZAGA & AIC chairman John Schackenberg jschnack@ihug.co.nz

oot yourself in the foot Good luck to those of you who have already got your first export pick off.

It is interesting to note the high export pack-outs early on (75% to > 90% regularly quoted) which augers well for the industry going forward. This is an expected consequence from a general lift in attention to spraying with the implementation of AvoGreen.

I would also like to commend the resolution of the members of the Avocado Exporters Council (AVEC) who recently agreed to make ‘best efforts’ to move 25% of the export crop to markets other than Australia. Each exporter’s business is different, so some may not meet this target for various reasons but you are entitled to ask your exporter exactly how they will manage this non-binding intent.

Remember, in a big season such as this, self-interest should take a back seat.

The recent crop estimate suggests up to 3.5m trays may be exported (pre frosts and wind) and a consensus appears to be that around 2.7m-2.8m trays may be the sensible upper limit for Australia. Most commentators will point out though it is not the absolute number that is the key, rather a disciplined well managed crop flow over the September to February window to avoid overloading the wholesale market which ultimately dictates the price of our fruit. Exporters, the pressure is already on you!

Our exporters collectively have well developed plans to place fruit elsewhere - throughout South East Asia, Japan, to the USA and even the odd container to Europe. The bulk of our export fruit will be going to Australia (about 75%) and then to Japan (about 15%). Jen Scoular and I are travelling up to Japan to represent the industry at the media launch on Tuesday 27 September being held at the New Zealand embassy in Tokyo to ‘launch’ the new season for our avocados in that market. This is the start of what undoubtedly will be significant generic promotional investment in that market in the seasons ahead.

AGM and Grower Forum Many thanks to the large number of

growers that attended our recent Grower Forum and AGM in Whangarei in midAugust. It was great to see you all there and particularly rewarding to receive strong positive feedback from you on the forum and AGM. A subsequent forum in Tauranga the following week was also very well attended, with well over 100 at both events.

Congratulations to Jen Scoular and her staff at the AIC that organised a well-run event with very good content over a number of subjects, from promotions to fruit quality.

The remit session at the AGM was largely uneventful but for one poorly worded remit asking (paraphrased) “That a grower vote be held on whether exporters have an unelected position on the board of the AIC.” This remit is driving at removing the two exporter elected directors from the AIC. These directors are there by virtue of previous growers supporting control of avocado exports in terms of the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act, or ‘HEA’ as we know it.

This remit FAILED, 819 Against, 170 For, attracting only 17% support. The second similar remit was withdrawn.

AGA Executive & AIC Board Election Congratulations to Mike Eagles, Mid North, who was re-elected to his seat and thank you to Trevor Holland for putting his name forward and engaging in our representative elections. Ian Broadhurst, Far North; Tony Ponder, At Large; and I, At Large; were all re-elected unopposed for the next term.

Kim Crocker, At Large resigned in July half-way through his two-year term and left the Executive with a gap to fill. After much consideration of our options, (bielections are costly) the Executive agreed to run a ‘bi-election’ for the casual vacancy.

Usually at this point I would be thanking Kim for his contribution, albeit abbreviated, on the AGA Executive and AIC Board. However, following a call for nominations which closed Friday 16 September, four have been received and most surprisingly Kim Crocker has accepted a nomination to stand again in

his recently vacated seat, so I shall defer.

The other nominations are Kevin Evans (Athenree), John Cotterell and Murray Pease, both from Katikati.

To all candidates; I wish you well and thank you for offering your services. The role is not just as a grower representative, you are charged by growers to provide governance, vision and strategic direction to our industry, both as a member of the AGA Executive and as a director of AIC Limited, our ‘operating’ company, for the benefit of growers (and by association, our strategic stakeholders). It follows that while control of our industry remains (and must) with growers, effective partnering with stakeholders comes with the territory and is mandated through grower choice in the HEA model.

Notwithstanding the clear message delivered at the AGM on attempting to exclude exporters from the AIC, there remains a mood about that ‘All future AGA/AIC election candidates to prove that 75% of their income is derived from growing avocados’.

There was a time when one had to be white, male and a landowner to vote in New Zealand. I am very proud that my late greatgrandmother Annie Jane Schnackenberg stood alongside Kate Shepherd in gaining the vote for women in 1893. That she also tirelessly campaigned for temperance can perhaps remain as a footnote in history. [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/ annie-schnackenberg] The rules of the AGA provide that “...a Representative must be a Voting Member of the Association throughout the term of office...” (Rule 5.4) and a Voting Member is either a person who has been liable to pay levies and has paid them in the previous financial year (Rule 4.1.1) or a person who is growing avocados in New Zealand, or in the opinion of the Executive intends to grow avocados and is nominated as an ordinary member by a PIN holder (Rule 4.1.2).

One is left wondering how the percentage of income derived from growing avocados reflects the ability of an AGA executive member to fulfil his fiduciary duties to the grower association and our operating company, the AIC. 5

Keeping in

6

By AIC CEO Jen Scoular jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

in touch with growers Roadshows, growers forums and the AGM – it’s been a busy few months.

The roadshows had two objectives, to update you about the start of the season and to hear from you on current issues. We changed the format to make sure we had more discussion time, and we had good feedback about that. Sometimes the comments that come out over coffee and a muffin tell more of a story than the ones in a more formal setting.

Katikati growers were out in force – a great turnout of 78, other attendances were down on expectations. If roadshows aren’t a preferred method of communication, do please let us know. Overall we heard good discussion on publishing or calculating OGR for the industry, growers liked the information about the potential impacts of an oversupply of the Australian market and we heard lots of opinions about the issues on the local market.

We had terrific participation at the grower forums in Whangarei and Tauranga with 126 and 160 growers and industry people attending and 95% of those who evaluated the event said they were very useful or useful. We did hear and agree that time was short – but there is always the issue of not wanting to keep you off your orchards for too long. What really worked for us was the discussion from you, your comments at the forum and afterwards. Your views really help us set strategies that deliver value to you.

I’m pleased to have my first AGM behind me. As with the forums and roadshows, an awful lot of preparation goes into industry events, across the whole of my team and your directors, but the work pays off when they run well and we get great feedback. I do believe the AIC must be transparent to growers and you do need to know what your levies are being spent on.

Midge Munro and I had a very interesting and constructive trip to Sydney and Melbourne (late June) to plan the promotions campaign in Australia. You are paying 20c per export tray, up from 15c last year, and with an increased volume, we are anticipating a promotion spend of nearly $700,000 this season. You agreed this should be spent on both our export and domestic markets and the board has approved that we will look at campaigns in Australia, Japan and New Zealand.

Midge updated growers at the forum on some of the campaign in the local market. It’s all about finding ways to get more people to eat more avocados and that means great avocados need to be available, and consumers need to know how to use them.

As another way to share information we’ve introduced a page in Avoscene for grower letters as another way to hear from you. I hope you’ll take the opportunity to share your views, be that your successes on the orchard, your views on the future of the industry or some new ideas on what we as an industry could do better.

Since writing this update we’ve had a very constructive week at the VII World Avocado Congress which I’ll write about in the December issue.

7

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By AVEC chairman John Carroll johnc@primor.co.nz

Big harvest underway The new season has begun in earnest, and as at Friday, 09 September, 300,000 trays had been packed for export from New Zealand.

The weeks preceding have seen steady increases in volume, with the last week before I wrote this column providing 160,000 trays. The week we were in was likely to be down somewhat on that figure, given rain interruption of harvesting in most areas. But we all must keep in the forefront of our minds the fact we have X amount of weeks to sell Y amount of fruit.

My own rough maths suggest that, in order to harvest around 3.5 million export trays over 26 weeks, we need to average 142,000 trays per week; and if there is more or less fruit, or we have a longer or shorter season, then the number adjusts from that.

Your exporters regularly discuss this fact, and while each exporter has their own different set of customers in a range of markets, all must (and do) keep an eye on the overall volume movement out of the country. It is especially important that we manage the flow well, because there is enough competition out there in the world from other producing nations without us creating any unnecessary spikes of our own. I say this notwithstanding we can suffer from periods of bad weather, and maintaining discipline around fruit quality is a must, yet the overall message remains that crop flow really matters and is something we should be able to control.

Something of a watershed agreement

was recently reached amongst exporters at AVEC, in that there has been a general acceptance we cannot swamp Australia with too much fruit, and need to expand markets and customers elsewhere. Based on the view of experienced people, we have come up with a target for each exporter to place 25% of their export volume outside the Australian market this season. This rather broad term ‘outside Australia’ then allows plenty of room for effort and innovation amongst exporters to differentiate themselves in a range of markets, factoring in the complexity of issues that each other market has; are they early or more distant markets, what are their size preferences, how long is our window into each, and so on.

Already, fruit has been sent to a number of destinations, including Australia, Japan, the United States, Korea and Singapore, yet by year’s end, I suspect that market list could extend to something more like 15 markets. That is promising and necessary, albeit some will see only minor NZ volumes for the first time. But the early signals out of Australia, where there seems to be more late supply than anticipated, confirm just how prudent our market diversification strategy really might be.

In terms of the tactical market battle ahead, there are a few industry-wide activities that look exciting, and should aid the efforts of all exporters to maximise value. The introduction of AvoGreen is a message we must develop and spread, and encourage customers to notice. While there is no specific campaign, all commercial channels are explaining to customers this new development, and just what assurances this can provide to consumers. It is logical that this message is first spread

via the importers and people familiar with how to handle our NZ product, so that they sell the benefits of AvoGreen downstream.

In late September we had a delegation from the Avocado Industry Council hosting a media launch to herald the new season in Tokyo, at the New Zealand Embassy.

Significantly, this was attended by nine NZ exporters, affirmation of just how important Japan has become as our second largest market. NZ fruit has been sold in Japan for close on 10 years but it has only been in recent years the volumes have lifted.

The year ahead we expect to see in excess of 500,000 trays sold in Japan, so it is pleasing to see such a significant quantity finding a good home there.

The last industry activity I wished to comment on is the Australian promotion programme we have planned by AIC, after much dialogue with exporters. It is very important we grease the wheels of the commercial activities of exporters with targeted media and merchandising exposure of our NZ fruit. While often it is difficult to quantify the impact of promotional spend like this, I have little doubt the awareness and enthusiasm this can create will be money well spent.

The volume targeted for Australia is a big one, even at only 75% of our total export volume, so it is absolutely necessary to ensure we have the market keen for, and aware of, the presence of our fruit.

So cross those fingers that we have kind weather and our fruit quality stands up to be counted. We should have every confidence about how this season can pan out, because I feel as an industry we have all prepared as thoroughly as we possibly could. Good luck everyone with our big harvest.

9

Grower discipline ‘pa Growers have many different approaches to managing their crop in this, the New Zealand industry’s biggest production year so far, but they agree discipline in the marketplace is the key to success for everyone.

The Avocado Industry Council estimates 5.8 million trays of avocados will be harvested this year, including approximately 3.5 million trays of export fruit.

Orchardist Wally Colville owns 24 canopy hectares of avocados at Houhora.

He is expecting to pack about 75,000 trays this year and says up to 55,000 trays could make export standard. The orchard is 13 years old and this amount includes production from young trees.

Wally relies on advice from his exporter, Team Avocado, for the best strategy each export season and this year will carry out three picks throughout the season.

“Our export size picking regime is basically, depending on the season and flow plan, an initial round of 20 count pick through the whole orchard in August/September, then a 23 count pick in November/December, and a final export round down to count 28 in January/February,” says Wally.

“It really boosts the returns overall. We get as much as 40 per cent better returns if we target those bigger sizes. That’s important in a lean year.”

However he acknowledges there are economies of scale from running such a large operation.

“We own our own cherry-pickers so picking costs are lower. It makes it viable to do that three pick strategy.”

Good communication with his 10

By Natasha Mitchell natasha@thesun.co.nz

paramount’ this year packhouse (Far North Packers) and exporter prior to and throughout the season means Wally can work out spray programmes and logistics to ensure he has the right number of blocks available in order to fulfil flow plan commitments.

He is confident exporters have good flow plans in place to deal with this year’s large fruit volume, but is concerned growers won’t follow the plans.

“That’s the growers’ responsibility – to supply to the plan. If everybody follows the industry plan, the result will be better overall. Of course not everybody does, but we dream it might happen one time.”

His only other concern this year is pest pressure from six spotted mite. Trying to control the pest has meant applying sprays which may prohibit fruit from being all market access compliant.

Like many Northland growers, Whangarei orchardists Ngaire and Roly Cliff are expecting a much smaller crop volume this year. They should produce about 40,000 trays from their 8500 avocado trees this season; well down on the 100,000 tray crop in 2009/2010.

“The only thing we can do is pick bigger size fruit and leave the small stuff on the tree to get bigger. Price for 28 and 24 count can be $5 a tray difference,” says Ngaire.

The Cliffs normally do two picks each season anyway and sometimes three if they have a heavy crop.

Ngaire likes to keep a close eye on how many trays are going into each market and what prices are throughout the season. They pack with Apata and export with Primor Produce and Ngaire says both provide good information to growers.

Katikati grower Sam Dunlop agrees with Wally Colville that grower discipline is ‘absolutely paramount’ for achieving good returns.

Sam has been growing avocados for 15 years and currently has 1500 trees expected to produce an estimated 35,000+ export trays this season.

“People who have picked immature fruit early to get local market prices are shortterm thinkers,” says Sam. “Unless it’s disciplined in this year with a big crop everywhere, they can easily snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

It’s essential everybody sticks to the marketing plan in place.”

He also believes it is important for growers to have a good relationship with their packhouse and exporter and ensure there is regular communication.

“You need to be able to adjust and react to changes in supply. If you don’t have a very direct line of communication with the packhouse, who has a direct line of communication with the marketers in the market, you can’t do that.”

Sid and Tessa Turnbull of Tanners Point, Katikati, have taken a different approach to their orchard management in an attempt to avoid having a big crop one year and a small or non-existent crop the next. They have 4.5 hectares of 30 year old trees and have carried out significant pruning to reduce biennial bearing.

“We are very anti big crops,” says Sid. “About five years ago there was a very big crop in the industry. We had over 400 bins of fruit and yet because the fruit was not good quality, sunburnt and wind rubbed, we didn’t make a lot of money.

Eighty bins were process fruit and it costs a lot of money to pick them so we had about an $80 a bin loss.

“You’re far better to have a moderate crop every year; to produce a lot less fruit but better quality and better size and try and maintain it each year. It’s just not good economics unless the fruit is of good quality.

“If you produce less, it seems to mature

early. If you can pick fruit in September when flowering starts you haven’t got that huge weight of fruit on your trees when you’re setting your next crop.”

The Turnbulls pack and export with Just Avocados and this year expect fruit to go to America and Asia as well as Australia.

“Returns won’t be as good but these markets have to be developed. The message I get from people in Australia is they want their own fruit. Just look at apples. It’s the same with avocados. We need to get Asia to eat more avocados.”

Sid also believes having Fressure Foods’ high pressure processing plant in operation will help ‘mop up a lot of bad fruit’, thus helping keep local market values stronger.

Like the Turnbulls, Ngai Tukairangi Trust general manager Colin Jenkins also organises early picking on the trust’s 2.6 hectare orchard at Matapihi. This year he expects about 5000 trays.

“If the fruit is of a good size, we try and do a strip pick. Otherwise we do a second pick pre-Christmas,” says Colin.

“I like to get fruit off early as I feel it gives trees a break before carrying the next season’s crop. That helps with getting a good crop each year.”

Colin says although picking early may mean the fruit is smaller and therefore earns a lower price, it also means lower reject rates as the orchard is in a windy location.

Six spotted mite has been a problem on the trust orchard this year.

“We make sure we understand the spray protocols and withholding periods and get our Avogreen monitoring done on a three-weekly cycle.”

Despite the trust’s exporter, Seeka, having a huge increase in fruit volume this year Colin is not worried about packing capabilities as he knows there is extra packhouse capacity within Seeka.

11

By NZOAGI chairperson Mike Crum mpcjcrum@xtra.co.nz

Call to widen pruning trial When I wrote this column I had just attended the Grower Forum in Whangarei and would like to congratulate Jen and her team for making the effort to communicate in person with growers.

One of the main points I got out of it that I would like to highlight is there are a few growers doing 4000 trays per hectare and above but by far the majority are doing less than 1000 trays per ha.

The million dollar question is how do we all grow avocados consistently like the growers doing 4000 trays per ha are doing?

This in my opinion is not being answered

because what is being very efficiently communicated simply does not create the result of producing more with any consistency on all tree ages.

One very important piece of work being carried out that will add to the jigsaw of answering that question is the pruning trial that has just got underway.

A concern that I have is that there is no effort being made in it to understand anything about pruning old mature trees.

I had the opportunity to discuss with two of the AIC scientists the pruning trial and the reason why trees older than 13 years are not fully included. As I understand by the replies it is because the protocol states that only trees that have not been pruned before are to be included and they could find no older trees that met that criteria.

[The pruning trial protocol does include

remediation treatment on older trees.]

I want to communicate through this article to the AIC staff and directors the very real need to start learning about pruning older trees and the effect that will have on tree health, yield and in particular consistency of cropping and ask that the pruning trial be added to with a few blocks of older trees.

It may be the protocol needs to be changed to allow already pruned trees to be included?

I would also make the suggestion that at least one organic certified orchard be included to pick up on any differences that may exist.

I want to reiterate that the NZOAG Inc group of 70 growers want to be part of this industry and actively participate in and add to the wider avocado growing sector.

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Don Rodee with Kiwi examples of the California Roll, one of many ways avocados are being incorporated in Asian food.

Vibrant indust Californian Don Rodee is a self-confessed ‘avocado zealot’ on a mission to get everyone he can to eat the fruit he grows both in America and the Bay of Plenty.

Don, a former American Airlines chief pilot and Boeing 777 flight instructor, bought his first commercial avocado grove in San Diego in 1975 as a way to enable him to have a large property in an area where land was expensive. He grew up eating avocados and surrounded by the trees in his home town of Coronado, California, as many people in his home town had avocados growing in their backyards.

He once had two avocado groves in Fallbrook (once known as the avocado capital of the world), one 30 hectares and another 3.4 hectares, but now just lives on the smaller property.

Though California has a well established avocado industry, the cost and lack of water for irrigation has become a major problem for orchardists there. It is also the reason Don came looking to buy land in New Zealand in 2002.

“New Zealand has an abundant supply of water and a very good climate. That’s the bottom line of the industry,” says Don. “Some friends and I had talked about going to Hawke’s Bay and buying a vineyard. My sister had a vineyard in Napa Valley and I had always thought positively about them but really I didn’t know much about vineyards. Then I got down here and found there was an avocado industry.”

The Calavo cooperative he was involved with in America had a business connection with Team Avocado and put him in touch with people who showed him orchards and provided background on the local industry.

“I was very focussed on the Far North 14

By Natasha Mitchell natasha@thesun.co.nz

dustry keeps Californian coming back initially; Kerikeri. Then I found there were a lot of things that could be difficult being in that location. And the industry was gaining some strength in the Bay of Plenty, so I thought this was the safer bet.”

Don decided to purchase a 62 hectare dairy farm at the end of Matahui Rd, near Katikati.

“It was portrayed as being probably the best piece of land in New Zealand for avocados and it sort of has turned out that way, despite a few setbacks. We’re really pleased with it now but it’s taken a lot of good hard work.”

The orchard is the largest mainland avocado orchard in the Bay of Plenty.

It has 40 hectares of avocado trees comprised of 7500 Hass plus 700 pollinators. The first trees were planted in 2003 and the last in 2006.

Orchard manager Phil Merriman took over managing the property in 2007 and works closely with consultant Lindsay Heard of Brenmark Horticultural Consultants.

Phil is the sole full-time employee but hires casuals as required. Having seen the benefits of irrigation in California, Don invested in a full orchard irrigation and fertigation system here that will enable substantial ongoing labour and cost savings. It can also be used for frost protection.

The orchard borders Tauranga Harbour and is vulnerable to wind and frosts.

Luckily fruit grown there tends to mature early, enabling early picking to minimise damage.

As the orchard is young, production volumes are still increasing each year. In 2009/2010 it produced 5000 trays but this figure was about half what it should have been, due to frost damage. In 2010/2011 production was 30,000 trays and this season’s estimate is 65,000 trays for export.

Don is pleased with progress so far.

“It’s a credit to the staff, Phil Merriman and Lindsay Heard. Lindsay has done a

great job of identifying difficulties in the industry and steered us around problems.”

Don visits from America every six weeks or so and provides strategy direction.

“I get in the way and ask a lot of questions and make life difficult for everybody,” he jokes.

“The industry is very vibrant here. That’s different than in California. In California we’re more LA lawyers and doctors that wanted a big piece of land outside of the city and many times we’re absentee owners.

I’m doing things in California now that we’ve learnt here, such as bringing in bees, adding in some updated pollenator trees, and canopy management.”

His only advice to other growers is to follow what industry experts recommend and focus on becoming as efficient as possible.

As well as being an avocado grower, Don is on the board of directors of the grower owned cooperative New Zealand Avocado Marketing Ltd, which exports to Australia and the USA. In more than 35 years in the avocado industry he has seen some big changes in who is eating avocados.

“When I first got in to the avocado business it was pretty much a California cuisine,” says Don. “Avocados were eaten in salads and Mexican cuisine. In the ‘80s quite a proliferation of Mexican restaurants appeared throughout the US, so we had a very healthy business in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Then we (California growers) started to run into some competition from South America, through NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement).”

The 1990s brought a new way to eat avocado to California when it started to be included in sushi. The fusion, which became known as a ‘California Roll’ proved a hit.

“At first the Japanese thought that it was just terrible that you’d put avocado into their sushi but by the late ‘90s the

California Roll was the most popular form of sushi.”

While Don says the Japanese have come to appreciate avocado for its look, other Asian countries such as Korea (where Don’s wife is from) find the fruit’s nutritional value appealing.

For Don, who has travelled a lot in Asia, the region presents a huge opportunity in terms of potential avocado consumers.

“I can see avocados are becoming quite a nutritional focus in a lot of countries.

And they are being consumed in so many different ways than before. For example, South East Asian countries serve avocado, milk and sugar mixed together as a drink.”

He expects to be exporting fruit to China too some day.

“Asians are finding a way to fit it in to their culture. Avocado is a good part of fusion cuisine. I hope people keep experimenting with it. Pies, soup, ice cream… there’s a lot of latitude for experimentation.”

The fruit’s nutritional properties are a driver for Don’s passion for avocados too.

“I was quite offended by nutritionists that (in the past) said avocados were fatty and bad for you and a food to avoid but now nutritionists hold avocados in good esteem. I’ve read that the people who should be eating avocados are infants, geriatrics, nursing mothers and anybody with digestive problems, because they’re very easy on the digestive tract.”

There’s also a hint of other hopes in the name Don chose for his New Zealand orchard – Matahui Avocado Resort and Spa. ‘Thanks to all the beautiful women who have discovered that avocados make a wonderful facial treatment.”

He believes people will continue to find more and more things to create from avocados and avocado bi-products, which are already used in shampoo and other beauty products.

15

By Freshmax Avocado manager Sue Carter, scarter@freshmax.co.nz

Offering guacamole samples in supermarkets has proved a great way to introduce people to avocados.

Volumes demand a new approach This year really does appear to be the big one, not only for the export side of the business, but also the New Zealand market.

If all goes to plan, the crop available to sell in the New Zealand market will be around two million trays. That number is more than the total number of trays that was exported last year. So are we ready?

Yes, a volume of this size comes as a challenge, but no surprise. Each year demand has been growing in the New Zealand market. This has not necessarily been evident in year-on-year volume increase, but the total value of the market has been steadily trending upwards. Last year’s average prices on the local market proved to me that consumers are prepared to pay big money for our product.

The supply factor this season will of course mean lower prices for avocados during the spring and summer months

compared with the last ones. In years of lower pricing (and remember that they don’t happen every year) we have the opportunity to attract new customers, and get our loyal ones buying more avocados. In-store promotions are a great tool to get close to the customers and survey their avocado eating habits.

Research done last year showed us that around 15% of New Zealanders had not even tried an avocado! So there is plenty of ‘new blood’ out there. You may be surprised to know that the typical demographic of those surveyed by instore demonstration teams is usually 45% male and 55% female: so it is time to dispel the myth that it is just mum doing the shopping and buying the avocados.

A season like the one ahead demands that we increase our frequency of contact and content of useful information that reaches the consumer. More avocados mean that there are more times that a potential customer has to decide what to do with that avocado.

Will it be guacamole, guacamole or more guacamole? I am not knocking

guacamole; it has been a fabulous tool in getting New Zealand consumers to try avocados. Demonstration teams report that many customers say they don’t like avocados, but when encouraged to try a guacamole dip, they change their mind.

As an industry I believe I’d like to see us invest more resources into providing meal ideas for avocados that extend avocado usage beyond the dip.

Another key message that comes out of all sampling of products is that consumers are genuinely glad to hear if the produce they are about to purchase is New Zealand grown. This becomes particularly clear when involved in sampling at big events, with attendees numbering over 40,000 people, like the recent Auckland Food Show. New Zealand consumers are genuinely interested in knowing where their produce is grown, how it is grown, and who grows it. I think we need to tell the avocado story more, as it is a great one. Some exciting new technology, using Smartphones, is helping food producers fill this need, and I will talk more about that in the next edition.

17

By AIC Quality Coordinator Juan Rosales jrosales@nzavocado.co.nz

Delivering quality paramount for local market this season Everyone in the industry has a part to play in maintaining the quality of avocados during the journey from tree to plate.

Below are the top quality tips you need to keep front of mind this season:

Tips for growers: • Don’t pick fruit when there has been more than 5mm of rain in the last 24 hours. Under this situation fruit becomes more susceptible to peel handling damage and fuzzy patches.

• Handle fruit carefully at harvest to avoid peel handling damage. Do not overfill picking bags and bins. Ensure bins are clean and free of damage.

• Minimise the time between pick and packing. After harvesting, send the fruit to the packhouse as soon as possible.

• Spray at least 8 coppers per season at regular intervals.

Tips for packers: • Minimise the time between pick to pack and cool storage.

• Ensure cool storage conditions are appropriate.

• Minimise grader damage.

Tips for transport: • Maintain flesh temperatures between 4-6ºC. Tips for retailers: • Avocados bruise easily - handle with care.

• Never stock avocados more than two deep in a display.

• Do not display bright green fruit as it takes too long to ripen and limits impulse buying.

• Remove black fruit from display as it is overripe and past its best - this fruit is guaranteed to disappoint customers and will hinder repeat purchases.

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18

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By AIC communications manager Midge Munro mmunro@nzavocado.co.nz

2011 AGM in review In Jen Scoular’s first CEO report presentation for the NZAGA it was clear that grower engagement, feedback and communication are high on the priority list and commitment to this is shown through internal staff structure changes and an increase in grower communication activities in the budget.

“Feedback from growers needs to be communicated to the whole team - that feedback should start to drive our focus areas.”

At the NZAGA annual general meeting held 12 August in Whangarei, Jen Scoular took growers through a summary of the sources of income for the NZAGA and AIC and matched this with the services and the projects this income funds (see figure 1).

Figure 1.

The financial statements were then explained in detail before moving on to a chart which put the industry levies and fees into perspective of the industry value up to FOB for 2010-11 (see figure 2).

“I want to look closely at industry value going ahead.”

Jen questioned the audience to consider the implications of the FOB growing nine times larger as the industry vision suggests it will.

Industry Value

“What should all the sections on this chart look like? I think we should collectively think about what we expect OGR to be. Certainly we will always charge levies to run the activities that we believe add value but our objective is to decrease levies as volumes increase.”

She then presented 2011-2012 budget based on the season’s crop estimate.

Jen reported that costs have increased significantly from $2.4 to $3.8 million.

Increases are evident across all major budget categories Promotions, Salaries and Overheads, Communication, Research, EMS management and Governance.

Promotions have seen an addition of $430,000 compared to the previous year due directly to the increase in the crop of which a promotions levy is collected on a per tray basis. This additional money will be used to maintain our presence in Australia, develop the important Japanese market and also to kick start the local market.

“It is imperative we use the funds we have set aside to ensure that avocados will flow well through the markets.”

Jen also explained that there were additional Australia promotion funds in reserves which may be used this year.

Salaries will increase $137,000 from the previous year due to a full team

Figure 2.

being on board and the allowance made for staff salary increases as a result of implementing a staff appraisal scheme.

Jen thanked the AIC staff for their commitment and drive to add value for growers and explained that she has made changes to the staff reporting structure to better enable cross communication within the team.

“I am reviewing and implementing polices to enable us to work more consistently.”

Overheads have reduced by $17,000 on the previous year because of a reduced budget for recruitment, legal fees and accounting support The communications budget has increased by $200,000 due to a focus on grower engagement which includes the implementation of regular field days and strategies to better communicate science to growers.

“The board has tasked me with increasing grower engagement and having a stronger communication strategy with you our growers, other industry stakeholders, the government and our international partners to ensure we are well connected globally.”

Export Marketing Strategy costs have increased by $227,000, represented by an increase in market access costs, EMS Continued....

19

2011 AGM in review and levy review costs, Food safety programme costs and the allowance for external costs to produce a readiness and response plan for biosecurity - also the budget is based on there being no delays in the projects.

Governance has increased by $97,000 following an increase in director fees, meetings, international engagement and attendance at the VII World Avocado Congress in Cairns.

“Increasing our international engagement is important. We need to make sure we are well connected to partners around the world to see what research is being conducted and show that we are committed to the industry.

“Each overseas trip is assessed and evaluated to make sure it adds value to the industry.”

The AIC has asked a firm to

Continued

benchmark the director fees to ensure it is reasonable for a non profit organisation.

Research has increased by $297,000 due to sponsorship of an international scientist brainstorming session focussing on irregular bearing, involvement in the international Avocado Research Consortium project, continuation of the pruning trial and full delivery of projects.

Jen closed by summarising the key focuses for the team this year: “We are ensuring the structure delivers and it delivers value, we are increasing industry engagement, we need to maintain our strong export systems, we need to have good biosecurity in place, we need to be prepared for an EMS and commodity levy review, we need to be ready for the future!”

New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association Inc. Commodity Levy Rates Below are the commodity levy rates as approved by Resolution at the AGM of the New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association on 12 August 2011: 1. That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the export market be set at 37.5c per 5.5 kg trays for the period 1 May 2012 to 30 April 2013.

2. That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the domestic market be set at 3% for the period 1 May 2012 to 30 April 2013.

3. That the levy rate for processed avocado fruit sold be set at 3% for the period 1 May 2012 to 30 April 2013

Results from the AGM Remit Session Below is a summary of voting results from the AGM held in Whangarei on 12 August 2011.

Remit 1: That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the export market be set at 37.5c per 5.5 kg trays for the period 1 May 2012 to 30 April 2013.

Votes

For

Against

Ordinary

78

11

Levy

893

64

Total

971

75

CARRIED Remit 2: That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the domestic market be set at 3% for the period 1 May 2012 to 30 April 2013.

Votes

For

Against

Ordinary

85

6

Levy

930

43

Total

1015

49

CARRIED

20

Remit 3: That the levy rate for processed avocado fruit sold be set at 3% for the period 1 May 2012 to 30 April 2013.

Votes

For

Against

Ordinary

65

26

Levy

646

328

Total

711

354

CARRIED Remit 4: That the CEO investigate alternative funding methods for the organisation ahead of the six yearly review of the Commodity Levies Order in 2012.

Votes

For

Against

Ordinary

61

28

Levy

718

107

Total

779

135

CARRIED Remit 5: That a grower vote be held on whether exporters have an unelected position on the board of the AIC.

Votes

For

Against

Ordinary

11

75

Levy

159

744

Total

170

819

FAILED Remit 6: That if Exporters are to have a position on the AIC board – should they be nominated and elected by growers.

This remit was not voted on as the Remit was not moved at the meeting.

Remit 7: That our AGA / AIC carry out a cost analysis to facilitate an overall understanding of the cost of production within the industry and provide growers with initiatives to manage orchard costs and enhance orchard profitability.

Votes

For

Against

Ordinary

43

41

Levy

405

468

448

508

Total

FAILED

Signed: Returning Officer: Edwina Aitchison

John Carroll receiving his Avocado Award at the recent AGM.

Export leader’s contribution recognised AVEC chairman John Carroll’s work as a champion for avocado exporters was recognised with an Avocado Award at the AIC’s annual general meeting in August.

New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association chairman John Schackenberg says the award is a way for the AGA to recognise and acknowledge John Carroll’s vision, integrity and commitment to the New Zealand avocado industry.

“I wasn’t expecting the award but I was quite chuffed with it,” says John Carroll.

“I think it’s as much recognition for (all) exporters as it is for me. Much of what I get the award for is just a role I’ve been performing on behalf of exporters.

I’m put into situations because I’m representing the exporters.”

John has worked in the fresh produce industry for many years and in 1988 he and two colleagues founded Primor Produce; originally as a supermarket supply company. But following the advent of the Kiwifruit Marketing Board in 1989, new opportunities arose for companies that used to sell kiwifruit, such as exporting onions and squash. In the early 1990s Primor decided to add avocados to the mix.

John had been doing business with Jack

Crozier, who packed kiwifruit with Apata packhouse in the Bay of Plenty, and it was through this connection that Primor began exporting avocados packed by Apata. The association continues today.

He was a pioneer exporter to the USA and the strong working relationship John developed with Jim Donovan of Mission Produce has played a major role in maintaining avocado exports to America and also been instrumental in exporting into Japan.

In 1995 John became a member of the Avocado Exporters’ Council and he has been chairman almost ever since. AVEC is made up of members from different exporter operations and Avocado Growers’ Association chairman John Schackenberg says John Carroll has done an excellent job of chairing a group with strong and diverse views and commercial agendas.

In the late 1990s John also became an export director of the Avocado Industry Council. He understood there needed to be rules for exporters and growers to work in partnership and steadfastly supports the industry’s use of the Horticultural Export Authority model under the HEA Act 1987.

“I’m a great admirer of the HEA system.

Not because it’s draconian or a license to make money but because people have to talk and settle their differences. Out of it comes common sense and a feeling you’re on ‘team New Zealand’ – that’s more important than egos and personal differences. You become exposed if you

don’t behave for the greater good.”

These political roles and his work with Primor Produce have enabled him to be a major influence on market development.

John also led Primor into the formation of the Avanza group, a leading model of export co-opetition in the New Zealand horticulture export scene which aims to develop Asian markets for New Zealand avocados.

John says some of the proudest achievements he has been part of during his time in the avocado industry include the way the industry coped with the Avocado Scab and ASBVd issues.

“I was really impressed with how we coped with adversity. All differences were parked and MAF really rolled their sleeves up and helped us. Adversity brings people together. It taught me a lot.”

Business connections in Australia describe John as honest, reliable, with a steady approach and a pleasure to work with. Those in the USA see John as committed, very open-minded, a downto-earth kiwi bloke with a very positive two-way attitude.

Service awards were presented to John Schnackenberg, Tony Ponder, Andrew Darling, Ashby Whitehead and Ian Broadhurst to recognise that they have served two consecutive terms on the NZAGA executive.

21

Read the label - getting th How many times have you been instructed to “read the label” when asking about using a pesticide? Do you?

Here I want to explain why you really should – but not all the time.

The label should be the first place to look for information detailing how the pesticide product should be used correctly to ensure it does work effectively and is used safely. Most pesticide labels do this quite well.

However there is one set of circumstances when the label cannot be relied on with confidence. It is important that you are aware of this limitation and learn how to recognise when this is likely to occur, because it is not always obvious.

(And no, the problem is not low volume spraying – that topic will be covered at a later date.)

22

What the label can provide General: The label of a pesticide product has a number of different functions, and actually most contain a good deal of useful information. Most importantly, if there are any special legal requirements regarding use of a product they will be stated on the label, so always scan for such warnings. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is no defence if you do break the law, even if it was not intended. Luckily these restrictions are not common.

Avocado growers need to remember that the label specifically covers use on crops that will be sold in New Zealand. Export crops have to meet these conditions plus any extras to meet the requirements set in the intended export market(s). MRLs (Maximum Residue Limits) and PHIs, (Pre-Harvest Intervals or minimum time between the last spray of a product and harvest), are the aspects most affected by this.

The New Zealand requirements remain as the minimum standard that growers must meet since any fruit from an export

crop that are not of export quality will end up in the local market. So an export PHI is never less than the PHI for supplying the local market, but it is very often much longer. Even if an overseas market had a higher MRL set for a pesticide on avocados, which would be met by a shorter PHI than that set for New Zealand, the crop could not be harvested until the New Zealand PHI was met.

Types of information The label can provide answers to a range of questions: 1. Is this product a fit choice – should I be using it on my avocados?

• Does the label include use on avocados?

• Is the pest I am targeting listed on the label as controlled by this product?

GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) programmes require that you use properly registered pesticides if they are available.

In some markets such as California you must follow the specified use exactly, but our law is not as restrictive (see “off label” use below).

By Dr David Steven IPM Research Ltd

the best from your sprays 2. Can I apply a spray of this product at this time?

• Is its use now, at this time, covered by the label?

• Does use now leave enough time before planned harvest to meet the PHI? N.B. The PHIs for export are generally longer than those set for the local market and are often much longer.

• Is the product safe to bees – can it be used over flowering?

The first point relates to the GAP question and is more relevant with deciduous plants such as apples and kiwifruit where some sprays can only be used at certain times of the plant cycle. The second point restates the critical aspect of meeting the overseas residue requirements, which is the biggest restriction to product choice the industry faces. Flowering also restricts use. It is best to avoid spraying while bees are in the orchard, but if a spray really has to be used, then the pesticide chosen must be bee-safe. This is a critical issue as

crop load depends on pollination. For instance as the newly registered miticide, Paramite containing etoxazole, is bee-safe, it is a very useful addition to the existing controls against six spotted mite.

3. How should I best use this product, with minimum risk of damage to the crop?

• How much do I use when mixing a spray?

• What safety conditions are required?

• Has a REI, (Restricted Entry Interval or re-entry period), been set for this product?

• Should I add an extra adjuvant to the spray mix?

• Can I mix other products (either pesticides or foliar feeds) in the spray tank?

• Should I avoid certain weather conditions which may trigger damage?

It always pays to check the rate to use, as it is easy to miscalculate and the consequences can be dire. The other points above are a mix of regulatory ‘must

dos’ and detailed advice. This is what the label does best, and is covered in more detail later.

4. Any special requirements?

• Are there any special restrictions on using this product?

Special conditions on use can be imposed during registration, and these will be stated on the label. An example is the label for Keystrepto which says that ‘use not expressly covered by this label is illegal’.

This means that any ‘off label’ use of this product is actually breaking the law.

‘Off-label’ use In many countries ‘off-label’ use of pesticides (that is spraying a crop not expressly listed on the label, or use at a time, at a rate or against a pest that is not on the label) is illegal. However, this is not so in New Zealand. Here off-label use is allowed, but any grower doing so is responsible for ensuring that no residue issue results. As well overseas customers Continued....

23

Read the label can object to our use of products that their local growers are not allowed to, and some have banned this on past occasions.

Use at a different time or rate to that on the label will alter the residues on the fruit and hence change the time needed to reach the MRL set for export crops. Any incident that raises the residue risk will have to be residue tested at harvest because there is no way to predict or calculate the actual level that results. So an off-label use should not be contemplated when there is a proper alternative, with an appropriate label claim.

Even in New Zealand an off-label use cannot be advertised or promoted, so be wary of anyone who assures you his product will do something that is not on the label. It may work, but it may not, and you are the one taking the risk. Look closely into the claim and ask for evidence, preferably written, that it does work.

‘Toes in the water’ With some products, particularly when used on minor crops, you get what I term ‘toes in the water’ claims where a label claim is established for as few as one of the pests actually affected by the product on the crop. On avocados chlorpyrifos is a case in point. The label only refers to controlling leafrollers on this crop, but with such a broad-spectrum pesticide other pests are undoubtedly affected. This is confirmed by label claims for chlorpyrifos on other crops including for pests shared with avocados.

A ‘toes in the water’ claim basically establishes the use of the product on the minor crop at minimal cost. However the true impact of the product is understated, although generally obvious.

What the label does best The proprietor or marketer of a pesticide product is the one who knows most about how that product performs in actual use – such as any compatibility issues or interactions with weather conditions. They tend to get information about possible problems onto the label rapidly to try to conserve a good reputation for their product, making the label the prime source for such detail. Only direct contact with the proprietor may be better and that is not always easily carried out. The focus on potential problems can make this advice conservative.

The problem situation The account above reflects what happens when a conventional pesticide is registered in New Zealand. The registration process 24

Continued

focuses principally on the potential residues that may result. There is no specific requirement to prove effectiveness, i.e. that a product will actually do what is claimed, but this is actually done for conventional pesticides in order to establish what use pattern is needed under GAP to achieve reliable control.

Each and every claim on the label of these products has to be supported by evidence and is assessed. Final clearance is given once a label has been submitted and accepted. It is a rigorous system that ensures the label is credible and reliable.

Products that do not have the potential to create a residue issue can become registered without supplying any data to show that they actually work. A dispensation can be because the active ingredient in the pesticide is harmless or that the use pattern proposed will not give rise to residues. For instance, using a short-lived active well before harvest is a use that will not still have residues at harvest, while some of the biological products or those based on diatomaceous earth are accepted as safe.

In these cases there appears to be no or scant scrutiny of label claims, and the information on these labels can be dubious.

I have even seen labels that list pests not known to occur on the crop in question.

Unfortunately there is no way to readily determine which path a pesticide product has followed in becoming registered, and so whether it is well supported or not. In general, if the product contains a conventional pesticide it probably has been thoroughly scrutinised, while if it has no pre-harvest interval it may well have used an exemption rather than a support package of evidence.

The whole registration system would gain transparency and enhanced credibility if it was stated on the label when a waiver of efficacy data had been used. The insertion of a standard phrase on labels such as “Registration was gained using a waiver of efficacy data.” would be commendable.

Until that happens, I would urge any grower who is considering using a product that may have followed a shortcut to ask the supplier either how registration was gained, or to provide some hard data that supports the use being contemplated. After all, it is your crop that could be at risk.

Dr David Steven, IPM Research Ltd, PO Box 36-012, Auckland 0748 Phone AvoPest: 0508 286 7378 Email: dsteven@ipmresearch.co.nz Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author.

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25

Growers delighte for sharing inform On 12 August 126 growers and industry participants turned out at the Toll stadium in Whangarei for the first Grower Forum - a new style for AIC of presenting information and receiving feedback.

The Grower Forum split the audience into four groups who then took part in four sessions run concurrently.

The purpose of the Grower Forum was to engage with growers and encourage a two-way dialogue, says AIC CEO Jen Scoular.

“We communicate with growers daily but realise that a lot of that is one way communication,” says Jen. The sessions allowed time for discussion where growers were able to talk with their peers and report back to each other and the AIC what they thought and ideas for solutions.

“Growers really enjoyed this interactive aspect as much for the social contact with other growers as for the opportunity to voice their views.”

The grower forum was then repeated in the Bay of Plenty on 17 August, with improvements from the Whangarei experience.

This session also attracted a large number of industry participants – 160 people.

Topics covered during the Grower Forums were Communications, presented by Jen Scoular and Paul Brookbanks; Domestic Promotions, presented by Midge Munro; Germplasm presented by Alvaro Vidiella and Bart Hofstee (Henry Pak in BOP); and Quality presented by Juan Rosales. The new Reading Your Trees guide developed by the AIC in collaboration with growers and consultants was launched by Toni Elmsly and growers attending the forum received their copies ahead of the industry mail out. Directors and other AIC staff members were also involved on the day helping to encourage conversation and assist the presenters.

Communication session Jen and Paul’s Communication topic focussed on the different ways we communicate with growers and asked growers about the channels they prefer to use, to help identify how we might communicate more effectively.

Whangarei growers responded that they are interested in receiving more information about the markets - pricing, volumes in our export, domestic and other overseas markets. There was also a popular call for more guest speakers at events and experts talking at field days.

Bay of Plenty growers had similar and additional views. They 26

By AIC communications manager Midge Munro mmunro@nzavocado.co.nz

hted with new format ormation agreed with the need for more experts speaking at field days and were keen to have those experts as knowledgeable local growers. Another idea was the creation of an induction for entry level growers – a separate field day or event for them. There was also support for a review of the ease of use of the website. [A project is currently being scoped to integrate logins on the grower website to allow a single login to gain access to all areas].

Local market promotion session The purpose of Midge’s local market promotion talk was to inform the audience of the upcoming campaign and to encourage discussion around the area of quality and what steps the whole industry can take to clean up the quality of fruit on the local market. Firstly though she started with getting growers to think of all the ways they enjoy eating avocados as promoting the versatility of avocado is what has helped increase consumption of the avocado globally.

As you can see from these extensive lists - there are many ways our growers like eat avocados and you may find a new favourite among these.

Once down to the more serious topic of conversation - local market quality - growers

showed they had many ideas in this area as well. Whangarei growers thought that there were gains to be made all the way along the supply chain, starting with the grower taking more interest and responsibility for where their fruit ends up and not allowing their TAG 3 to be offered to the market by their packer or marketer.

Another issue was the growers who ruin the market by offering their windfalls and immature fruit for sale - a name and shame tactic was suggested to deal with this. At the

marketing end, growers wanted a stop to back door sales of cheap “rubbish quality” fruit to supermarkets. At the supermarket they thought education on presentation for produce managers was necessary as it is common to see rotten fruit in displays.

There was a need for consumer education on ripening, handling and characteristics of the various varieties available to drive demand for greater quality in stores. Also discussed was the idea of a quality mark and associated ripe programme developed

These are all the ways Bay of Plenty growers like to eat avocados: Cheesecake Smoothies with banana Icecream Mousse With lemon juice and Guacamole - can add BLAT pepper wasabi Whole plain With salt Avocado and orange With tamarillo With grated carrot salad On a pizza onion and beetroot Chicken salad with Baked and stuffed Substitute for sour mayonnaise whisked On toast with raw cream with potato capsicum garlic and Marmite Substitute for butter/ and spring onion With salmon, nuts and marg With mint in a green Worchester sauce With lychees salad On cracker with cheese With strawberries and With milk and sugar Stir fry (put in at last black pepper With sweet chilli sauce minute) With blue vein cheese With balsamic vinegar In truffles With bacon With Worchester sauce With shrimps With camembert and lemon juice As baby food mashed With Vegemite

These are all the ways Whangarei growers like to eat avocados: Cake Grilled with onion Avocado chocolate Muffins Grilled with bacon Mousse Cheesecake tomato and mayonnaise With smoked salmon Icecream On sour dough with and poached egg Sushi fresh tomato and bacon With chicken Guacamole Marinated in brown sugar Prawn cocktail Salad and rum in fridge over night Muesli Slices on meat Smoothie Coleslaw Slices on fish Fruit salad With Hapuka, tomato With sugar Sandwich with ham and and basil With sweet chilli sauce tomato BLAT With balsamic Soup Whole plain

by the industry. Growers also welcomed the idea of being able to regulate the domestic market in some way, as the export side of the industry is.

Opinions from Bay of Plenty were the same. They agreed growers need to take greater ownership of the problem of local market fruit quality but also recognised that receivers and supermarkets play a part in purchasing and accepting poor quality fruit.

Again presentation of fruit at supermarkets was an issue and they also brought up the need for a local market mark of quality or brand that would appear on fruit having Continued....

27

Growers delighted gone through a thorough and guaranteed system. Some form of regulation was also considered by this group as a way to bring the local market into line.

Germplasm session Alvaro and Bart (and in Bay of Plenty, Henry and Bart) presented an update on the germplasm programme. The purpose of this presentation was to inform the industry on the developments in this programme and to get growers to think about the characteristics that they would look for in a new cultivar.

Whangarei growers’ ideal rootstocks would be phytophthora resistant and have a dwarfing habit. The ideal scion would offer consistent cropping, good fruit size, be early maturing and have fruit with good storage qualities once picked.

Unfortunately the data for BOP was not collected.

Quality Session Juan presented an overview of the major quality problems encountered and the practices growers must adhere to in order to avoid these issues, with the major message being that quality starts in the orchard and cannot be improved after

Continued

harvest.

Main points for growers to remember: 1. Don’t pick wet fruit.

2. Handle fruit carefully at harvest.

3. Minimise pick-to-pack times.

4. Spray coppers.

These tactics help reduce the incidence of fuzzy patches, body rots, stem end rots and peel damage.

With the large crop forecast, markets will be under pressure and high quality is paramount to returning value to the grower.

Feedback on the grower forum The majority of feedback from attendees on the format and topics of the forums was extremely positive.

From the Whangarei forum we learned that the sessions needed to be slightly longer to allow growers to have enough time to discuss the topics with each other and ask questions. This was adjusted for Bay of Plenty and had a positive effect.

“We know that growers enjoyed this format, so we have incorporated this into our communications toolbox for future use,” says communications manager Midge Munro

Cross section of feedback from growers in Whangarei “I liked the way this forum was run with smaller groups breaking off. Slightly rushed but this did keep things moving.”

“More time for discussion of topic.”

“A good enthusiastic forum, cheers, not enough time for grower feedback.”

“Well organised event, well done.”

Cross section of feedback from growers in Bay of Plenty “This is one of the best organised forums I have attended” “Well run. Presented lots of information quickly. Good balance between presentation and question time.”

“Very rushed, would suggest a day which would allow greater discussion.”

“Communication so important. Great interaction today, can we have more of these?”

are into Avo’s, boots and all For all your avocado picking, packing and management needs John Emett - Avocado Client Service Manager

Let’s talk.

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07 578 9107 0274 769 087 john.emett@dms4kiwi.co.nz

By AIC communications manager Midge Munro mmunro@nzavocado.co.nz

T N E I D E R G N I R A T S E TH G N I C U D O R T IN

Export Market Promotion Update Australia This season our Australian promotion campaign has a large focus on consumer tastings, with 33 days of sampling planned in three states over three and a half months.

These activities will take place in popular shopping malls across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Shopping malls have been chosen as the ideal location as they all have at least one major supermarket and a number of smaller fresh produce stores. We have made sure that there is a balance of malls with either Coles, Woolworths or independent stores.

The consumer tastings will utilise the counter we created last season but will incorporate new recipes - Avocado scrambled egg wraps and Avocado tzatziki and tomato on toast. These are quick and easy ways people can add avocado to their diet.

We are using the creative angle of presenting the avocado as “The Star Ingredient” in meals and coupling this with a new morphed avocado star shape.

The Star Ingredient and Add an Avo everyday messages will be continued in prominent food magazines and also online using www.allrecipes.com.au and Facebook.

This season we are incorporating a large public relations element. Press releases will be sent out to relevant media throughout our season providing information and recipes to media which they can then use to create stories and

spread the message wider.

Zoe Bingly-Pullin, nutritional expert, chef and Australian Avocados spokesperson will be utilised in our promotion. Zoe will be at 9 of the 11 consumer tastings and will run nutritional talks and cooking demonstrations.

Japan A bumper volume of New Zealand avocados are bound for the lucrative Japanese market this summer as demand soars among Asian consumers.

The industry is due to export 530,000 trays to Japan between now and January – a staggering fivefold increase on the 99,436 trays supplied during the 2010-11 season.

AVANZA marketing director Steve Trickett says Japan is New Zealand’s second biggest export market after Australia.

“Japanese consumers are very discerning when it comes to quality, taste and texture,” says Steve.

“Health, nutrition, and beauty benefits are also important considerations in their diet so New Zealand avocados suit them very well.”

The Japan market is a very important developing market for New Zealand and our exporters have done great work in this market already.

“We see our participation and relationship development in the Japanese market as crucial for the success of the NZ avocado industry,” says Jonathan Cutting,

Seeka Avocado Business Manager.

By the time this goes to print, the NZ Avocado Grower’s Association Inc. will have held a media launch in Tokyo to mark the arrival of the NZ avocado season in the Japan market.

The event is to be held at the NZ embassy in Tokyo on September 27.

The embassy is a beautiful venue that with its prestige is a major draw card for media. Forty-six media and 28 trade representatives will be attending the event, which will feature a presentation on the NZ industry and the market for avocados in Japan. John Schnackenberg, Jen Scoular and Steve Trickett will speak at the presentation.

The launch is aimed at informing the media and also importers and retailers about the NZ avocado and generating media coverage after the event in consumer publications and online media.

Attendees will also be treated to a special avocado lunch prepared by the embassy chef to showcase the different ways avocados can be incorporated into meals.

The New Zealand Ambassador to Japan, HE Ian Kennedy will welcome guests to the event.

Attendees will also take away a media bag filled with information on avocados which they can then use to create stories on the NZ avocado. They will also receive specially ripened avocados to take home and eat. We hope this will give them added inspiration to spread the word about avocados from New Zealand.

29

$$$

Ultimately it’s about the dollar returns to you, our growers.

We pay good money - exceptional, in fact.

The figures? They sure put a smile on Grahame’s face...

Enjoy the difference.

Trev_180x126mm_may.indd 1

30

30/09/11 11:31 AM

By AIC communications manager Midge Munro mmunro@nzavocado.co.nz

Key facts you should know about avocados and share with your friends: 1. AVOCADOS ARE A SUPERFOOD PACKED WITH NUTRIENTS AND VITAMINS Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fibre, potassium, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, B-vitamins and folic acid.

2. AVOCADOS ARE VERSATILE - ADD AN AVO TO YOUR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER, SNACKS - EVEN DESSERT! Avocados are good for everyone and are versatile, easy to use and can be incorporated into many hot or cold, sweet or savoury dishes.

3. CHOOSE AN AVOCADO BASED ON ITS COLOUR - NEVER SQUEEZE THEM! Choose an avocado based its colour – there is no need to squeeze them – dark brown is ripe. Do not choose a black avocado - it is past its best.

Ripening your avo is easy in a brown paper bag with a banana or apple or in your fruit bowl.

4. AVOCADOS ARE THE PERFECT FIRST FOOD FOR BABIES The most important aspect of your baby’s diet is to keep it as natural as possible - avocados are a completely natural and healthy first food for babies going onto solids. They are ideal for when you are on the run - mash up in the skin and spoon out for baby.

5. AVOCADOS CONTAIN GOOD FATS WHICH HELP MAINTAIN LOW CHOLESTEROL LEVELS Though it is one of the few fruit to contain fat, this fat is of the good monounsaturated kind that we need to help maintain low cholesterol levels. By substituting fresh avocado on sandwiches and toast in place of butter you can reduce your intake of cholesterol, calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium.

By the same token, avocados are a good source of fibre, which helps to maintain a healthy digestive system and is important in control of weight.

It’s time for New Zealanders to Add an Avo!

We have begun our journey and are very excited to report that our first Add an Avocado media packs have been sent out to targeted media outlets in New Zealand.

This marks the first action in a series of activities we have planned to promote avocados for the coming six months.

The key messages to promote to consumers are the versatility of avocados, the nutritional properties and health benefits, and how to select and handle avocados.

These messages are being driven to consumers through the use of the Add an Avo marketing material first utilised in the Australian market. However our use of the material will be slightly different, instead of Add an Avo we will use the wording Add an Avocado.

Research conducted with focus groups conclude that NZ consumers do not identify with the word “avo”.

A public relations campaign has been developed in conjunction with a local firm which has based the campaign on gaining exposure through providing influential New Zealanders with a steady diet of avocado information. These individuals can then push our messages out through their magazine, blog,

Twitter page, radio station, Facebook page, website, TV programme etc.

We have developed key partnerships with organisations whose goals align with our campaign; for example 5+ A Day have named October as their avocado month! 5+ A Day are helping us reach consumers and influential New Zealanders.

Social media plays a big part in this campaign and allows us to connect with consumers on a daily basis. We have set up Facebook and Twitter pages which are used to spread information to followers about our upcoming activities, new recipes and health information. So, “Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter - share the links with all your friends - we want to get as many people connected to NZ avocado and receiving information and updates on our fruit as we can.

Mothers are a key target audience for this campaign as avocado is a perfect first food for a baby, therefore we are developing relationships and activities with childcare organisations.

The Katikati Avocado Food and Wine Festival to be held in January 2012 also features on our activity calendar. We want to see this event grow and we plan for NZ avocado to have a significant presence there next year.

Consumer education is a key focus and we are developing strategies to address this at retail.

For recipe ideas and avocado facts follow us on:

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Reading Your Trees guide launched Over the past three years the NZ Avocado Growers’ Association Inc. has been working with avocado growers and consultants to help fight the industry’s most challenging factor - irregular bearing.

AIC CEO Jen Scoular says the new Reading Your Trees guide will be a useful 32 tool for growers.

NZAGA & AIC Chief Executive Jen Scoular says the avocado industry has the potential to triple in value, but growth is constrained by the impacts of irregular bearing; a situation where trees fail to produce a viable crop every year.

As part of the ongoing effort to understand the causes of irregular bearing, the industry has produced a new tool; ‘Reading Your Trees: A New Zealand Avocado Grower’s Guide’ aims to help growers implement tailored orchard management strategies to mitigate the effects of irregular bearing.

Former project lead Toni Elmsly says one of the factors that has lead to the development of the guide is growers’ reliance on prescriptive or ‘one size fits all’ tree management.

“Every orchard situation is different which makes it difficult to prescribe one set of management strategies for irregular bearing here we are giving growers the tools to assess their individual needs based on the signs their own trees are displaying,” Toni says.

AIC Technical Manager Henry Pak says to achieve consistent crops and overcome irregular bearing, orchard management activities need to be applied at the correct time.

The guide defines indicators of an ‘ideal’ tree at key stages of the growth cycle. Growers are then able to assess and rate their own trees using scales in the associated workbook (workbook available for download from http://www.nzavocado.co.nz/index.php/pi_ pageid/363). The guide also offers inputs and tactics growers can consider to address issues they have identified.

According to Toni, the industry’s most successful growers are those who have the ability to identify and understand the symptoms their trees are displaying and respond with appropriate management inputs.

Grower and contributor to the guide, Hilton Paul, says Reading Your Trees is an exciting development.

“It is a practical hands-on tool that should be used consistently all year,” says Hilton.

The new guide was delivered to the industry in time for the 2011 AGA Annual General Meeting in Whangarei on 12 August.

Advance copies were also presented to growers attending the Bay of Plenty Grower Forum the following week.

“Reading Your Trees is a significant contribution to the industry; we look forward to seeing how it will inform, stimulate and encourage our grower community to take a more proactive approach to orchard management.”

Reading Your Trees was partly funded by a grant awarded to the project from the MAF Sustainable Farming Fund.

Reading Your Trees is available for free to all members of the NZ Avocado Growers’ Association Inc. All members were posted a copy of the guide early September. If you have not received your copy please let us know. New growers will be sent the guide on registration of their PPIN. Non-members are able to purchase the guide from the Avocado Industry Council for $28.75.

Regional roundups Firstly, many thanks to Mid North growers for their support for another term. At this stage I intend retiring at the end of this term, so appreciate the opportunity to represent you.

It is late August and at last the ground is starting to dry Mid North

By Mike Eagles out after a very wet winter, which must have had some effect on our avocado tree roots. I would advise all growers to take precautions against Phytophthora cinnamomi as I suspect with our water-logged soils that it could become an issue this year.

Some heavy frosts over the last few weeks have caused considerable damage on orchards I have visited; hopefully it will not affect next year’s crop. The one side benefit that I noticed when doing my pest monitoring was that pests had taken a hammering from the frosts.

The AGM held in Whangarei on August 12 at the Northland Events Centre was very successful and there was an excellent attendance of growers and support services staff. The breakaway groups certainly seemed to work well, other than the fact that keen growers wanted a little more time for each presentation and discussion. But the new format certainly seemed to work for most growers.

With a big crop this year it is wise for growers to communicate early with exporters, pack sheds and picking contractors to organise their picking and packing plan. This is looking like being a record exporting year for the industry and early planning will help to alleviate any problems.

Many growers will have been to the World Avocado Congress by the time you read this. It looks like a very interesting programme which should have something in it for everyone. I will share my Congress experiences with you in the next Avoscene.

We are still trying to set up a number of grower discussion groups in Whangarei, as advised in the December 2010 Avoscene. If you are interested in being involved, email me at m.eagles@xtra.co.nz or phone 09 434 7271.

33

Regional roundups By the time you read this article we will all be full swing into the picking season. Many growers will be unaware or perhaps have forgotten the Bay of plenty recent polar blast

By Ashby Whitehead event that passed over New Zealand on August 15-16. It is certainly not a day I will forget as it is having a major impact on our production this year, as well as for next year. Temperatures plummeted as low as -6ÂşC in the Te Puke area and snow was experienced here and in many other parts of the country, which has never been seen before. On the 15th, proceeding the big frost, it was 0ÂşC at 6pm and by 6am the damage was done.

It took a few days for the extent of the damage to become truly evident with burnt leaves from ground level to the tops of our 10 metre plus trees. Burnt fruit was evident a few weeks later, with each tree having a carpet of fruit at its base, and any exposed fruit has taken the brunt of the frost, along with the new flower buds.

It was not at all pleasing to hear of growers who were picking the fruit the next day before it fell off the tree

34

Continued

and marketing it. It is understandable that growers are trying to recoup some money where they can, but it has come at a cost to all growers and then we question why we get poor returns from our local market. I see this to be in the same vain as putting windfalls into the market place which again comes at a cost to the growers for the selfish act of a few.

Growers need to act responsibly in order to protect and grow their local market returns, producing and marketing good quality fruit is essential if we are to increase the local market consumption. The number one complaint from consumers is the poor quality local market fruit. I firmly believe the buck stops with the grower, so please act responsibly this season when putting fruit into the market.

All the best for a productive season.

Far North

By Ian Broadhurst

Winter in the Far North has been a mixed bag. Earlier the temperatures were warm for the time of the year with no significant weather events and orchards progressing well. Unfortunately this didn’t last, with

a period of high winds in May and June along with a more recent cold spell which produced some significant frosts. The cooler weather has had an effect on some young trees which have been touched by frost by way of leaf and flower burn especially in sheltered areas.

For those growers that have begun picking for export, many are noticing a reduction in pack-out as a result of wind rub which we can put down to the weather events during mid-winter. Not ideal in a big crop year as non-export product will ultimately be destined for local market, which unfortunately is unlikely to provide decent returns back to growers.

Orchards appear to be well set-up for the onset of flowering although on older trees the overall impression is flower is lighter than last year. Many younger orchards have flower buds which are now advanced although generally not open. Bacon pollinator trees now have flower opening so I would expect by end of September to be well into flowering for Hass.

Six spotted mite populations in the Far North are generally still higher than expected but there is little else in terms of pest pressure. A new range of chemistry for control of mites is now available so this will aid growers and give options to hopefully give longer

term control of this pest, which accounts for one of the biggest costs to growers in terms of pest control spend.

Managing withholding periods over the export season is always a mission as growers have to balance EMS requirements, pest control to manage tree health, bees and maintain fruit quality.

Many thanks to the growers who attended the 2011 AGM held at Toll Stadium, Whangarei. The turnout was impressive, the venue was outstanding, the organisation on behalf of the AIC staff was excellent and the participation of the growers in terms of feedback will give the board plenty to consider as we look to implement strategies for the next 12 months.

A huge amount of discussion has occurred around pollination/bees especially in areas in the Bay of Plenty which are considering alternative spray programmes for kiwifruit. While we are fortunate in the Far North not to have these issues, we need to fully understand the benefits of pollination and maintaining healthy bee populations.

I have taken more calls than ever over pollination issues this season, with many growers let down by pollination providers as the apiarists appear to be conflicted by the desire to push for manuka production and struggling to maintain healthy hives. Once again

growers need to be responsible in terms of chemical applications when hives are in the orchards plus ensure the hives you are paying for are healthy and productive.

They are expensive and important for the success of fruit set.

Good luck for the export season and I hope it all goes well.

Spring is here and with it the traditional westerly spring equinox winds. The reason for these winds is because usually at this time of year there is the Rest of NZ biggest temperature

By David French variation between the South Pole and the Tropics.

Anyway, spring is also when most of us start, or start thinking about harvesting.

This year we have started picking earlier than normal in South Auckland, as we seem to have some orchards with high dry matter and good fruit size. At time of writing we haven’t started picking for Japan yet.

At this time of year communication between growers, packers and exporters is essential. During the July grower roadshows I noticed that some growers

felt that once the fruit was in the bin it was someone else’s problem but this is not true.

As growers we have the power to decide who picks our fruit, who packs our fruit and who exports our fruit. At the grower forum which I attended in Whangarei there was also a lot of discussion about immature fruit being sold (or dumped) on the local market. I think growers have the right to know who is doing this and then they (the grower) can choose if they still want to support that entity, be it harvesting contractor, packer or exporter.

So to summarise, talk to your packer, ask them how they intend marketing your grade 2 or grade 3 fruit, ask them how they do their maturity clearances particularly for early season local market crops, and talk to your exporter. Ask them which markets they are going to, what percentage of your crop will be sold directly into retail programmes and what percentage will be sold on the wholesale market.

Ask them what percentage of their fruit is going to Australia and what percentage is being put into developing new markets.

The most responsible exporter might not be the one who gets you top dollar this year, it might be the one who is planning ahead and developing new markets for their and your future.

The power is in your hands so use it.

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High density plan

By Grant Thorp and Andrew Barnett The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Alternate bearing is a significant problem for avocado industries worldwide. Development of small tree, high density planting systems may make it easier to use management options to control alternate bearing (Thorp et al. 2001). This article describes methods by which avocado nurseries and/or growers can produce single leader trees with a slender pyramid shape suitable for high density orchards.

Background Orchard productivity is proportional to the total intercepted radiation (Monteith 1977). This means growers need to manage the shape and size of their trees to maximise the total amount of incoming radiation intercepted by the orchard. Schaffer and Whiley (2003) emphasised this point when they said growers need to shape avocado trees so that a greater proportion of leaves receive sufficient light to attain their maximum photosynthetic potential. With apples and other crops that use high density planting systems, the ideal tree shape is a “slender pyramid” shape by which the tree is slightly wider at the base than at the top (Tustin 2000).

There is a common belief that alternate bearing cycles are more prominent in older avocado orchards with large trees that are difficult to manage. New “high density” orchards established with fast track development systems to promote early yields from “small trees” may provide growers with more options to apply the sophisticated and precise management interventions needed to achieve consistently high yields in avocado groves, and thus avoid extreme alternate bearing (Hofshi 1999).

Previous work in New Zealand, California and Chile has demonstrated the proof of concept for high density orchards.

However, there remain two key requirements to the success of these systems: • Nurseries will need to provide growers with single-leader trees suitable for high density orchards; this requires a radical re-think of the type of tree produced by avocado nurseries.

• Renewal pruning systems need to be developed, tested and confirmed so that growers can contain tree size and maintain consistent yields over the life of the orchard.

An additional requirement, not normally encountered in California or Chile but that has been a barrier to the success of high density plantings systems in New Zealand, is to obtain high yields from young trees.

Slender pyramid trees The key to promoting the growth of a single-leader tree with a slender pyramid shape suitable for high density plantings is to encourage vigorous growth from a single growing point from the grafted scion. If there is sufficient vigour in the primary growth axis, then a new “sylleptic” lateral shoot will be produced at every leaf node as the primary axis extends (Figure 1). These shoots form by syllepsis, as they emerge and extend at the same time as the primary growth axis, without an intervening period of rest (Thorp et al. 1994). A high proportion of sylleptic shoots on Hass avocado trees is a good 36

planting systems for Hass avocados

Figure 1. The desired growth habit for single-leader Hass avocado trees.

Note the new “sylleptic” lateral shoots (arrowed) produced at each leaf node along the primary growth axis.

Figure 2. It is difficult to promote vigorous growth from a single growing point with a new lateral shoot at every leaf node when avocado trees are closely spaced on nursery benches.

indicator of vigorous shoot development.

Unfortunately, the economics of growing plants in nurseries requires that plants are closely spaced on the propagation benches and this inhibits the number and growth of these sylleptic lateral shoots (Figure 2).

One option is for nurseries to sell the plants soon after grafting, before shading reduces the production of lateral shoots developing from the primary growth axis.

This would mean it was then left for the grower to promote the required vigorous growth in the field from a single growing point that will produce a single leader tree with a lateral branch at every leaf node.

Growers can do this by removing at an early stage any competing “proleptic” shoots arising below the primary growing point that is being promoted to form the trunk (Figure 3). These shoots form by prolepsis, as they develop from resting buds below the terminal bud being promoted as the primary growth axis (Thorp et al. 1994).

These proleptic shoots reduce the vigour of the primary growing point and so it is important that they are removed as soon as possible once the primary growing point has been identified.

Another option tested for the first time in New Zealand in 2010/11 was to take a larger plant from the nursery, plant it into the field and then pin it down to

Figure 3. Avocado growers have the option of planting out smaller trees and promoting the growth of a single, vigorous growing point in the orchard. This is done by removing at an early stage any competing “proleptic” shoots arising from below the primary growing point that is being promoted to form the new trunk. Arrows mark the proleptic shoots that need to be removed.

create a bend just above the graft union, to force the development of a new primary growing point (Figure 4). A new growing point was formed within a few weeks and quickly became a vigorous extension shoot, producing the desired growth habit with a new lateral shoot at every new leaf node to give the desired slender pyramid tree shape.

The new shoot did not need to be staked as it immediately developed a very strong, tapered trunk. The original section of the tree was kept for a few months before it was removed; in the meantime, the leaves on this section supported the growth of the root system and of the new trunk. Any vigorous upright shoots that developed from this older section were removed so that they did not compete with the newly formed trunk.

This option of pinning down the tree at planting and promoting the growth of a new trunk works better than just using a “heading cut” used to promote a new growing point. The heading method removes all leaf growth that otherwise could support root growth and growth of the new trunk, so that the new growing point is slow to develop and lacks the required vigour to produce the desired slender pyramid growth habit.

Future work will involve working with growers and nurseries in New Zealand and Australia to plant test plots of high density

Figure 4. Strong single-leader Hass avocado tree with the desired slender pyramid shape produced by pinning down the main stem of the tree and forcing a new stronger growing point from above the graft union. The original section of plant (arrowed) can be seen pinned down to the left.

Hass avocado trees using young plants produced using the methods described here.

Interested growers should contact Grant Thorp at Plant & Food Research (grant. thorp@plantandfood.co.nz) if they require more information on these trials.

This project was partly funded by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (Contract No. C06X0708) and Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) using voluntary contributions from The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited and matched funds from the Australian Government.

References: Hofshi R 1999. High-density avocado planting - an argument for replanting trees http://www.avocadosource.com/ papers/research_articles/hofshireuben1999.htm Monteith JL 1977. Climate and the efficiency of crop production in Britain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B, 281: 277–294.

Schaffer B, Whiley AJ 2003. Environmental regulation of photosynthesis in avocado trees – a mini-review. Proceedings V World Avocado Congress (Actas V Congreso Mundial del Aguacate): 335–342. http://www.avocadosource.com/wac5/ papers/wac5_p335.pdf Thorp TG, Aspinall D, Sedgley M 1994. Preformation of node number in vegetative and reproductive proleptic shoot modules of Persea (Lauraceae). Annals of Botany 73 (1): 13–22.

Thorp TG, Woolf A, Boyd L, Ferguson I, White A, Everett K 2001. Avocado canopy management - sustainable production of top quality fruit. Australian and New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Conference “Vision 2020” (Proceedings), 3–7 June 2001, Bundaberg, Australia. http://www.avocadosource.com/ journals/ausnz/ausnz_2001/1063p020.pdf Tustin DS 2000. The evolution of central leader apple tree management in New Zealand. Compact Fruit Tree 23 (3): 83–92.

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Alternate Bearing Research – This article provides an update on a series of on-going research projects established in Australia and New Zealand to provide the avocado industry with a better understanding of the causes of alternate bearing and a set of solutions to ensure growers can consistently produce reliable fruit yields.

All avocado-producing regions encounter alternate bearing to some extent with unreliable yields from one year to the next, especially with Hass.

In high cropping years prices to growers are low, while in light cropping years marketers find it difficult to maintain consistent supplies into key markets.

Environmental triggers such as frost or drought can initiate these on/off cropping cycles, while internal physiological mechanisms are responsible for their continuation. Much horticultural work has attempted to understand these.

Previous research with avocado and other crops examining reasons for low fruit set have implicated both low tree carbohydrate status and boron deficiency as drivers of alternate bearing (Whiley et al, 1996; Wolstenholme 2010). Research in Australia and New Zealand is addressing these factors in an international research programme led by scientists at Plant & Food Research.

Alternate Bearing Research There are two scenarios that can lead to alternate bearing (Figure 1). The first is when there are “fruit but no flowers”, which occurs when the presence of a heavy crop one year inhibits shoot growth and flowering in the next year.

The second is when there are “flowers but no fruit”; in this scenario, there are sufficient flowers but very poor fruit set. Depending upon season and environment, these two scenarios may be additive or independent of each other.

38

Our research has focused mainly on this second scenario which is more typical of the situation in New Zealand and parts of Australia. New research projects being developed in collaboration with scientists in California, Spain, Israel and Chile are being established to address the first scenario which appears to be prevalent in hot and dry Mediterranean-type climates.

Fruit but no flowers

Alternate Bearing Flowers but no fruit

Figure 1. Alternate bearing can result from having too many fruit but not enough flowers for the following season and/or from having sufficient flowers but not the right conditions to set sufficient fruit.

Carbohydrate and boron physiology Is boron transported in the phloem of avocado trees?

A continuous supply of boron is vital for the formation of new cells during plant growth and development and flowers are particularly sensitive to any deficiency in boron supply (Iwai et al.

2006). Insufficient transport of boron to flowers and developing fruitlets could be an important factor contributing to alternate bearing in avocado.

In many plant species boron is not transported in the phloem, which is the sugar transport pathway in plants from leaves to flowers and elsewhere.

In these plants distribution of boron throughout the plant depends completely upon transport in the xylem, the water transport pathway that terminates in the leaves. Some plants have polyols (e.g. sorbitol, mannitol) as a component of their phloem sap which joins with boron to make boron mobile in the phloem.

This has been well documented in many tree crops, such as apple and almond (Brown and Hu 1998).

The major carbohydrates in avocado are the 7-carbon carbohydrates D-mannoheptulose and the polyol perseitol (Liu et al. 2002). Our hypothesis was that the presence of perseitol in the phloem sap of avocado may facilitate the transport of boron via the phloem. While this had been previously suggested in the avocado literature, it had never been demonstrated, until now.

• Mass spectrometry was used to demonstrate that perseitol does in fact form a complex with boron. So there is the potential for boron to be transported in the phloem of avocado.

• We then demonstrated that young avocado leaves had considerably more boron than older leaves which means that boron had been exported from these older leaves. With nutrients that are not transported in the phloem, such as calcium, their concentrations increase over time in older leaves as there is no export.

• We also showed that boron was able to move from a mature avocado leaf into nearby young tissues including flowers, indicating phloem mobility, and we found boron in phloem sap collected from an avocado inflorescence (Figure 2).

Thus we were able to confirm that boron can be transported in the phloem of avocado by joining up with the carbohydrate perseitol. This suggests that boron transport may be related to the amount of perseitol in the phloem sap.

Further research examined this possibility.

Variation in phloem sap composition in avocado trees The phloem is a key structure in the supply of carbohydrates and remobilised minerals to developing plant tissues, including the flower. Inadequate supply of nutrients (carbohydrates and minerals) via the phloem to flowers could result in poor flower quality and low fruit set.

To investigate the role of the phloem in the supply of sugars and nutrients to the avocado flower, and how this may affect the processes of pollination and fruit set in different regions and environments, we have been monitoring the concentrations of carbohydrates and boron in phloem sap collected from inflorescences during

h – an update on progress flowering. Samples were collected from Hass avocado orchards in New Zealand and Australia, and in California with the help of Dr Mary Lu Arpaia.

• We found that three major carbohydrates, sucrose, perseitol and D-mannoheptulose, plus boron, were important nutrients supplied by the phloem for flowering and early fruit growth.

• We also made some preliminary observations of relationships between boron and perseitol concentrations in ON and OFF cropping trees (Figure 3) and between samples collected after periods of very hot or relatively cool humid conditions. These still need to be confirmed.

The implications of this research could be that crop load and/or boron nutrition need to be better managed to ensure sufficient supply of boron to developing flowers, especially in ON cropping years.

This means applying boron to supply the needs of the growing fruit in order for there to be sufficient left in the leaves to supply the developing flowers. Research in New Zealand has indicated that applying boron directly to flowers has little effect (Dixon et al. 2007).

Also, it is possible that low boron and carbohydrate concentrations in phloem sap during the cool humid conditions that are predominant during avocado flowering in New Zealand could partly explain poor fruit set in this region.

Is boron transport to avocado flowers regulated by carbohydrate supply?

The fact that boron and perseitol are transported together in the phloem suggests that the transport of boron from leaves to flowers is regulated by the transport of perseitol. We tested this by using branch girdling (cincturing) techniques to manipulate the supply of carbohydrates to flowers (see review by Whiley 2002 and a previous report by Thorp et al. 2009). We were expecting that increasing the carbohydrate content of leaves would increase the export of boron to flowers. Branch girdling treatments were applied in two separate experiments in 2008 and 2010 to manipulate carbohydrate availability and thus boron supply from leaves to flowers

By Grant Thorp, Peter Minchin, Helen Boldingh, Nick Gould and Andrew Barnett The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Figure 2. Small Eppendorf tubes were attached to the cut end of ‘Hass’ avocado inflorescences at mid-bloom to collect samples of phloem sap. This allowed us to quantify the relative amounts of different carbohydrates and boron being transported to the flowers.

in Hass avocado trees with high (ON) and low (OFF) crop loads.

• Few differences were found between leaf carbohydrate concentrations in ON and OFF cropping trees. However, leaf boron concentrations were consistently lower in ON cropping trees, which suggests that the fruit were a major competing sink for boron.

• Leaf boron concentration declined during winter at a similar timing to that of D-mannoheptulose, the storage form of perseitol.

• Girdling treatments increased the amount of boron exported from leaves and increased the boron content of flowers.

Thus we were able to provide evidence that boron supply to avocado flowers is associated with carbohydrate availability in the adjacent leaves.

Role of carbohydrates and boron in determining flower quality in avocado One of the arguments for why carbohydrate and boron resources are implicated as a possible cause of alternate bearing is that when trees are carrying high crop loads there are insufficient carbohydrates and boron available to support floral development and ensure

successful fruit set (Scholefield et al.

1985). This implies that there can be poor quality flowers, characterised by being deficient in carbohydrates and/ or boron. Projects in Spain and New Zealand have been examining this possibility.

Earlier work in Spain by Iñaki Hormaza and Librada Alcaraz showed that flowers with high starch content were more likely to set fruit than flowers with low starch content (Alcaraz et al. 2010). In collaboration with the Spanish scientists we undertook to expand on this result and quantify the concentrations of individual carbohydrates and boron in avocado flowers and relate these to the probability of flowers setting a fruit.

In what was a huge effort by Librada Alcaraz, she hand pollinated 2959 Hass flowers for us in New Zealand during flowering in 2010, and 24 hours later collected styles from these same flowers for subsequent carbohydrate and boron analysis. Of the hand pollinated flowers, 69 continued development to produce a fruit, to give 2.3% successful fruit set.

The styles from these flowers/fruit, plus comparable samples from early, mid and late-blooming flowers that did not result 39

Continued....

in successful fruit are now being analysed in our laboratories in New Zealand for carbohydrate and boron composition.

Librada undertook a similar project in Spain during their flowering period, and tissue samples from these were extracted and shipped to New Zealand for analysis.

The project is incomplete. However, the potential impact of this work is that it will provide new knowledge on flower quality that will contribute to the development of more sophisticated flower thinning strategies to regulate crop load and mitigate the effects of alternate bearing in avocado.

Future work The next step in this research will be to test the findings presented here in

a series of long-term crop regulation experiments using girdling with/without flower and/or fruit thinning to regulate the concentrations of carbohydrates and boron in current season shoots in order to manipulate flower boron concentration and thus potentially fruit yields at the whole-tree scale. Projects up until now have all been at a scale that tells us we can change flower quality and so potentially increase yields and reduce the severity of alternate bearing, but unless we can scale these projects up and run them over several years, we will not be able to demonstrate these results in a real situation.

Acknowledgements: We thank Michael Blattmann, Tom Lear, Sam Ong Eng Chye, Ella Maxwell and Darienne Voyle

for assistance with these projects. We also thank Colin Jenkins, Steve Bryant and the staff at Ngai Tukairangi Trust Orchard, Ted McDougal, Ron and Chris Bailey and Terry Davies in New Zealand and Brendan Burton and Steve and Carole Ashe in Australia for assistance and access to their avocado orchards.

This work was done in collaboration with Toni Elmsly and Henry Pak from the New Zealand Avocado Industry Council, John Leonardi from Avocados Australia Limited, Mary Lu Arpaia, Eric Focht and Fayek Negm from the University of California Riverside, Patrick Brown and Hening Hu from the University of California Davis and with Iñaki Hormaza and Librada Alcaraz from CSIC in Spain.

This project was part funded by the New Zealand Avocado Industry Council, the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (Contract No. C06X0708) and Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) using voluntary contributions from The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited and matched funds from the Australian Government.

Figure 3. Examples of ON and OFF flowering ‘Hass’ avocado trees near Towoomba, Australia. Phloem sap was collected from these trees to determine the effect of crop load in the previous season on the relative amounts of the different carbohydrates and boron that were being delivered to flowers. Low carbohydrate and/or boron concentrations in flowers possibly indicate a high chance of poor fruit set.

List of References Alcaraz ML, Hormaza JI, Rodrigo J 2010. Ovary starch reserves and pistil development in avocado (Persea americana). Physiologia Plantarum 140 (4): 395–404.

Brown PH, Hu H 1998. Phloem boron mobility in diverse plant-species. Botanica Acta 111: 331–335.

Dixon J, Elmsly TA, Dixon EM, Mandemaker A, Pak HA 2007. Factors influencing fruit set of Hass avocados in New Zealand. Proceedings VI World Avocado Congress (Actas VI Congreso Mundial del Aguacate), Viña Del Mar, Chile. 12 – 16 Nov. 2007. ISBN No 978-956-17-0413-8.

Iwai H, Hokura A, Oishi M, Ishii T, Sakai S, Satoh S 2006. The gene responsible for borate cross-linking of pectin rhamnogalacturonan-II is required for plant reproductive tissue development and fertilization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 16592–16597.

Liu X, Sievert J, Arpaia ML, Madore MA 2002. Postulated physiological roles of the seven-carbon sugars, mannoheptulose, and perseitol in avocado. Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Science 127(1):108–114.

Scholefield PB, Sedgley M, Alexander DM 1985. Carbohydrate cycling in relation to shoot growth, floral initiation and development and yield in the avocado. Scientia Horticulturae 25: 99–110.

Thorp TG, Boldingh HL, Barnett AM, Minchin PEH 2009. Research on alternate bearing. AvoScene. The New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Journal, September: 44–46.

Whiley AW 2002. Crop management. In: Whiley AW, Schaffer B, Wolstenholme BN eds. The Avocado; Botany, Production and Uses. CAB International Press, Wallingford, UK. Pp 231–258.

Whiley AW, Smith IE, Wolstenholme BN, Saranah JB 1996. Boron nutrition in avocadoes. South African Avocado Growers’ Association Yearbook 19: 1–7.

Wolstenholme BN 2010. Alternate bearing in avocado: an overview. Cited from http://www.avocadosource.com/papers/southafrica_papers/wolstenholmenigel2010.pdf.

40

By AIC laboratory manager Toni Elmsly telmsly@nzavocado.co.nz

.

Effect of Maturity Colouration on Fruit Quality This article reports on a two-year study aiming to investigate the influence of fruit colouration at harvest on ripe fruit quality. This study was undertaken as a response to a submission from a packhouse to reconsider the export grade standard allowance for colour.

According to the current grade standards, the allowance in relation to black colour is less than 0.5cm². The standard defines this as solid black colour sometimes with red with no green background. The submission requested an increase in this allowance.

Initial research on the effect of fruit colouration on storage quality was undertaken during the 2009/10 harvest

season and this was repeated during the 2010/11 export season to substantiate the previous year’s findings.

The Trial Design In both years a total of 100 fruit were collected from a number of orchards in the Western Bay of Plenty region. The trials were carried out during the same harvest window but using different orchards. The fruit was sorted into one of three categories based on colour: 1. In grade-green 2. In grade-coloured 3. Out of grade-coloured The first category consisted of fruit with uniform green colour with no dark maturity colouration. The second category consisted of fruit with some darkening due to maturity but predominantly green in colour and the third category consisted of fruit which was predominantly dark in colour with little or no green background. Only the

first two categories met the requirements for the colour grade standard allowance.

The sample size varied depending on the number of fruit available to represent each colour, but generally there were at least two trays of 20 fruit for categories one and two and only one tray of twenty fruit for category three.

This fruit was weighed and placed into a temperature controlled cabinet set at 5 °C ± 0.5 °C and stored for 28 days before removal to 20 °C for ripening.

After removal from storage the fruit were weighed before assessment of external disorders. Once the fruit was eating ripe, as judged by hand feel (85-100 on a firmometer with a 300g weight), it was assessed for internal disorders as per AIC Fruit Quality Assessment Manual.

In the repeated trial an additional sample from each orchard was harvested, with twenty fruit samples collected for categories one and two for dry matter analysis.

41

Continued....

Results Fruit Quality: The 2009/10 study indicated that fruit with green colour at harvest had the best internal quality when ripe compared with fruit with any maturity related colouration. The greater the colouration, the greater the detrimental effect on fruit quality. Fruit with green colour (Fig 1) had the lowest severity of stemend rots, diffuse flesh discolouration, vascular browning and brown patches.

A comparison of fruit disorders between green fruit and the other two categories indicated that the severity of vascular browning and brown patches increased significantly in fruit showing any colouration at harvest.

In 2009/10 there were also differences between the categories in the incidence of fruit disorders but these were generally less pronounced than the severity.

In the 2010/11 season fruit with green and in-grade colour showed the best internal quality when ripe (Fig 2).

Fruit with out-of-grade colouration had poor storage quality confirming the results of the previous season, although the in-grade coloured fruit quality was substantially better than last season’s. The

out of grade fruit had significantly higher Dry matter Percentage: severity of stem-end rot, diffuse flesh In 2010/11, the in-grade coloured fruit discolouration, vascular browning and (category 2) average dry matter was 35.2% brown patches then both the green fruit and the green coloured fruit (category 1) and the in grade fruit. was 32.6 %. Hass fruit increase in dry However, the in-grade fruit was not matter by approximately 2% per month. significantly different to the green This difference equates to approximately five coloured fruit. The only exception weeks increase in fruit maturity compared was the severity of diffuse flesh which to the green coloured fruit. No dry matter increased significantly in the in-grade sample was taken for the out-of-grade fruit fruit and out-of-grade fruit compared to due to insufficient fruit numbers. the green fruit.

Conclusion: In 2010/11 the differences between Fruit colouration at harvest impacts on the categories was most pronounced fruit quality. In both seasons, out-of-grade for incidence of fruit disorders (Fig fruit had significantly higher levels of fruit 3). There was a significant increase in disorders than green or in-grade coloured the incidence of stem-end rot, diffuse fruit. flesh discolouration, vascular browning The dry matter content of the in-grade and brown patches between the green fruit was higher than the green fruit coloured fruit and the out-of-grade suggesting that any fruit colouration at fruit. The incidence of stem-end rot, harvest maybe due to advanced maturity. vascular browning and brown patches Overall, the in-grade coloured fruit was also significantly different between was intermediary in quality although, the in-grade fruit and the out-of-grade this season it was closer to green fruit fruit. The incidence of diffuse flesh compared with the previous season where decolouration was not significantly 1.

MeanoutSeverity (± Standard Error ofto Mean) of stem-end rots, diffuse it was closer out-of-grade fruit.

As a different between theFigure in-grade and fleshwas discolouration, vascular brown patches fruit result of browning this twoand year study, theingrade of-grade fruit. The only exception showing different degrees of colouration at harvest. Trial 1, December standard committee were satisfied that the incidence of brown patches 2009. which the current grade standards on colour are increased significantly in fruit showing appropriate and no changes were made. any colouration at harvest.

Figure 1. Mean Severity (± Standard Error of Mean) of stem-end rots, diffuse flesh Mean Severity (± Standard Error of Mean) of stem-end rots, diffuse discolouration,flesh vascular browning and brown patches in fruit showing different discolouration, vascular browning and brown patches in fruit degrees of colouration harvest.degrees Trial 1, December 2009.at harvest. Trial 1, December showingatdifferent of colouration

Figure 1.

2009.

Figure 2. Mean Severity (±Standard Error of Mean) of stem-end rots, diffuse flesh

Figure 2.

Mean Severity (±Standard Error of Mean)inoffruit stem-end rots,different diffuse discolouration, vascular browning and brown patches showing flesh discolouration, vascular browning and brown patches in fruit degrees of colouration at harvest.

Trial 2, November 2010. showing different degrees of colouration at harvest. Trial 2, November 2010.

Figure 3. Mean Incidence (±Standard Error of Mean) of stem-end rots, diffuse flesh discolouration, vascular browning and brown patches in fruit showing different degrees of colouration at harvest. Trial 2, November 2010.

42 3.

Figure Mean Incidence (±Standard Error of Mean) of stem-end rots, diffuse flesh discolouration, vascular browning and brown patches in fruit showing different degrees2.of colouration at harvest.

Trial 2, Error November 2010.of stem-end rots, diffuse Figure Mean Severity (±Standard of Mean) flesh discolouration, vascular browning and brown patches in fruit showing different degrees of colouration at harvest. Trial 2, November 2010.

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Industry News Streptomycin use on kiwifruit in BOP The first results have been received for Streptomycin trials which show it is more persistent that initially thought. However, at 1/10 strength no residues were found, which suggests there would be no issues with spray drift. The waterblaster also proves very effective While KVH had advised the AIC that they would require growers to give neighbours 48 hours notice this is only recommended best practise. KVH have now taken the view that while they recommend best practice they can only enforce the 12 hour requirement as per the regional council air plan. To date there has been very limited use of streptomycin within the kiwifruit industry, with most use centred in Te Puke. It remains to be seen how the recent finds in Katikati and Waihi will impact on streptomycin usage.

Growers will be able to apply a maximum of three applications up until flowering.

Kiwifruit growers in the priority zone in BOP will be allowed to spray kiwifruit vines with Streptomycin to protect against PSA subject to strict protocols that have been agreed by Zespri and KVH. These protocols should prevent any impact on avocados.

44

Agreed protocols include: 1. The spray may only be applied by registered spray operators, and will only be sold to the grower who has a justified approval from Zespri.

2. Steps must be taken to minimise any spray drift including use of air inclusion nozzles, no application if wind speed guidelines are exceeded and observing best practice for application. This includes notification to neighbours of intended sprays.

3. Kiwifruit growers may apply a maximum of three applications between 1 Sept and 1 December. No applications are to be made to plants in open flower.

4. Growers must give Zespri/KVH 12 hours notice of their intention to spray.

5. Zespri will be actively auditing applications over the spray window.

It is very important that avocado growers, packers and exporters are aware of this. The avocado industry will also introduce measures to ensure that there is no risk from this kiwifruit spray programme for avocados. We will have access to the maps of growers authorised to spray. As an industry we need to work together and we will be working with pack houses to ensure control around harvest dates for avocados in the spray zones and may introduce additional measures such

as waterblasting or brushing to ensure no residues are found on avocados from spray drift from kiwifruit. We have confidence that these protocols will be followed by all parties associated with the application of this additional spray on kiwifruit and will work closely across the industry and with Zespri/KVH to mitigate any risks to avocados.

In the meantime if your neighbour grows kiwifruit, please talk to them about their intentions and let them know if you have a scheduled harvest over this period. Please contact us if you feel that these protocols have not been adhered to.

If you have concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us at the AIC. We suggest you also keep in good contact about Streptomycin with your packhouse, beekeeper and contractors.

If you have been notified by your beekeeper that they will not be providing hives because of streptomycin use in the kiwifruit industry, please let us know as soon as possible.

NZAGA Inc. election for the At Large Executive committee member and Board director of AIC Ltd Following the resignation of Kim Crocker as an executive member of the AGA Executive Committee and a

director of AIC Limited, the NZAGA will now hold an election for the vacant At Large position. All NZAGA members will have received their voting papers via post for this election - if you have not received your pack please contact us.

Four nominations have been received for the position: Kevin Evans (Athenree), John Cotterell (Katikati), Murray Pease (Katikati) and Kim Crocker (Omokoroa).

Please read the instructions on your voting papers carefully before voting.

Voting papers must be received at the NZAGA offices by 5pm Friday 21 October 2011.

2011 AvoGreen Review As part of the implementation of AvoGreen as a requirement for export under the EMS, the AIC has undertaken to review the system on an annual basis. Thank-you to those who made submissions as part of this review.

These submissions will be reviewed by a committee with representation drawn from growers, owner-operators, commercial operators and exporters. This committee will then develop a proposal for consideration by the AIC board.

Thank-you to the people who came forward to become part of the Grower/ Owner-operator consultation groups.

These groups will meet on a regional basis and the feedback from these meetings will be collated and passed on to the review committee.

Separate consultation meetings will be held with affected parties including AvoGreen operators.

Growers - are you connected?

Don’t miss out on important updates and industry information; make sure you register your email address with the AIC to receive AvoConnect - the NZ Avocado Industry e-newsletter. Call 0800 286 2236 or email joannenunn@nzavocado.co.nz to register.

Grower letters in Avoscene If you want express a view or ask a question (technical or other) that you would like other growers to read in Avoscene then please contact us.

The deadline for letters to be featured in the upcoming December issue of Avoscene is 14 November 2011.

Please be aware that we will not be able to print every letter due to space constraints. All letters must be 300 words or less. Letters exceeding this limit may be edited or may be refused.

Letters must be in good taste and focus on issues of general concern, not personalities.

Letters must contain a name, address and daytime phone number of the author.

Unsigned letters or those submitted

without a phone number will not be considered.

Regular contributors should submit letters on varied subjects. Letters by the same author that reiterate opinions previously expressed will not be published.

Avocado Industry Council reserves the right not to publish any material which may offend readers and may reject or edit any letter.

Forward your letter to Jen Scoular at avoscene@nzavocado.co.nz or fax to 07 571 6145 or you can post to Avocado Industry Council, PO BOX 13267, Tauranga 3141.

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Reed is a Guatemalan avocado which originated from James Reed’s property in California in about 1948 and is thought to be a cross between Anaheim and Nabal. The tree is slender and distinctly upright with downward hanging branches which give good protection for sunburn to the fruit. It belongs to the flower group A and has round medium to large size fruit (300-600grams) with quite a thick corky easy-to-peel skin. The seed is round and medium to large in size. The fruit matures late and has pale to buttery yellow coloured flesh with a rich and nutty flavour. The skin colour is green when ripe. It yields a consistent crop and appears not to be as prone to biennial as Hass. Due to its upright growth habit it has been grown in ultra high density plantings in California and yields of 82 tonnes/ hectare have been recorded.

By AIC research technician Bart Hofstee bhofstee@nzavocado.co.nz

sessment Reed Assessment

(Reed avocado photos requested from AIC)

three years to thirty years. Fruit from the In response to the increasing eight year old trees was not used in the

By AIC research technician Bart Hofstee volumes of Reed plantings, bhofstee@nzavocado.co.nz storage trials as they were carrying a light Inthe responseAIC to the increasing volumes of Reed plantings, the AIC has commenced has commenced work crop.work on the storage potential of Reed. This has focused on the influence of dry matter content on A on sample of 20 fruit was collected from storage quality and the effect of storage temperatures and length of storage period fruit on the storage potential of quality. each orchard on a monthly basis and dry Fruit were harvested from seven different orchards across the main growing regions, with two orchards from both Whangarei the Far North and three orchards frommatter the Bay of measured in order to track maturity Reed.

This hasandfocused on Plenty. Tree age varied from three years to thirty years. Fruit from the eight year old trees over the season. Fruit were harvested at was not used in the storage trials as they were carrying a light crop. influence matter A the sample of 20 fruit was collectedof from dry each orchard on a monthly basis and dry matterdifferent maturity levels, the first three measured in order to track maturity over the season. Fruit were harvested at three different an early harvest with a dry matter content on maturity levels, the first beingstorage an early harvestquality with a dry matter around 20%, being a mid-season harvest with dry matter around 23-24% and a late season harvest with dry matters above 20%, a mid-season harvest with around 27%.

At each harvesteffect 100 fruit were for storage and 20 fruit for dry matter analysis. and the ofpickedstorage drytomatter around 23-24% and a late Fruit were stored at 7 °C ± 0.5°C. Fruit were condition checked on a weekly basis ensure that they would hold out for the 28 days. The fruit was left to ripen at 20°C ± 1.0°C, season harvest with dry matters above temperatures and length of 65%RH±5%. The fruit was assessed for ripe fruit disorders when they were deemed to be eating ripe at a hand firmness of 75 - as measured with a formometer with a gram weight.

27%.

At each harvest 100 fruit were storage period on fruit quality. picked for storage and 20 fruit for dry Headline: Reed Assessment

Results

matter analysis. Fruit were stored at 7 °C ± 0.5°C. Fruit were condition checked on a weekly basis to ensure that they would hold out for the 28 days. The fruit was left to ripen at 20°C ± 1.0°C, 65%RH±5%.

The fruit was assessed for ripe fruit

The patterns of dry matter accumulation over time for each region observed over the 20102011 season is shown in Figures 1-3.

There is a tendency for the younger blocks to have higher dry matter compared with older blocks. Young trees also have a faster rate of dry matter accumulation than older trees (Table 1). Rates of dry matter accumulation varied from 0.077 to 0.11% dry matter per day.

This indicates that the time required for dry matter to increase by 1% varied from 9 to 13 days. When comparing young blocks there does not seem to be a strong regional difference between the BOP and Far North.

Fruit were harvested from seven different orchards across the main growing regions, with two orchards from both Whangarei and the Far North and three orchards from the Bay of Plenty. Tree age varied from

disorders when they were deemed to be eating ripe at a hand firmness of 75 - as measured with a firmometer with a gram weight.

Results The patterns of dry matter accumulation over time for each region observed over the 2010-11 season are shown in Figures 1-3.

There is adrytendency for the younger Figure 2: Whangarei matter blocks to have higher dry matter compared with older blocks. Young trees also have a faster rate of dry matter accumulation than older trees (Table 1). Rates of dry matter accumulation varied from 0.077 to 0.11% dry matter per day. This indicates that the time required for dry matter to increase by 1% varied from 9 to 13 days.

When comparing young blocks there does not seem to be a strong regional difference between the BOP and Far North.

Patterns of dry matter accumulation for BOP, Whangarei and Far North orchards

Patterns of dry matter accumulation for BOP, Whangarei and Far North orchards Each point on the graph is the dry matter content for a 20 fruit sample.

Figure 1: BOP dry matter Figure 3: Far North dry matter Figure 2: Whangarei dry matter Each point on the graph is the dry matter content for a 20 fruit sample.

Figure 1: BOP dry matter

Figure 2: Whangarei dry matter

Figure 3: Far North dry matter Table 1: Dry matter by region and age group

Table 1: Dry matter by region and age group

Region

Tree age

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

BOP

Young

20.77

22.65

24.37

28.19

31.09

29.31

BOP

Old

19.47

19.72

23.87

24.66

26.4

28.1

Whangarei Whangarei Far North Far North

Young Old Young

21.83

21.47

24.765

27.15

30.04

22.73

26.14

27.29

30.29

22.35

23.91

Old

Tree age

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

BOP

Young

20.77

22.65

24.37

28.19

31.09

29.31

BOP

Old

19.47

19.72

23.87

24.66

26.4

28.1

Region

Figure 3: Far North dry matter

The dry matter content of the fruit Young Whangarei Old orchard for 21.47the 24.765 27.15 second 30.04 Whangarei each from first and Young 21.83 22.73 26.14 27.29 30.29 Far North harvest round is shown in the third Far North Old 22.35 23.91 column of Table 2. Fruit was harvested at or close to the target maturities in each orchard.

Quality results from Harvest 1 - see table 2 Overall the fruit quality was generally poor at the early harvest with a prevalence of brown patches coming through on the

34.06

Table 1: Dry matter by region and age group Tree age

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

BOP

Young

20.77

22.65

24.37

28.19

31.09

29.31

BOP

Old

19.47

19.72

23.87

24.66

26.4

28.1

21.47

24.765

27.15

30.04

34.06

21.83

22.73

26.14

27.29 22.35

30.29 23.91

Region

Whangarei

Young

Whangarei

Old

Far North Far North

Young Old

47

34.06

Reed Assessment

Continued dry matter level than the other orchards suggesting that possibly advanced maturity leads to diffuse flesh which may be linked to chilling injury of this fruit. This suggests that fruit maturity may have been a factor in the diffuse flesh which showed up in 2009 and it may warrant further investigation into storing younger fruit at a lower temperature in order to increase shelf life after storage.

fruit with an average severity of 12.3% brown patches and an average incidence of 77%. The worst orchard had an average severity of 40% brown patches and two orchards showed 100% incidence of brown patches. The fruit from these two orchards was possibly assessed slightly too late due to an unfamiliarity with assessing the fruit’s firmness caused by a far thicker skin on Reed than Hass fruit. The fruit from all the orchards also had a very poor shelf life with an average of 2.54 days to ripen. In general the older blocks (these being Whangarei 1 and 2, BOP orchards 2 and 3) showed a better fruit quality than the young trees.

Note: There was not enough fruit on any 8 year old trees to collect a storage sample, so only a dry matter sample was taken. Also one Whangarei orchard was harvested at a very high dry matter content.

and therefore there was less time for these rots to develop. The shelf life of the fruit has again decreased and is now 1.18 days on average.

Quality results from Harvest 2 see table 2 With the second harvest the fruit was more mature and the overall fruit quality had improved compared with the earlier harvested fruit. Brown patches were still the main issue, with fruit quality having an average incidence of 72% and severity of 4.6%. There was also a reduction in the severity of SER. One of the main concerns however is the shelf life of the fruit, which has decreased from an average of 2.5 days down to 1.5 days. In some lines of fruit quite a large percentage of the fruit was deemed to be soft enough for ripe fruit assessment straight from the coolstore.

When comparing the separate harvests from each orchard fruit quality improved in each case except for BOP 2 where there was deterioration in quality. Quality of fruit from orchard Far North 1 showed the greatest improvement in quality between the two harvests with DM increasing from 23% to 29%.

Note: There was not enough fruit on any 8 year old trees to have a storage sample.

For dry matter content, days to ripen, stem end rot (SER), external rot and brown patch severity and incidence and percentage of ripe sound fruit with all disorders less than 5% severity. Note no fruit from the second Far North orchard due to unavailability of fruit.

Quality results from Harvest 3 see table 2 With the third harvest we can see the fruit was becoming more mature and the overall fruit quality had improved for the BOP fruit but decreased for the Whangarei fruit. Brown patches were still a major issue with fruit quality having an average incidence of 67% and severity of 3.2%. However diffuse flesh is starting to become more of an issue with this older fruit possibly caused by fruit age.

There was also a reduction in the severity of SER and external rots. This is likely to have resulted from a reduction in the time to ripen 48

Discussion In the 2009 study with fruit from one Far North orchard many of the fruit stored for 28 days at 5°C developed severe diffuse flesh discolouration. Possible causes were identified as too low a storage temperature, fruit stored for too long (fruit age) or fruit that were fully mature in March. In this study 7°C was chosen as the storage temperature to remove the possibility of chilling injury as a contributing factor to the flesh discolouration. After Harvest 3 diffuse flesh disorder was only an issue with Whangarei orchard number two, this orchard had a considerably higher

Conclusion The preliminary results indicate that dry matter content does affect fruit quality in Reed and that in general quality improves as maturity increases. Further storage trials with Reed will be restricted to three weeks to better reflect the more limited storage potential of Reed.

Ripe sound fruit 5%

Brown patches severity

Brown patches incidence

Diffuse flesh incidence

63

0.13

2

1.11

8

14.94

98

18

68

0

0

0.63

4

6.78

90

31

3

6/04/2011

30.15

1.01

2.1

44

0

0

3.94

28

4.4

77

50

External rot incidence

External rot severity

5.09 2.87

SER severity

2.24 1.65

Days to ripen

20.31 (8yr -22.65) 25.5 (8yr -25.5)

Dry matter

14/12/2010 7/02/2011

Date

1 2

Harvest

SER incidence

Diffuse flesh severity

Table 2: Fruit quality characteristics over the three harvests

Orchard: Bay of Plenty 1 Tree Age 11 & 8

Orchard: Bay of Plenty 2 Tree Age 20 1

11/01/2011

22.65

1.96

0.19

7

0

0

0.1

1

1.37

44

78

2

7/02/2011

23.82

1.34

2.55

69

0.72

5

1.18

9

12.72

90

37

3

6/04/2011

26.9

1.32

2.45

68

0

0

2.27

12

4.14

77

65

Orchard: Bay of Plenty 3 Tree Age 30 & 8 1

11/01/2011

21.67 (8yr -24.37)

1.92

0.6

17

0

0

0.1

1

1.84

38

66

2

8/02/2011

22.85 (8yr 28.48)

1.81

1.8

56

0

0

0

0

2.36

71

79

3

6/04/2011

27.2 (8yr 29.31)

1.4

1.33

38

0

0

1.54

15

2.06

56

72

Orchard: Whangarei 1 Tree Age 17 1

13/01/2011

22.07

2.08

0.71

27

0

0

0.1

1

1.85

69

56

2

9/02/2011

24.33

1.44

1.01

32

.01

1

0

0

2

64

79

3

5/04/2011

30.35

1.21

1.08

17

0

0

3.79

39

2.65

64

48

Orchard: Whangarei 2 Tree Age 20 1

13/01/2011

27.46

2.31

1.27

23

0

0

1.62

8

9.12

87

26

2

9/02/2011

29.96

1.24

0.64

20

0

0

4.22

19

2.36

70

66

3

5/04/2011

37.76

.97

0.33

11

0

0

20.29

75

2.94

61

31

Orchard: Far North 1 Tree Age: 3 1

16/12/2010

23

3.91

8.9

97

8.9

97

1.14

8

16.85

100

6

2

10/02/2011

29.07

1.37

0.24

10

0

0

1.75

8

1.14

42

89

3.36

20.7

91 10.71 87

14.2

28

40.19

100

1

Orchard: Far North 2 Tree Age 3 1

16/12/2010

22.45

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Tech Transfer With flowering on the doorstep there are a number of issues growers need to keep in mind; bees, pest pressure, nutrition and soil moisture.

Bees and beehives Beehives should have been ordered by now and contracts agreed and signed with the beekeeper.

Your responsibilities and guidelines on beehive management are set out in the Avocado Pollination Best Practice Guidelines, pages 6-10 (available from http://www.nzavocado.co.nz/index.php/ pi_pageid/307). In the first section there is information on activities during flowering and the specifics of avocado flowering; for example, timing of flower openings in the different sex phases, nectar flow and flower perfume.

An important point to note - when you have bee hives in your orchard do not apply any sprays without first consulting your beekeeper.

Six Spotted Mite With increasing temperatures, six spotted mite (SSM) populations will be increasing. The graph shows the development rates of SSM v temperature.

The above photo was taken late July in Tauranga with six spotted mite activity along the main vein of the leaf and a mass of eggs also. Populations can build rapidly as illustrated by the graph so it is vital that timely control is actioned through the AvoGreen monitoring protocol.

Paramite has recently been registered for the control of SSM in avocados in NZ and this will 50

By AIC Tech Transfer Paul Brookbanks pbrookbanks@nzavocado.co.nz

Leafroller and Thrips With an export crop coming off and flowering occurring simultaneously, if there are any leafroller or thrip infestations occurring especially where mature fruit are touching, any control program must be considered carefully. Seek the advice of your packhouse rep. before applying any chemical as the hazard to bees and choice of a suitable chemical must be considered first.

Nutrition If this is an on year for you and your trees are looking drawn, refer to the recently released ‘Reading Your Trees’ guide before doing any flower pruning or fertilizing.

There is advice on flower pruning,

Mean development times of Six Spotted Mite from egg to adult 35

y = -0.6196x + 36.435 R2 = 0.9895

30

Temperature

reduce the dependency on the other miticides to control populations. Paramite is an insect growth regulator that has no cross resistance with existing miticides. It is a molt inhibitor and kills eggs directly with translaminar activity (moves through the leaf from the contact surface into leaf tissue to underside of leaf ). Paramite sterilizes adults so eggs laid wont hatch. It has a weak effect on adults so if there are high populations of adults, a knockdown miticide is recommended. Paramite is also soft on beneficial insects. Do not apply more than one spray per season and seek advice from your packhouse rep. or exporter prior to application to ensure withholding periods and MRL’s are observed for your fruit.

25 20 15 10 5 0 0

10

20

30

40

Egg to adult (Days) Development rates are directly proportional to temperature so it is possible using degree day models to determine when the mite populations are likely to explode!

nutrient input and six spotted mite control on page 8.

For further information on nutrition see the NZAGA Avocado Growers’ Manual.

There are fertiliser programmes for varying yields in the various regions so inputs may vary, however inputs per tree are generally the same.

If trees have received appropriate nutrient inputs prior to winter, based on leaf and soil test results and they appear to be deep green with plenty of hardened off early spring growth, the application of fertilisers prior to flowering is more likely to have a positive response. High inputs of nitrogen during September are not recommended as this could result in excessive vegetative growth and reduce

fruit set. However an ‘on year’ is likely to require higher inputs. The level of input can best be determined by the level of fruit set. High set = high input, low set = low input.

Soil moisture Without adequate soil moisture, any fertiliser applied will serve no purpose. If you are relying on rainfall, it is preferable that you apply prior to imminent rain.

If you have irrigation, ensure the soil is moist following fertiliser application. A minimum of 25mm of rainfall or irrigation is recommended between fertiliser applications to prevent root burn. Also, use nitrate based rather than ammonium based fertilisers.

Make sure you book your advertising space for the next issue of Avoscene due out in December 2011.

Contact Daphne at Sun Media on 07 578 0030 or email daphne@thesun.co.nz.

Booking deadline is November 18th, 2011.

47

Moving 5.8 million t Avocado industry leaders are excited about the challenges and opportunities created by this season’s estimated 5.8 million tray crop; New Zealand’s largest so far.

NZ Avocado Industry Council CEO Jen Scoular says the industry has structures in place to enable growers, packers and local and export marketers to do their jobs effectively.

“We’ve ensured the structure is in place for exporting under the HEA and that our recognised product group is set up to govern it and that we have a very strong quality programme that will cope with 5.8 million trays,” says Jen. This is complemented by the AIC’s Quality Standards and records such as the Spray Diary, information on fruit age and shipping plans, which all help quality fruit get to supermarket shelves.

The AIC team facilitates timely communication to growers via Avoconnect email updates and the website www. nzavocado.co.nz Staff are also in regular contact with packers and exporters and key players in New Zealand’s largest export market, Australia.

“The better you communicate, the easier it is to sort things if there are any problems and also make the most of opportunities.”

The AIC recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Avocado Packers’ Forum, formally acknowledging the importance of this industry sector and 52

enabling better communication on issues and opportunities.

APF chairman Michael Ruegg says from a packers’ perspective having a bigger crop makes things easier in many ways.

“There’s a lot of spare packing capacity in the industry,” says Michael.

“Many packhouses are usually only packing two or three days a week and not necessarily full days. This year there will be more full days per week, because there will be more bins on any one orchard, enabling bigger pack runs.”

The increased fruit volumes will also make it easier for packers to fill a container without having to work in with other suppliers.

“It should make management of on-shore timeline a lot easier because fruit is moving through faster. That will have a positive impact on quality.”

From a staffing point of view, packhouses will be able to offer employees more hours per week. However one area that may be a problem for harvesters is having sufficient numbers of elevated work platforms and trained people to operate them.

AIC quality manager Henry Pak says good crop estimation and flow plans are essential when there is a big crop.

Previously the largest New Zealand crop was 4.9 million, so there has been a significant increase in volumes for the 2011/2012 harvesting season.

“There needs to be a lot of discipline in terms of quality and flowing fruit into the market,” adds Henry.

“We need collaboration between exporters to ensure orderly and manageable flow in the Australian market,

which will still be the biggest market. But the concern for everybody is that this is not over-supplied and that exporters are doing things to develop new markets.”

Avocado Exporters’ Council chairman John Carroll says exporters have known there would be a large fruit volume for some time, with 3.8 million export trays expected to leave NZ shores starting from September.

“We’ve had dialogue with exporters to put 25 per cent outside of Australia, in up to 10 other markets. It’s exciting,” says John.

These markets include Japan, USA, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands. In some cases it will be the first time New Zealand avocados have been sent to a country; in others it will be the first time fruit has been sent in any volume.

Japan is likely to take the lion’s share of fruit not going to Australia, as much market development has already been carried out there. This year for the first time the AIC is organising a media launch in Tokyo at the New Zealand embassy and will be carrying out generic promotion in Japan too.

Jen says Japan has quite specific fruit size preferences though, with smaller fruit (30 count) favoured.

“We are trying to get early season small fruit for Japan but sometimes growers don’t want to pick if their fruit is small and they could leave it on the tree and let it get bigger.”

John says New Zealand is fortunate to have one of the world’s biggest markets

By Natasha Mitchell natasha@thesun.co.nz

n trays for avocados, Australia, ‘right next door’.

Demand continues to grow in this market and this year Australia has a smaller avocado crop, but Kiwi orchardists shouldn’t become complacent about fruit quality.

“It sounds like a given that we grow decent fruit in New Zealand and have good post-harvest operators, but it’s a perishable item that’s grown outdoors and quality is not always perfect when you’re harvesting for six months.”

Good weather will not only help maintain fruit quality but also avoid harvest disruptions, which could impact on flow plans.

He advises growers to keep their options open by employing a spray programme that enables all market access, and to be as flexible as possible with harvesting if there are logistic problems caused by a shortage of elevated work platforms or pickers.

“Have confidence in packhouses and exporters. We hope to do a pretty good job, though we’ll probably learn some things.”

John says in the last two years New Zealand avocado growers have earned some of the best prices in 20 years, partly due to both New Zealand and Australia having a light crop. While the Australian crop is lower than expected this year, New Zealand’s large fruit volume means prices will not be as high but growers will still get good values. Having a defined maximum volume for Australia will help achieve good prices and he believes many of the other markets have the ability to compete with Australia in terms of value.

“Values should be better than the average in the last 20 years, despite a much bigger volume.”

This year’s promotions levy of 20c per export tray means the AIC will have a total of $700,000 to spend; up from $220,000 last year. At the recent AGM growers agreed some of this money could also be spent on local market promotion.

Significant AIC promotion will continue in Australia this year from October, leveraging on Avocados Australia’s ‘Add an Avo’ campaign. Money is also being spent on educating produce managers on fruit ripening and handling. Exporters and local marketers also carry out their own campaigns.

Regan Booth carries out domestic sales and marketing for Primor Produce and says the focus for local marketers this year will be on ensuring high volumes move through the market quickly by driving consumption.

“It’s a good opportunity to increase per capita consumption so we can get more people eating avocados. If we can get more people eating the product, the wins will be down the track,” says Regan.

“We will be promoting multiple sales, not just one-piece sales. We need consumers to buy five or six, rather than two or three. And we need to do a good job of representing quality ripened fruit on the shelf so people can take it home and eat it the same day. Unripened green fruit will only slow sales.

“Supermarket promotions will be key to driving consumption, which will be paramount to ensuring the volume is moved through and a fair value is

maintained for growers.”

While oil producers and the new high pressure processing company Fressure Foods will help take some fruit out of the fresh fruit market, it will still be a challenging year. Local marketers will be working closely with packhouses and supermarkets to flow fruit to consumers.

He is pleased to see the AIC able to spend money on domestic promotion for the first time in many years.

The ‘Add an Avo’ campaign will be brought to New Zealand and there will be media promotions. The AIC is also working with the Five Plus a Day Charitable Trust and the Heart Foundation to promote avocados as a healthy food choice and with organisations that are involved with mothers and babies, such as Plunket, to promote them as an ideal first food.

The AIC is also commissioning qualitative research looking at why consumers buy or don’t buy avocados.

Staff are also working with local marketers to better understand the local supply chain and identify any issues with getting high quality avocados to consumers.

“We want more consumers to eat more avocados and that requires great fruit to be available. So we need an education programme for both handlers and consumers,” says Jen. “We can’t regulate the local market but growers have been vocal at Roadshows about needing something to stop poor quality early local market fruit on supermarket shelves.”

Jen says a non-mandatory local market quality standard is worth consideration.

53

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