Avoscene March 2013

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

EMS summary of submissions  Roadmap to packer contracts 

APRIL 2013

Pruning trial report  2013-14 fruit set 

Directors Bay of Plenty Ashby Whitehead Ph 07 573 6680 m. 027 283 2192 alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz

Contents

Far North Ian Broadhurst Ph 09 406 7308 m. 021 395 906 kingavocado@xtra.co.nz Mid North Mike Eagles Ph 09 434 7271 m. 027 727 1381 m.eagles@xtra.co.nz At Large Roger Barber Ph 09 435 0785 m. 021 488 124 barbers@ihug.co.nz John Cotterell Ph 07 552 6880 m. 0274 513 138 jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz John Schnackenberg (Chairman) Ph 07 549 0717 m. 021 731 437 jschnack@ihug.co.nz Tony Ponder Ph 07 552 4223 m. 0274 733 712 tony@flaxmillavocado.co.nz Rest of NZ David French Ph 09 238 3359 m. 0274 375 315 famille@ps.gen.nz Export Directors Alistair Young, Mark Yortt

Regular Columns Chairman’s comment CEO’s comment Exporters’ comment Packers’ comment Local marketers’ comment Growers’ comment – fruit set Whangarei orchard visit report Regional roundups NZ avocado highlights summer 2012-13 Market focus: Singapore

5 6 9 11 13 14 16 17 21 22

Features Avocentric – Maria and Andrew Watchorn EMS summary of submissions Roadmap to packer contracts Local market structure Who pays commodity levy?

24 26 29 30 32

News Avoscene Advertising & Editorial Avoscene is published by New Zealand Avocado 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: Rose Hodges at Sun Media Ltd email rose@thesun.co.nz Design and production: Kym Johnson, Sun Media Ltd email kym@thesun.co.nz Printed at: Kale Print

Subscriptions NZ $125 plus GST per year (five issues) In New Zealand NZ $27 per single copy NZ Avocado Office PO Box 13267, Tauranga 3141 Ph: 07 571 6147 or 0800 AVOCADO (0800 286 2236) Fax: 07 571 6145 www.nzavocado.co.nz

Industry news Avocado industry news from the World Website site map

33 35 37

Promotions Promotion update

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Research & Technical Research update Sunny update Pruning trial update Reading your trees

42 44 47 50

I Chairman’s Comment I

How is

4

By John Schnackenberg NZAGA and AIC chairman jschnack@ihug.co.nz

your crop?

I was very amused to discover my packer representative on my orchard in late January using binoculars to view my fruit set. I know the trees are big and the set is hidden behind a strong spring flush, but how was I to take that?

At the time he concluded the set was about 70 per cent of my best crop (2011-2012). Excellent binoculars then.

It reminds one of an early 1980s Fred Dagg skit counting sheep (or were they rocks?) in a far paddock to complete a Supplementary Minimum Price claim.

If correct, a 3,000+ tray per hectare crop and significantly more than I sensed, but I didn’t have an optical advantage.

We have subsequently done another assessment and conclude we are at 60 per cent of best. This makes more sense given the heavy pruning last year and the challenging spring we endured. I have to be quietly happy with this and in particular with the personal advantage regular irrigation will deliver this fine summer.

So how is it for you in the Bay, understanding mid North is very poor and the Far North consistent? I encourage you to use the new online forum, AvoForum, to discuss this with each other under the thread called “Fruit Set”.

The year ahead The Board has been busy supporting Jen with our industry Primary Growth Partnership business case, which was presented to the Investment Advisory Panel just before Christmas. The

opportunity this presents for our industry, if we are successful, is huge and it will add significantly to what can be achieved under our five year plan.

The business case is not over the line yet and we are working on getting all participants on the same page.

Also a very busy time for us all with our industry’s Export Marketing Strategy under review, and the Quality Standards shortly too, together with reviewing the management team’s business plan and budget for 2013-14 financial year. Thank-you to all those who are participating in these processes.

HEA Act review The Board has also addressed the recent Horticultural Export Authority Act review, which closed on 28 February 2013. It submitted on a broad range of issues, included in the Ministry for Primary Industries discussion paper on the subject. All a bit dry – we are comfortable for the most part with how the Act currently sits, so commented on the flexibility it allows, particularly where an exporter can seek an exemption from HEA or a dispensation from the Avocado Industry Council if they wish to do something ‘different’ and it is supportable. Check out the industry website for the submission: www.nzavocado.co.nz > click on Industry Website > Projects > Strong Representative Industry Structure.

Independently of AIC, the NZAGA Executive submitted that on entry to the HEA system, believing that entry itself must be a grower alone decision, it is a partnership with exporters. There is a strong view that exporters of a product should not be able to prevent the majority of growers of the product joining HEA should they wish.

A few of us independently submitted on an aspect that MPI did not include in the discussion paper – as the

matter is apparently “not on the table for discussion” as the World Trade Organisation agreement New Zealand has signed up to does not allow it. That aspect is the desire for a product group to manage volumes to a market. We estimate the avocado industry missed out on $10m in the big 2011-12 season due to the fact that under the HEA and EMS we were not able to manage volumes to markets, although a number of exporters worked hard to achieve their voluntarily agreed target of “25 per cent of crop outside of Australia”.

We have asked that the Ministry for Primary Industries does not tell us it cannot be done; rather find a way for it to be done.

Planning is well underway for the four yearly joint conference with the Australian industry, being held this year in Tauranga (Monday 9 to Thursday 12 September) during which we will hold this year’s AGM for the NZAGA. I encourage you all to attend, the theme being nutrition: of the orchard and ourselves.

NZAGA Rep elections Although early into the calendar year, we are now thinking about NZAGA representative elections, with three rep. positions up for re-election this year.

The role is significantly more than just being a ‘grower rep.’; you are elected by your peers to govern the industry.

This involves establishing broad policies and objectives; developing and periodically reviewing the vision, multiyear planning and strategy; selecting, appointing, supporting and reviewing the CEO performance; overseeing the financial stability of the organisation; approving annual business plans and budgets and accounting to stakeholders for the organisations’ performance.

If this sounds like you, or someone you know, have them contact a current rep.

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I CEO Comment I

Planning for the new With the export season over, after a much lower volume than the previous year, we are taking the opportunity to plan well for the coming season.

As a team we are reviewing the activities we undertook last year, reviewing the five year plan activities and putting together the annual plan, which we will present with the budget, to the Board at the May 2 meeting.

It is an iterative process for me and my team, each of us inputting into the areas we are focusing on, but also being involved in assessing the wider plan. Talking to AVEC, the packer forum, the individual members of those entities and growers is also essential to ensure we support the activities they are undertaking for the industry. This includes the formal processes being the review of the Export Marketing Strategy and Quality Standards, but also market development and the promotional activities. Collectively we need to best ensure we are delivering the grower value the Board and you as growers rightly demand from us.

New Zealand market We have increased the focus on the New Zealand market with more regular media interaction and PR activities designed to raise visibility of avocados and of the industry. This has included building much more constructive relationships with those working in the New Zealand market, and you will have noticed at the December 2012 and April 2013 roadshows the inclusion of a section on the New Zealand market, presented by the local marketers, where that was possible. We hosted a local marketers meeting in Tauranga last month, with 16 participants from 12 entities. A very strong view from the meeting was that the local marketers want to share more information, and are very interested in industry support to improve the flow of fruit into the markets, the development of education tools to support readyto-eat programmes and improved reporting of quality at store level.

Local marketers raised their concern at the potential consequence of the 2012-13 supply finishing by April 2013 leaving a gap in supply for the NZ retail programmes in May and June 2013. This raises the risk of growers being tempted to fill this gap with unripe early season fruit, which doesn’t meet the acceptable level of maturity or taste. A reminder to everyone please, the minimum maturity standard for Hass avocados sold on the local market is 24% dry matter, or 23% dry 6

By Jen Scoular New Zealand Avocado CEO jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

season matter for fruit that is gas ripened. Research has shown that fruit which does not meet these maturity levels will result in a poor eating experience for consumers, diminishing the likelihood of repeat purchases later in the season. This has an immediate effect on avocado turnover and consequently on market prices and values returned to growers. We will work closely with packers and marketers to ensure an effective maturity monitoring process and will work collectively on initiatives to discourage the sale of immature early season fruit. We are happy to hear from you if you have ideas about how we might mitigate the risk of immature fruit negatively impacting the market.

Government funding We continue our conversations with MPI, Ministry for Primary Industries, on the Primary Growth Partnership and also with MBIE, Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment with regard to government funding for the avocado industry.

We are working very closely with Plant and Food Research to develop a proposition for R&D funding for the industry. This requires us to develop a very strong relationship with them and to jointly ensure we develop the R&D programme required to support our industry strategy.

Alternatives to ARC As you are aware, the international Avocado Research Consortium (ARC) fell over last year, and we are reviewing what alternative R&D would provide the best solutions for irregular bearing. We are hosting small groups of growers interested in this topic over the next month, and I asked you, via AvoConnect, to let me know if you wanted to participate. Additionally, as we look at the R&D we will also look to strengthen considerably the way we share information on best practise on orchard. We know growers are finding solutions, we have industry trials starting to provide information and there is information from overseas, all of which is very important to share effectively across the industry.

It’s an exciting time putting together the programme for the conference September 9-12. You will be hearing lots more about the exciting line up of speakers as we confirm the programme.

I hope to see many of you at the roadshows in April and at various grower meetings over the next few months.

Keep up the hard work on producing next seasons great quality avocados.

Government Industry Agreement (GIA) The Government Industry Agreement (GIA) on biosecurity readiness and response intends to estab lish an integrated approach to preparing for and effectively responding to biosecurity risks, through a partnership between government and primary industries, NZ Avocado being one of those.

The key elements of the GIA are: • Partnerships to deliver a better bios ecurity system • Reducing the harm of pests and dise ases on the New Zealand environment, economy and commun ity • Shared decision-making and cost-sha ring between government and industry – to support an efficient and effective biosecurity system • Identifying and addressing priority risks to minimise harm • The establishment of an independent Secretariat and interim governance body to facilitate the part nership and GIA outcomes and drive the development and delivery of the GIA The GIA uses a formal Deed of Agre ement to deliver a robust, collaborative approach to reducing harm caused by the entry and emergence of pests and diseases that wou ld have a significant adverse effect on the New Zealand environm ent, economy or community.

A draft of this Deed, prepared by a join t working group of industry and government representatives, was released for feedback in December last year.

NZ Avocado signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with MPI in 2012 indicating our desi re to continue talking with them about the Deed, and assessing the value proposition as it impacts our industry. Twenty industrie s including NZ Avocado have signed the MOU. The deed will commit signatories to a partnership across every part of the biosecurity system – from pre-border risk assessment and management, through border risk management, to post-border biosecurity. Onshore activities that are part of the system include on-farm biosecurity plans, pest and dise ase controls, research, surveillance, diagnostics laboratories, incursion planning and response.

The draft deed and supporting informa tion can be viewed on the government biosecurity website www.biosecurity.govt.nz/biosec/new-p ost-border/gia Several issues have still to be negotiate d before the deed can be finalised with the intention that it is read y for signing by both industry and government signatories on 1 July 2013. These issues will be negotiated through joint meeting s of government and industry representatives during March and April.

We have committed to growers that we will consult them before we commit our industry to the biosecur ity costs associated with this partnership, and over the next six mon ths we will be developing a business case to demonstrate the valu e of signing the deed.

Operational GIAs In addition to the generic deed, we will document an operational agreement which will set out the com mitments for shared investment in readiness and response. This will inclu de the activities we will undertake in readiness, and those we would undertake in response of a pest incursion.

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By Alistair Young AIC Export Director alastair@southernproduce.co.nz

I Exporters’ Comment I

What happened in 2012?

Australia New Zealand exporters entered the 2012 season with a marketing campaign that we all thought was going to struggle against a huge Western Australian crop.

We faced a New Zealand industry crop forecast of a potential 2.1 million trays of fruit in March (this fell to 1.8 million trays by August) and we could see the writing on the wall that it was going to be a battle to attain good grower returns due to the market in Australia.

What actually took place was completely different than we had expected. Australia ran out of their main fruit supply prematurely and we had a very strong wholesale market which called upon New Zealand fruit much earlier than normal and at strong values.

Then the Western Australian crop, which was predicted to be of bumper size, had issues with small fruit early on and turned out to be not as big a crop overall as had been predicted.

The ‘Buy Australian’ campaign that was successfully implemented in 2012 by the Australian industry saw the vast majority of the available Australian harvest disappear into the retail direct business and the wholesale market ran on to become an opportunity for New Zealand that lasted nearly all season.

The result has seen grower returns rise significantly above expected levels and those with export crops should have an excellent result when their exporter finals are presented.

Japan and South East Asia It was heartening to see New Zealand exporters gain enough support from growers to continue developing the opportunities in Japan and South East Asia with a healthy 22 per cent of our product shipped to new and emerging markets. The marketing programmes in Japan met stiff competition from Mexico and prices were depressed but South East Asia went well and good values were achieved on smaller fruit.

Those growers who continued to back this developmental marketing are to be congratulated; their actions show vision and commitment.

Looking forward to 2013 So to the 2013 season: what can we expect? Probably the unexpected if last season was anything to go by.

The New Zealand crop is not a big one. The drought is knocking some crops around with larger than usual fruit drop and tree stress. We have an erratic pattern of fruit set across the BOP and Whangarei has set the lightest crop I’ve ever seen.

In Australia the storms in Queensland have continued to hammer the growers in Bundaberg, Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Western Australia has set a much lighter crop than 2012 and will be less of a factor but will still have a presence for us to work alongside in the marketplace.

The Japanese market will be supported again and South East Asia will see more

opportunity for us as we drive off the successes of 2012.

On paper the season to come looks to be promising, how it plays out in real time will be, in my opinion, exciting to watch and to be a part of.

What have we learnt?

What exporters struggle with is the on-going issue of crop estimates. The exporters are expected to provide market flow plans (a practice I support) based on crop estimates. The estimates this season were hopelessly wrong and some exporters’ market plans got caught out by shipping too much fruit early in the expectation they had fruit to flow on with after Christmas. The projected fruit never showed up and orchard gate returns have suffered because of this.

We have to find a way to get better at crop estimation. I believe the major issue this time was fruit sizing which was well down on previous seasons and caused a major reduction in packed out trays. There was also leakage from export programmes by growers choosing to sell their fruit on the local market after the season had begun and also by growers holding fruit back because the local market looked promising post-season.

Crop estimation by growers and packers is as critical a task as market flow planning by exporters in ensuring grower returns are healthy. This industry is a partnership of effort by all stakeholders; let’s get our heads together on how to do better on estimation.

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By Lindsay Wells NZAPF chairman

I Packers’ Comment I

Collaboration key to moving forward I was recently talking with a group of growers when one of them commented that “we do our best to produce a crop with what Mother Nature throws at us”.

This season has been no exception and the next season will be a variation on that theme, for better or worse. It is the risk and reward industry that we have chosen. The BOP growers and packers had their season last year, it is the MidNorth’s turn 2013-14 and when we eventually get the big crop I hope the markets are kind to us all.

A poor crop set is devastating to a grower’s bottom line and it is worth considering the downstream effect of poor crops. The value chain, whether growers like it or not, is part of our industry and all including the growers have massive investments in ensuring profitability. No crop equals no work for orchard and packhouse staff, suppliers, industry services and marketers, all with skills required to extract that value from the fruit and who essentially become unemployed for the year, with the potential that those skills will be lost to a more stable industry.

A number of us have been around the fruit growing industry long enough to know that if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and it will be better next season. That’s no consolation I know, but with my increased industry longevity, or as one gets older, the seasons seem to come around faster so the hurt is shorter lived and some of the mistakes can be rectified.

With the effect of Psa in kiwifruit we have seen, and will see more of in the near future, the rationalisation in

the packing industry and the flow-on effect that it is having on the avocado industry. This is an inevitable evolution and would have probably have occurred without the influence of Psa, however I have concerns that what we get may not be best for the industry.

I would like to compare our industry to the wine industry, which has been through amalgamations and has had over-supply issues over the years.

The size of the operation was not the key here. According to George Fistonich of Villa Maria, it was the way the participants allowed ‘each business within the industry to prosper incrementally’ that has created a successful industry, and it is a business where all have the ability to make a profit and some large and small stakeholders are doing very well adding value to the fruit where scale does not necessarily mean large.

A move toward collaboration in our industry At the November 2012 meeting of the New Zealand Avocado Packhouse Forum (NZAPF) NZ Avocado requested that the NZAPF “be part of a more integrated industry with performance measurement, benchmarking and an information system to share ideas, innovation and information,” and we voted accordingly “to formally support NZ Avocado’s PGP (Primary Growth Partnership) application with our anticipated involvement as inkind investors.”

This is a refreshing move toward progress where communication is the key and collaboration the tool to moving the avocado industry into the future, along with the huge investments growers, packers and marketers are still making in the industry to ensure value and profitability of the New Zealand avocado industry now and in the future.

Waterblaster developments The NZAPF sees the development of the water blaster as an innovative tool to reduce the phytosanitary risks associated with avocados with our importing countries. It has been the experience and management skills of our individual packhouses, lead by commercial market requirements, that have seen a reduction in the failure rate of Offshore Verification Inspections from 7.2% in 2007-8 seasons to 2.1% in 2011-12 seasons and currently sitting at 1.3% for the 2012-13 season.

However to confirm how the systems are working, the NZAFP has agreed with NZ Avocado to commission Dr. Allan Woolf of Plant & Food Research to undertake a study of the existing water blasters used by avocado packhouses to ascertain that they are meeting the phytosanitary requirements of our importing countries and, if not, identify any design or management shortcomings that could be improved to get close as possible to clean, insect-free fruit. It is hoped that the terms of reference will give the industry confidence that the packhouses are operating this tool in such a way to mitigate any phytosanitary risk that may be associated with its use, without adding more levels of compliance that will add costs not value.

Impacts of Psa An ever-present concern of all members of the NZAPF is that of Psa and the fact that we can sympathise with the kiwifruit industry. The effect that Psa is having on growers and those packhouses that have been affected is evident in the mergers and amalgamations still continuing in an effort to retain profitability. Our members are doing all they can to meet the hygiene requirements of the kiwifruit industry when it is necessary, so we would ask growers that require restrictions to keep your packhouse informed.

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By Mike Swan Domestic sales and marketing Southern Produce Ltd mike@southernproduce.co.nz

I Local Marketers’ Comment I

Local market collaboration On 19 February, New Zealand Avocado convened a meeting which was attended by many of the key participants in the avocado local market.

It was really encouraging to see some open discussion and exchange of ideas on the local market and the avocado season to date. I hope that this initiative continues to be supported by all those involved.

Season performance With an export pack-out of 52 per cent this season, and similar averages in previous years, the importance of good coordination to maximise value from the locally sold crop is clear, especially if the national crop increases as predicted in the next five years.

The drought conditions that are affecting the North Island at the time of writing are having a major influence in the flow of the last of this season’s crop.

Good returns from the local market coupled with the hot dry weather and advanced maturities in orchards are prompting many growers to pick the last of their crop now, and for the last three weeks (as at 12 March) registered local market production has exceeded 30k trays. As stated previously, this is the volume which is generally regarded as the level at which pricing and sales are stable.

As a result of the rush to pick, and bigger volumes, values have suffered but not dramatically, and I sympathise with growers who have been having fruit drop since February. Many are facing little or no crop for the 2013-14 season and can be forgiven for wanting to realise a return on as much of their remaining crop as possible.

The consequence of this hurry to finish is that for the first time in at least eight years there is no certainty around supply of avocados in the New Zealand market in May. Should this situation eventuate, there will almost certainly be a strong demand for new season fruit at potentially strong values.

With that in mind, there needs to be a strong focus on the quality of new season fruit, and maturities in particular.

The importance of this was recognised by all of those at the recent meeting of local marketers, and also supported by the packers’ forum, which was also represented.

It is crucially important that we build on the momentum of the two previous years of avocado industry promotions.

Big gains in customer and consumer knowledge need to be nurtured. The television, printed media and associated promotion NZ Avocado has influenced is building confidence which will be undermined should a consumer have a poor eating experience as the new season starts.

Reed Reed avocados have featured on shop shelves again this year, and are destined to become another dimension to the New Zealand avocado category. Production of Reed avocados is going to increase significantly over the next five years, and this variety is already keenly sought after by many avocado consumers. They were distinctively labelled this season in some retail stores, and I personally bought several during January, and was very impressed with the quality and value the Reeds offered.

So as another avocado season starts to wind down, attention shifts to the 20132014 season. There are some industry changes afoot which will affect us all, but they are positive changes and indicative of an industry that is evolving.

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I Growers’ Comment I

New seas

a disappointm ‘Close to a complete crop failure’ is how Brett Jeeves of Golden Mile Fruitpackers Ltd describes the current situation on the majority of Whangarei avocado orchards.

“We’ve had poor fruit set before but this season complete crop failure is what we are seeing on a lot of orchards. Sixty per cent of growers who have sent in their crop estimates are saying they have no fruit or 500 trays in total.

“One grower, for example, who produced over 20,000 trays in 2012-13, has submitted an estimate of 250 trays. This is the worst season we have ever seen.”

Brett says the impact on growers is serious, as it is on his packhouse and staff. He estimates the growers who supply the facility may only produce between 15 and 20 per cent of what they produced last season.

The entire Whangarei growing region appears to have been impacted, although growers in the Far North haven’t been as hard hit.

“Whangarei is often cloudier and cooler than the Far North and I think we didn’t get enough sunlight hours.”

Brett says while he is no scientist, he believes it was the cold spring and late start to summer, with low nighttime temperatures through until December, which were to blame.

“During the period of October to December we had three to four times when nighttime temperatures were ok for fruit set, but the daytime temperatures were not high enough.

Nighttime temperatures got down to four degrees and we had south-westerly winds, which are our cold winds.”

There will be ‘belt tightening’ at Golden Mile Fruitpackers and the dramatic drop in production will impact on staff numbers.

“I will be doing what I can to keep core staff employed and busy because I don’t want to lose them.”

His concern too is that the following season may see trees produce a large crop.

“We don’t really need that either, as this tends to increase the biennial up-and-down nature of avocado trees. It would be much better to have a more consistent production.”

Ngaire Cliff expects to harvest less than 10,000 trays of fruit from the 64ha orchard which last year produced 129,000 trays.

“I think it was the cold spring, as we have done nothing different in our management. We noticed it was cold and said 14

By Elaine Fisher Journalist elaine@thesun.co.nz

son set

ment for Whangarei growers’ last year that if things didn’t warm up we would not get a crop and that’s what happened.”

Initially a lot of small fruit, all about the same size, set on the trees which age from eight to 34 years. Then they all fell off.

Installing fans or systems to warm the orchard have been considered but Ngaire says the orchard has never missed out on producing fruit before. Despite the dramatic drop in production, Ngaire says three full-time and three part-time staff will be retained and the opportunity will be taken to prune the trees while there is no fruit.

Gary Smith says there are plenty of theories about why the Whangarei region has suffered a crop failure but no-one knows for sure what caused this to happen.

“There’s a lot of speculation about temperature and cloud cover but I think that’s stabbing in the dark. We’ve had other seasons with worse cloud cover before and still got good sets.”

Production on his 3.5ha orchard has

been declining for the last three years from a high of six tonnes to two and then one and a half tonnes.

“This year I’ll be lucky to get half a tonne.

“I’m not sure what’s going on. This is supposed to be a subtropical area but the results are not good at all.”

He will be cutting back on inputs, including fertiliser this year.

“I’ve done everything I think I should be doing, including what my advisor is telling me to do, but probably won’t put on as much fertiliser and I’m seriously considering not bringing in bees.”

He’s also concerned about the impacts of the crop failure on the wider Whangarei community, from packhouses, to contractors and other businesses which service the avocado industry.

“It will have an impact on employment and the economy.

Gary also grows tamarillos but his trees were hard hit by the tomato/potato psyllid and much of the orchard has been re-planted.

Geoff Sweeny says it is fortunate their household has an off-orchard income because there won’t be much money coming from avocados next season.

“This year we picked 8000 trays but we will be lucky to pick 500 to 1000 trays in the coming season. It’s disastrous really.

We are not on our own, as everyone appears to be in the same position. I’ve only heard of a couple of orchards which have a fair enough crop.”

Geoff thinks lack of sunshine and cool temperatures were probably to blame – and now they have a drought.

He manages the 8ha, 1000 tree orchard himself, employing contractors for spraying and picking. Despite the lack of fruit, the trees, all of which Geoff planted between 5 and 15 years ago, are looking healthy and he’s hoping for a bumper crop in 2014.

“This will be a good year to do the pruning as I don’t have to worry about cutting out fruit. We’ll keep going and hope for better results the following season.”

Bay crops look promising despite the cold The majority of Bay of Plenty avocado orchards appear to have survived the cold spring better than orchards in Whangarei, but not all escaped effects of the cold.

John Cotterell, NZAGA At Large grower rep. and Colin Partridge of Southern Produce say some higher altitude orchards will have little or no fruit to harvest this coming season, and as with hard hit Whangarei orchards, cold night temperatures in November are probably to blame.

“Unusually, the Bay does appear to have experienced better and slightly warmer weather over-all than Whangarei during spring and warmer orchards in particular are looking good,” says John.

Orchards close to the coast are generally warmer but John says even one in the lower Kaimai Ranges, close to the Ruahihi Power Station, has a good crop.

“This is lower altitude than most people think, as the Wairoa River

is still tidal at the power station.”

Colin says some orchards which did experience cold nights and low daytime temperatures during the crucial flowering time, have good fruit set, probably because they have more pollinisers than most.

Both Colin and John say many Bay of Plenty orchards have probably the biggest crop they have ever set. Some growers are discovering they have better fruit set than they thought, now that the fruit is increasing in size and easier to see.

The influence of low spring temperatures on Bay of Plenty fruit and the cold spring, combined with reduced sunshine hours in Whangarei during spring and early summer once again demonstrate that these regions are harder to grow the sub-tropical fruit in.

In the Far North, where the mean average temperatures are more consistent than in the Bay, growers again have a good crop.

15

By Henry Pak NZ Avocado technical manager hpak@nzavocado.co.nz

By Alvaro Vidiella NZ Avocado Scientist alvaro.vidella@nzavocado.co.nz

Whangarei orchards visit To better understand what has caused the poor fruit-set in Whangarei, Alvaro Vidiella and Henry Pak visited 11 orchards in Whangarei on 18 and 19 February 2013.

The orchards were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and different fruit load scenarios, and five of the orchards had temperature records for this season.

Grower Rep’s Mike Eagles and Roger Barber and 24 growers participated in these discussions.

Alvaro and Henry made the following observations which were reported in Avoconnect in early March.

A general lack of fruit was seen in the orchards, which seems to be related to the relatively low minimum spring temperatures. Other factors that seem to have had some effect, either alone or interacting with temperature, are the characteristics of the flowering period, the presence of pollenisers, and tree health.

Temperature records of the area show there were five relatively cold nights in November. November 13 was the last cold night in most orchards, with a range of recorded minimum temperatures of 2.5 to 6 degrees Celsius. The coldest orchards (with the lowest temperature data or known to be relatively cold orchards by their owners) had practically no fruit on them. The warmer orchards had variable crop loads, from none to moderate.

In one of the orchards that had multiple loggers, 2.5 degrees Celsius was recorded in the coldest area, while in the warmest area 16

the minimum temperature was 5 degrees Celsius. The coldest blocks had practically no fruit on them. In some of these blocks, according to their owners, fruit of the size of a thumb nail had fallen after the cold nights of November. The only trees with some fruit on them in this orchard were on the warmer blocks.

In another orchard, the logger was situated at the bottom of a sloping block.

It recorded a minimum temperature of 5 degrees Celsius on 13 November. In this area, there was very little fruit on the trees. There was significantly more fruit on the trees that were at the top of the slope, where it would be expected to find a warmer environment in a dawn like the one of November 13.

The characteristics of the flowering period also seem to have played a role in the fruit load of the orchards we visited.

This is mostly related to the fact that most of the fruit in the area seems to have been set late – after the third week of November.

Orchards coming from a big crop had generally a lighter and shorter flowering period. Nevertheless, they could have set some crop, somewhere from low to moderate. Their flowering period ended in most cases before or right after midNovember. As a consequence, these trees had almost no viable flowers left when the favourable environmental conditions arrived in the second half of November.

Some fruit set was recorded in the orchards (pin head sized fruitlets) but most of it dropped. Blocks with longer or delayed flowering periods seem to have some fruit on their trees. One of the orchards had two similar blocks close to each other. The one that flowered later had some fruit on it.

The effect of the vicinity of pollenisers is evident in many of the warmer orchards

that we visited. In some blocks the only fruit present in the orchard is on the trees adjacent to the pollenisers. Like in previous years, the effect is mainly observed on trees that were adjacent to the polleniser, or even on only the side of the tree adjacent to the polleniser.

Nevertheless, the blocks that had some fruit in the orchards we visited had a large proportion of pollenisers, and the orchard that had most fruit had the largest proportion and variety of pollenisers of the orchards we visited. Unfortunately this orchard has no temperature loggers, but it is believed to be one of the warmer orchards.

The storm of 2007 did a lot of damage in the area and this weather event still seems to be affecting some of the blocks we visited. The trees suffered from the mechanical effect of the wind on the roots, to the point that some of the trees fell (one of the growers told us that he never found some of his trees), and from the amount of water that remained in the soil for long enough to cause serious decline in some blocks. Some blocks are still showing symptoms that, according to growers of the area, seem to be related to the damage caused then. In the warmer orchards only the healthier trees had some fruit on them.

There are other factors that, though less evident, could have played a role in the lack of fruit in some blocks. The most important of them could be nutritional imbalances. We will report on these in more detail at a later stage.

If you would like to discuss what you are seeing in your orchard, please log on to the industry website and join the conversation in AvoForum (News & Events > AvoForum)

Regional Roundups Regional roundups News and views from your regional NZAGA Grower Representatives

MID NORTH

By Mike Eagles

Unfortunately Whangarei had the coldest November on record (so much for global warming!) and it seems to have done much of the damage to a good orchard fruit set and there are very few growers reporting any sort of a set.

Alvaro and Henry, the NZ Avocado scientists, spent two days in Whangarei in February and visited 10 orchards in various locations and with various sets. They spotted a number of things worth discussion and have included a report in this issue of Avoscene. I would like to thank them on behalf of the Mid North growers for the amount of time and effort they put into their visit. They discussed at length the circumstances in each orchard with the growers and a number of other growers who also took the opportunity to contribute and listen. Thanks also to the owners of the orchards for their hospitality.

At a time when many growers are facing difficult financial situations it is very disappointing to have a poor set. Now is the time to decide what really needs to be done in your

REST OF NZ

By David French

As summer comes to an end we are thinking about two crops; the one just finishing and the new season’s fruit that is hanging for the coming harvest.

The South Auckland crop for next year is mixed but on average probably slightly ahead of this year.

My own orchard at Glenbrook Beach is currently carrying the smallest crop for five years and I put this down mainly to one bad frost in mid-September 2012. I reported in the December Avoscene that I thought my crop would be average at best but with a few months on I can now say it is well below average.

Why do I blame one frost and not the spring weather as a whole? My orchard is ‘protected’ (or so I thought) by overhead sprinklers, however they are not overhead any more as the trees have grown but the sprinklers haven’t. They are now situated more in the middle of the trees and unfortunately I didn’t put enough effort into either raising them or clearing around them so that they could at least spray outwards.

A close neighbour of mine has a very similar orchard setup to mine – a high percentage of pollinisers and real overhead sprinklers. This orchard has set and is carrying a great crop.

My orchard has a good set at the top end of rows which were

orchard in terms of spending. Do you need to register for export? What spraying does actually need to be done? Do you need NZGAP? How can you adjust your fertiliser inputs?

Do you need to pay a consultant this year? If it is not crucial then I suggest do not spend the money. You need to consider every amount spent as it is crucial that you reach next year able to carry on operations. If you are feeling financial and/ or personal pressure or just want to discuss your situation, try ringing the Rural Support Trust, 0800 787 254. It is set up for these situations and has groups throughout New Zealand. It can offer advice on difficult situations using trained experts in rural finance and has contacts with most banks and can talk to them on your behalf. It is one hundred per cent confidential and totally free (paid for by your taxes). I strongly advise considering them if you are struggling at all.

Pricing On the bright side, prices in Australia sky-rocketed at the end of the export season as the true situation in West Australia became apparent. Domestic prices remained strong throughout the season and still look good for those with fruit left. Let’s hope for good orchard weather and strong prices continuing.

not scorched by the frost, hence my reasoning for blaming the single frost.

What to do now? If I am to be serious about continuing to grow avocados, I need consistent crops every year, so I must take as many steps to mitigate risk as I can.

I humped and hollowed and put in drainage before planting, so drainage is covered. I have a good ratio and distribution of pollinisers and bring in bees, so I believe pollination is covered. I have a good sprinkler and fertigation system so I am fairly well covered against dry weather. However, my frost control has proved inadequate and so I have failed.

My response is simple – improve the frost control. This will be done by raising sprinklers to a height of five metres, and getting a new irrigation controller that can pulse the stations. I am fairly confident this will work, based on my observations of the neighbouring orchard.

I know for certain that doing nothing and hoping I don’t get another frost won’t work because we will get frosts again; we get them every year.

The other advantage to having five metre sprinklers is that I will use them to set my maximum tree height. My rows are nine metres apart, so five metres is an appropriate height. This will require annual pruning but we are doing this already.

So in summary, if we want to grow avocados in marginal areas (most of New Zealand) we have to eliminate as much risk from our operations as possible. Watch this space.

17

Regional Roundups ... continued AT LARGE

By John Cotterell

The BOP has the biggest polliniser effect I have ever seen; it is similar to what I saw in the Franklin area two seasons ago. Generally the more pollinisers in an orchard, the better the set is and the more evenly they are spaced throughout the orchard, the more consistent the set is.

Pollinisers seem to affect where the fruit sets on the trees; as in most cases the fruit is right to the ground around pollinisers and further away from the polliniser the set gets higher and higher.

I have seen orchards with fruit only in the very tops of trees or a tide line with no fruit below two or three metres. There are exceptions to this as well; there are orchards with no pollinisers and they have good sets but they are generally in areas that set consistently.

In general the sets range from best-ever to almost nothing.

Higher altitude orchards seem to be where most of the misses are. Personally I think seeing this polliniser effect will have changed a lot of growers’ views and they will be planting a greater number of pollinisers.

We have great success replanting with clonal polliniser trees in an old established orchard, filling gaps where trees have died or blown out using pollinisers on Dusa rootstock. The other option is to top-work existing trees – this is grafting pollinisers

FAR NORTH

By Ian Broadhurst

The Far North has experienced the whole range of extremes; from one of the coldest springs in recent memory to a drought currently which has provided minimal rain since December.

The positive aspect of the great spell of weather is the trees are all in excellent health; summer flush has progressed well and is now starting to harden off. The weather conditions and irrigation have combined to enable excellent fruit sizing while providing plenty of spray opportunities to manage leaf roller, thrip and mite populations.

All growers in the Far North are fortunate enough to have excellent irrigation systems drawing off a substantial underground aquifer. While having the capacity is great, scheduling and maintenance of these systems requires constant attention, with the very dry conditions missing an irrigation cycle or under-watering will have a severe effect on the trees’ ability to hold fruit.

Far North fruit set Current Far North crop estimates are indicating similar production to this season, with most growers reporting better than average set. It would now appear that we had a definite fruit set opportunity early in the season, as most of the fruit that has been retained is large with only a small amount of

18

onto the regrowth on cut back trees or stumps. At least one of the avocado tree nurseries is doing this commercially. They have staff capable of consistently field grafting with high success rates.

After talking to kiwifruit growers they would never plant kiwifruit without any male plants and I think avocado growers are starting to think the same way; well, I certainly am.

Northland fruit set I’m sorry to hear the Whangarei area has a disappointing fruit set. Mother Nature can be cruel. Growers can have done everything possible to set their trees up for flowering but the weather has the final say and after seeing some temperature logger records from that area, it’s not hard to see why the fruit set is the way it is.

I also hear the Far North is still trucking along with very consistent production and are looking at similar crop loads again for the coming season.

Export returns looking good On another pleasing note it looks like export returns are going to be better than anyone predicted. This is an excellent reward for growers that were committed to exporting and for the few growers that rolled the dice, pulled fruit from exporting to supply the NZ market may be regretting this move once they see the final export pay-outs. All early predictions for next season’s returns are looking promising, so to maximise your returns you need to get as much fruit as possible in an export box.

smaller later set fruit. The polliniser effect is very obvious, with Zutano having worked well for many growers this season, plus those growers who brought the bees in earlier took advantage of this early opportunity.

Looking ahead to next season Once again export fruit should be our main focus for next season with the potential for strong prices from overseas markets, so attention to pests and spray programmes to ensure the export pack-outs are high is as relevant as ever.

Now also would be a good time to discuss with your exporter the potential markets for next year based on the expected volumes. Each market has differing requirements in terms of spray residues and withholding periods, so knowing those destinations may well give growers different options in terms of chemical selection.

Industry representation Next month I will be hosting Mike Sabin, MP for Northland, so will have an excellent opportunity to discuss issues relating to our industry, especially from a higher level perspective. If any growers have issues they would like me present on their behalf, please feel free to email me.

This will be my last year as the rep. for the Far North.

Between now and August if you have an interest in taking over my role, please feel free to contact me. The Board is very active in promoting new representation and willing to offer opportunities for training and up-skilling to take on the role as a director with in our industry organisation.

News and views from your regional NZAGA Grower Representatives

BAY OF PLENTY

By Ashby Whitehead

I recently attended a field day at the Jefferies and Lilburne orchard at Otamarakau. Robert Jefferies gave us a demonstration of his new Tow and Blow wind machine that he hopes will help over the colder months. He was also keen to try it over pollination to see if it would lift the temperature. The Tow and Blow is a portable machine that can be positioned anywhere that it is required.

There was a good deal of discussion around pollination and the influence of temperatures on fruit set. We were also given a demonstration of a new phytophthora control application method using the StemCap PC1, which involved drilling a hole in the tree and inserting a capsule; the number of capsules was determined by the tree size.

Board activity Our most recent board meeting was on February 14. One topic discussed, and a topic that has been the source of much

AT LARGE

By Tony Ponder

In recent weeks I have been involved in meetings with MPI, supporting the industry case for both PGP funding and new market access.

Meetings with the PGP Investment Advisory Panel were informative and the dialogue free-flowing – a demonstration of the goodwill that has been developed as we navigate through what is clearly a very complex process. My own view is that the panel were captured by our original application and do identify with our vision for the industry and while they remain supportive and encouraging of our strategic intent, they do require us to put a little more ‘meat on the bone’ as we refine the value proposition.

We, as growers, may find ourselves focussing only on the immediate challenges, taking one day at a time; I understand this when you have little or no cash-flow due to low productivity or crop failure, or if you have managed to beat the irregular bearing cycle only to find yourself fighting drought conditions. However, the challenge to achieving our ultimate prosperity, beyond just keeping our head above water, is to transform the industry by significantly lifting both productivity and profitability across the whole value chain through advances in the following areas: • tackling the influencers of irregular bearing; • creating scale through collaboration using a best practice approach to drive information transfer - learning and sharing from those who do it better than most; • accelerating solutions for greater yield by focussing on the basics; • expanding the performance pool to create scale so our commercial partners can diversify, invest and leverage the high value

grower complaint, was the local market.

Bevan Jelley, our local market analyst, is doing some great work in this area. He has identified and is working on quality issues and ready to eat availability flow to market, read more about the local market project elsewhere in this issue of Avoscene.

Government Industry Agreements was another topic on the agenda. There will be a good deal of discussion on Deed which is up on the website and I urge you to take some time and read it.

Bay of Plenty orchard update Leaf roller numbers are remaining high around our region so it is essential that you continue with your AvoGreen monitoring and justified and timely spraying. Fruit set has been reasonably good in the Te Puke area, with most growers showing some crop, which is obviously a great improvement on the last year.

This long dry period is not beneficial to holding the crop, with a fruit drop happening as I am writing this article. If you have irrigation, do not let your trees get stressed due to a lack of water.

opportunities throughout Asia to complement our existing markets and spread risk.

To me, a successful outcome to our PGP objective is critical to this vision. We clearly need a step change in this industry so we all have a sustainable growth industry that contributes not only to our own wealth but to our wider economic vision for this country.

Securing this crown funding partnership lowers our own collective investment and allows us to leverage this dynamically at a time when our resources would not support such strategies. Another key aspect required by the Investment Panel is for a very clear linkage between the commercial sector (our export partners) and the industry body; the purpose being to demonstrate that the PGP vision is linked to ‘market led’ opportunities and to show our ability to realise value creation – the driver for the return on this investment by the Government.

Market access The Ministry for Primary Industries has developed formal prioritisation processes which align industry market access requirements with available resources, being the value of trade and the overall Government agenda to increase foreign exchange through export growth.

India has granted access to avocados from New Zealand. Our China application, submitted in early 2010, can only commence once the persimmon application has been completed - China stipulates that they will only work on one new application per country at a time.

It is important that our exporters continue to develop market engagement strategies that align with the MPI prioritisation process because there is a very clear expectation by MPI that investment in new market access for industry needs to demonstrate a return on this investment within a reasonable timeframe.

19

Calling all Avocado Growers!

Grower Field Days Our purpose is simple: to address the seasonal growing issues every grower is facing, and bring the best expertise (along with the wisdom of the other growers) to the field, so we can all make better decisions.

All Growers Welcome Due to the wide interest and positive feedback, these field days are now open to all growers.

Facilitated by Trevelyan’s Each field day runs for a couple of hours. They are facilitated by Trevelyan’s with input from independent industry experts and plenty of opportunity for growers to add to the discussion, including Q & A time.

Attend our complimentary grower field days Enjoy expert advice, grower discussion

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20

13/11/12 2:43 PM

New Zealand Avocado highlights summer 2012-2013

Katikati shines on Avocado Food & Wine Festival day An estimated 2000 people had the opportunity to relax in the sunshine, with bands performing throughout the day and six top wineries providing wine tastings, while celebrity chefs Nadia Lim and Peter Blakeway wowed the crowd with avocado cooking demonstrations and NZ Avocado staff kept adults and children entertained with a number of avocado-inspired activities.

Local marketers meet On 25 February NZ Avocado hosted a local market avocado meeting.

Sixteen local marketers met to discuss key areas to improving local market avocado value: crop flow, quality, promotions and increasing availability of ready-to-eat avocados. The group provided feedback on activities undertaken

by NZ Avocado to improve local market value in 2012-13 and contributed to the planning of activities for next season. The group will meet again in May 2013.

Alternatives to Avocado Research Consortium (ARC) sought Following parties’ withdrawal of support for the ARC project, it is necessary to look to an alternate strategy for working towards accelerating our knowledge of the influencers of irregular bearing. NZ Avocado is working closely with Plant & Food research to align the work both parties collectively do on avocados and meetings have been had around potential collaboration on bids for funding through the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

wina NZ Avocado staff Ed Wilson l Aitchison and Shery serving up avocado chocolate mousse samples

Chef Peter Blak eway, left, and 20 11 NZ MasterChe winner Nadia Lim f in action during a cooking demonstration.

Access to China being sought NZ Avocado recently had a very constructive meeting with MPI around gaining phytosanitary access to China – a challenge for the industry as that market could be very valuable. NZ Avocado will continue to push for avocados to remain a high priority for the government.

Upgraded industry website launched The industry website has undergone an upgrade with many improvements made based on grower suggestions. The upgrade was necessary not only in terms of the evolving information needs of the industry but because the content management system for the website was due to be made redundant.

Submission made in review of HEA Act AIC Ltd and NZAGA have made submissions to MPI on the review of the Horticulture Export Authority, HEA Act. The HEA Act is on the industry website under About and the submissions can be found under Projects > Strong representative industry structure.

Export marketing strategy (EMS) The annual review of the EMS, as required under by HEA is underway.

The discussion document has been uploaded to the industry website for wider feedback. To find it, go to Export > Export Marketing Strategy > EMS review.

NZ Avocado scientists visit Whangarei to assess fruit set issues Henry and Alvaro had a very constructive trip to Whangarei on 18-19 February. Mike Eagles and Roger Barber helped set up visits to 11 different orchards, to help understand the poor fruit set in that region. Alvaro has written up his observations – you’ll find them in AvoForum, the new online discussion space on the website, found under News & Events.

Photographs by Mark McKeown/Musae Studios

Jenni Wilson Val Cederholm and sh avocado oil promoting SeekaFre Board Photograph by lesley

Riley Warren, 3, enjoys an avocad o ice cream.

Singapore a mark Singapore is a market of promise and challenge for New Zealand avocado exporters, but one definitely worth persevering with.

MARKETING THE BEST AVOCADOS IN THE WORLD HELPING OUR GROWERS GROW DAVE ALDERTON Technical Support M +64 21 505 814 E dalderton@freshmax.co.nz

ANDREW DOUGLAS Export Manager P +64 9 573 8581 M +64 21 760 008 E adouglas@freshmax.co.nz

RODGER BAYLY Export Marketing P +64 7 985 6802 M +64 21 622 577 E rbayly@freshmax.co.nz

KIM FRASER Domestic Manager P +64 9 917 1485 M +64 21 629 816 E kfraser@freshmax.co.nz

www.freshmax.co.nz

22

The Avanza group and JP Exports Ltd accounted for most of the avocados imported into Singapore from New Zealand in the 2012-13 season and both say it’s an important market now and into the future, but also one with a number of challenges, including competition from Australia.

Providing a year-round supply of avocados and educating consumers about the health benefits of the fruit are just two ways Avanza is growing the Singapore market.

Ted Thomas and Carwyn Williams, who jointly manage the Singapore market for Avanza, say through an agreement with its partners Mission Produce of California, avocados are packed to Avanza quality standards, branded and shipped to Singapore once the New Zealand season has ended.

The Avanza brand represents three companies – Primor Produce, Southern Produce as the exclusive marketer of the Team Avocado Trust, and Just Avocados – and collectively sells 85 per cent of the avocados exported to Singapore from New Zealand.

“The New Zealand programme runs from September to the end of February, followed by the California fruit, which means we can assure our retail customers and consumers of 12 months’ supply of quality fruit,” says Ted. “This is a big step forward and has taken a lot of work but now retailers have bought into the concept it’s very exciting,” says Carwyn.

The first Avanza-branded fruit from California will arrive in Singapore in the coming weeks. The fruit will carry the Avanza label with California shown as country of origin.

The move to 12 months’ supply will help grow the category in the Singapore market for New Zealand fruit because it gives retailers continuity of supply and quality.

The companies which are part of the Avanza group have been individually selling fruit into Singapore for between eight and 10 years and know the importers and the market well.

“It is a fairly straightforward market because there are just

By Elaine Fisher Journalist elaine@thesun.co.nz

ket of opportunity and challenge five to six major retail outlets, with two to three of them representing 75 per cent of the business, so our targets are well defined.

“The importers we work with have strong links to those retailers and understand how to handle avocados,” says Carwyn.

“Singapore took a lot of small fruit this season, around 88 per cent was count 30 and 12 per cent count 23, which gave us the opportunity to keep some small fruit out of the Australian market during late October to November at a time when returns for small fruit there were down, and achieve good values from Singapore,” says Ted. New Zealand avocados face strong competition, because fruit can be imported into Singapore from any country and generally speaking does not require a phytosanitary certificate. New Zealand’s main competition is from Australia, Mexico and South Africa.

Australian exporters are among the toughest competition for New Zealand and Carwyn and Ted say that makes it vital to maintain Avanza’s high quality standards and support for the brand through in-store promotions.

“We are rather pleased we have enjoyed the support of retailers in keeping the Avanza fruit on the shelves.”

Despite the strong competition, Avanza fruit returned better prices from Singapore than from Australia in the early part of the season and both count size 30 and large fruit sold well.

Singapore can be fairly described as a high value market, worth cultivating, Carwyn and Ted say.

That English is the first language makes doing business in Singapore much easier, because there is little chance of messages being lost in

translation.

“The people are well-educated and often well-travelled, with many visiting New Zealand, so they are well aware of our country and our reputation for clean, green, quality products.”

Ted and Carwyn say the South-East Asian region offers exciting potential for further growth of the New Zealand avocado industry, thanks to political and economic stability and a growing middle classes with a desire for nutritious, healthy foods.

With Singapore’s population 5.5 million and growing, Ted says the future is promising, especially as consumers become more educated about the fruit.

“The health benefits of avocado have strong appeal and now we need to help consumers learn how to incorporate avocado into their traditional Chinese cuisine. Many people enjoy adding soya sauce to avocado and avocado smoothies are very popular.”

The Singapore avocado market is exciting and at times frustrating but highly competitive and is worth maintaining and developing says Darren Hughes Exports Trader with J P Exports Ltd. “Singapore is at times very pricesensitive and competitive as there are two distinct markets; the wet markets and the supermarket business.

“This season we worked very hard with our importers to educate them and their customers on the health benefits of New Zealand avocados.

“Last season Western Australia sent a lot of small fruit to Singapore, which was surprising given the shortage of fruit in general for the Australian domestic market. The Australian fruit at times sold at a price less than returns J P Exports could achieve in other markets.

“We air-freighted most of our fruit to Singapore, as at times, along with other exporters, we didn’t have the volumes of preferred sizes to fill sea freight containers to comply with the EMS timeframes.”

There are a number of wholesalers in Singapore and J P Exports deals with two main wholesalers but Darren says everyone in Singapore generally knows what everyone else is doing.

“It’s a small market of about 5.5 million people, so it’s important you have programmes with your importers rather than supply shipments on consignment.

“However, it is an important market as it takes 30 count or 56 to 64 count fruit and in a year of big fruit set it is a market we need. We can’t afford to walk away, even in a difficult season like we have experienced, because as soon as we do Australia will be in there to fill the gap.”

23

Andrew and Maria Watchorn are pleased they didn’t convert their orchard to kiwifruit.

Trees have a sprinkler high in the canopy, fed by tepid bore water.

I Avocentric I

Individual attention could be key Each of the 368 avocado trees on Maria and Andrew Watchorn’s 6.5 hectare orchard is, in their opinion, an individual and so each receives individual attention.

That approach appears to be working.

The 2.7 canopy hectare orchard has consistently harvested between 8,000 and 12,000 trays of fruit each year for the last five years, with 75-85 per cent of this going to export.

Maria, a former career banker and now full-time mother to Caleb (11) and part-time orchardist (her description) – manages the orchard and in the last 18 months, Andrew, also a banker, has left the world of finance to work on the orchard too.

When the couple bought an over-grown citrus orchard at Omokoroa they intended to convert it to kiwifruit, having owned, but leased out, a kiwifruit block at Oropi.

“We had the property GPS surveyed and to our surprise discovered there were around 300 avocados,” says Maria.

The trees had been hard to spot because they had been inter-planted and almost overgrown by large gnarly old citrus trees.

Finding the avocados changed their thinking and their fortunes. Andrew says he’s glad, given the impacts of the disease Psa-V, that they didn’t convert the block to kiwifruit.

The first year saw Andrew spend almost every free moment after work cutting out citrus trees and cleaning up the orchard 24

and, where possible and spaces appeared, new avocado plantings were made. Some citrus trees were retained to provide income as the orchard made its transition to avocados and Maria devoured all the information she could about how to grow avocados successfully.

“I went to the library, to field days, read the avocado manual repeatedly and watched everything contractors did,” says Maria, who never expected to enjoy orchard management so much but was determined to do it well.

“It’s quite a change to go from suits and heels and working in air-conditioned comfort to wearing old shorts and t-shirts, getting bumps and bruises on my arms and legs, but I think I have a pretty good office, out in the fresh air.”

Given her background, it is probably no surprise Maria has taken to growing as passionately as she has. Her Italian father Umberto, of Whakatane, is a talented gardener who taught his daughter to understand and respect plants and trees.

“I didn’t realise how much I had learned from him until we bought this orchard. I think you absorb that kind of knowledge by osmosis.

“Dad taught me to really look at trees and see what was going on. He also said to treat them like a woman and not overburden them with producing too many ‘babies’, which is why when I learned about flower pruning it made so much sense.”

Installing an expensive frost protection scheme was one of the first initiatives the couple took. The orchard is divided into nine sectors and in all but two, each tree has a sprinkler high in the canopy,

fed by tepid bore water. Temperature probes throughout the orchard are set to automatically trigger the computercontrolled irrigation system if temperatures drop to four degrees and the system doesn’t turn off until temperatures reach five degrees, usually the next morning.

“The system pulses so that zones are irrigated one after the other. Because the water is slightly warm, the orchard steams when the system is working. We wanted to have the water at a pressure and volume to provide the effective protection needed, so decided not to install it in two zones.

However, despite not having the system, trees in those areas have produced equally as well as everywhere else in the orchard,” says Maria.

The system is also used to water and irrigate the trees during the drier months, in an effort to reduce heat stress and promote fruit size. Particular focus is given during the flowering period to ensure tensiometer readings are kept below 25.

Keeping the orchard sward mown and spraying to leave bare ground is another means of helping keep the orchard warm.

“I think that the bare ground absorbs more warmth from the sun and then releases it slowly at night, keeping the temperature a little warmer.”

Colin Partridge is the orchard’s consultant and Maria values and respects his knowledge and advice, but challenges his reasoning at times too.

“We have some very good debates.

When it comes to fertiliser, I take his recommendations but then look at each tree to see what the fruit load is like, leaf size and colour and apply what I think it needs by hand.”

Although the orchard has no obvious signs of phytophthora, trees are injected each year.

Watchorn orchard facts: • 2.7 canopy hectares • 368 trees • 10 per cent are pollinisers • 8,000 to 12,000 trays per annum for the last five years

Bare ground is another means of helping keep the orchard warm.

to consistent bearing Almost by accident, the spacings of the original 15 year-old trees on the orchard are pretty much ideal at 9m x 10m or 12m x 14m, because they were planted between existing citrus trees and commercial flower beds. Over the past six years Andrew and Maria have planted more trees, including pollinisers which now account for around 10 per cent of their tree numbers.

“Two years ago we started planting three different varieties of pollinisers together in spaces where avocados have been removed or have blown over.”

Zutano, Fuerte and Bacon have been the main varieties but recently Ettinger has been planted too.

Orchard contractor Mike Dillon is another avocado expert whose opinions and knowledge Maria respects.

“Mike has extensively flower pruned for us and I really trust him. I’d rather prune flowers for the health of the trees and to even out the crop each year. It would be very hard to manage financially going from a crop one year to nothing the next.”

Flower pruning hasn’t been so vigorous in the last two years, partly because of an extensive foliage pruning programme.

Maria is also fussy about bees, seeking out a beekeeper who looked after his hives, so providing healthy, active orchard workers. She found that at Kaimai Bees, which supplies six hives per canopy hectare for the orchard, depending on flowering vigour.

Although the orchard has no obvious signs of phytophthora, Maria, (with the help of Mike this year), injects every tree during February to early March, to provide protection against

the fungal infection.

Walking through the orchard with Maria is a lesson in observing tree health and form.

“These trees have lots of fruit but you can’t immediately see that because there is so much foliage. I like growth beyond the fruit because it provides nutrients for this season’s fruit and will produce the fruit for the next,” says Maria, who frequently stops to handle leaves checking for size, colour, texture and any sign of pests.

Maria likes symmetry in her trees. Her pruning programme aims to open up the inside of the tree, allowing light into its trunks, encourage spray efficiency, with foliage covering the outer canopy from top to bottom, creating a well-balanced form, reminiscent of a large dome tent.

Andrew and Maria have decided trees will not be allowed to exceed six metres, the reach of the Hydraladas used to harvest the fruit, which is packed through Apata.

However, not all trees on the block conform to that ideal and those which fail to make the grade in terms of form, health or position, wear a ‘collar’ indicating their time in the orchard may be limited.

The Watchorns’ orchard is one of 11 being used by New Zealand Avocado to conduct a pruning trail on 25 trees.

This trail is to determine the timing and severity of pruning for trees of different age classes that will deliver consistent export quality fruit, high yields and reduced harvest costs. The trail runs over five years, with two years remaining.

The orchard was extensively mulched during the first few years of its development but now leaf litter is allowed

By Elaine Fisher Journalist elaine@thesun.co.nz

to build up beneath the trees to serve that roll.

When she’s working in the orchard Maria carries an ice cream container filled with insect identification gear, including a magnifying glass.

“We haven’t had a serious insect problem but I do spray, when required, up to eight times a year.” The orchard also receives regular copper sprays.

In the first year the Watchorns owned the orchard it produced nine tonnes of fruit. That increased to 16-17 tonnes and in the coming season production looks set to reach around 24 tonnes. With this comes ever-increasing picking costs, which Maria and Andrew try to manage in the traditional Italian way of calling on family and friends to help at harvest time. This get-together results in plenty of fun and laughter both during and after harvest time when the traditional harvest celebration occurs.

Avocado growing has provided the Watchorn family with an income and lifestyle they enjoy, especially the flexibility it offers for Maria and Andrew to spend time with Caleb.

They say it’s nerve-wracking when storms, frosts and insects threaten trees and crops, but it’s immensely satisfying when excellent fruit is harvested in economically viable quantities.

However, the biggest thrill avocado growing has given the family so far was being chosen as the orchard Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae visited last year.

“I was absolutely thrilled at the honour and it was lovely to meet him. He is just such a nice man,” says Maria.

25

EMS 2013-14: Summary of S Submission Category

EMS working group meeting 13 February

EMS AVEC working group

Exporters performance criteria • In 2012 the EMS WG recommended that exporters were to provide performance criteria against which they could be measured. AVEC agreed it would make a submission within the 2013-14

The WG agreed the industry does need set performance criteria for exporters for 2013-14 with or without their input.

AVEC exporters agreed to work with the AIC CEO in developing this criteria.

The WG agreed the AGA does need to know what the exporters are planning for the next 5 years and exporters must provide annually a five year marketing plan or an update of a previous plan.

AVEC exporters agreed to provide their 5 yr strategic plans to the CEO in three weeks

The WG agreed age in market is the important test. If pick to ship was discontinued, industry would need to have fruit age of inventory, by market, reported on request from exporters.

The pick to pack timeline to remain

AVEC supports the two pick to ship timeline submissions and the requirement for offshore reporting.

Growers to request this is added to their grower/ export contract, or detailed in their pool report.

Exporters to report to growers fruit that is culled and the value thereof.

R & D projects are tools to improve the consistency of the supply of avocados for our export markets. It is imperative to find solutions if we are to deliver our export strategy. The EMS sets out the activities we will undertake to deliver the strategy, which are funded by the EMS management fee.

AVEC supports the expenditure and reporting of this via its exporter reps.

Exporters 5yr marketing strategy • In 2012 the EMS WG recommended that the EMS must set out accountability across industry parties for new market development including a requirement for each exporter to provide a five year marketing strategy.

Fruit age • There were two submissions that called for a review of the pick to ship timelines These submissions were referred to the Quality Standards working group.

Dumped fruit • Exporters to report unsold or dumped fruit in the market to growers with why and value.

Uses of EMS management fee The use of the management fee was challenged

26

Submissions and discussions Submission Category

EMS working group meeting 13 February

EMS AVEC working group

Pacific Islands exports • That the Pacific Islands avocado trade be treated as an extension of the NZ market.

The WG agreed that fruit exported to any market must be packed at an export registered packhouse and comply with the EMS for phytosanitary requirements and sprays and residue issues.

The opportunity exists to apply for an exemption to export at minimal cost.

AVEC support the EMS WG requirement.

Combine local & export sales in one pool • Seeking solutions to better maximise returns to growers: should there be one pool combining both local and export sales.

The WG understood the issues in the current season of volume being committed to export markets then sold on the NZ market. However their view is that the EMS should not specify pool rules, only ensure that the rules are clearly reported to growers.

AVEC are an export focused group, not local market.

The WG were committed to enabling the EMS to be aware of and control the destination of Class II fruit and considered the exemption process an effective way of doing this. They would consider the ability to do this by way of dispensation rather than exemption.

They raised concern that allowing this in the US could create a precedent for class 2 to be allowed into Australia.

AVEC supports their own submission

NZ Avocado will explore options with packers to download this information monthly.

AVEC support 20th month following

• Addition to the EMS that packers and growers are to advise the AIC CEO of an elevated work platform (EWP) reportable MOBI (old DoL) incident within 48hrs

The following to be added into the packer and grower requirements sections of the EMS: That the packer (or grower) must report a EWP reportable MOBI incident to the AIC CEO within 48hrs.

This is a packer responsibility

A submission was received suggesting an improvement in roles, accountability and reporting within operational areas.

This has not yet been considered

AVEC felt these dealt with operational aspects, outside their scope as exporters

Class II • Open up the opportunity in a big year in the USA which is an existing class 2 market.

Monitoring report • Seeking reconciliation data monthly rather than annually Hydralada accidents

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Roadmap to packer contracts for Class 2 & 3 avocados We have seen the effects of oversupply of fruit on the local market; quality issues and plummeting prices.

Growers have often asked for something to be done about this, with the standard answer being that there is no legislative framework in place for the industry to enforce any rules upon suppliers.

However, growers are able to take a proactive approach. Every grower has the right to ask questions and should ask questions before signing their packer contracts; do the conditions for the sale and disposal of fruit fit with the delivery of a quality product to consumers?

When avocado volumes packed for the New Zealand market are maintained at below 30,000 tray equivalents (treqs) per week, per tray values can be maintained or even lifted. When packed volumes go beyond this limit, wholesale market values of avocados begin to erode.

Compounding this, high volumes can slow down the movement of fruit through the wholesale markets, leading to age-related quality issues such as body rots and over-ripening, which further affect returns across the market.

Data from the 2012-13 season shows that for every week that packed volumes for local market went above 30,000 treqs, around 0.05 cents per avocado comes off the wholesale market price. On an average tray size of 24ct, this equates to $1.20 per tray. In a sustained period of packing above 30,000 treqs per week (such as we saw in late January), local wholesale market values can drop by $2.50-$3.00 per treq in three weeks.

Management of crop flow to market is becoming increasingly important as the industry approaches seasons of

higher production volumes. Growers can help maximise local market returns by ensuring their avocados are being packed and marketed in a manner which can optimise market values in both the short and long term.

Key strategic objectives of the avocado industry as set out in the avocado Export Marketing Strategy are: • That grower returns are sustainable and maximised.

• That the industry is focused on producing and selling a premium product with the objective of obtaining a sustainable, high value return in all markets, including New Zealand.

To support these industry objectives, returns for Class 2 and Class 3 produce should be maximised. This requires a disciplined approach to the handling and sale of Class 2 and 3 avocados.

Set out below are some questions a grower might ask themself or their prospective packer about the conditions for the sale and disposal of Class 2 and Class 3 fruit within the contract they are entering into.

without my permission for any volume sold.

Class 2/TAG 2 • Who will be responsible for selling my Class 2 fruit?

• Who will my Class 2 fruit be sold to?

• Will my Class 2 fruit be sold through open wholesale markets or through a direct to retail programme?

Insurance • Has the packer secured insurance for my Class 2 and Class 3 fruit?

• If yes, what insurance is in place?

- Orchard to packhouse insurance - Packhouse insurance (Baileys) - Cover from packhouse to marketplace - Other - Marine insurance in place, as outlined in my packer contract, covers Class 2 and Class 3 fruit.

• Who covers the cost of in-market insurance or quality claims?

- Charged to my pool • If so, did the previous year’s pool pick up any charges?

- Charged to me - Worn by the packer

Class 3/TAG 3 • How will my Class 3/TAG 3 fruit be disposed of?

- Given back to me, the grower - Sold to a processor - Sold elsewhere • Please specify - eg packhouse gate sales A note you could insist is included: I expressly forbid any of my Class 3/TAG3 fruit to be sold (at any value) to hawkers

Ownership of fruit • As a grower I have ownership of my Class 2 and Class 3 fruit until: - The packer purchases my fruit - The fruit is sold to a processor - The fruit is transferred to another industry party Money flow • How are my funds processed?

- Returns for Class 2 are pooled - Returns for Class 3 are pooled - Returns for Class 2 and Class 3 are jointly pooled • What is the length of the pool season?

• Will I receive progress payments? If so, when?

• What costs will be deducted from me for handling my Class 2 and Class 3?

- Commission. What is the rate of commission?

- Packing costs are charged within my main packing contract - What are the additional costs e.g. coolstorage?

29

Local market struct The high volume in the 2011-12 season highlighted the need to improve our understanding of the local market and to develop strategies to ensure this market operates efficiently and delivers maximum value back to growers in low and high volume seasons.

L oca l m a rket structure B y loca l m a rket a na ly st B

This article outlines the basic structure of the New Zealand retail market for avocados, the different pathways to the avocado consumer, and how we are starting to work together with marketers to develop which can be used to maintain supply evinformation a n J elley of local market avocados at optimal levels.

The local market has in recent years been the source of many grower q uestions and comments.

Pathways to consumers The high volume in the 201112 season highlighted the need to improve our understanding of the local market and to develop strategies to ensure this market operates efficiently and delivers Fresh produce retailing in New Zealand is maximum value back to growers in low and high volume seasons. dominated by three large supermarket chains:

This article outlines the basic structure of the N Pak ew Z ealand retailand market for avocados, different Countdown, ‘n’ Save New World.theBetween pathways to the avocado consumer, and how we are starting to work together with marketers to them, the supermarkets account for around 70 per develop information which can be used to maintain supply of local market avocados at optimal cent of all avocados sold as fresh fruit to consumers levels.

in New Zealand. The majority of the remaining 30

Pa th w a y s to consum ers per cent is sold by independent fruit and vegetable Fresh produce retailing in N ew Z ealand is dominated by three large supermarket chains: C ountdown, retailers.

Thethe food serviceaccount industry takes70up the ofnext Pak ‘ n’ S ave and N ew W orld.

B etween them, supermarkets for around per cent all chunk domestic farmers’ avocados sold as fresh fruitbiggest to consumers in N ewofZ ealand.

The majsupply, ority of thewhile remaining 30 per cent is sold by independent fruitmarkets, and vegetable retailers. The foodand service industry takes up the next roadside stalls hawkers combine to biggest chunk of domestic supply, while farmers’ markets, roadside stalls and hawkers combine to account for less than five per cent of total avocado account for less than five per cent of total avocado sales in the N ew Z ealand market.

sales in the New Zealand market.

L oca l M a rket S h a re

Independent Fruit and V eg

S upermarkets

Food S ervice

Farmers M arkets, R oadside S talls, H awkers

S uperm a rkets Supermarkets C ountdown is owned by Progressive E nterprises L td, which distributes its fresh produce to stores Countdown is owned by Progressive Enterprises throughout N ew Z ealand via distribution centres in Auckland, W ellington and C hristchurch. E ach Ltd, which distributes produce to stores distribution centre has q uality control personnel that ensureits thefresh avocados received meet C ountdown’ s specificationsthroughout before being sent out toZealand individual supermarkets.

New via distribution centres

instores Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Each Pak ‘ n’ S ave and N ew W orld operate under the Foodstuffs co- operative structure and each distribution centre has quality control personnel individual store has an owner- operator. There are three regional Foodstuffs co- operatives covering that ensure the avocados received meet Countdown’s specifications before being sent out to individual supermarkets.

Pak ‘n’ Save and New World stores operate 30

ture under the Foodstuffs co-operative structure and each individual store has an owner-operator. There are three regional Foodstuffs co-operatives covering Auckland (upper North Island), Wellington (lower North Island) and the South Island. Each region also has a distribution centre which owner-operators are encouraged to use however this is not mandatory, so avocados can be obtained from various sources. Each of the regional co-operatives operates independently and has its own direct supply relationships with different avocado marketers.

There are two key points of entry into the local market for growers to sell their fruit through: direct retail programmes and wholesale markets.

By Bevan Jelly NZ Avocado local market analyst bevan.jelly@nzavocado.co.nz

W hangarei grower S ue C ulham says: “ O ur marketer has a direct retail relationship with Progressive E nterprises L td. W e receive weekly newsletters from our marketer telling us what their approximate current net per tray return to growers is for local market avocados and our marketers have knowledge of what is happening in the market and can advise us on the best time to pick. This helps take the guesswork out of the local market for us.”

Wholesale markets Avocados which are not absorbed by Retail programmes retail direct programmes are generally W h olesa le m a rkets The basis of a retail direct programme is Avocados not absorbed by retail direct programmes are generally sold at wholesale soldwhich atarewholesale markets.

The markets markets. The markets play a pivotal role in distributing fruit that cannot be absorbed by supermarket that volumes and prices of avocado orders retail play a pivotal direct programmes.

W eeklyrole volumes in sent todistributing the wholesale markets arefruit a key factor in determining avocado values and unmanaged supply to the markets can q uickly erode wholesale are agreed in advance, ideally before fruit that cannot be absorbed by supermarket prices and conseq uently the value returned to growers. is picked. Marketers with strong retail retail direct programmes. Weekly volumes The two largest wholesale markets for avocados are Turners & G rowers and M G M arketing. B oth programmes will formulate an annual have nationwide market operations andmarkets service a range ofare customers, from supermarkets sent towholesale the wholesale a key to independent fruit store owners and food service customers. plan of volumes with their retail partner, factor in determining avocado values There is more volatility in wholesale market pricing as avocados arrive at the market before their so that both parties have an idea of the unmanaged supply markets endand destination has been determined. The turnover andto conseqthe uent value of those avocados is expected flow of fruit for the season. These can quickly erode wholesale prices and marketers set prices with retailers a week consequently the value returned to in advance, or for special promotions up growers. to three weeks in advance. Fruit that does The two largest wholesale markets for not have a pre-determined ‘home’ on the avocados are Turners & Growers and supermarket shelf does not get picked.

MG Marketing. Both have nationwide Retail direct programmes involve an wholesale market operations and service a integrated supply chain, with information range of customers, from supermarkets to passing from the supermarket through the independent fruit store owners and food marketer and packer down to the grower. service customers.

In a retail direct programme the grower There is more volatility in wholesale can have more certainty about who will be market pricing as avocados arrive at the buying their fruit and what value they will market before their end destination has receive from the sale of their fruit. been determined. The turnover and The diagram below illustrates the various consequent value of those avocados is pathways to market. The direct retail reliant on buyers coming into the market pathway is highlighted in dark blue. and negotiating a price on the day. Pricing Whangarei grower Sue Culham moves quickly with supply to ensure says: “Our marketer has a direct retail product is turned over. Because of this, relationship with Progressive Enterprises quoted prices from the wholesale market Ltd. We receive weekly newsletters floor can vary from the actual price from our marketer telling us what their received by growers once their fruit has approximate current net per tray return to finally sold. growers is for local market avocados and Optimising crop flow our marketers have knowledge of what is Value in the local market can be happening in the market and can advise us maximised if weekly volumes are on the best time to pick. This helps take maintained at a level which the market the guesswork out of the local market for can absorb. Marketers agree that the upper us.”

limit of this level is around 30,000 tray equivalents per week. Having a stable crop flow allows retailers to satisfy their customer base and build demand from new consumers. When volumes rise, marketers with effective retail relationships are able to increase turnover through use of promotions, to effectively move the higher volumes of fruit through the market faster.

On page 29 there is a list of questions to ask your packer about what happens to your local market fruit. Two key questions around the pathway to market are: • Does my fruit go into a retail programme?

• How much of my marketer’s fruit is sent into a retail programme versus wholesale markets?

Further to this you may want to ask your marketer how they deal with periods of high local market volumes.

Due to short supply, the 2012-13 season has returned high values to growers for local market fruit compared with recent seasons, but there were still more than 10 weeks in which packing for the local market exceeded the consumption capacity of the local market. Not all of these periods of high activity were export related.

For every week that local market packed volumes exceed 30,000 trays, an average of $1.20 per tray equivalent (treq) can fall off the wholesale price of avocados. This was demonstrated in February 2013, when after four weeks of high volumes, close to $5.00 per treq was wiped from the average wholesale price of local market avocados.

Collaboration NZ Avocado hosted a meeting of all local avocado marketers in late February.

The group recognised that more value can be gained for both marketers and growers with improved forecasting and collaboration on management of the volumes being sent to the local market.

NZ Avocado is now working with marketers to develop a crop forecasting and collaborative management system, to ensure an even supply to meet customers’ needs and maximise the value returned to growers. Local marketers will review the system at the next local market meeting in May 2013, with the intention of trialling it in the 2013-14 season.

31

Commodity Levy update Last year, growers voted in a referendum for the renewal of the commodity levy order on New Zealand avocados, supporting the continuation of the order and also voting on the following rates which will come into effect in June 2013.

The order has been approved for drafting by parliamentary council and NZ Avocado is expecting the new order to be in place by July this year.

Rates effective under the new order • Domestic 3% • Processing/Oil N/A • Export 15 cents per tray • Promotions Levy 20 cents per tray The diagram at the right shows who is responsible for paying the Commodity Levy.

Commodity Levy Audit Currently an audit is in progress under the 2007 Order. This is to ensure NZ Avocado has captured levies payable. This process is expected to be finished by the end of April.

32

Industry news End of season roadshows Join NZAGA, your exporter representatives and local marketers for a discussion of the market performance of the 2012-13 season and recent Board and industry activity.

We look forward to catching up with you over some morning or afternoon tea.

Registration is preferred.

Please email jnunn@nzavocado.co.nz or call 0800 286 2236 (07 571 6147), with your name, contact details and the roadshow you will attend.

• Te Puke - Monday 15 April - 10am - 12pm The Orchard Church (cafe area), 20 MacLoughlin Drive.

• Omokoroa - Tuesday 16 April - 10am - 12pm Omokoroa Boat Club, Omokoroa Beach Road • Katikati - Tuesday 16 April - 3pm - 5pm St Paul’s Church, cnr Mulgan Street and SH2 • Whangarei - Wednesday 17 April - 1pm - 3pm Barge Park Showgrounds, Maunu Road • Houhora - Thursday 18 April - 10am - 12pm Houhora Fishing Club, 4126 Far North Road Industry Export Marketing Strategy (EMS) 2013-14 update The Export Marketing Strategy (EMS) is going through its annual review. Submissions for the 2013-14 EMS closed 01 February.

Every industry exporting under the Horticulture Export Authority (HEA) must have its Export Marketing Strategy approved by the HEA annually.

The EMS sets out the industry strategy, the way we intend to meet that strategy and the obligations of exporters, packers, growers and AIC. The Quality Manual is part of the EMS although it is reviewed separately.

10 submissions from the industry were received.

These submissions will be reviewed by the EMS working group and by AVEC before a recommendation is made to the RPG (Recognised Product Group). A copy of the submissions and the discussion of them can be found on the industry website http://industry. nzavocado.co.nz/industry/ems_review.csn and on page 26 of this issue of Avoscene.

A copy of the current EMS can be found on the industry website under Export > Export Marketing Strategy

Export registration 2013-14 Export registration for growers, packers and exporters is completed online at https://secure. nzavocado.co.nz/. The facility to register for the upcoming season will be available from 1 May 2013.

Those growers who are unable to register online can either seek assistance through their packhouse/exporter or can request a paper form to fill in which will attract an additional $20 administration fee.

Call for Grower Rep. elections coming up A call for AGA Executive nominations will be made in the first week of June. For more information about the role, please talk to your current rep’s or view the information on the industry website under About > Board.

Quality Standards Submissions for the 2013 review of the industry Quality standards closed 15 March.

The Quality Standards working group (a consultative group with representation from growers, packers, and exporters) met on Thursday 21 March.

This group is tasked with identifying quality standard issues and developing a proposal that addresses these issues for consideration by the Recognised Product Group (RPG).

Phosphonate testing results needed Phosphonate testing is carried out by Hill Laboratories which then submits the results to NZ Avocado if the grower has given the permission for this to happen. We then collate these results in an effort to understand on a regional basis the best timing of application, the best application method and the subsequent duration of treatment effectiveness.

The more individual results we have, the more meaningful our analysis is likely to be.

Therefore, we encourage you to tick the box on the collection form that enables Hill Laboratories to submit the results to NZ Avocado.

Please note your phosphonate results remain your property and your details remain anonymous.

If you have any questions about this, please email Glenys Parton glenys.parton@nzavocado. co.nz 33

Industry News NZAGA AGM To be held 10 September in Tauranga during the Joint NZ & AU Avocado Growers’ Conference. Further details to be confirmed.

Avocado Awards Nominations due 27 April 2012 NZ Avocado Growers’ Association (NZAGA) would like to call for nominations from all members of the NZAGA for the following awards, to be presented at the AGM, 10 September 2013.

There are three categories of awards: 1. Life Members With a limit of five life members at any one time, the purpose of this award is to acknowledge and recognise leadership contributions and input into the Avocado Growers’ Association which materially advance the Association to the benefit of members. Life membership of the association is restricted to members of the Association.

2. Avocado Award This award is to acknowledge and recognise contributions to the avocado sector that change or alter the business resulting in advancement forward in the avocado sector. The purpose

Continued ...

of this award is to recognise contributions in all areas of the sector and including but not limited to marketing, research and development and product and production innovation.

This category of award is open to any industry stakeholder or participant.

3. Service Award This award is given in recognition of service to the sector by an AGA executive committee member who has served two or more terms.

Please email your nominations to Edwina edwina@nzavocado. co.nz by Wednesday 1 May 2013.

Commodity Levy Audit As part of our duties under the Commodity Levy legislation, we have been working with the auditors over the last few months to complete a Commodity Levy audit. Under the Commodity Levies Order (2007) an audit has been conducted

by KPMG Tauranga, as appointed by the Minister for Primary Industries.

The auditor has been communicating with a range of sellers of avocados and delivering information notices to road side stalls and farmers’ market reminding sellers of their obligations under the legislation.

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Avocado news from the world USA: With larger crop, California avocado harvest will be in good volume by mid-March February 28, 2013: Hass avocados have generally been alternate bearing, so it is a bit unusual to have two largevolume crop years in a row. But last year’s California avocado crop came in at about 460 million pounds, a substantial increase over the prior year, and an even larger crop is anticipated this year.

Because of the larger crop, shippers are planning to ramp up volume earlier in the season than they did last year in an effort to create a more even flow of fruit throughout the season. California Hass avocado groves have set a large crop in 2013, for the second season in a row.

The crop is even larger than last year, and handlers are looking to start moving volume by mid-March.

“We are looking forward to a really good year. We’ve got a lot of fruit to work with, even more than we had last year, which is great,” said Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing for the California Avocado Commission in Irvine, CA. The commission’s projection for the 2013 California avocado crop is 515 million pounds for all varieties, of which about 500 million pounds will be the Hass variety, 12 million pounds will be the Lamb Hass variety, which runs from mid-summer to late fall, and the remainder will be a mix of minor varieties such as Bacon, Zutano and Pinkerton.

“It is really nice to have back-to-back crop years with good volume,” Ms. DeLyser said. It is thought to be the result of some deliberate cultural practices during a big-crop year that enhance the set of the following year’s crop. “We are hoping that we are onto something with cultural practices that allow consistent volume year to year,” she said.

One of those practices is to get a percentage of the fruit off of the tree early

in the season, before the blossoms that produce next year’s fruit are formed, thus giving the tree more energy to put into setting a crop. “We have seen in recent years that there is a real benefit,” to doing so, Ms. DeLyser said.

There are other benefits to shifting more of the harvest toward the front end, one of which is to spread labor needs more evenly throughout the season and minimize peak-season concerns over labor availability.

The California avocado harvest can actually start as early as mid-December, and years ago, when California Hass dominated the U.S. avocado market, it was common to start that early. Now with heavy volumes from Mexico — and Chile in the market during the winter — there is pressure to delay the harvest later into the spring in hope of getting better prices. But with this year’s larger crop, such a strategy would likely backfire, as the industry could find itself with more fruit than the market could handle at peak season and too much fruit left at the end of the season when the competition again ramps up.

“The past few years, we have kind of held on until an April start,” Ms. DeLyser said. But this year, “we are looking at good volumes by mid-March” and then running well into October or even November.

Some fruit was already being harvested in February, and some California avocados were even in the marketplace for a Super Bowl promotion. But the benefits of not starting earlier than that are seen in the quality of the fruit. “With other sources of supply in the marketplace,” Ms. DeLyser said, the California industry is able to “hone in on when the eating quality is at its best. The confidence in the quality of the fruit and the consistency in that quality and the fact that people can rely on it really inures to the benefit of California avocados.”

“It is good that the growers are getting started in March to plan out the season and make sure we can get the fruit off the trees in a good fashion throughout the entire season,” said Doug Meyer, vice president of sales and marketing at West Pak Avocado Inc. in Murietta, CA, Feb. 19. “We are working with our California growers on the early-season cultural practices” and focusing on “really getting going here in March. We feel the benefit there is to get a foothold in the marketplace early in the season and also try to avoid having a later-season labor crunch” — and of course to have a more manageable volume throughout the season.

“Right now we are trying to get a little bit of fruit off ” of some of the trees that are most heavily set, said Rob Wedin, vice president of fresh sales and marketing at Calavo Growers Inc. in Sana Paula, CA, Feb. 19. “By the 11th of March, we will be about six times the volume that we are this week. That is how quickly it starts to increase. By the end of March, more than 30 percent of our volume will be coming out of California,” and from there “it will keep increasing, and the sizes will keep getting better and better too.”

As is typical of a large crop, sizes tend to be on the smaller side early on. Currently, growers are size picking, taking the largest fruit off first to help the remaining fruit size.

With the larger crop, “we do think that most growers are going to start to harvest a little more fruit in March and April so that we don’t have quite the burden that we had last year in June, July and August,” said Bob Lucy, president of Del Rey Avocado Co. Inc. in Fallbrook, CA, Feb. 19. “The [California] Avocado Commission is going to have more programs that are geared a little bit more front end” for customers who choose to get going early. The big push will still be around Memorial Day and the Fourth of 35

Avocado news from the world July, “but if a retailer or somebody wants to do something in March and April, CAC is going to be there with them. We are also going to really make an attempt to stake out some ground [for California avocados] for Cinco de Mayo” in the western part of the country.

“We will see good volumes by midMarch,” said Rankin McDaniel, president of McDaniel Fruit Co. in Fallbrook, CA, Feb. 21. “This will tie in with the California industry’s promotional efforts.”

Most of those programs will be launched this year by the first of April, he said.

“CAC continues to do a great job of promoting, and I think have made a concerted effort to get out to all the handlers and stay in contact with growers, and to help move a larger crop than last year efficiently this year,” said Ron Araiza, director of sales for Mission Produce Inc. in Oxnard, CA, Feb. 20.

“All the marketing groups, and for the most part, all of the shippers and handlers, are doing a great job marketing the product,” he said. “They have set aside adequate funds to help grow the commodity, and I think we are going to see continued growth.”

Source: http://www.producenews. com/index.php/news-dep-menu/testfeatured/9759-with-larger-crop-californiaavocado-harvest-will-be-in-good-volumeby-mid-march AU: Avocado growers expecting a boost in demand 26 February 2013: Avocado growers are expecting a boost in demand for their delicious, healthy produce following the latest Dietary Guidelines which recommend Australians switch bad fats such as butter for good fats like avocado.

For the first time, rather than suggesting Australians just limit their intake of saturated fat, the Guidelines suggest replacing foods high in saturated fat, such as butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oil, with foods which contain predominantly mono and polyunsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, nut butters and pastes, and avocado.

Released by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC),

36

the Australian Dietary Guidelines provide information about the types and amounts of food, food groups and dietary patterns to promote health and well-being, reduce the risk of diet-related conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer.

Avocados Australia CEO, John Tyas, said the new guidelines are a boon for consumer health and for avocado growers who work hard to deliver the highest quality produce integral to so many meals and occasions from breakfast through to dinner and the great Aussie barbecue.

“We have always known about the health benefits of avocados, which are a rich source of dietary fibre, low in salt and sugar, so this is a wonderful endorsement,” said Mr Tyas.

“As consumer education programs roll out, we will inevitably see the delicious green spread replacing butter and margarine on sandwiches, toast and the like, making avocados a true staple in kitchens across the nation,” he said.

The new Dietary Guidelines urge Australians to eat more fruit and vegetables and point to an additional daily serve of vegetables as being associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease.

“The upshot is that avocados can play a flexible role in meeting Australian’s daily nutritional requirements,” said Mr Tyas.

“You can eat half an avocado as a fruit serve, or half an avocado as two serves of vegetables or an eighth to a quarter of an avo as one to two serves of good fat,” he said.

Source: http://www.freshplaza.com/news_ detail.asp?id=106363#SlideFrame_1 South Africa: Avocado exports down on 2012 season 22 February 2013: Harvesting of the new South African avocado crop is due to start towards the end of March and the first arrivals will hit European shores in week 13.

Derek Donkin, CEO of the South African Avocado Growers Association

Continued ... explained that that exports will be down this year, but this due to the alternate bearing nature of the crop and this year is a down year. “Last year South Africa exported 12.6 million 4kg boxes (50,400 tonnes), this year’s export is estimated at 10.5 million boxes (42,000 tonnes).

Despite this, Hass export volumes will be similar to last year, with Hass expected make up at least 65% of this year’s export crop.

Markets for the avocado have remained mostly unchanged, Europe still being the main destination. The South African avocado hits the market at the same time as the Peruvian, but Donkin is confident about the demand for the South African fruit as buyers can be certain of the quality.

Source: http://www.freshplaza.com/news_ detail.asp?id=106196#SlideFrame_1 Peru: Peruvian Hass avocado ready for export to Chile 22 February 2013: After concluding an agreement with Chile on phytosanitary requirements, the National Service of Agrarian Health (SENASA) announced that this fruit is likely to be marketed as from the month of April to the southern neighbour. “What is proposed and what is stated in the agreement is that we want the avocado market to be open for the beginning of the export season in Peru, which is in April,” said Plant Health CEO of Senasa Jorge Barrenechea.

To this end the Agriculture and Livestock Service of Chile (SAG) sent a delegation that analyzed Peruvian crops in Situ and verified the eradication of fruit fly.

Although the Senasa proposal is still under legal analysis in Chile, Barrenechea stressed that both institutions are committed to implement appropriate measures in the shortest time possible, so as to not affect exports. “We know that the exporters’ commercial interests lie between June and August, so there would be no problem if the norm comes out in April or May,” said the CEO. Source: http://www.freshplaza.com/news_ detail.asp?id=106232#SlideFrame_1

Upgraded industry website nz a v oca d o. co. nz I nd ustry W eb site C ontent D irectory a s a t 1 2 . 0 3 . 2 0 1 3 Content Directory as at 12 March 2013 H ome

The industry website has undergone an upgrade with many improvements made based on grower suggestions.

N ews & E vents

About

Proj ects

O rchard M ngt

E xport

M embership Information

L atest N ews

Pruning Trial

S ite S election

N ew G rowers

Industry E vents

C ultivar Trial & E valuation

V arieties & R ootstocks

Funding

AvoForum

Plant G rowth R egulators

Propogation

Pollination

Preparation and Planting

C ommodity L evy

Photo G allery

Financial R eports

B oard

M eeting M inutes

The upgrade was necessary B oard M embers not only in terms of the evolving information needs of H istory the industry but because the content management system Five Y ear for the website was due to be Plan made redundant.

The upgraded website Industry C omm' s replaces the current industry website, so is accessed in Industry exactly the same way; click the Acronyms “Industry website” button in S taff the top right of the nzavocado.

M embers co.nz homepage.

One of the new features is an online forum. AvoForum is a place where you can discuss issues with each other, share ideas and pose questions.

To access AvoForum. go to the industry side of the nzavocado.co.nz website and click on News & Events then click AvoForum. You will see a number of topics listed.

Click Read More under any topic to view the full article. At the bottom of each article is the list of comments and then beneath that is a box where you can add your comment or question. Please note you must be logged in to make a comment.

We encourage you to use this forum to ask questions and discuss the topics listed with each other. If you would like to suggest a topic, please email Midge mmunro@nzavocado.co.nz A site map for the industry website can be found at the bottom of every page of the website, however we have also included one with this article – accurate as at 12 March 2013.

If you have any feedback on the website please leave your comments in the online forum under the topic “Upgraded Website”.

M arket Access & B iosecurity M arket D evelopment & R etention S trong R ep.

Industry S tructure

Tree G rowth C ycles

N utrition

L ocal M arket

S pray D iary

Technical R esources

W eekly E xporter & Packer M onitoring

W eekly M arket U pdate

E xport R egistration

W eekly AvoM arket M onitoring

E xport M anagement S trategy (E M S ) AvoG reen

AvoG reen M anual

Pollination & Fruit S et

AvoG reen Application Forms

Irrigation

C anopy M ngt & O rchard Thinning

AvoG reen Tech S heets Technical Forms

W eed C ontrol

AvoG reen Accredited O perators

S pray Application

AvoG reen Accredited Trainers

Pests

D iseases

R oot R ot M anagement W eather E vents & C limatic Issues O rganic M ngt Practices NZ O rga nic A v oca d o G row ers I nc

AvoG reen G lossary

R esources

M arket Info

AvoS hop

Pack R eport

E xport R eport R egional M aturity M onitoring C rop E stimate W orld Producers O On n the Resources R esources page page you can access: access: • •Avocado AvocadoGrowers’ G rowers’ Manual M anual • Avoscene Articles • N Z Avocado • Blank Templates & Forms Presentations • Health & Nutrition •Research N Z Avocado R esearch O rchardRisk M ngt • •Industry G uidelines Management • •Industry Q ualityStatistics S tandards & • Minutes - Katikati G uidelines Meetings •Growers Industry S tatistics • •Natural B lank Disasters Templates & • NZ Avocado Forms Presentations • Avoscene Articles • NZ Avocado Research M inutes from • •Orchard Management G rower meetings Guidelines • Quality Standard Guidelines

L ibrary Trays E xport R egistered E xporters E xport R egistered Packers C ontract H arvester Accreditation

M aturity

C ontract H arvesters

Post H arvest H andling

Q uality M anual

E conomics of Avocado G rowing

C rop & M arket

Q uality S tandards R eview B iosecurity & M arket Access

D ispensations

37

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Promotions update New Zealand Katikati Avocado Food & Wine Festival More than 1500 avocados were devoured in Katikati on 19 January 2013 as New Zealand’s avocado capital celebrated the superfruit’s health and versatility.

NZ Avocado Ambassador and Celebrity Masterchef Nadia Lim headlined the 10th annual event. The crowd enjoyed avocado-inspired mousse, ice cream and pizzas, as well as cooking demonstrations and culinary competitions.

New Zealand Avocado CEO, Jen Scoular, says a staggering number of avocados were peeled, sliced, diced and mashed on the day, and it was great to see so many people celebrating one of nature’s most nutritious and delicious ingredients.

Nadia and Tauranga celebrity chef Peter Blakeway both drew the crowds to the NZ Avocado marquee and taught people some exciting new ways to add ‘good’ fats to their diet and increase heart health.

“Nadia and Peter created a range of amazing avocado dishes and really opened

people’s eyes to the endless ways to enjoy avocados. Nadia created an Asian avocado and prawn salad while Peter wowed the crowd with a delicious roast chicken with avocado and mini chicken avocado pizzas,” Jen says.

“Avocado lovers certainly picked up lots of new ideas and got to sample some delicious dishes.”

Free samples of avocado chocolate mousse proved extremely popular, and showed just how perfect this summer ingredient can be for desserts.

An estimated 2000 people had the opportunity to relax in the sunshine, with bands performing throughout the day and six top wineries providing wine tastings, while guacamole lovers went head-to-head in a bid to create the best guacamole in Katikati.

“Nadia and Peter had a hard time judging the winners,” Jen says.

“It was great to see people creating the famous dip and infusing their own ideas.”

Children also competed for their share of the limelight, with avocado and spoon races and avocado art proving to be a big hit alongside more traditional fairground entertainment.

Festival organiser David Crispin says this year’s event, which was jointly run by the Pakeke and Katikati Lions clubs, will donate proceeds from the festival to the Cancer Society Lodge in Hamilton.

For all of the delicious recipes created

by Nadia and Peter during the festival, including the guacamole competition winning recipe, visit www.nzavocado. co.nz/ NZ Avocado staff and helpers were on hand all day to educate consumers about avocados; Jen introduced the celebrity chefs to the crowd and was a photographer for the day; Glenys, Sheryl and Edwina served up more than 1000 avocado chocolate mousse samples; Nici held the fort on the guacamole making stations; Jo, along with her daughter Lucy and a friend, ran the AvoArt activity; Bevan ran the popular avocado and spoon races; and Midge ran the guacamole competition and, along with her husband Mark, ensured the smooth running of the day and that everyone had what they needed when they needed it.

Just Avocados, Seeka and Fressure Foods also supported the festival. Just Avocados had a Japanese-themed marquee complete with Japanese beer and avocado sushi on offer, as well as their ever-popular free avocado ice cream. Seeka prepared a classic favourite – B.L.A.T which proved very popular with the crowd. Fressure Foods had tastings of the company’s delicious array of dips and spreads. It was great to see involvement from some of the industry’s commercial partners.

The festival generated much media publicity for the industry and for avocados.

Continued...

39

Promotions update Continued...

Friends of NZ Avocado Kidicorp We distributed 3000 general and kids avocado recipe booklets in the December/January issues of Kidicorp’s magazine Bright Start which was distributed to parents in the Auckland region.

NZ Heart Foundation The Heart Foundation recently ran a competition through its TickTalk Newsletter and Facebook page to win an avocado hamper, containing fresh avocados, avocado oil and other treats.

It had 2345 entries to the competition.

NZHF has also included our industry in its members’ updates section on its website and in its TickTalk magazine.

New Zealand King Salmon Jen and Midge had a successful meeting with New Zealand King Salmon which promotes the Regal, Southern Ocean and Ora King brands of salmon. The company is keen to share its promotional calendar with us and collaborate on promotions and media liaison where appropriate next season.

Avocado and salmon is a classic culinary combination and they are both functional foods with health benefits – NZ King Salmon has the highest levels of Omega-3 over other breeds of salmon.

Media liaison

and Wine Festival and to win a tray of avocados. This helped to raise awareness of the festival and to also strengthen media relationships.

Radio drops Selected radio stations in Tauranga and Auckland were given a gift pack of Peter Blakeway’s Avocanana loaf, tickets to the Avocado Food & Wine Festival to give away on air and some avocado information to share on air. Jen was also interviewed on the Tauranga More FM breakfast show as a result of this.

She got across key nutrition messages about avocados and it was good to raise visibility of avocados in the local area and the festival.

Media releases Four media releases were distributed during the Christmas and New Year period, resulting in over 180 pieces of coverage online, in print or radio about the nutritional benefits and culinary uses of avocados and the Avocado Food and Wine Festival.

Media giveaways In December and January we ran promotions with the BOP Times, Sunlive and NZ Herald to win tickets to the Avocado Food

Supermarket trial As part of our work on improving relationships across the supply chain we have been visiting supermarkets to discuss avocados and build relationships with store owneroperators and produce managers.

Having seen the avocado display stand used at the Katikati Avocado festival, the owner-operator of Gate Pa New World in Tauranga was interested to trial the use of the stand in their store, to see what effect it would have on the turnover of avocados.

The store began a six-week trial using the stand on 17 February. After the first week of trialling the stand, produce manager Mark Derecourt reported that the store’s turnover of avocados had doubled in comparison with the week before, when they were displaying avocados as normal.

40

This was in spite of the high retail prices for avocados at this time. He also said that the ready-to-eat avocados moved far faster than avocados at other stages of ripeness and the produce team had to pro-actively manage the fruit from store room to shelf to keep up with the demand for the ready-to-eat fruit.

Further information will be available upon the completion of the trial. Pictures of the display stand and information on its effects on avocado turnover will be shared with other supermarkets and promoted as a tool to increase the turnover of avocados,

without the need for a reduction in the selling price. The stand is also useful as an educational tool for consumers, helping them choose an avocado that will ripen when they want it too.

New Zealand Avocado research programme update Pruning trial The first two years of the five year Pruning Trial are now complete and data to date has been collated and analysed.

A meeting with all participant growers in this trial was held on February 12, 2013 which all but two participating growers attended. The forum for feedback was interactive and lively between all those that attended.

A comprehensive report of the results of this trial is covered in this issue of Avoscene on page 47.

New cultivars - new cultivar trial New Zealand Avocado has four cultivar trials running on replant plots. One of them was planted in 2009 in Mangawhai, two others planted in autumn 2011 in the Far North and Whangarei, and the fourth one was planted this November in the Bay of Plenty.

Scheduled visits are made to monitor and assess the trees. The trees in the BOP, planted in spring 2012, are establishing well. At the Mangawhai block the clonals Bounty and Dusa are appearing superior to Duke 7 and showing great prospects in a replant situation.

Plant growth regulators The application of Uniconazole (SunnyÂŽ) is becoming more frequent in avocado orchards around the world.

A collaborative Uniconazole trial was established in spring 2011 between New Zealand Avocado, Plant & Food and Grow Chem. The trial includes two treatment concentrations of Uniconazole applied during flowering and a control treatment across a total of 232 trees.

A report on this trial to date is covered in this issue of Avoscene on page 44.

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42

N U T R I O L O G Y *

*the science of growing

A DVERTO R I A L

Groundbreaking new economical phytophthora treatment Administering slow-release tablets to treat animals and humans is well established and now the same principle is being applied to the treatment of the avocado tree disease Phytophthora.

Omnia Nutriology has developed StemCap PC-1 capsules which are inserted into trees through holes drilled into the trunk, plugged and left to slowly release the active ingredient phosphonate throughout the tree’s system.

Dr Adrian Spiers who heads up Omnia’s research and development programme has been working on the development of the capsules since 1999 as a more efficient way of treating phytophthora.

The capsules are stable, only becoming soluble once inside the tree. Their formulation and use has met all the required approvals from the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Steve Cully, business development manager for Omnia, says administering the capsules, which cost around 50 cents each, is fast and efficient – up to 60 per cent quicker than using traditional methods.

“There is no mixing of chemicals or preparation of materials as there is with traditional methods and there’s no maintenance required on injection equipment.”

Steve recommends growers have phosphonate root tests done by Hills Laboratories on their trees before administering StemCap PC-1.

“Once they have the test results, they can adjust the treatment accordingly. The recommended dose is one to two tablets per meter of tree canopy.”

The required dose is calculated by measuring the diameter of the canopy from drip line to drip line. Then a hole is drilled deep into the trunk and capsules inserted by hand one after the other.

“I’m sure some clever grower is going to come up with a method of delivering the capsules but for now it’s easy enough to do by hand,” says Steve. The hole is plugged and can be used to administer more tables within 12 months if required.

Independent trials assessments of the effectiveness of the capsules have demonstrated that phosphonate levels reached the required 20 ppm between 45 and 60 days of being administered and remained above that level (reaching as high as 30 ppm) for 120 days.

Autumn and spring are the optimum times to administer the capsules to help combat the widespread fungal disease Phytophthora (also known as avocado root rot) which causes rotting of actively growing feeder roots, declining tree health and productivity and eventually tree death.

Omnia also developed other injection systems that are faster than traditional methods. Steve feels the StemCap PC-1 capsules will become the preferred method of treatment in time.

Learning about Sunny (uni ®

1. Introduction The application of uniconazole (active ingredient of Sunny®) has become a widespread practice in avocado orchards in countries like Chile and Israel. Sunny® was registered for use on avocados in New Zealand in August 2010.

The volume of product used in New Zealand in the 2012 flowering season was sufficient to treat 450ha.

When applied to plants, uniconazole inhibits the biosynthesis of gibberellins, a natural plant growth regulator.

The plant responds to the reduction of gibberellin levels by reducing its vegetative growth. This effect has two main consequences: shorter branches resulting in smaller trees; and a higher allocation of resources to the development of reproductive organs.

Limited trials in New Zealand have shown an increase in size of the avocados after applications during the flowering period, but data on yield, tree size and fruit set have been inconclusive.

In autumn 2011, during flowering, a collaborative replicated trial was established between NZ Avocado, Plant and Food and Grow-Chem to further explore the potential of Sunny as a management tool in our conditions.

The trial included two treatments and a control: standard New Zealand practice at the time (treatment SNZ), Sunny®at a rate of 0.5% was applied when flush was the length of the short side of a credit card; standard Israel practice (treatment SI), Sunny® at a rate of 0.7% was applied at mid bloom when 50% of the flowers have opened; and a control with no uniconazole application, only water (control).

The trial was established at Matahui Orchard in the Bay of Plenty. This orchard was selected because of the management’s experience with uniconazole (they had been involved in the previous trials with Gro-Chem) and because of the homogeneity and good condition of the trees. Four orchard blocks were used for 44

Block Year Tree Yield 2011 Yield 2012 Flush intensity number planted spacing (t/ha) (t/ha) October 2011

Flowering intensity October 2011

12

2005

7x7

10.0

11.8

High

Medium

15

2005

7x7

10.9

13.9

High

Medium

23

2006

8x4

11.6

14.9

Medium

Medium-high

34

2006

8x4

6.8

11.4

Medium

Medium-high

Table 1. Characteristics of the blocks used for the trial.

the experiment. The characteristics of the blocks are shown in Table 1.

Each block had two sets of treatments with at least seven trees per treatment. In total, a minimum of 60 trees were used in each treatment. Treatments were applied in the last week of October 2011 (SNZ) and the first week in November 2011 (SI).

In May, flush length was measured in each tree, in each of four branches oriented at North, South, East and West.

In July 2012 the height and diameter of the canopy of the trees was measured and the canopy area was calculated.

In early October a representative sample of 20 fruit was collected from each set of treatments. This fruit was stored at 5 degrees Celsius for 28 days, removed from storage, ripened at 20 degrees Celsius and assessed for storage disorders following the AIC fruit quality manual. A representative fruit sample was picked from each block to measure the dry matter following the standard industry procedure.

The remaining fruit was strip harvested in mid-October 2012 and the total yield per tree was recorded. A 100 fruit sample from each treatment repetition was weighed and the length and width measured and recorded.

Return flowering was determined in spring 2012 using a scale from 0 to 7, where 0 represents a tree with no flowers and 7 represents a tree with very heavy flowering.

2. Results 2.1 Yield On average, the yield tended to be higher in all blocks in the two treatments compared to the control and the SNZ

Figure 1. Yield by treatment. The error bars represent the standard error and sample size is larger than 60.

Figure 2. Yield by block and treatment. The error bars represent the standard error and sample size is larger than 12.

treatment had a higher yield than the SI treatment. However, the differences are not statistically significant, so there is a possibility that these observations were due to chance (Figure 1).

The older, and larger, trees in block 12 and 15 had larger yields than the younger trees in blocks 23 and 34, but the pattern ofresponse to the uniconazole treatment was similar in each of the different orchard

By Alvaro Vidiella NZ Avocado Scientist alvaro.vidella@nzavocado.co.nz

iconazole) in NZ avocados blocks (Figure 2). Block 15 showed the largest response to the treatments while block 34 showed the smallest one.

2.2 Fruit size

Figure 3. Fruit weight by treatment. Columns with different letters are significantly different (P<0.05).

Figure 4. Size distribution by treatment of the fruit.

2.2.1 Fruit weight There was significant increase in the average weight of the fruit of the treated trees of a little over 10g (Figure 3). This increase meant a slight skew to larger size count trays of the treatmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fruit (Figure 4). Nevertheless, this increase is lower than the increase reported in previous experiments, and seems to be smaller than the increase observed by some growers in their orchards in the last seasons.

There was interaction between the treatments and the blocks regarding fruit size.

2.2.2 Fruit dimensions There was a clear truncating effect of a few millimetres on fruit length of the uniconazole treatment (Table 2). The differences were not easy to appreciate on the fruit, but the most visible difference between the treated and control fruit seemed to be that the neck of the treated fruit was thicker than the neck of the untreated fruit, and this factor appeared to reflect the difference in weight.

Table 2. Length and diameter of fruit in millimetres by treatment. Values within a column with different letters are significantly different (P<0.05).

Control SI SNZ

Figure 5. Fruit weight by blocks and treatments. The error bars represent the standard error and sample size is larger than 200.

Length 98.0 a 95.4 b 95.8 b

Diameter 70.8 a 72.9 b 73.1 b

2.3 Tree size There were no differences observed between the tree height, diameter or canopy area of the trees between treatments. As observed in previous experiments, the spring treatment does not seem to affect the size of the trees significantly. Uniconazole is used in other countries for canopy management, but at much higher rates and with repeated

applications targeting the vegetative growth.

2.4 Dry matter and storage capacity No differences were observed between the dry matter of the fruit from the treatments and the control. The average dry matter value for the experiment was 29.6. These results are consistent with previous trials done in New Zealand.

No large differences were observed in fruit quality after storage at 5 degrees Celsius for 28 days. However, a significant reduction of incidence and severity of stone cavity decolouration (SCD) was observed in the fruit from the uniconazole treatments (Table 3). SCD seems to have a physiological origin and further work will need to be done to determine if uniconazole has any real effect on this disorder.

Table 3. Incidence and severity of SCD of the fruit stored at 5 Ë&#x161;C for 28 days.

Incidence is the percentage of fruit that had more than 5% of SCD. Severity is percentage of damage in the fruit. Values within a column with different letters are significantly different (P<0.05).

Incidence of SCD

Severity of SCD

Control

14 a

5.04 a

NZS

5b

1.25 b

SI

5b

0.95 b

2.5 Return flowering Most of the trees presented a medium flowering stage and no differences were observed between the treatments.

3 Discussion There was a high degree of variability in the response of the treatments between trees within the blocks and between blocks. Average yield was higher in both uniconazole treatments but the variability in the response precluded statistically significant differences from the controls.

This variability could be a consequence 45

Learning about Sunny (uniconazole) in NZ avocados of the differences that are usually found between trees in avocado orchards grafted on seedling rootstocks like Zutano. When uniconazole was applied, the trees had different individual tree yield histories, starch reserve levels, flowering potential (they were likely at different stages of the flowering period) and they were likely at different stages of vegetative growth. All these differences have potential to influence the response of the tree to the application of uniconazole. The increase of yield by the application of uniconazole in New Zealand conditions, if possible, is likely to be highly dependent of the condition of the tree at the moment of application. The variability in tree condition is common in New Zealand orchards during flowering and is potentially higher than the variability expected in countries like Chile and Israel during a flowering period with much higher temperatures and were uniconazole is applied regularly to increase yield.

Fruit weight increased in the treated fruit, but the average increase has been

46

much lower than the increase observed in previous experiments and lower than the increase observed in some commercial blocks treated with uniconazole. There has been a tendency to increase the rate at which uniconazole is applied in New Zealand orchards in the last season. The recommended rate when this experiment was established was the lower extreme of the label range, 0.5%. Last season the recommended rate was on the top end of the range, 1%. This may make a difference in response in some circumstances.

Nevertheless, in reviewing the data of previous experiments and through the experience of growers that have been applying uniconazole in recent seasons at different rates, there also seems to be a high variability in the response of fruit size to the application, with high response or no response at high and low rates.

More work needs to be done to quantify the effect of uniconazole on yield and on other aspects of tree performance, like canopy management, in New Zealand

... continued

conditions. The right application rate and the adequate timing of application related to the overall state of the tree and its phenology seem to play a key role in the response to the product. Determining these parameters in relation to the outcomes that we are expecting is one of the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s R&D challenges.

4 Acknowledgements The development and the establishment of the trial would not have been possible without the participation of Don Rodee, owner of Matahui Orchard, Phill Merriman, manager of Matahui Orchard, Lindsay Heard, consultant of Matahui Orchard, Iain Latter, Research and Development Manager of Gro-Chem, Plant and Food pollenizer researchers Mark Goodwin and David Pattemore, and Arnon Dag, Israeli researcher expert in bee pollination, that is on a sabbatical year in Plant and Food. NZAGA thanks all those involved for their participation and contribution.

By Alvaro Vidiella NZ Avocado Scientist alvaro.vidella@nzavocado.co.nz

By Glenys Parton NZ Avocado Manager - Projects glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz

Pruning trial report The NZ Avocado Pruning Trial is a collaborative trial seeking to develop best practise canopy management to mitigate the impact of irregular bearing in New Zealand avocados.

New Zealand avocado growers have been reluctant to prune their trees. The focus on different methods and the inclusion of orchardists, field days and reports on the methods and applications of pruning have resulted in much greater uptake of pruning. Growers, rather than only seeing the short term issue of pruning off fruit, are understanding the medium to long term benefits of pruning.

Our industry, through growers, consultants and contractors, is applying a large amount of intellectual effort into trying to understand how trees should be pruned. A collective effort and information exchange through growers, consultants and contractors is resulting in good results in some trial orchards and is generating

discussion and innovation across the wider industry.

Twelve orchards are participating in the five year trial; nine in the Bay of Plenty, two in Whangarei and one in Far North.

Grower contribution is crucial to the success of the trial – particularly to see the trial through five years to its projected completion.

The trial is pruning at different intensities; light, moderate and at different times; autumn and spring, resulting in five groups of five trees per orchard: autumn light prune, autumn moderate prune, spring light prune, spring moderate prune, and control.

The pruning is applied as follows: Control • Unpruned unless access and encroachment is compromised – then only limbs that achieve access or negate encroachment.

Light Prune (annual spring or autumn) • Remove up to 5% out of the top of tree (directed towards NE quadrant) and up to 10% (2-3) side limbs but no more than 15%in total.

• Follow up six months later for water shoot removal.

Moderate Prune (annual spring or autumn) • Remove up to 20% from the top of the tree (directed towards NE quadrant) and remove up to 20% on the sides but no more than 35% in total.

• Follow up six months later for water shoot removal.

• Tree structure needs to be reassessed after three years and based on tree structure and canopy density either a light prune or a moderate prune applied at that time.

Total yield per tree in the trial is measured at harvest and a sample of 100 fruit per tree is assessed for fruit weight and defects. The trees are assessed for tree health, shoot regrowth, flowering, and fruit set. Harvesting costs and pruning costs are calculated from the actual timing of ground and elevated platform pickers and pruners for each individual tree.

A temperature profile of the orchard is obtained from two temperature loggers placed in one of the control trees at each orchard. One is buried at 10cm in the soil and another one is positioned just inside the drip zone at 1.5m height and housed in a Stevenson’s screen. Each grower, where 47

calculated from the actual timing of ground and elevated platform pickers and pruners for each individual tree.

A temperature profile of the orchard is obtained from two temperature loggers placed in one of the control trees at each participating orchard. O ne is buried at 100mm in the soil and another one is positioned j ust inside the drip z one at 1.5m height and housed in a S tevenson’ s screen. Temperature data is recorded every two hours. E ach grower, where able, measures and records monthly rainfall and records the freq uency and duration of irrigation. A set of tensiometers has been placed under the same control tree at each participating orchard and data is recorded by the growers.

As of M arch 30, 2013 the pruning trial has completed two annual cycles of pruning with the third cycle planned to commence in April 2013.

The yield data from the trees of the trials reflect to some extent industry yields in 2011 and 2012 (Figure 1). S ix of the 13 orchards had no crop in 2012 so they were not included in the 2012 averages. These orchards suffered from a combination of frost damage in August 2011 and low reserve levels because of the large crop they were carrying.

W hen comparing treatments, some differences can be observed in both years, with less fruit on trees that have been pruned more severely, but the differences are not statistically significant.

Autumn treatment trees had been pruned once by the time the fruit was harvested in 2011, while the spring treatment trees had not been pruned. C orrespondingly, in 2011 the moderate autumn treatment trees had a lower crop. Thirty per cent of their canopy, together with fruit, had been pruned. N o difference was observed in the light pruned trees.

Pruning trial report ... continued B y the harvest of 2012, the autumn treatment trees had been pruned twice and the spring treatment trees once. C onsidering the aim of the experiment is to reduce the crop of ‘ on- year’ to increase the crop of an ‘ off- year’ , even if the trees were pruned a second time after the first harvest, a higher crop was expected from these trees in 2012 compared to the control trees. In 2012, the yield of the moderate pruned trees was lower than the control trees, but the light pruned trees had a similar crop to the control trees. To date the differences between treatments have not been significant, and it is likely that any conclusions as to the benefits of adopting these pruning strategies in the mitigation of irregular bearing may only be realised in the mid- long term.

able, measures and records monthly rainfall and records the frequency 25 and duration of irrigation. A set 20 of tensiometers has been placed 15 2011 under the same control tree at each 2012 10 participating orchard and data is 5 recorded by the growers.

As of March 30, 2013 the pruning 0 control light moderate light moderate trial has completed two annual spring spring autumn autumn cycles of pruning with the third cycle Figure 1. Average yield across the orchard of the trial in tonnes per hectare for the seasons 2011 and 2012. The yield Figure 1.

Average yield across the orchard of the trial in tonnes per planned to commence in April 2013. averages don’ t include orchards that had no yield either in 2011 or 2012. The error bars represent the standard error, and n is larger than hectare for10.the seasons 2011 and 2012. The yield averages don’t The yield data from the trees of the The maj ority of the orchards in the trial had an ‘ on- year’ in 2011 and on an ‘ off- year’ in 2012. This include orchards had no in 2011 orin 2012.

The error general trend average of orchard alleither the orchards represented in Figure 1, with pruned can be seen in of in the thethat yield datayield of yield the represented Figure 2.

This orchard follows thetrees trials reflect to some extent industry producing less fruit than the treeserror, that had notnbeen pruned. bars represent the standard and is larger than 10. yields in 2011 and 2012 (Figure 1). general30trend of the average yield of all the orchards represented in Figure 1, with pruned trees Six of the 13 orchards had no crop Y ieldbeen b y pruned. trea tm ent a nd y ea r in producing less fruit than the trees that had not orch a rd 2 0 1 1 O N a nd 2 0 1 2 O F F in 2012 so they were not included 25 30 Y ield b y trea tm ent a nd y ea r in in the 2012 averages. These orchards orch a rd 2 0 1 1 O N a nd 2 0 1 2 O F F 20 25 suffered from a combination of frost 15 20 damage in August 2011 and low 2011 reserve levels because of the large crop 2012 10 15 2011 they were carrying.

2012 105 When comparing treatments, some 50 differences can be observed in both control light moderate light moderate years, with less fruit on trees that 0 spring spring autumn autumn control light moderate light moderate have been pruned more severely, but spring in anspring autumn Figure 2. Y ield by season and treatment orchard were 2011 was anautumn on- year and 2012 was an off- year. The error bars the differences are not statistically represent the standard error, and n is 5.

Figure 2. Y ield by season and treatment in an orchard were 2011 was an on- year and 2012 was an off- year. The error bars O Figure ne of the orchards is in the and opposite part of in theanalternate bearing cycle from thesignifi rest of cant. the Autumn treatment trees 2.

Yield by season treatment orchard were represent the standard error, and n is 5. orchards in the trial, with being a relative ‘ offyear’ and 2012 beingcycle a relative year’ O2011 ne ofwas the orchards is in2011 the 2012 opposite part ofoff-year. the alternate bearing from‘ onthehad rest (Figure of the pruned once by the time been an on-year and was an The error bars 3). In thisinorchard, difference observed between the yield of thebeing off and on year‘ on-in year’ the autumn orchards the trial,the with 2011 being a relative ‘ off- year’ and 2012 a relative (Figure fruit moderate pruned trees is smaller thannthe difference in off theand control trees.

Thisautumn is the was harvested in 2011, while represent the standard error,observed and isbetween 5.

3).

In this orchard, the difference the observed yield of the on year inthe the response that we are targeting, the next year to ‘ off- year’ and having a treatment trees had not moderate pruned treesideally is smaller than expecting the difference observed in be theancontrol trees.

This is the the spring relative higher in the autumn moderate prunedthe trees thanyear in the response that crop we are ideally targeting, expecting next to control be an ‘ trees. off- year’ and having a been pruned.

Correspondingly, in relative higher crop in the autumn moderate pruned trees than in the control trees.

30 Y ield on orch a rd 2 0 1 1 O F F a nd 2 0 1 2 O N 2011 the moderate autumn treatment 30 Y ield on orch a rd 2 0 1 1 O F F a nd 2 0 1 2 O N 25 trees had a lower crop. Thirty per 25 cent of their canopy, together with 20 20 fruit, had been pruned. No difference 15 was observed in the light pruned 15 2011 2011 2012 trees.

10 2012 10 By the harvest of 2012, the autumn 55 treatment trees had been pruned 00 twice and the spring treatment trees control light moderate light moderate control light moderate light moderate once. Considering the aim of the spring autumn autumn spring experiment is to reduce the crop Figure 3. Y ield by treatment and season in an orchard where 2011 was an off- year and 2012 was an on- year. year. The The error error bars bars Figure 3.

Yield byerror, treatment and season in an orchard where of ‘on-year’ to increase the crop of represent and represent the the standard standard error, and nn is is 5.

5.

2011 was an off-year and 2012 was an on-year. The error bars an ‘off-year’, even if the trees were The in 44 had high crop in 2011 and no no crop crop in in 2012.

2012. 2011’ 2011’ ss was was the the first first big big crop crop for for The orchard orchardthe in Figure Figure had aaerror, high crop represent standard and in n 2011 is 5. and pruned a second time after the first these trees planted in 2003. In August 2011 when they were going into an off flowering year, the A v era ge y ield a cross th e orch a rd s of th e tria l

t/h t/h a a

t/h a

t/h a

t/h a

30

these trees planted in 2003. In August 2011 when they were going into an off flowering year, the

trees were damaged by frost, loosing further flowering capacity. As a conseq uence, the flowering trees were damaged by frost, loosing further flowering capacity. As a conseq uence, the flowering intensity of these trees was very low in spring 2011, and the fruit set almost nil.

intensity of these trees was very low in spring 2011, and the fruit set almost nil.

48

harvest, a higher crop was expected from these trees in 2012 compared to the control trees. In 2012, the yield of the moderate pruned trees was lower than the control trees, but the light pruned trees had a similar crop to the control trees. To date the differences between treatments have not been significant, and it is likely that any conclusions as to the benefits of adopting these pruning strategies in the mitigation of irregular bearing may only be realised in the mid-long term.

The majority of the orchards in the trial had an ‘on-year’ in 2011 and on an ‘off-year’ in 2012. This can be seen in in the yield data of the orchard represented in Figure 2. This orchard follows the general trend of the average yield of all the orchards represented in Figure 1, with pruned trees producing less fruit than the trees that had not been pruned.

One of the orchards is in the opposite part of the alternate bearing cycle from the rest of the orchards in the trial, with 2011 being a relative ‘off-year’ and 2012 being a relative ‘on-year’ (Figure 3). In this orchard, the difference observed between the yield of the off and on year in the autumn moderate pruned trees is smaller than the difference observed in the control trees. This is the response that we are ideally targeting, expecting the next year to be an ‘off-year’ and having a relative higher crop in the autumn moderate pruned trees than in the control trees.

The orchard in Figure 4 had a high crop in 2011 and no crop in 2012. 2011’s was the first big crop for these trees planted in 2003. In August 2011 when they were going

t/h a

50 40 50 35 45 30 40 25 35 20 30 15 25 10 20 5 15 0 10

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Y ield b y trea tm ent a nd y ea r w ith h igh crop in 2 0 1 1 a nd cero crop in 2 0 1 2

45

Y ield b y trea tm ent a nd y ea r w ith h igh crop in 2 0 1 1 a nd cero crop in 2 0 1 2 2011 2012

2011 2012 control

5 0

light

moderate

light

moderate

spring

spring

autumn

autumn

control light light moderate Figure 4. Y ield by treatment and season inmoderate an orchard where 2011 was an on- year and 2012 had no crop. The erro represent the standard error, and n is 5.

spring autumn autumn Average fruit weight wasspring generally lower in 2012 than in 2011, mirroring the general trend in siz e in the N ew Z ealand industry in the last two years. In 2011 no differences are obser

Figure 4. Y ield by treatment and season in an orchard where 2011 was an on- year and 2012 had no crop. The err betweenthethe treatments. light and moderate spring pruned trees had bigger fruit represent standard andIn n is2012 5. and Figure 4. Yield byerror, treatment season in an orchard where 2011

control and autumn M oderate autumn treesinhad on average bigger fruit than the re Average fruitlight weight was trees. generally lower in 2012 than 2011, mirroring the general trend in was and 2012 haddifferences crop.

The error represent groups ofon-year trees although the not verybars large, they statisticallyare significa siz e inanthe N ewand Z ealand industry innothe lastare two years.

In 2011 noare differences obser would be expected that the pruned trees would produce larger fruit, since by pruning fruit is thi between the treatments.

Inn2012 moderate spring pruned trees had bigger fruit the standard error,weand is 5. lighttheanddifference from the have larger than thethan onethe wer control andtree, lightand autumnwould trees. Mexpect oderate autumn treestohad on been average bigger fruit observed.

This pattern and degree of differenceare in not fruitvery weight between treatments wassignifica similar groups of trees and although the differences large, they are statistically the orchards. would be expected that the pruned trees would produce larger fruit, since by pruning fruit is th

from the tree, and we would expect the difference to have been larger than the one we 300 A v eraweight ge fruit w eigh treatments t observed.

This pattern and degree of difference in fruit between was similar g 252 249 249 247 245 the orchards.

250

250 150

218

217

211

300 g 200

A v era ge fruit w eigh t

249

245 211

224

211

252

247 218

217

249 211

224

200 100

2012

150 50

2011 2012

100 0 50

2011

control

light

moderate

light

moderate

spring

spring

autumn

autumn

was large variability among orchards thus not all the orchards presented the same pattern. In 0 the pruned trees have again lower values but the differences are not statistically significant.

Figure 5. Average fruit weight by treatment and season of the fruit harvested in the trial so far. The error bars rep

control light Figure 5. Average fruitlight weightmoderate by treatment and moderate season of the 0.60 spring Picking autumn autumn costsrepresent per kilo ofthe fruit fruit harvested in thespring trial so far.

The error bars The picking cost per kilogram of fruitand was on average larger in 2011 than though there w Figure 5.0.50 Average fruit weight byistreatment season of the fruit harvested in the trial 2012, so far. The bars rep standard error, and n larger than 10. was large variability among orchards thus not all the orchards presented the same error pattern.

In NZ$/kg

the standard error, and n is larger than 10.

lower in 2011 given the trees had a larger fruit load (Figu the prunedthe trees have again values but the differences are not significant.

Although, differences arelower not statistically significant, in 2011 thestatistically trees that had been prune 0.40 the time of harvest had lower picking costs than the trees that had not been pruned, however, 0.60 cost per kilogram of fruit was on average larger in 2011 than 2012, though The picking there w Picking costs per kilo of fruit 0.30 be an expectation that the costs be lower in 2011 given the trees had a 2011 larger fruit load (Figu 0.50 Although, the differences are not statistically significant, in 2011 the trees that had been prun 2012 0.20 the time of harvest had lower picking costs than the trees that had not been pruned, however, NZ$/kg

be standard an expectation the than costs10.be the error, and that n is larger

0.40 0.10 0.30 0.00 0.20

2011 control

0.10

light

moderate

light

moderate

spring

spring

autumn

autumn

2012

Figure 6. Average picking costs in dollars per kilo of fruit by treatment and year. The error bars represent the sta error, and n is larger than 10.

0.00

The pruning costs were generally in 2011 than The same pruning contractors were control light higher moderate light 2012. moderate in both years in almost all orchards. It is possible that in 2011 pruning was more time consu spring spring autumn autumn because the pruning protocol was being implemented for the first time and in 2012 (following round of pruning) the team had the experience of two rounds of pruning and the trees beg Figure 6. Average picking costs in dollars per kilo of fruit by treatment and year. The error bars represent the sta Figure pickingascosts in dollarsof per fruittobytake shape, directing fu present with lessthan complexity the structure the kilo tree of started error, and6. n isAverage larger 10. pruning interventions makinghigher the decisions easier.

In addition, 2011 many of the were cuts The pruning costs wereand generally inrepresent 2011 than 2012.

The sameinpruning contractors treatment and year.

The error bars the standard error, made largeinbranches in 2012 of the only pruning needed was small cutstime sinceconsu the in bothonyears almost allwhile orchards.

It ismany possible thattrees in 2011 more structure had already been and n isthe larger than 10.established. because pruning protocol was being implemented for the first time and in 2012 (following round of pruning) the team had the experience of two rounds of pruning and the trees beg present with less complexity as the structure of the tree started to take shape, directing fu 10.0 pruning interventions and making the decisions easier.

In addition, in tree 2011 many of the cuts Pruning costs per made on 9.0large branches while in 2012 many of the trees only needed small cuts since the structure 8.0had already been established.

NZ$/tree

higher in 2011 than 2012. The same pruning contractors were used in both years in almost all orchards.

It is possible that in 2011 pruning was more time consuming because the pruning protocol was being implemented for the first time and in 2012 (following one round of pruning) the team had the experience of two rounds of pruning and the trees began to present with less complexity as the structure of the tree started to take shape, directing further pruning interventions and making the decisions easier. In addition, in 2011 many of the cuts were made on large branches while in 2012 many of the trees only needed small cuts since the main structure had already been established.

The trial is entering its third year of a five year programme and now displaying the effects of two years of pruning. Results are impacted by the August 2011 frost which did a lot of damage to the trees of many of the orchards in the trial. This had two effects on the trial: a) it added a large source of variability to the results, masking or totally negating the effect of pruning on some of the trees in the trial; and b) it appears to have triggered an extreme alternate bearing cycle in some orchards. The challenge over the next three years will be to determine if any of the pruning treatments are able to mitigate the alternate bearing intensity of these trees.

The next autumn pruning round will start in April this year. Pruning discussion groups are being organised at the time of pruning in some of the orchards of the trial. We encourage you to actively participate in them.

7.0

NZ$/tree

into an off flowering year, the trees were damaged by frost, loosing further flowering capacity. As a consequence, the flowering intensity of these trees was very low in spring 2011, and the fruit set almost nil.

Average fruit weight was generally lower in 2012 than in 2011, mirroring the general trend in fruit size in the New Zealand industry in the last two years. In 2011 no differences are observable between the treatments. In 2012 light and moderate spring pruned trees had bigger fruit than control and light autumn trees. Moderate autumn trees had on average bigger fruit than the rest of groups of trees and although the differences are not very large, they are statistically significant. It would be expected that the pruned trees would produce larger fruit, since by pruning fruit is thinned from the tree, and we would expect the difference to have been larger than the one we have observed. This pattern and degree of difference in fruit weight between treatments was similar in all the orchards.

The picking cost per kilogram of fruit was on average larger in 2011 than 2012, though there would be an expectation that the costs be lower in 2011 given the trees had a larger fruit load (Figure 6). Although, the differences are not statistically significant, in 2011 the trees that had been pruned by the time of harvest had lower picking costs than the trees that had not been pruned, however, there was large variability among orchards thus not all the orchards presented the same pattern. In 2012 the pruned trees have again lower values but the differences are not statistically significant.

The pruning costs were generally

6.0 10.0 5.0 9.0 4.0 8.0 3.0 7.0 2.0 6.0 1.0 5.0 0.0 4.0

3.0 2.0

Pruning costs per tree 2011 2012

2011 light

moderate

light

moderate

spring

spring

autumn

autumn

2012

1.0

Figure 7. Pruning cost in dollars per tree by treatment and season. The error bars represent the standard error, an Figure 7. Pruning cost in dollars per tree by treatment and season. larger than 0.010. light moderate light and n moderate The error bars represent the standard error, is larger than 10.

spring

spring

autumn

autumn

Figure 7. Pruning cost in dollars per tree by treatment and season. The error bars represent the standard error, an larger than 10.

49

Reading your trees A New Zealand Avocado Grower’s Guide Below are the key tree characteristics as set out in your Reading Your Trees Guide to assess from March through to May: • • • •

March to April: Summer Flush, pages 16-17 March to May and April to May: Quality of flush, pages 18-23 March to April: Roots, page 28-29 April to September: Flower buds, pages 6-8 Once your trees have been assessed, you will be ready to consider the suggested intervention strategies. At the bottom of each section in this guide there are a number of factors to consider to optimise your orchard management. You will need to determine which is the best option for your own situation – if in doubt, seek specialist advice.

Download the Reading Your Trees workbook from the industry website under Resources > and select Orchard Management Guidelines from the drop down box. This workbook complements the Reading Your Trees guide and allows you to record your assessments.

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S TA F F C O N TA C T S Jen Scoular

Midge Munro

Bart Hofstee

NZ Avocado Chief Executive Officer

Communications Manager

Research Technician

Develop and implement the industry strategy. jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

Edwina Aitchison Personal Assistant to the CEO

Administrative support to the AGA Executive and the AIC Board; Conference and meeting organisation. Administration support for new germplasm. edwinaaitchison@nzavocado.co.nz

Dr Henry Pak

Implementing the communication strategy: promotions, stakeholder events and publications, industry website development, media liaison. midgemunro@nzavocado.co.nz

Bevan Jelley

Quality systems; research & development; managing external research & development providers. henrypak@nzavocado.co.nz

Nici Kennerley Business Manager

Accounting functions and reporting of industry data. nici.kennerley@nzavocado.co.nz

Insi

de

Inside this Issue

named Nadia Lim dor as ambassa

this

Issu

Inside this issue • The Commodity Levy for avoca • Strategy to dos improve qualit GA • Roadmap to te on NZA y Upda expor ter cts cts contra Proje Levy Research Commodity l successfu referendum

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l E E E

l

Identifying issues in local market supply chain and developing strategies to add value. bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz

Assisting with current NZ Avocado research programmes. barthofstee@nzavocado.co.nz

Sheryl Wilson Grower registration; AvoGreen administration; weekly reporting; crop estimation. sherylwilson@nzavocado.co.nz

Joanne Nunn Administration Assistant

Manager Projects

Assisting with current NZ Avocado research programmes; field and laboratory work – trials and treatments; fruit quality assessments; sample collection and preparation; data entry and analysis. glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz

Reception and general administration duties. jnunn@nzavocado.co.nz

Dr Alvaro Vidiella Scientist

Managing and implementing the NZ Avocado research programme. alvaro.vidiella@nzavocado.co.nz

NZ Avocado Office : 0800 AVOCADO

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