Avoscene july 2016

Avoscene New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Journal

July 2016

Newcomers on track to maintaining orchard's success Avocentric Page 65

Inside this issue: Exploring Geographical Information Systems The value of library trays Growing strong New Zealand market sales A day in the life of the world's most popularAvoscene fruit July 2016 l 1

We’re all in this together.

Join AVOCO and experience a warm welcome.

 Grower-led  Future proofed  Delivering value AV010716

Leading AVOCO Bay of Plenty growers Hugh Moore, John Schnackenberg and Ron Bailey.

2

l

Avoscene July 2016

Contents NZ Avocado Office PO Box 13267

Comment

On the Orchard

Newsroom

Tauranga 3141 New Zealand Level 5, Harrington House 32 Harington Street

View from the Chair

4

Industry news

17

Growing the business

6

New faces

22

Going global

8

Industry matters

23

Tauranga 3110 Ph: 07 571 6147 or 0800 AVOCADO (0800 286 2236) www.nzavocado.co.nz

NZ Avocado

Outside the box

10

@NZ_Avocado

The New Zealand Market 11

NZ Avocado

Regional roundup

Recommended reading 25 Avocado news from the world

26

13

Pest and disease watch: Avocado scab 29 Exploring Geographic Information Systems

30

What to be thinking about on your orchard - winter woes

32

Technical working group update

34

@nz_avocado

Avocado tree water use 36 Directors Bay of Plenty Ashby Whitehead NZAGA & AIC Chair Ph 07 573 6680 m. 027 283 2192 alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz Dave Flett m. 027 555 4420 dave.flett@yahoo.co.nz

The value of library trays

41

Far North Ian Fulton Ph 09 406 8808 ian.fulton@clear.net.nz At Large Roger Barber Ph 09 435 0785 m. 021 488 124 barbers@ihug.co.nz

Markets

Growing strong New Zealand market sales 44

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: Suzy King at Sun Media Ltd Phone 021 769 831 email suzy@thesun.co.nz Design and production: Kym Johnson, Sun Media Ltd email kym@thesun.co.nz For subscriptions contact: Jay Bent email jay.bent@nzavocado.co.nz

Man plus machine - the future of orcharding 51

Recipe 69

Checking in with Gisborne 53 Food Act 2014 impacts for new avocado growers 55

Avocentric - Newcomers enjoying orcharding 65

Rest of NZ

Avoscene Advertising & Editorial

Avocados are the perfect pregnancy food, according to science 68

Out and About

Out and about

70

A day in the life of the world's most popular fruit 62

Tony Ponder NZAGA Vice Chair Ph 07 552 4223 m. 0274 733 712 tony@flaxmillavocado.co.nz

Export Directors Andrew Darling Annmarie Lee

47

Industry catches AvoGreen bug

Increasing values make fruit even more tempting for criminals 59

John Cotterell Ph 07 549 3395 m. 0274 513 138 jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz

David French Ph 09 238 3359 m. 0274 375 315 famille@ps.gen.nz

Nourish

Reports

Post Harvet

NZ Avocado Staff

Cover Shot: Peter and Kathy Hareb. Avocentric, page 65.

Jen Scoular, CEO

Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager

Midge Munro, Communications Manager

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 741 014

glenys.parton@nzavocdo.co.nz | 0274 99 70 81

midge.munro@nzavocado.co.nz | 027 306 7089

Edwina Aitchison, Executive Assistant

Marisa Till, R&D Manager

Bevan Jelley, Market Manager

edwina.aitchison@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 977 890

marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 344 559

bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 994 097

Brad Siebert Biosecurity & Programme Manager

Phillip West, R&D Officer

Jodi Senior, Communications Assistant

phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 706 504

jodi.senior@nzavocado.co.nz

Danni van der Heijden, Research Associate

Cameron Wallace, Research Analyst

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 804 847

Jay Bent, Business Manager jay.bent@nzavocado.co.nz | 027 465 8886

Tyler Keenleyside, Industry Analyst

danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz 022 062 0602

cameron.wallace@nzavocado.co.nz

Joanne Nunn, Administration Assistant jo.nunn@nzavocado.co.nz

tyler.keenleyside@nzavocado.co.nz

Avocado Industry Council Ltd has made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided in this publication. However, the information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. New Zealand Avocado does not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this publication or documents or other websites linked to. New Zealand Avocado assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such information. Your use of information contained in this publication and documents or other websites linked to is at your own risk, and you should seek further advice prior to making decisions based on the information contained herein.

Avoscene July 2016

l

3

Comment

View from the Chair

By Ashby Whitehead, Chair, NZAGA & AIC

alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz

It is an exciting season ahead with the prospect of a large volume, integral market development and the changing of governance within the NZAGA and AIC Board as an industry we are heading in the right direction and will continue to do so as long as we continue to work collaboratively.

I recently had a great conversation with a grower

about the “founders” of our industry – those folk from yesteryear who started the industry off, setting us up as a cottage industry.

They must be very pleased to see where their cottage industry has got to today, and we should tip our hats in thanks to them for the efforts they made 20-30 years ago.

We are keen to record the industry history, so if you have information and would like to contribute, please let us know.

The Board is proud to be reporting a very strong result across the industry again for the 2015-16 season. Volumes were down 40%, yet overall value was only down 10%.

You will all have had great reports from your exporter about the Australia market in particular, where prices and returns broke records. The Asian markets have also performed very well for New Zealand avocados from this year.

I congratulate those exporters who continued to supply Asian markets, when the pull by the high values being obtained in Australia was very strong. As an industry it is very important we recognise that the window for New Zealand avocados in Australia is under significant pressure with growing production out of Western Australia.

I have heard anecdotally that 50% of trees planted in Western Australia are less than five years old, indicating the potential for a huge increase in production into the supply window for New Zealand fruit. Growers do wear the cost of market development, and I can only suggest that as growers, you wear the cost now to secure a more sustainable future going forward.

My congratulations to those working in the New Zealand market. The value of $41m achieved in the domestic market represents an increase of 32% over the previous year, on the back of a 40% decrease in volume. Quite a remarkable result.

The industry has focussed strongly on what had been real challenges in the supply chain – a lack of forecasting, a

4

l

Avoscene July 2016

Comment

lack of education at trade and retail level, and a lack of engagement across marketers. It has taken commitment and resource right across the industry to achieve this excellent result, and I pass thanks to New Zealand marketers, to retailers, to food writers, to our promotion agencies, to consumers, and to the NZ Avocado team – all of whom have supported that wonderful trend – increasing demand for our amazing and versatile avocado.

I have been pushing the message that we need strong governance for our industry and I am very happy to see some good nominations coming in for Board positions.

It is so important that we have a strong Board to help move the industry in the right direction. We are in a period of real growth, with lots of opportunity and potential, and it requires oversight and governance to get that right.

Growers, can I urge you please to take the time to read about each of the candidates and to cast your vote. It is your industry and the growers standing for election will represent you on the Board. Thank you to all of those who

have put their names in the hat – good luck in the upcoming election.

You may have read recently of the change in the exporters within the Avanza model. From my perspective, Just Avocados decision to exit Avanza is a commercial business decision with their growers’ best interests at heart.

The collaborative nature of Avanza is great for the industry and, I believe, has strongly influenced the collaboration and positive environment we see across the whole industry.

What I explained recently to the media is that our industry is in a significant growth mode and with existing and new commercial parties growing their own businesses, I am sure we will see new and different collaborations and partnerships happening in the future.

It is so important that we work together as one industry.

That’s certainly been a big part of the success over the past few years and will better allow further success going forward.

NZ Avocado Grower Forum and Annual General Meeting 1 September 2016

Grower Fo ru • Updates m: 10:30am - 4:00p on industry m • Worksho ps on your activity most press managem ing orchard e Growers, register now for the NZ Avocado • Outlook fo nt challenges r th e 2016-17 Grower Forum and Annual General Meeting • Lunch season and • NZ Avoca refreshments includ to be held at Club Mount Maunganui, do membe e rs free of ch d 45 Kawaka Street, Mount Maunganui. arge AGM: 4:00 pm - 5:30p m • 2015-16 year in rev ie • w 2 0 1 6-17 b See the industry website for full details on these • Voting on udget re events www.nzavocado.co.nz/industry • Afternoo mits n tea and re freshments included Registration for EACH of these events is AGM Dinn er: 6:30pm o D n inner and essential for catering, space and AGM voting beverages wards at own cost requirements. Please register with NZ Avocado

by 19 August by calling 0800 286 2236 or emailing jo.nunn@nzavocado.co.nz

Avoscene July 2016

l

5

Comment

Growing the business

By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

With fantastic industry results and orchard gate returns being reported, avocado orchard prices soaring and high demand for avocado trees, it's safe to say it's an exciting time to be part of the avocado industry.

I reiterate Ashby’s comments that it is great to be able

to report such a great result this year, and in particular brag pretty happily about the fantastic result in the New Zealand market. Well done all! It does put us on a great platform for the upcoming, big volume season.

I have said to a few people lately that when I look back to the start of previous big volume seasons, I can only recall the nervousness about how we harvest, pack and market such huge volumes. With recent success in mind, I hear only excitement about the upcoming season. It seems we are maturing as an industry, better able to be more agile and more confident of our expertise across the value chain. It’s a great feeling that confidence in being able to manage at value a crop of 7.6m trays.

As a team we are planning well and working across the industry in that planning. Midge and Bevan are working with exporters, New Zealand marketers and PR and marketing agencies to agree the promotions and market development that best supports short and long term returns from our markets. This also includes looking at what other sectors, products and countries are doing – we are always happy to borrow great ideas.

Bevan and I attended the recent Go Global conference in Auckland run by Export NZ and NZTE, a good platform for new learning and networking. I also spoke at the recent Summerfruit conference, and shared our story and learned from what they are doing on-orchard and in-market. I recently had a great catch up with HortNZ, Pipfruit NZ and Kiwifruit Growers to share ideas and better understand how we can share resource and expertise.

We’ve had the auditors in for a week, with a clean report about to be finalised. Jay has done a great job ensuring our financials are well recorded and providing good information via the Audit and Risk Committee and through to the Board.

Jay has the industry statistics and financials ready for the annual report which Jodi is managing the creation of.

6

l

Avoscene July 2016

Comment

We have been through a good process of a review of the Export Marketing Strategy and the Quality Standards.

The review of AvoGreen is underway; please keep a look out for updates on the website and through AvoConnect.

Please remember that if you would like to chat about what we are doing or what might be in the review, my phone is usually on and we do like to hear from you.

Glenys and Brad are also ensuring they are networking with other sectors in their fields of industry systems and biosecurity. Most horticultural products have similar challenges and opportunities, so sharing ideas is a great way to ensure that if we make changes, we have figured out the best solutions for us first.

News on access to China is positive, but the process remains slow. MPI visited China in May and have had good discussions on access for avocados. We are still waiting for formal notification of what a protocol might look like for avocado, and continue to provide information via MPI when requested. What is clear is that Asian markets are increasing their requirements for imported product – however, that is a good sign their systems and requirements are strengthening, that globally everyone is becoming more acutely aware that ability to certify the safety of food is absolutely essential. As growers you play a major role on orchard in ensuring high quality, safe avocados are produced for export.

From the orchard gate returns I see being reported, I’m

AIC GROWER EXPORT REGISTRATION 2016-17 SEASON

Jen Scoular with Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller at the Wellington Industry day in May.

pretty confident most of you will be feeling very happy with your avocado investment. Not surprising then to hear that orchard prices are at record levels, and waiting lists for trees are record lengths. All of which suggests we’re all part of a great industry with a very exciting future.

All growers intending to export avocados in the current season must be registered with Avocado Industry Council (AIC) as set out in the industry Export Marketing Strategy (EMS).

You can complete this registration online at the NZ Avocado website www.nzavocado.co.nz Grower export registrations completed and paid by 15 August are $150+GST. Registrations made after this date will be $300+GST Please call NZ Avocado is you have any questions about this process - 0800 AVOCADO.

Avoscene July 2016

l

7

Comment

Going global Steve Trickett, Marketing Director, Just Avocados Ltd

steve@globalfresh.co.nz

The 2015-16 season saw a low volume crop with markedly high returns – something we can be proud of as an industry. We are working together and ensuring we deliver premium quality avocados to the ‘insatiable global demand’.

R

ecently, on behalf of AVEC, I was invited to deliver a presentation titled ‘Insatiable global demand’ to an audience of senior Government officials and managers attending the NZ Avocado Industry Day in Wellington.

With a record industry crop looming, potentially twice that of this past season, getting the market mix right will be essential to ensure another satisfying orchard gate return (OGR) for growers.

Fresh off the back of the industry delivering a $130+ million value contribution despite a ‘short crop’, and given the title of the presentation, observers might easily have formed a view that selling avocados has become a cake walk. Make no mistake, it ain’t.

We can’t rest easy in the knowledge Australian production will be considerably down. As an industry we still need to plan, commit to and deliver a sizeable chunk of crop into Asian markets as well.

Sure, globally the category continues to grow in demand and consumption across a wider market base, but the positive outcomes are largely a function of exporters successfully juggling the many variables that sit behind such a result.

The market environment in which we operate is generally positive and the product itself an emerging ‘superfruit’, but without considered customer planning and strong discipline applied to both product flow and sales pricing, the financial outcomes could be equally underwhelming.

8

l

Avoscene July 2016

The current consolidated exporter flow plan indicates 4.3 million trays heading to Australia with just over 900,000 trays planned for Japan, Asia and the sub-continent.

In our previous record season, which was 500,000 export trays less than is forecast for the upcoming 2016-17 harvest, Australia took 3.2 million. The ‘rest of world’ markets received just under 1.3 million trays, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that Avanza to its full credit, strategically steered around 600,000 trays to the USA market, creating a sustainable market for all in Australia.

Comment

There is no ‘USA plan’ this season. This in part reflects confidence that the space left in Australia for New Zealand due to crop shortages does present an opportunity for us all to sell more there. It does however reinforce the imperative for exporters to not only ‘stick to the plan’ but also to have a contingency plan.

countries now supplying that vast market. But even this opportunity brings with it a corresponding challenge to be addressed - yet another Asian market used to a smaller piece of fruit. Our job collectively will be to change that expectation, to create our own niche for premium, larger avocados from New Zealand.

The exporter flow plan looks sensible and deliverable with a good spread of markets being in play. It will be equally vital for growers to do their bit in using a spray programme that provides exporters multi-market suitability, so that any contingency plan needed can be put into effect.

Finally, growers rightfully hold exporters accountable for their success or otherwise in delivering an acceptable return each season. I would also challenge growers to give due consideration to the efforts of their chosen exporter when it comes to market development outside Australia.

Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand will feature as the key volume markets this season, with emerging markets India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Pacific also cast to play a part in finding equilibrium with Australia.

While we have all celebrated record returns from this season just completed, let’s not lose sight of the challenges laying ahead, particularly in ensuring we do not overload and stall the Australian market at the time of our peak supply.

A collective exporter commitment to disciplined planning, fruit flow and allocation of volume to ‘rest of world’ markets will be critical this season.

Looking longer term, access to China is perhaps the greatest prize and opportunity in potential new market development terms, given it’s large population with emerging wealth offering rapid volume growth, as evidenced by other

“Going Global” should mean just that.

Top solutions for Phytophthora control What’s your preference?

Revolutionary capsule formulation

• • • • •

Sustained release of active ingredients to roots 60% more labour efficient*, cost effective, quick and easy No preparation of materials and mixing of chemicals No maintenance of injection equipment No return visit to trees

Market leading StemShot AV-1 with Stemgun or syringe application combinations

•

Delivers treatment quickly and assists with rapid movement of active ingredient into the root system where its needed

• •

Easy and simple to use StemShot AV-1 is compatible with syringe treatments

* based on the time required to mix, fill and retrieve syringes on the same size tree.

0800 774 629 www.omnia.net.nz

N U T R I O L O G Y *

*the science of growing

StemCap PC-1 is registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No. P8696. StemShot AV-1 is registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No. P7450

Avoscene July 2016

l

9

Comment

Outside the box Daniel Birnie, Avocado Manager, Trevelyan’s

daniel@trevelyan.co.nz

The upcoming predicted large volume season is an exciting prospect the entire industry can look forward to. However, it is important that processes for fruit maturity are followed to ensure that each consumers New Zealand avocado experience is a great one.

Well here we are again at the beginning of new avocado

season. For some of us we are still packing old season fruit!

It is truly a 12-month season now.

The past year has seen great returns out of the market.

Average yield/ha for growers supplying Trevelyan’s was 10,081 kg/ha. Based on these numbers, the average OGR will be around $47,000 per ha.

With the crop estimate coming in at around 7 million trays, there will be pressure on some of the logistics, mainly around the harvest side. There will need to be good communication between grower, harvester, packer and exporter to ensure fruit gets harvested in a timely manner to meet flow plans and market demand.

Before export even starts, it will be interesting to see how the local market performs. With extremely high values in the domestic market through the late autumn and winter (trays have been selling for more than $100), growers will be eager to pick.

10

l

Avoscene July 2016

NZ Avocado is once again pay for all maturity tests that are collected and tested by AgFirst and have an average dry matter content of at least 23%. The amount of fruit collected and tested has been increased from 10 fruit to 20, which makes a lot of sense as now any test that passes at over 24% can be eligible for export as well.

To maintain a level of quality in the local market, all growers should follow the process above. As a grower you should ask your packer what they require for an early season pass.

Unfortunately the returns may be too enticing for some and they may circumvent the process. If you see fruit or hear of fruit that has been picked without the required dry matter pass, then we urge you to call NZ Avocado and they will follow up on it.

In summary, we look forward to a very busy season and on behalf of all packers we wish you all the best for a successful harvest.

Mike Swan, Domestic Sales and Marketing, Southern Produce Limited

Comment

The New Zealand Market mike@southernproduce.co.nz

The strong results we have seen published for the 2015-16 season are some of the best ever.

Record prices, returns and revenue are clear indicators the New Zealand avocado industry is in great shape.

Any complacency as we start what is likely to be New

Zealand’s biggest avocado season yet could undo much of what we have achieved. We need to do all that we can to maintain the momentum the industry has at present.

Research indicates that even in a large volume season, household penetration of avocados in New Zealand is still below 70%, meaning there is plenty of potential to grow the category.

At the time of writing, there have been several Agfirst clearances of new season fruit - and so it seems that ready or not, the start is upon us. It is critical we all support the New Zealand market maturity guidelines on independent testing for maturity, and the industry needs to be congratulated on its initiative to enable independent maturity testing at no cost to growers if their fruit meets the requirements of the New Zealand market guidelines.

This process ensures that fruit will ripen and offer an acceptable eating experience. A produce industry colleague once quoted that a poor eating experience can prevent

a repeat buy for up to seven weeks. We all know a great avocado experience will see it all consumed in one sitting, often prompting a repeat buy within a day or two.

It is so critical that those regular consumers who have been deprived of avocados lately, for reasons of availability or price, enjoy their first new season avocado.

In its broadest sense, the avocado industry extends past its 1350 growers to around 2000 personnel who I would regard as being “associated” or “in the loop”. This group in itself is a great asset, and I encourage you all to take a keener interest in your industry. Two thousand sets of eyes on the orchards, roadsides, supermarkets and shops are a great monitoring tool. So be vigilant and report anything untoward. Immature or over-ripe fruit, people squeezing or mistreating fruit, and (especially now) stealing from orchards, are all elements that devalue our industry. Take the time to report to the appropriate person and the message will eventually prevail that the avocado industry is passionate, professional, and has strength in numbers.

Avoscene July 2016

l

11

LOOKING OUT FOR

OUR GROWERS, WITH A TIGHTER FOCUS Talk to our team about the changes being made by Just Avocados to optimise the pool and deliver better “total orchard value.”

Call us on (07) 549 3027 Email us today at jarrod@justavocados.co.nz www.justavocados.co.nz

12

l

Avoscene July 2016

Regional Roundup Comment

News and views from your NZAGA Regional Representatives

Roger Barber - Mid North

barbers@ihug.co.nz

27/05/16

Mid to late May heralded an abrupt end to what has been an excellent growing season, with a marked drop in temperature as the wind and rain set in. The long growing season has left the trees in good condition, with what nationally appears to be a record crop of large high quality fruit.

However, with the onset of winter in late May, came the first of the winter storms.

The Mid North region escaped the worst effects of the storm, which was mainly felt further south.

Damage was limited to some minor tree damage and a small quantity of fruit on the ground.

The Far North district was not so lucky. Heavy tree damage was reported on some orchards located mainly between Turk Valley and Hukatere, with one grower losing more than 40 field bins of fruit on the ground. Tree damage was heavy in more exposed areas, with young trees (mainly clonal) being dislodged. This highlights the importance of securely staking young trees, especially clonals, as these have a fragile root system which is easily damaged.

The worst affected areas tended to be located adjacent to where forest trees have been removed in harvesting the Aupouri Forest which lined the West Coast. The forest was obviously a valuable

Dave Flett- Bay of Plenty

first line of defence against prevailing south westerly winds. This highlights the importance of supplementary shelter for avocado orchards, and the difficulties and limitations of growing a tropical or subtropical tree in a temperate climate.

Shelter provides two main functions. Effective shelter provides a warm microclimate where higher temperatures translate into strong tree structure, heavier fruit set and better fruit quality.

Shelter also provides protection from debilitating winds. It filters the cold persistent south westerly winds and ameliorates physical damage, especially from the cyclonic northerly winds which punctuate our climate in spring and early summer.

These climatic limitations are something we have to live with; inherent with growing avocados in an insular environment. Much of the new orchard development in the north is close to the more exposed West Coast. An example is the Tapora Peninsula in the Kaipara Harbour. The success of these new plantings will largely depend on the adequacy of supplementary shelter, which needs to be developed well ahead of the tree planting operation.

dave.flett@yahoo.co.nz

30/05/16

Well, here we are on the eve of winter, and by the feel of today’s temperature and the recent snow falls down south, it is arriving right on cue.

I think it is important not only for our orchards, but for us that we have a reasonable winter to balance things out after our crazy autumn (or as I called it, an extended Indian summer). After hearing from those in the kiwifruit industry about how disruptive the weather made their picking season, throwing everything out of kilter, I hope our industry doesn’t suffer any side effects.

So far it has appeared to be mostly good news, with the regular rain falls and warm temperatures

helping those orchards that don’t have irrigation and are carrying large crops. While we may have had to put up with an extended season of thrip, increases to our fertiliser applications and having to mow more often, I think most trees are looking very good and hopefully are set up to harvest a large crop and carry into next season without too much stress.

My role as an NZAGA Bay of Plenty Grower Representative has been in full flight since my last update in the March issue of Avoscene - I have attended no less than seven field days and industry updates, travelling as far and wide as Whangarei

Avoscene July 2016

l

13

Comment

and Opotiki.

smaller group environment.

I really enjoy this role, as I get to meet and talk with so many growers and see the different ways they maintain their orchards. The events that are organised by NZ Avocado and/or packhouses always have an agenda that is informative and relevant. Judging by the large attendances, I am sure those who attend must, like me, all learn something from the presentations or discussions that take place while walking around the orchards.

While the first one will have gone (6 July) when you read this, I will facilitate them regularly throughout the Bay of Plenty region as long as they are seen to be of value to those who attend.

I will ask NZ Avocado to notify you all in a timely manner of the date and venue.

As mentioned in my previous report, I am organising on-orchard discussion groups to add another option to those who like to walk around orchards and discuss the many different aspects and ways we all run our orchards. I have been approached by many who are fairly new (like me, now in my fifth season) to the industry, who are on a steep learning curve and want to see different orchards to gain ideas and knowledge from those who have so much experience and are willing to share it with other growers. These are designed to be a more informal meeting forum and a chance to ask more general questions amongst ourselves in a

John Cotterell - At Large

The other topic I am hotly pursuing is orchard security. While it is a perennial issue that there are fruit thefts this time of the year, it has probably been exacerbated this year by the exceptional prices avocados have been selling for lately. I am about to conduct a trial on my orchard of the latest in “on-orchard security” and the phone app to manage it. I will keep you all updated and if it delivers as promised, I will endeavour to hold a demonstration of its use in the near future.

In the meantime at least keep your gate closed at night, put up security surveillance signs and keep a watchful eye on those cruising the area.

I hope to meet as many of you as possible at an upcoming field day soon.

jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz

06/06/2016

The first week of winter is finally here, along with the first frosts in the Tauranga area this week too; the summer in the Bay of Plenty seemed to go on and on forever, and we almost missed out on autumn! The weather over Queen’s Birthday weekend was beautiful, with cool nights and clear calm sunny days.

This time of the year is quieter in most avocado orchards with not so many time-sensitive jobs to be completed – it’s a time to catch up on jobs that were set aside because of all the mowing and weed spraying that had to be done last summer.

Fruit size seems to be very good in most orchards, although some do have quite a range in fruit sizes.

14

l

Avoscene July 2016

Planning is well underway for the next export season. The early part of this season will need to be flow planned really well to extract the maximum returns for all growers.

Early estimates suggest we are heading into a record volume for export and therefore the New Zealand market will see some relief to the high pricing. The media can't seem to get their heads around the fact that avocados are seasonal!

Fruit can be hung late on trees but it is a minority of growers that do this, as most fruit is picked to be exported before the end of February. Growers will tell you that it is very hard to consistently produce crops when hanging fruit very late into the season every year.

The New Zealand market is about to see the first of the new season fruit. NZ Avocado has agreed to continue to pay for early season dry matter tests that are independently picked and tested for the New Zealand market by AgFirst and meet best practise maturity requirements

From now on be very careful with your spray selection because of spray withholding periods. If you are not sure of which spray to use, please talk to your packhouse representative, as they are most likely to know when you are scheduled to pick and can recommend the best product to use.

All exporters have finalised their export returns, which were at record highs. The returns from the New Zealand market were also at record highs.

It is really great to see a good number of growers putting their names forward for the chance of being elected as a Board member.

ASK FOR A DEMONSTRATION OF NZ's FAVOURITE AVOCADO ORCHARD PTO CHIPPERS

2 0 1 6

PAYMENTS OVER

2 YEARS

*

0% INTEREST

OVER 2 YEARS

$

1,000

DEPOSIT

6 MONTHS NO REPAYMENTS

5" and 9" ex‑demonstration models available

*Subject to Finance approval

CALL BEN

WWW.BEARCAT.CO.NZ

021 427 554 or 0508 36 77 83

We’re growing, so that you can too 33

Coolstores

5

Packhouses

Call 07 573 0085 for more information

www.trevelyan.co.nz

Avoscene July 2016

l

15

16

l

Avoscene July 2016

Industry News New Zealand avocados break record for New Zealand sales at $41 million

Jen Scoular, Chief Executive of NZ Avocado, recently announced impressive end-of-season results of $134 million in industry value from export and New Zealand market sales.

Strong global demand also delivered outstanding returns from the Australian market and strong returns from the Asian export markets.

Scoular says the value returned to the industry is an exceptional achievement almost matching the $135m posted for the 2014-15 season despite a much lower crop. But it was the $41m value of the New Zealand market that broke records.

“Five years ago the New Zealand market achieved between $15million and $20million annually, without ever getting much above that. This year’s return of $41million is 25 percent above last year’s return of $31.8million and shows year on year growth of 17 percent since 2011,” she says.

will start in New Zealand in late June with what is predicted to be a bumper crop,” says Scoular.

Newsroom

New Zealand’s love affair with avocados has produced record-breaking domestic sales of $41 million during the 2015-16 season.

The industry has added significant resource to the New Zealand market through the Primary Growth Partnership programme ‘NZ Avocado Go Global’, working alongside marketers and retailers to provide supply chain education and consumer education through PR and social media. Efforts by the industry are raising the visibility of the amazing health benefits and versatility of this New Zealand-grown fruit.

Andrew Darling, Chair of the Exporter Council, says the Australian market performed very strongly, with increased demand for the healthy avocado. He stressed the importance of strong relationships across the industry in New Zealand as well as with partners in export markets.

Ashby Whitehead, Chair of NZ Avocado, says growers will be very happy this season.

“The industry has worked very well across the supply chain to deliver an New Zealand supermarket in-store tasting. exceptional result in a moderate volume year. Grower returns are very good this year. As growers we Scoular credits strong collaboration across the industry, are very happy with the success of our industry,” Whitehead good communication, information sharing and jointly says. implemented promotional activities.

“In New Zealand, demand is growing at a phenomenal rate and we are seeing the emergence of diehard avocado lovers.

Avocados are becoming a highly valued fruit due to their amazing health benefits,” says Scoular.

Avocado production has irregular swings in volume. This year 4.2m trays were sold, versus 7 million trays sold the year before. Of the 4.2m trays, 2.6m trays were exported, 1.2m trays were sold as fresh in New Zealand and 380,000 trays were processed into avocado oil and other products.

“The great news for consumers is that the 2016-17 season

Consumers in New Zealand can look forward to a much greater supply of avocados when the 2016-17 export season begins in August. The first crop estimate for the new season is 7.6m trays – nearly double the volume available last season.

“Our avocado industry is well on track to become a significant export earner and contributor to New Zealand’s economy,” Scoular says.

“As an industry we are looking forward to breaking more records when the new export season starts in August.”

Avoscene July 2016

l

17

GIA partnership welcomes agreement for fruit flies

Newsroom

Steps to reduce the potentially devastating impact of a fruit fly incursion have been taken in Wellington by Government and a number of horticulture industry groups.

GIA Secretariat Manager, Steve Rich, commended both Government and the horticulture groups on the signing of the operational agreement, saying it will help to ensure New Zealand is kept free from fruit flies.

“This is a significant milestone – it is the first time industry and Government have come together in this way to manage a shared biosecurity threat. It is also the first operational agreement under the Government Industry Agreement (GIA),” said Mr Rich.

“Under GIA, operational agreements provide the detailed contractual arrangements of how industry and government will work together to deliver better biosecurity outcomes.”

“This agreement provides a prime example of how biosecurity will come to be managed in New Zealand. It will see signatories working together to reduce the impacts from fruit fly by agreeing readiness and response activities, associated decision rights and cost-sharing arrangements, between all parties,” said Mr Rich.

Signatories to the agreement are Pipfruit NZ, Kiwifruit Vine Health, New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association Inc., New Zealand Citrus Growers’ Inc. and the Ministry for Primary Industries. It is expected that other industry groups impacted by fruit fly will also sign the operational agreement once they have joined the GIA partnership.

From left: David Teulon (B3), Jen Scoular (NZ Avocado), Martyn Dunne (MPI), Alan Pollard (PipfruitNZ), Hon Nathan Guy, Barry O'Neil (KVH), Philip Manson (NZ Winegrowers), Rebecca Fisher (NZ Citrus Growers), and Andrew Coleman (MPI) signing the Government Industry Agreement for readiness and response to a fruit fly incursion.

The agreement was signed by the parties at the B3 – Better Border Biosecurity Conference and was attended by the Minister for Primary Industries, Hon Nathan Guy. Other attendees included representatives from industry groups, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the GIA Secretariat.

For more information, images or to view a copy of the operational agreement summary, visit www.gia.org.nz About the Government Industry Agreement (GIA)

GIA operates as a partnership between industry groups and Government to manage pests and diseases that could badly damage New Zealand's primary industries, our economy, and our environment. It aims to improve biosecurity outcomes and give everyone the confidence that the best decisions are being made to manage and mitigate biosecurity risks.

Changes to the Quality Standards Recent changes to the Quality Standards include the requirement for all packhouses packing avocados for export to operate a commissioned waterblaster as part of packing.

This will be effective for the season beginning 1 June 2017.

18

l

Avoscene July 2016

NZ Avocado field day wrap-ups

By Marisa Till, R&D Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

Newsroom

Far North Field day

Opotiki Field day

In late April NZ Avocado held a field day at Far North Avocados orchard near Houhora owned by Ross Mutton and Lesley Skill. The field day was followed that evening by a NZ Avocado Roadshow at the Houhora Big Game & Sports Fishing Club.

On a stunning May day the NZ Avocado team travelled to Opotiki to hold a field day at Carinya Orchard, owned by Karen Cater and managed by Maurice Ellis. There was a great turnout of both local growers and industry people from further afield. The morning started with Jen Scoular giving an overview of NZ Avocado and how the industry has tracked this past season, followed by a chance for people to quicky introduce themselves.

Although not an overly great day weather-wise, a good crowd of growers ventured out to tour the orchard and discuss some of the PGP working group research that is being conducted by NZ Avocado and growers from around the country.

Ross and Lesley have been actively involved in the tree decline working group facilitated through NZ Avocado’s PGP programme. The Far North tree decline working group has worked hard to establish which factors contribute to members’ own experience of tree decline.

Some of their top picks include soil moisture – too little and too much, phytophthora infection and root asphyxiation. These factors were all discussed during the field day, with Phillip West from NZ Avocado giving a good description of soil structure, its ability to hold water and the outcomes of both too much water and too little. A number of the remedial measures that Ross and Lesley have taken to manage these problems were outlined.

The field day ended with a tour through Ross and Lesley’s new cultivar block, with Ross giving a rundown of his experiences with both Maluma and Carmen scions since they were planted in 2011.

Carinya Orchard consists of just over 13 hectares of avocado trees. Maurice Ellis gave us valuable insight into the running of the orchard, generously discussing any aspects of orchard management that arose. As the group walked around the various blocks, Phillip West from NZ Avocado discussed the canopy management working group’s progress on pruning strategies. He discussed with Maurice the pruning regime that is implemented at Carinya Orchard and how successful they have found that. There was an active discussion among the group around various orchard management practices, with productive input from leading industry professionals.

The day finished with Danni van der Heijden providing a run-down of the clonal rootstocks that are available (again with plenty of discussion) including an update from Riversun about wait times on clonal rootstocks. Lunch was provided, giving time for people to chat one-on-one.

We would like to say a big thank you to our excellent hosts for having us and also to all of the growers who made it to either of these field days. Please visit the NZ Avocado website if you would like a copy of the handouts and key messages from these field days.

Avoscene July 2016

l

19

Trevelyan’s & BayFarms’ new avocado box turns into gold Bay of Plenty avocados will now be packed into gold medalwinning boxes after a collaboration between local businesses resulted in a prestigious ‘Pride In Print’ award.

Trevelyan’s Pack and Cool Ltd developed a new box this year for packing avocados at its Te Puke headquarters under the BayFarms brand, for supply to fruit and vegetable retailers and wholesalers around New Zealand.

The eye-catching box, designed by Tauranga agency King St, has just been named a gold medal winner at the print industry’s annual national awards in the packaging category.

The entry was submitted by printer Oji Fibre Solutions.

Trevelyan’s avocado manager, Daniel Birnie, says BayFarms is a well-established grower-owned company known for its high-quality fruit and consistent supply.

“We pack avocados 12 months of the year for them but we were using blank, standard industry boxes. We saw a great opportunity to increase BayFarms’ brand awareness and create something that would really stand out from our competitors.

“Together with King St we came up with BayFarms’ new ‘seal’ or stamp of approval, attached to a woven background which has an orchard feel to it. The finished packaging was excellent and we’re thrilled it’s now won a gold medal at this year’s Pride In Print Awards.”

King St group general manager Tim Paton says the aim was to design a box that felt authentic, familiar and trustworthy.

“We wanted to create that farmer’s market look and give people a sense of the fresh, high-quality fruit that is waiting inside.”

As well as avocados, similar boxes are being developed by King St for other Trevelyan’s fruit. All fruit packed under the BayFarms brand is supplied to New Zealand’s domestic market for sale in supermarkets and local fruit and vegetable stores.

Birnie says Trevelyan’s is dominating New Zealand’s autumn supply of avocados, currently packing 90 per cent of the

20

l

Avoscene July 2016

Trevelyan's Daniel Birnie and Lance Dodd with BayFarm's gold medal-winning avocado box.

total avocado industry volume, with much of the fruit coming from nearby Te Puke orchards.

“That’s a big market share, which is why we have invested in developing this new packaging, and have also installed a new packing line on site.”

Trevelyan’s has packed over 400,000 trays of avocados in the last 12 months but that is set to almost double to 700,000 trays next year as the industry prepares for a record-breaking season.

“The price of avocados is particularly high this season because supply is low and demand is higher than it’s ever been. This year has been one of the best years in the last two decades in terms of returns to growers.

“Next season is due to get underway about mid-June and consumers will have access to a lot more fruit as avocado trees have set an enormous crop. Both Trevelyan’s and BayFarms are really looking forward to a big year ahead.”

Acquisition projected to enhance Trans-Tasman trade

Newsroom

JH Leavy & Co wholesale sales floor in Brisbane markets.

Darling Group Chairman Andrew Darling and J H Leavy & Co Managing Director Peter Tighe have announced an exciting new development which sees New Zealand based Darling Group acquire the business of J H Leavy via subsidiary Global Fresh Australia Pty Ltd. The two businesses have developed a close trading relationship over the past four years, predominantly through exports of kiwifruit and avocados to JH Leavy in Brisbane, and more recently extended the partnership to include warehousing arrangements and exports of diversified products such as tomatoes and mangoes, imported citrus from the USA and kiwifruit from Italy.

In backgrounding the development, Andrew says he has long held a desire to broaden and expand the international business platform for Global Fresh to become a more significant seamlessly integrated supply company covering production, packing, logistics, warehousing, sales and distribution.

Andrew comments “JH Leavy became a logical target to help us achieve our Australasian business objectives. We recognise and respect JH Leavy as a long established and successful business operating in Queensland as well as inter-

State, with a premium range of fresh produce and leading brands. With our core activity in fruit growing, packing and marketing, plus being a family company combining family values and progressive plans, we are confident this development will sit very well with the staff, suppliers and customers of JH Leavy.”

“We see greater opportunities for suppliers and customers alike on both sides of the Tasman as we look to develop enduring relationships, building on the synergies created through a broader customer engagement, product range and stable of brands” adds Andrew.

Peter Tighe will continue on in a management capacity to assist with the ongoing business development, and it will largely be ‘business as usual’ in terms of existing Queensland activities.

Global Fresh Australia General Manager Ben Bartlett has transferred up from Melbourne to work alongside Peter in implementing combined business systems and to roll out new strategies for growth. Jacob Darling, having already been Brisbane based for Global Fresh Australia over the past 14 months, takes on the expanded role of Sales & Marketing Manager for all States.

Avoscene July 2016

l

21

New faces Duncan Lilley -

Avocado Program Manager, Freshmax

Newsroom

Freshmax NZ Ltd. is pleased to announce the appointment of Duncan Lilley as Avocado Program Manager. Duncan will work closely with the Freshmax avocado team across both the domestic and export markets, continuing the coordinated category approach already in place.

Duncan joins Freshmax after a successful career within grower owned/market based FMCG business and supermarket supply leadership roles. After several years as a greens trader for KFL and then CSL Produce, he spent three years as Account Manager Progressive/Independents for Leaderbrand Produce and more recently, General Manager at SKU Limited, a subsidiary of Poulter Group supplying high volumes of premium quality wines to supermarkets.

Duncan joined the Freshmax team on 9 May, based in the Auckland office reporting directly to Freshmax CEO Geoff Taylor, as a member of the New Zealand Freshmax Leadership Team.

Duncan Lilley

22

l

Avoscene July 2016

Industry matters Early season resources

In preparation for this NZ Avocado proactively developed a number of resources to help inform media, produce buyers, food service and consumers of the reasons for the low supply period, when to expect mature new season avocados and the tell-tale signs of stolen fruit. These were:

Newsroom

In March 2016, the New Zealand Market Group forecast very low volumes for the 2016 winter supply period and extremely high avocado retail pricing in the New Zealand market. It was anticipated that this would place more pressure than usual on retailer and consumer expectations around supply availability and pricing and could have a flowon effect on grower compliance to New Zealand market maturity guidelines during the early season avocado supply period. orchard perspective in this video. It is currently hosted on NZ Avocado's YouTube page and Facebook page. It was also used in response to media and consumer enquiries.

Winter avocado supply fact sheet created in conjunction with New Zealand Market Group. This is currently hosted on the industry website and was circulated to New Zealand marketers and produce buyers. It was also used in response to media and consumer enquiry.

Early season fruit fact sheet for retailers describes immature fruit and outlines its impact on repeat sales for retailers. It also includes information on what stolen fruit may look like. This document was circulated by New Zealand marketers and directly to fruit stores reported to be selling immature fruit. It is currently available on our website.

Video - "Where are all the avocados?" New Zealand Avocado research associate Danni van der Heijden outlines the reasons behind the low volume supply period from an

Immature fruit fact sheet for growers outlines the impacts of immature fruit on fruit sales for growers and is currently available on our website.

Early season New Zealand market dry matter maturity testing The early season New Zealand market maturity testing initiative is open for 2016 and will apply to all new season avocados collected and tested from now until 31 July 2016.

It is important that consumers who are purchasing new season avocados have a positive experience with the ripening and taste of their fruit. This initiative has been developed to make it easier for all avocado growers to assess the maturity of their fruit prior to harvest and help ensure a positive consumer experience.

An independent review of avocado maturity sample size was undertaken on behalf of the Quality Standards Review Working Group. As a result of a recommendation from this review, the maturity testing initiative in 2016 will include a sample size of 20 fruit rather than 10 as previously required.

NZ Avocado will pay the cost of Agfirst collection and testing for new season avocados to be packed for the New Zealand market that: • Are collected and tested by Agfirst, •H ave an average dry matter content across a 20 fruit sample of at least 23%, • F ruit that passes must be ethylene ripened using the AIC Ethylene Ripening Protocol, however if the 20 fruit sample averages 24% dry matter or greater, ethylene ripening is not compulsory.

To order an early season maturity test, please contact your packhouse or Agfirst.

Avoscene July 2016

l

23

Spray use reminder for Diazinon, Maldison and Acephate Newsroom

MPI Organophosphate and Carbamate Reassessment as applies to avocado.

Overview

As a result of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) reassessment of organophosphates/carbamates, MPI undertook a reassessment to consider: • Revision of labels such as revised use patterns and removal of claims, and • Acceptability of food-producing claims from a dietary intake exposure perspective.

Label changes arising from the MPI reassessment, including new use patterns and withholding periods (WHPs), were notified and effective July 2015.

Revised maximum residue limits (MRLs) have been promulgated starting in July 2016.

This notification allowed labels in the marketplace to be replaced over the coming season and reduce unintentional MRL non-compliance by users.

Revised use patterns are available on product labels approved after July 2015.

Summary of impact of changes

Diazinon (Dew 500, Dew 600, Diazol) • The EPA control has set maximum use rates, with a maximum application frequency of 2 times per crop cycle.

• Current HSNO approvals for diazinon-containing

substances will be phased out by 1 July 2028.

•O ff-label use has been prohibited by MPI. This includes following exact use pattern directions i.e. rate, timing, WHPs and target insect(s).

• The following New Zealand MRLs will be proposed in July 2016: Avocado – 0.1 mg/kg (currently 0.5 mg/kg) Maldison (Malathion, Fyfanon) •E PA controls: Maximum of 2 applications per crop cycle. For the 500g/L EC formulation, there is a maximum application rate of 4500 gai/ha.

•O ff-label use is allowed as dietary intake is unlikely to exceed the Potential Daily Exposure (food) set by the EPA in their reassessment.

• WHPs remain unchanged. See labels (post July 2015) for approved use patterns.

• I t is proposed that the existing MRL will be changed, with a proposed avocado MRL of 2 mg/kg (currently 8 mg/kg).

Any proposed MRL change will not be made until the Maximum Permissible Limits (MPL) review is completed in late 2016.

Acephate (Lancer and Orthene) • Acephate is no longer on the avocado industry approved list of chemicals for use in avocados. Use of this product is by dispensation only.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Glenys Parton on 07 571 6147 or glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz

Updated Grower Instruction Manual for the Spray Diary The spray diary Grower Instruction Manual has been updated and can be found under the information tab in your grower diary.

24

l

Avoscene July 2016

Click on the link under the information tab in your Spray Diary, a PDF copy of the instructions will open for you to either print or save on your computer.

Recommended reading

By Phillip West, R&D Officer, New Zealand Avocado

phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

Soil moisture levels are generally at their highest throughout winter, which provides the opportunity to identify problem areas.

By getting out after heavy rain events and digging a few

Newsroom

It’s not without a certain level of irony that I write this article relating to excess soil moisture. Not long ago we were concerned that a strong El Niño cycle would bring severe drought conditions.What resulted for most of our growing regions was some of the best rainfall in terms of the volume and timing that we have experienced.With that said, we must look forward to what Mother Nature will throw at us next and with winter upon us it’s a perfect time to identify areas of the orchard prone to waterlogging. Avocado trees do not tolerate poorly aerated soils with waterlogging excluding air from the soil and facilitating phytophthora infection.

holes, you can often identify problem areas of your orchard that would benefit from additional drainage. Standing, or pooled water, is the obvious sign of waterlogging but if you have subsoils that are less pervious to water than the topsoil, water can sit on this layer causing damage to roots. Line irrigation systems, the development of drainage systems, needs to take into account many technical considerations in order to be effective.

A simple description of some of the drainage options is available on Te Kura Horticulture’s website.You can find the page by doing a Google search for “drainage te kura”.

For additional information on the impact water logging can have, I recommend the paper by Raul Ferreyra titled “Root Asphyxia and Irrigation Management in Avocado Orchards”.

You can find it by searching for the title online.

Reading your trees 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.

Below are the key tree characteristics as set out in your Reading Your Trees Guide to assess at this time of year: • April to September: Flower buds, pages 6-8

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.

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

Calendar of events NZAGA & AIC Board meetings

HortNZ Conference

• 25 August

3-5 August, Nelson

• 6 October

NZAGA & AIC Annual General Meeting and Grower Forum 1 September – Mount Club, Tauranga

Avoscene July 2016

l

25

Avocado news from the world Millennial Avocado Buyers Outspend Other Households

Newsroom

The Hass Avocado Board’s Keys to the Cart: Driving Hass Avocado Sales at Retail study provides industry leaders with insights into the shopping behavior of millennial households. The study reveals how millennial shoppers (ages 25-34) are impacting the avocado category. These highvalue shoppers are more likely to buy avocados and spend more on avocados than non-millennials.

Millennials spent +73 percent more in-store overall when avocados were in the basket.

“Insight into these high-value shoppers is particularly relevant for marketing and merchandising in today’s shopper-centric environment,” explains Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board.

“Millennials have above average avocado purchasing habits, making them particularly influential drivers of avocado category growth.”

The study, based on 52-week IRI household panel data,* shows that millennial shoppers were more likely to buy avocados than non-millennials. While 56 percent of millennial households purchased

avocados, only 51 percent of non-millennials did. Millennials also spent more each time they purchased, and their avocado spend increased at a faster rate than non-millennials. Millennial baskets with avocados were +$10 higher than nonmillennial baskets with avocados.

“Millennials are concerned with food and nutrition,” suggests Escobedo. “They are spending more time on the supermarket’s periphery where meat, fresh produce, and dairy products are found.

They are spending less time in the center aisles where processed foods are dominant. It comes as no surprise that avocado consumption is increasing at a faster rate with this health-conscious consumer group.”

To learn more about how avocado purchases impact the value of the retail market basket and the millennial shoppers making the purchase, visit hassavocadoboard.com/retail to read the full report.

Source: http://www.perishablenews.com/index. php?article=0052808

Jalisco cleared for US avocado exports Mexico’s state of Jalisco has been certified to ship avocados to the US, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Total volume from Jalisco is expected to be from 100 million to 110 million pounds for the 2016-2017 season with the first shipments likely beginning in July. Jalisco will have about 6,000 hectares certified for export, according to a news release.

Until now, Michoacán has produced all Mexican avocados exported to the US – nearly 1.8 billion pounds last year – and represents more than 75% of annual consumption there.

The country’s export program is managed by APEAM AC – Mexican Avocado Producers & Packers – in partnership with US and Mexican agricultural officials.

US demand for avocados has more than doubled in the last 10 years, now exceeding 2 billion

26

l

Avoscene July 2016

pounds per year. Jalisco’s volume is expected to augment traditionally lighter months in Mexico’s overall supply and bolster ability to provide steady volumes to the US market year round. Michoacán provides supplies year-round.

“The news from USDA to expand acceptable growing regions will help to assure year-round supply of fresh avocados from multiple states in Mexico to further support future demand and category growth,” Avocados from Mexico chairman Michael Browne said in the release.

“There is decades of experience behind avocado production and packing in Jalisco, which will continue to benefit our industry partners and consumers,” APEAM chairman Antonio Villaseñor said in the release.

Mexico avocados bloom throughout the year.

Source: http://www.thepacker.com/news/jalisco-cleared-us-avocadoexports

apply gypsum now

improve soil structure, drainage & reduce compaction of in row traffic “I have observed the benefits of annual Gypsum applications over many years in a range of soil types and I will continue to recommend Gypsum in fertiliser programmes for Avocados” Lindsay Heard, Brenmark Horticultural Consultants Gypsum improves Soil Structure by adding calcium which is needed to flocculate clays in acid and alkaline soil.

Gypsum Suppresses Soil Borne Disease which are often present in anaerobic soil conditions.

Gypsum Helps Reclaim Sodic Soils by decreasing exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) for soil improvement and better crop growth. The calcium replaces the sodium in clay-binding sites which can then be leached from the soil as sodium sulphate. Without Gypsum, the soil would not be leachable.

Gypsum Decreases Swelling Clays and the cracking associated with levels of exchangeable sodium on the montmorillonite-type clays. Less swelling means less clogging of the pore spaces through which air, water and roots move.

Gypsum Prevents Crusting of Soil & Aids Seed Emergence resulting from raindrops or from sprinkler irrigation on unstable soil. Gypsum and lime can prevent crusting that forms in acid soils.

Gypsum Improves Low-Solute Irrigation Water from rivers that no longer contain leachable salts which can inhibit penetration into soil or causes soil particles to degrade. The problem can be corrected with surface applied gypsum or application to the irrigation water.

Gypsum Multiplies the Value of Other Inputs including fertilizers.

Gypsum Prevents Waterlogging of Soil where a combination of high sodium, swelling clay and excess water result in drainage issues.

Gypsum Increases Water-Use Efficiency of crops with improved water infiltration rates, hydraulic conductivity of soil and better water storage in the soil all leading to deeper rooting and better water-use efficiency. 25% –100% more water is available in gypsum treated soils than in non-treated soils, important in areas and times of drought.

Gypsum as a Fertiliser CaSO4-2H2O is a pH neutral source of readily available calcium and sulphur.

For further information call 0800 100 442 or visit www.gypsum.co.nz Avoscene July 2016

l

27

Spotted anything unusual?

Early reporting of unusual insect pests or plant symptoms helps to protect the avocado industry.

Calls to MPI’s pest and disease hotline

0800 80 99 66 are confidential and

ensure industry pests are discovered early before they spread.

28

l

Avoscene July 2016

Pest & Disease watch: Avocado scab Brad Siebert, Biosecurity and Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

Although not yet present in New Zealand, Avocado scab is a fungal disease that growers need to be wary of, as it has the potential to jeopardise market access. Read more about this disease, what to look for and the importance of early reporting to prevent the spread of these high impact pests.

On the Orchard

Avocado Scab symptoms seen on fruit and Avocado Scab symptoms seen on leaves (source: K.R. Everett, PFR)

What is Avocado scab?

Avocado scab (Sphaceloma perseae) is a fungal disease that is not present in New Zealand but exists in many continents including Africa, Asia, countries across North, Central and South America, as well as Taiwan and the Philippines.

Avocados are the only host of this fungus, which causes superficial/cosmetic damage to fruit, reducing its marketability. However, the most important impact of this exotic pathogen arriving into New Zealand would be maintaining market access to countries that also do not have this disease, such as Australia.

What should I look for?

Avocado scab results in the fruit forming areas of raised corky scab which can affect most of the fruit surface. The scattered lesions that first appear on fruit are generally brown/black and up to 3mm in diameter. These lesions spread and converge and, in combination with any new infections, produce the characteristic mosaic pattern of rough corky tissue, which is the most distinguishing feature of the disease. The infection and any damage is restricted to the fruit surface or skin and does not affect the internal flesh.

Symptoms on leaves are more difficult to find, as visible infections are mostly in the upper parts of the canopy.Young leaves can also become distorted and stunted with reddish lesions appearing on both the upper and lower surface. As the disease progresses, small holes may start to appear in the centre of these leaf lesions.

Avocado scab symptoms can be confused with physical damage such as wind rub, so seeing any of these symptoms

on single or un-touching fruit needs further investigation.

When should I look?

Fruit are most susceptible to infection immediately after fruit set and during the early stages of fruit development, yet become resistant to infection at around half size. Likewise leaves also become resistant to infection when they are about one month old.

Cool, moist conditions support infection, so symptoms and spread will be most severe when there are long periods of rain when the tree is flushing or during the initial stages of fruit set.

How is it spread and controlled?

Avocado scab is spread by the dispersal of spores that are produced during the early stages of infection on fruit, leaves and twigs. These spores are easily spread within the orchard by wind and rain and through the movement of contaminated orchard tools/equipment. The movement of infected fruit and plant material would quickly spread the pathogen over long distances to new regions.

The standard method of control in those countries that have avocado scab is the use of copper fungicides at key infection periods during the season.

Who can I call?

Any unusual plant symptoms or plant pests you have noticed on your orchard can be reported in confidence to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) on phone 0800 80 99 66 info@mpi.govt.nz or by contacting NZ avocado 07 571 6147.

Avoscene July 2016

l

29

Exploring Geographic Information Systems Danni van der Heijden, R&D Associate, NZ Avocado

danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz

On the Orchard

As technology advances, more tools become available that we can utilise in order to move our industry forward. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is one of these technologies.

Figure 1: GIS map showing orchard shapefiles in the Far North, New Zealand.

GIS is a system which allows us to observe large datasets

on a map in order to look at patterns or trends affecting spatially attributed data. It can also be used to manipulate and analyse these data in order to increase our understanding of the data and interactions between datasets.

NZ Avocado has recently started to explore GIS and discover the value that it can add to the industry, particularly in the areas of biosecurity and research.

an incursion we are able to quickly obtain lists of PPINs and organisations around the incursion zone (Figure 2). We can then use our database to bring up contact details for the individuals associated and contact them in a timely manner.

GIS will speed up our response during any biosecurity incidents which occur, and will be valuable in containing the threat as quickly as possible to minimise the impact and expense.

Mapping

To begin with, we created GIS shapefiles of 1372 orchards (98.6% of the 1392 orchards registered). Each shapefile is associated to a unique identifier; for orchards we have used PPINs (Figure 1). We have also mapped the locations of avocado organisations that we are aware of, including packhouses, nurseries and processing facilities.

Biosecurity Applications

One application for which GIS mapping is extremely useful is during a biosecurity incursion. As we now have spatial data associated with orchards and avocado organisations, during

30

l

Avoscene July 2016

Figure 2: GIS Map showing orchard shapefiles (blue), the location of a biosecurity incident (star) and zones created around the incident in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

Research Applications

Future Uses

In the future, the industry will be able to use GIS in conjunction with other technology, such as drones and imaging software, for applications including crop estimation, crop flow and maturity monitoring. Growers will likely

Figure 3: GIS map showing tree attributes yield (circle colour where dark blue is the highest yield), canopy surface area (circle size) and treatment (central cross colour) in an orchard in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

On the Orchard

GIS mapping is also an extremely valuable tool for research.

NZ Avocado has been using GIS for specific projects during the last two years to better understand trends; for example, to determine if tree location impacted tree yields in a pruning trial (Figure 3). However, having shape files for all orchards provides us with valuable information we can incorporate with our current orchard-specific data. Some examples of how we can use GIS for research include: • Observing regional trends in order to help identify triggers for these trends.

• Identifying outliers of regional trends to determine factors which may cause orchards to diverge from the regional trends.

• Considering topographical data (such as aspect and elevation) in our trial work.

• Selecting orchards for trial work which meet specific geographical parameters.

• Tracking orchard and/or regional trends over time in order to understand the factors that are contributing to them.

• Analysing differences between orchards located in close proximity to identify factors which may be contributing to any differences.

Figure 4: GIS Map showing orchard shapefiles coloured using random attributes in Whangarei, New Zealand.

be able to use GIS on their own orchards to monitor tree attributes including tree health, nutrition, flowering and crop loads allowing them to identify changing trends that are currently difficult and time-consuming to assess accurately.

Avoscene July 2016

l

31

What to be thinking about on your orchard - winter woes Marisa Till, R&D Manager, NZ Avocado

marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

As we move through winter into spring, it is important to consider not only the fruit you are waiting to harvest but the flowering wood that is going to set the next crop and making sure the trees are primed for the flush just around the corner.

Many growers are seeing a particularly large crop hanging

On the Orchard

on their trees, but we want to encourage growers to also consider the next crop coming through. Although it is too late to influence the amount of fruiting wood for this coming season, with proactive management growers can maximise the potential of their 2017-18 crop.

Frost

One of the key problems during winter for avocado growers is frost - it has the potential to do significant damage to both vegetation and buds. Our temperature networks research has shown temperature variations within an orchard can be as much as 4 °C, depending on the topography. This means it may feel alright at the top of the orchard but it may be below freezing at the bottom of the gully. If you have a frost protection system, make sure your temperature sensors are in appropriate positions. It is also important to be aware of how the cold air moves through your orchard; it will

naturally flow downhill, so if you have a thick shelterbelt at the bottom of your orchard, you may want to establish if it is holding cold air around your trees. If it is, consider thinning the bottom slightly to allow the cold air to drain through while still maintaining the majority of the wind break.

Pests and diseases

Even though winter tends to be a quiet time with regard to pests, we recommend you still remain vigilant and keep an eye out for anything as you walk your orchards.

Identifying pest pressure early will allow for timely spray applications and hopefully limit the stress on your trees. If you are not spraying for any pests, please don’t forget about fungicides. It has been a warm, wet autumn/winter so far, ideal conditions for fungi. Coming into a big season fruit may not travel through the market as fast as it has previously, increasing the importance of staying on top of rots. If you are applying sprays, it is important to be mindful of the MRL's and the withholding periods of the chemicals you are using.

If in doubt refer to the AvoGreen manual or the NZ Avocado website for more information.

Flower buds

This is the time of year you can be assessing flower buds (figure 1). If you refer to your “Reading Your Trees” booklet, it will walk you through how to do this. This will give you one of the first indications of your upcoming crop potential for the 2017-18 season. That needs to be a consideration for your fertiliser programmes and management strategies as you prepare your trees for flowering. If flowering intensity looks as if it will be high and you are already carrying a heavy crop, it may be necessary to reassess fertiliser needs during winter. Tree nutrition is important and it is advised that soil nutrient levels are optimal before flowering so the tree is adequately prepared for the high demands over this period.

Root health

Figure 1

32

l

Avoscene July 2016

This is also the perfect opportunity to think about your root health. By now many growers will have carried out their autumn phosphonate injection to protect their trees against

phytophthora root rot. An important follow up for this is root testing for phosphonate levels. Levels of 25-40mg/kg of roots, is generally accepted as a level that provides direct fungicidal protection against phytophthora. Concentrations above this should be targeted to maintain protective levels over a reasonable length of time. Root testing is the only way to validate if your injecting has resulted in a sufficient phosphonate level for protection. If levels are insufficient to offer protection, growers may want to consider an additional injection in spring. Timing of injection shortly before the root flush will help pull the phosphonate into the roots.

We are coming up to a period of flush for both roots and vegetation, it is key that the trees are adequately prepared for this. The flush will draw on the trees resources and it is important to prepare the trees before the flush begins.

A well-resourced tree will be better equipped to flush well. Ensuring that the nutrients available to your trees – either through soil or foliar fertilisers – are in an optimal range prior to spring will allow for maximum results.

The nutrients need to be available before the flush so we encourage growers to be proactive about optimising their soil nutrition.

On the Orchard

Drainage is very important for optimal root health, especially with trees that appear to be declining in condition.

Avocado trees do not tolerate wet feet well; waterlogged soils will lead to a lack of oxygen for the roots, resulting in diminished function. It will also increase the phytophthora pressure on the tree. Phytophthora infection can develop more quickly in wetter soils, in part due to the reduced oxygen diffusion, but also due to zoospores swimming through free water in the soil to find roots to infect. Previous research from Schaffer and Ploetz have shown that the more

severe the water-logging in soils, the larger the impact of phytophthora root rot on photosynthesis. This will negatively impact the carbohydrate reserves of the trees going forward.

Although in winter time it appears that not a lot is happening (the weather is cooler, the days are short and the trees are quiet), it is important to remember that spring is not far off and winter is an important time for both tree and grower to prepare for the busy time ahead and a successful flowering and fruitset.

Avoscene July 2016

l

33

Technical working group update Marisa Till, R&D Manager, NZ Avocado

marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

On the Orchard

The technical working group is a group that oversees the research facilitated through the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) grant ‘Avocado’s for Export’ held by Plant & Food Research (PFR), as well as the Primary Growth Partnership objective two research.

The technical working group at their most recent meeting in May.

The MBIE programme covers eight projects that are

implemented by researchers at PFR as well as the NZ Avocado R&D team. These projects cover the spectrum from fundamental science understanding the physiology of the trees to practical on-orchard management practices to maximise production or reduce irregular bearing.

The technical working group serves to steer this research in a direction that maximises the benefit to growers and maintains their interests as high priority. The working group includes scientists from PFR, industry professionals, growers and NZ Avocado staff. The MBIE Avocados for Export grant is currently entering its third year and will run until 2018. During May, the technical working group met to be updated on the current state of the projects, their progress against milestones and future direction. The projects are well underway and they are starting to deliver some exciting results.

May technical working group meeting highlights

The on-orchard management project is progressing well.

This has initially focussed on orchards in the Kauri Point area in the Bay of Plenty but is now expanding to cover the three main growing regions. The plan is also to include principal component analysis and modelling in an attempt to understand the interplay between factors with respect 34

l

Avoscene July 2016

to their contribution to productivity and irregular bearing.

The factors being investigated range from fundamental orchard parameters such as aspect, topography, elevation to management practices including irrigation, pruning strategies and fertilisation.

Avocado tree water usage is being measured through sap flow monitoring in trees of different sizes and comparing those results with standard moisture loss rates (ETo) which is based on ground covered with pasture. Preliminary results obtained in the Katikati region showed mature trees in summer use about half the amount of water as pasture for the same land area and small trees use about one quarter of that used by pasture.Water use rates will vary based on factors such as tree size, total leaf area and weather conditions. These results are forming the basis for understanding water use and developing crop factors for avocado trees; allowing for better informed irrigation practices. This experiment is being extended to the Far North and Whangarei in the coming year.

Research involving rainfall exclusion experiments were also carried out to mimic drought stress on avocado trees.

Preliminary results show dryer conditions had no detectable impact on flowering and fruit set, however fruit growth was much lower on the drought stressed trees. In the first year of drought stress experiments, the excluded trees showed a 25% reduction in fruit yield by weight, and a 7% reduction in

fruit dry matter content. Simulated drought stress also made the trees more susceptible to frost damage in winter. The second year of experiments was hindered by the high rainfall experienced this summer, however plans to repeat these and extend them into other growing regions are underway hopefully the results from these will be able to reinforce the preliminary data.

A technique to detect ovule abortion in flowers through a buildup of callose has provided a tool by which we can explore environmental impacts on flower development and fertility. This technique has been used to establish the impact of low temperatures (2-4oC) on flower development. Flowers that are a few days from opening are particularly susceptible to the effects of low temperatures.

A summary of all the projects and the findings to date will be provided by the lead scientists at the grower forum. Also see page 36 for an article about water use showcasing this exciting research.

On the Orchard

Ongoing research into shoot phenology has been exploring what effect, if any, fruit removal has on the subsequent floral initiation in different shoot types. This research is progressing well and, together with new understanding of the genetic control and timing of floral initiation in avocado, has led to the development of fruit thinning trials targeted at different shoot types. The aim of these experiments is to optimise the balance between floral intensity and crop load the following

spring. Fruit thinning experiments are planned to evaluate the difference between removal of 25% and 50% of fruit from trees.

NZ Avocado R&D Programme Program

Project 1. Orchard analysis

MBIE: AVOCADOS FOR EXPORT

MBIE: BEE MINUS TO BEE PLUS

• Identifying irregular bearing triggers at regional and orchard level • Identifying factors that are contributing significantly to the productivity of the orchards.

2. Temperature effects on bud, flower, and fruitlet development

• Variations of minimum temperature between orchards, parts of orchards and parts of trees.

• Low temperature thresholds for bud, flower and fruitlet development

3. Floral induction

• Understanding the effect of newly set fruit (fruit thinning) on return crop • Increasing our knowledge on the biomolecular mechanisms of flower induction

4. Pruning to balance trees

• Obtain scientific evidence of the benefits and disadvantages of pruning with the hypothesis that pruning can be a valid tool to balance trees.

5. Small tree

• To determine the viability of super intensive plantings in NZ conditions.

• To explore their current challenges and contribute to overcome these challenges.

6. Plant Growth Regulators (Uniconazole)

• To determine the effect of different Uniconazole application strategies on the productivity of avocado orchards in NZ.

7. Irrigation

• To determine water consumption of avocado orchards in NZ conditions.

• To evaluate the effect of different management irrigation strategies on productivity • To develop irrigation management tools that can be used by growers.

8. Postharvest

• To determine and establish post-harvest procedures which optimise product quality.

9. Pollination

• Increase populations of key unmanaged pollinators • Manage bumblebee colonies in orchards and farms for pollination • Manipulate bee behavior to improve pollination

10. Canopy management

• To identify, characterize and evaluate different canopy management strategies under the working group scheme. Are any of these strategies compatible with high and regular production?

11. Tree decline

• To determine the main factors that hinder the health of avocado trees in NZ avocado orchards in different circumstances.

• To develop and validate management strategies to increase the health of declining avocado trees in different circumstances.

12. New cultivars

• To determine the potential of the new cultivars imported by NZ Avocado in NZ conditions

13. Leafroller Mating Disruption

•T o determine potential of Leafroller pheromone mating disruption technology (MD) as an additional and sustainable method of controlling Leafroller in avocado orchards.

14. Rot prediction

• To explore and validate the rot prediction tool and ascertain the potential role a fruit rot prediction tool may have for the avocado industry.

15. Six Spotted Mite Phenology & Epidemiology

• Gain a better understanding of the lifecycle, phenology and population movement of Six Spotted Mite in order to improve control methods.

PGP: GO GLOBAL

PFR

Objective

Avoscene July 2016

l

35

Avocado tree water use Teruko Kaneko and Mike Clearwater, School of Science, University of Waikato

m.clearwater@waikato.ac.nz

The avocado tree evolved under wet summer conditions, and is considered vulnerable to water deficits. Irrigation of avocado is therefore a common practise in many growing regions around the world, especially where summers are dry. We take a look at irrigation – what it is and what makes it potentially vital to tree health.

Many New Zealand growers irrigate, but practises vary

On the Orchard

and there are no clear guidelines, specific to New Zealand conditions, as to when and how much water to apply.

Recommendations have been developed for other countries with very different climates to ours, but overall there have been few attempts to quantify exactly how much water avocado trees require for optimum production. There are risks to both under- and over-irrigation: too little water may result in reduced fruit size and productivity; too much water can promote unwanted vegetative growth, nutrient losses, water logging and tree decline. To get the balance right, there is a need to quantify how much water avocado trees require under our conditions, and to develop irrigation practises that match these requirements.

Reference Evapotranspiration

A common approach to estimating crop water use involves the use of a crop factor (Kc), that relates crop water use to that of a theoretical reference canopy of short grass that completely covers the ground and is growing without stress.

Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is the water required by the grass standard (including evaporation from the soil surface), and is routinely estimated from measurements of temperature, humidity, radiation and wind speed using the well tested ‘Penman-Monteith’ equation. The resulting ETo values are commonly published by meteorological services as part of weather reports. The crop factor is a multiplier that relates ETo to the evapotranspiration expected from the crop of interest under optimal conditions, so that the grower can predict crop water requirements from published ETo values, or ETo calculated from their own weather measurements.

For example, if ETo for a day is 4 mm, and the Kc is 1.5, the crop is estimated to have used 6 mm, 1.5 times that of the grass reference. Crop factors can vary from site to site with the climate, crop stage of development, and soil properties.

Typical Kc values for avocado in summer in California and Israel vary between about 0.50 and 0.65, indicating the avocado usually requires less water compared to the grass standard.

The goal of the research described here was to begin measuring monthly crop factor values for avocado in

36

l

Avoscene July 2016

Figure 1. Installation of a weather station to provide measurements of rainfall, and the variables needed to calculate reference evapotranspiration (radiation, temperature, humidity and wind speed).

New Zealand. This requires measuring actual tree water use, and comparing it with reference ETo estimated from meteorological measurements. The team from Plant & Food Research, NZ Avocado, and the University of Waikato began measuring avocado tree water use at an irrigated orchard near Katikati, Bay of Plenty, in November 2014.

A meteorological station was installed within the orchard (Figure 1), and sap flow probes inserted into the stems of mature (9-year-old trees) to measure the water use of individual trees (Figure 2; refer to the July 2015 issue of Avoscene for an earlier description of the trial). A block of younger trees was included in the measurements, but here we only report the estimates for mature trees that occupy all of the ground area available to them.

On the Orchard

Figure 2. Installing ‘heat pulse’ sap flow probes into the stems of mature Hass avocado trees.

Establishing Irrigation Guidelines

Monthly evapotranspiration, tree water use, and the resulting crop factor estimates are now available from the first year of measurements (Table 1). Annual total rainfall at the orchard from November 2014 to October 2015 was 1,495 mm, similar to long term averages for the district, despite a dry period in summer. Estimated reference evapotranspiration varied from less than 30 mm in June and July, to 146 mm in January. Actual evapotranspiration, measured as the sap flowing through the tree stems, was also a little less than 30 mm in winter, and increased to a maximum of 75 mm in January. Water use by the trees is shown in mm by expressing it relative to the ground area occupied by the trees, making it easier to apply the results to other orchards with different plant spacing, and to directly compare rainfall, tree water use, and the amount of irrigation water applied. For example, in this orchard the trees were planted with 10 x 8 m spacing, so each tree occupies 80 m2 of ground area. If a tree uses 240 L of water in one day, this equates to 3 mm spread over 80 m2 (240 L / 80 m = 3 mm).

The crop factor for each month (Kc) was calculated from the ratio of monthly tree water use (ETc) to reference evapotranspiration (ETo), the first such estimates for avocado in New Zealand (Table 1). As expected, Kc varies throughout the year, decreasing to about 0.5 in summer, and rising in winter to closer to 1.0. In summer the trees are

using much more water each day, but less compared to what might be expected of the grass standard under the same conditions, probably because the stomata exert stronger control over tree water use when the leaves are warmer and the humidity is lower. Overall the results from the first year show that tree water use exceeded rainfall in the months of January and February, but irrigation may also be necessary during other months, depending on the timing of rainfall events relative to periods of dry sunny weather.

From the results it was clear that there was a strong correlation between daily ETo and ETc (Figures 3 and 4), giving us confidence that crop factors and weather derived ETo can be used as the basis for developing irrigation guidelines for avocado in New Zealand. For example, for the Katikati area in January 2015, monthly cumulative ETo was 145.9 mm, which equates to an average daily ETo of 4.7 mm. Kc in January was 0.5. Therefore, daily evapotranspiration can be estimated as 4.7 mm × 0.5, or 2.35 mm of water a day. In the absence of any rainfall, the grower will need to plan to replace this amount of water through irrigation.

At present many growers base their irrigation decisions on monitoring of soil moisture, often using tensiometers, followed by approximations or guestimates of how much water they should apply. Monitoring of soil moisture should continue, because these provide a check on whether evapotranspiration estimates are accurate and the plants

Avoscene July 2016

l

37

Figure 4.The relationship between daily total plant evapotranspiration (ETc; measured using sap flow probes) and reference evapotranspiration (ETo; predicted from weather station measurements) over 6 months, from January to June 2015.Tree water use is correlated with reference evapotranspiration, but the tree uses less water than the reference.

On the Orchard

Figure 3. Hourly mean sap flow measurements from mature trees (L per hour) on typical days in mid-summer (a) and in winter (b), compared with PenmanMonteith evapotranspiration ETo (mm hour-1). Sap flow is correlated with hourly changes in predicted evapotranspiration

Year Month Rainfall ETo

(mm) (mm)

2014 Nov 77.4 107.0 60.5 0.60

have enough water, and should help reveal when over or under-irrigation is occurring. However, the addition of evapotranspiration estimates provides a more objective method for deciding how much water should be applied.

Growers will also need adjust their approach to take into account the effects of their water application method, plant spacing, application rate, and application interval.

Next steps

Reports

The first year of measurements can now be used to start developing irrigation guidelines for avocado production in New Zealand. However, we also need to expand our monitoring to include a range of regional climates and soil types. The research reported here was conducted by Teruko Kaneko, as part of her MSc Degree at the University of Waikato. Teruko has now decided to continue research on avocado water use and fruit growth by studying towards a PhD degree. As part of her research program she is now planning to expand her measurements of tree water use and crop factors to sites in the Far North, Whangarei and Bay of Plenty, with continued support from NZ Avocado, Plant & Food Research and the University of Waikato. We also wish to acknowledge John Schnackenberg, a grower in the Katikati area who has generously allowed the research to be done in his orchard.

38

l

Avoscene July 2016

ETc Kc (mm)

Dec 200.6 133.3 60.4 0.45

2015 Jan

10.0 145.9 75.5 0.50

Feb 34.6 100.8 56.1 0.55

Mar 107.8 81.0 50.7 0.65

Apr 230.2 49.1 30.4 0.65

May 116.8 35.5 26.3 0.75

Jun 81.4 27.7 26.3 0.95

Jul 142.4 29.2 22.4 0.75

Aug 262.8 40.6 29.7 0.75

Sep 170.6 63.1 38.0 0.60

Oct 60.4 92.0 50.5 0.55

Table 1. Monthly cumulative rainfall, reference evapotranspiration (ETo), tree evapotranspiration (ETc), and crop factors (Kc) for mature 9-year-old Hass avocado trees at the study site near Katikati, from November 2014 to October 2015.

Frost Protection

MARKETING THE BEST

AVOCADOS IN NEW ZEALAND AND AROUND THE WORLD

Successfully protecting fruit crops for the last 10 seasons t Grapes, apples, stone fruits, persimmons, passionfruit, t t t t

avocados, tamarillos, citrus & kiwifruit 98% Protection down to -2°C (When applied as directed) Provides internal warmth giving an ‘early spring’ effect Adds 2 degrees to all other methods except Urea Effective immediately, gives up to 3 weeks protection ThermoMax is a non-chemical, Bio-Gro certified, ACVM exempt product. It leaves no residues HortResearch tested.

Report No. 10264

0800 735859 www.bdmax.co.nz

DUNCAN LILLEY Avocado Program Manager P +64 9 573 8581 M +64 274 060 348 E dlilley@freshmax.co.nz BEN LAY Export Marketing P +64 9 573 8583 M +64 21 477 108 E blay@freshmax.co.nz

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

RODGER BAYLY NZGAP & Compliance P +64 7 985 6802 M +64 21 622 577 E rbayly@freshmax.co.nz

DAVE ALDERTON Technical Services M +64 21 505 814 E dalderton@freshmax.co.nz

Avoscene July 2016

l

39

e Avosce Avoscen ne Happy p New Zea

land Avo

nal

ers’ Jour

ado Grow

and Avoc

New Zeal

cado Gro

wers’ Jou

rnal

y 2015

Jul

artne produc ing gre rship at resu lts May 20

15

s issue: Inside thi do good line - how Tree dec get better? cency growers for compla no room d: ilan ustry Tha cado ind land avo na New Zea out in Chi ves standing roach pro basics app Mutton and Back to s l for Ros successfu ll Lesley Ski

land New Zea os a avoc d record achieve lumes sales vo Avosc ene

July 2015

l

1

Avos cene

May 2015

l

1

To book advertising space in the next issue of Avoscene please contact Suzy King at SunMedia Ltd. Booking deadline for the next issue is August 19th, 2016.

Contact Suzy on 021 769 831 email suzy@thesun.co.nz

40

l

Avoscene July 2016

The value of library trays

By Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager, NZ Avocado glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz and Marisa Till, R&D Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

Library trays provide an opportunity, at one point in the supply chain, for growers to receive direct feedback on their fruit quality. They are a valuable resource but can often be difficult to access and interpret. NZ Avocado is investigating ways to better use this data.

Post Harvest

A range of disorders measured in library tray analysis. From left: bruising, external rots, stem end rots and vascular browning.

Historically library tray data has been used to fine tune

Maintaining quality standards

the fruit storage temperatures resulting in arresting the development of rots and significantly improving outturn of the fruit (H Pak Avoscene 2000 pg 30). A grower library tray also provides the mechanism for fulfilling the requirement of a retention sample required by a number of the food safety programmes.

Library tray assessment enables quality to be measured and compared at a PPIN, packer, regional or industry level across and within seasons. As both market access requirements and consumer demand for quality increase, developing supply chain management that continually increases the percentage of “sound fruit” is essential.

The intention of the library tray is that it be representative of the line of export fruit that it is being collected from. Library trays are collected from a continuous pack for each PPIN. A continuous pack can extend over more than one day to a maximum of 28 days where the property is being picked either continuously or with breaks within a 28-day period.

Plotting the industry progress over the past five seasons shows that, as an industry, the incidence of unsound fruit is decreasing.

Library trays are transported to AgFirst in the Bay of Plenty, stored at between 4-6°C for a period of 28 days from harvest then removed, ripened at between 20-22°C and assessed for quality. Each individual piece of fruit is cut open and assessed in a number of different categories. These include; unsound fruit, fuzzy patches, vascular browning and body rots.

Once all fruit has been assessed, the results are made available to the grower through the AgFirst website. The packhouse and NZ Avocado also have access to the results.

Growers have in the past questioned the value of library trays; perhaps the discussion needs to be focussed on delivering the value from library tray data through more effective reporting, and having mechanisms in place to ensure value is being received from library trays.

Analysis of PPIN against unsound fruit indicates the majority of orchards achieve a high percentage of sound fruit in their library trays. However, there are still a significant number (more than 20%) of orchards that have less than 50% sound fruit.

Packhouses are able to see how their grower library trays perform compared against all other packhouses in the industry.

Some packers proactively provide feedback and review library trays with their growers but for those growers that are not receiving this interaction, there seems to be a missed opportunity. It may well be that the data is difficult to access and report or the packer is using other measures to assess outturn quality. NZ Avocado is aware of the differences in the reporting and discussion opportunities across the industry, and is investigating ways to better engage and use this data for the benefit of all growers. Library tray reports are also listed

Avoscene July 2016

l

41

Costs of library trays Season

Collection & Admin costs

FOB/TE

Average cost to grower

Total cost of Library Trays to industry

$10,000

$16.93

$104.66

$115,899

$26.02

$116.47

$64,399

Growers have in the past questioned the value of library trays; perhaps the discussion needs to be 2013 1,354 library1.79 $45 reporting, $10,000 focussed on delivering the value from tray data through more effective and having mechanisms in place to ensure value is being received from library trays.

$32.79

$139.24

$115,327

2014 quality standards 1,726 Maintaining

$10,000

$22.58

$110.16

$126,643

Library tray assessment enables quality to be measured and compared at a PPIN, packer, regional or 2015

1.57 $45 and consumer $10,000 industry level across and1,238 within seasons.

As both market access requirements demand for quality increase, developing supply chain management that continually increases the percentage of “sound fruit” is essential.

$35.84

$126.91

$110,077

2011

Library trays

Library Trays / PPIN

External rots

1,710

1.69

Test cost per Library Tray Vascular browning

$45

Once all fruit has been assessed, the results are made available to the grower through the AgFirst 2012 Avocado also1.64 $45 $10,000 website; the pack house766 and NZ have access to the results.

1.63

$45

Post Harvest

for consideration in system requirements going forward within the PGP objective five “information portal” development.

Improving Best Practice

Analysis of PPIN against unsound fruit indicates the majority of orchards achieve a high percentage Plotting over However, the past five seasons shows that, as an industry, thethan incidence of of soundthe fruitindustry in theirprogress library trays. there are still a significant number, more 20%, of unsound that fruit have is decreasing. orchards less than 50% sound fruit.

the benefit of all growers. Library tray reports are also listed for consideration in system requirements going forward within the PGP “information portal” development.

Improving Best Practice

The library trays are also an important resource for research regarding rots. Plant and Food Research invests around $175k of their its core funding into avocado rot research. For the past two seasons the library trays have provided a valuable resource for this research. Rots have been isolated from the fruit from library trays to identify the species of fungi that contribute to the rot problem in NZ avocados and plot the timing of their occurrence. The results have confirmed Collectotrichum acutatum and Phomopsis spp as the main species isolated, further research is now focused on understanding the phenology of these species in more detail. (see last AVOSCENE ARTICLE – reference here) The library trays serve as an essential validation tool. Any proposed rot prevention strategy can only be evaluated for its efficacy if data such as that provided by the library trays is available. Through the library tray data combined with the spray diary data the efficacy of the different number of fungicide applications can be established. The graph below shows the percentage unsound fruit relative to the number of fungicide applications across the last five seasons.

Pack houses are able to see how their grower library trays perform compared against all other pack houses in the industry.

Some packers proactively provide feedback and review library trays with their growers but for those growers that are not receiving this interaction, there seems to be a missed opportunity. It may well be that the data is difficult to access and report or the packer is using other measures to assess outturn quality. NZ Avocado is aware of the differences in the reporting and discussion opportunities across the industry, and is investigating ways to better engage and use this data for

The library trays are also an important resource for research regarding rots. Plant & Food Research invests around $175,000 of its core funding into avocado rot research. For the past two seasons the library trays have provided a valuable resource for this research. Rots have been isolated from the fruit from library trays to identify the species of fungi that contribute to the rot problem in New Zealand avocados and plot the timing of their occurrence.

The results have confirmed Collectotrichum acutatum and Phomopsis spp as the main species isolated, further research is now focused on understanding the phenology of these species in more detail. See page 35 in the May 2016 issue of Avoscene for more on understanding market rots.

The library trays serve as an essential validation tool. Any proposed rot prevention strategy can only be evaluated for its efficacy if data such as that provided by the library trays is available. Through the library tray data combined with the spray diary data the efficacy of the different number of fungicide applications can be established. The graph below shows the percentage unsound fruit relative to the number of fungicide applications across the last five seasons.

Based on these results, there is a recognised need to better understand the effect of timing on fungicide applications. The current research on rots and fungicide usage will provide information around the most effective timing of fungicide application. Once any new guidelines have been

Based on these results, there is a recognised need to better understand the effect of timing on fungicide applications. The current research on rots and fungicide usage will provide information 42 around l Avoscene 2016timing of fungicide application. Once any new guidelines have been the mostJuly effective established, library tray data will be valuable to validate whether proposed timings are successful in

Analysisof of PPIN against unsound fruit indicates majority of orchards achieve a high percentage Analysis PPIN against unsound fruit indicates the majoritythe of orchards achieve a high percentage of fruit in their librarylibrary trays. However, there are still a significant more than 20%, of more than 20%, of ofsound sound fruit in their trays. However, there are stillnumber, a significant number, orchards that have less than sound orchards that have less50% than 50%fruit. sound fruit.

established, library tray data will be valuable to validate whether proposed timings are successful in increasing the percentage of sound fruit.

Access to China

Some of the avocado post-harvest fungal pathogens are included in the pest list of quarantine concern to China.

Through the ongoing negotiation of phytosanitary access to China, the industry has been required to explain how the houses are able to see how theirrots. grower Discussions library trays performthus compared other pack itPackmanages postharvest far against haveallbeen houses in the industry. based on two key elements: application of fungicides, as Some packers proactively provide feedback and review library trays with their growers but for those growers that arepre-harvest not receiving this interaction, there seems to be a missed opportunity. may well required, as a prophylactic treatment, and Itpostbe thathouses the dataare is difficult to access and report or the packer is using other measures to assess against all other pack Pack able to see how their grower library trays perform compared harvest fruit qualityis aware management. outturn quality.

NZ Avocado of the differences in the reporting and discussion houses in the industry. opportunities across the industry, and is investigating ways to better engage and use this data for

Some packers proactively provide feedback and review library trays with their growers but for those This approach is supported by understanding that infection growers that are not receiving this interaction, there seems to be a missed opportunity. It may well of fruittheoccurs pre-harvest beoraddressed be that data is difficult to accessand andcan report the packer isthrough using other measures to assess outturn quality.

NZ Avocado is aware of the differences in the reporting and discussion prophylactic application of pre-harvest fungicides as required. opportunities across the industry, and is investigating ways to better engage and use this data for

Access to China will depend on the avocado industry presenting a comprehensive rot management strategy. Library trays feed into this strategy by providing a reference tool for the continual improvement of pre-harvest management of rots.

The future of library trays

NZ Avocado continues to work on further evaluation of the library tray results and welcomes feedback from growers about the content and examples in this article.

With continual innovation and implementation in ways to mitigate unsound fruit, the Library Tray programme will enable the measurement of the success of that implementation. NZ Avocado plans to retain library trays; they are a measure of quality that the industry cannot afford to lose.

Avoscene July 2016

l

43

Growing strong New Zealand market sales

By Hamish Carter, Journalist, SunMedia

From an occasional garnish to the centre of the plate, the humble avocado has gone a long way in the typical New Zealand home. The change over the past five years prompted AvoScene to review how increased sales have affected the industry and look at what may lie ahead.

Turners & Growers product specialist Trish Lomas describes avocado sales as having experienced extensive growth, saying research shows 90,000 more households are regularly buying the fruit than five years ago.

Southern Produce domestic marketing and sales director Mike Swan says demand has grown with increased consumer awareness. This boost has led to exponential growth in domestic sales, says Pole to Pole managing director Todd Abrahams.

What is driving this growth?

Markets

Freshmax NZ product manager Kym Fraser says the growth follows work to build product and consumer awareness, while a focus on quality standards has also played a big part in delivering consistently good fruit supply so the end consumer has a good eating experience.

Zeafruit managing director Glen Dunseath says the bumper domestic growth has come from the combination of industry consolidation, greater professionalism, focusing on exports and growing retail sales.

The alignment of the four domestic marketing companies with exporter groups has ensured a focus on overall crop returns – not just export returns – while also improving industry communication and transparency, says Glen. He believes increased industry professionalism with ripening, education, and crop flow management has been instrumental in providing consumers with a more consistent offer. On the retail front, growth has come from better partnerships between retailers and suppliers to manage and plan the best results, driving growth in ripened fruit and premium sizes.

As the consistent quality of avocados on the New Zealand market has improved, together with awareness of the fruit’s attributes, Mike Swan of Southern Produce says demand has grown.

“Consumers are having a better, more consistent experience when purchasing avocados as the supply chain improves its knowledge and process. Avocados have become fashionable and the fruit’s attributes are becoming part of key health messages with their good fats and oils,

44

l

Avoscene July 2016

New Zealand supermarket in store tastings.

essential vitamins and minerals.”

Primor Produce marketing director Regan Booth argues the single most important driver for this is the introduction of ripened retail fruit, saying only a few years ago that ripe fruit was seen as ‘problem fruit’; now it’s a requirement.

Other key drivers, says Regan, have been the move by consumers towards healthier foods, promotion of avocados by influencers, a more diverse food culture and retail ‘ripened fruit’ promotions.

With retail value for avocados now a high value performer for supermarkets, consistently in the top 10 most valuable products in the produce category, it has helped attract more support.

“This has led retail to ‘sit up and take notice’ in recent years, enabling us to push for more promotion and shelf space,” says Regan.

Fresh Direct supply manager Chris Frost also rates the lower prices in the large crop years over the past five years

as helping introduce more consumers to avocados at lower prices.

Responding to growth

Increased demand has boosted grower returns and created a market for Class 2 fruit, says Seeka brand and marketing manager Annmarie Lee, but it has also come at a cost, with pressure on packhouses, coolstores and ripening facilities.

Regan says the increasing demand has required Primor to improve its ripening facility and capacity. In turn, as the share of ‘ready to eat’ fruit at point of sale has risen, so has product turnover.

“The historically volatile ebb and flow of domestic supply and demand is now much more controlled, which has led to a more stable market environment and a better overall OGR for our growers.”

It’s been a similar story for Zeafruit, with Glen saying ripening space has been expanded to accommodate fruit needed at peak periods.

Todd Abrahams of Pole to Pole says working closely with its key customer Foodstuffs to plan promotions and flow of supply has translated to good grower premiums. Higher New Zealand demand has prompted all suppliers to improve planning, with weekly crop flow plans matching supply with sales.

Annmarie says Seeka is always planning, recognising it’s crucial to achieving good results.

“We are constantly looking at better ways to do things to reduce costs and increase our grower returns.”

Mike Swan rates the local market meetings – convened by NZ Avocado – is helping coordinate supplier activity for everyone’s benefit.

“I believe the coordination and maturing of attitudes is helping the New Zealand market with increased sales volumes, as well as value.”

It’s a view shared by Todd Abrahams, who says the coordination of supply data from local market operators by NZ Avocado has improved the orderly flow of avocados onto the New Zealand market.

Markets

Planning for supply flow

Nadia Lim.

Biennial challenge

Irrespective of coordinated planning, many still rate biennial or bearing as the industry’s greatest challenge.

Mike Swan says the “on” and “off ” year effect challenges consistency of supply from year to year This fluctuation in supply was rated as the industry’s biggest challenge also by Annmarie as well as Kym Fraser of Freshmax NZ, who hopes scientific work on the problem will help understand it better.

However Regan rates one of Primor’s biggest ongoing challenges as getting retailers to understand buying green fruit to leave to ripen leads to a poorly performing piece of fruit, in contrast to the consistent quality the company can provide.

It’s a message echoed by Glen, who rates Zeafruit’s biggest challenge as second-tier marketers which survive on opportunity and are not interested in taking care of the full supply chain.

Improving the quality of fruit offered domestically is another key challenge says Mike Swan.

Avoscene July 2016

l

45

“Lower grade and process fruit is still being packed and sold because it still delivers a return to the grower. However this fruit can undermine or devalue the bigger and better quality avocados that make up the bulk of the fruit being sold.” Mike recognises using this fruit for oil and processing companies can reduce the negative impact on the industry, but he believes there needs to be a collective industry agreement on implementing regulations for this.

Role of promotions and education

Driving the increased sales in New Zealand has been a smart promotional and educational campaign run by NZ Avocado.

Kym Fraser summed up the sentiment shared by all suppliers, saying strategic promotional planning backed with educational tools like in-store sampling has been critical in driving category growth.

“Product awareness and education is key, so the consumer knows what to do with the product and its benefits,” says Kym.

Markets

Trish Lomas of Turners & Growers rated NZ Avocado promotions and increased nutritional information as critical.

“Advertising, promotional material and educational videos have worked increasingly well to improve the consumer’s experience with the avocado. To continue along these same lines will be very beneficial to the industry.”

Glen applauded the promotional and education work done by NZ Avocado, which had driven demand ahead of production, something he says must continue, as staying ahead of the production cycle is the key to driving demand and supply chain viability.

But with only about 60 percent of consumers who enjoy or know avocados, Mike believes there is still scope to increase consumption.

Green future?

There is general consensus the industry’s future looks good over the short-term however some see potential challenges coming.

Mike sees no reason why the momentum and growth of the

46

l

Avoscene July 2016

Keen foodies taste-testing avocado smoothies at Taste of Auckland.

last five years cannot be continued. “Provided all participants buy into a long-term coordinated and responsible approach, there is no reason why the avocado can’t challenge the MVP status that is currently held by the banana.”

Todd predicts continued growth in the New Zealand market, based on the international trend, but believes the large areas being planted will eventually see prices drop when supply catches up with demand.

Glen shares this generally positive view but believes working together is critical.

“The key to the industry is everybody understanding their role and expectations within it, and how they impact each other. We must collaborate and communicate industry-wide and standards need to be benchmarks and not occasional targets.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Kym, who predicts the market will become more streamlined with stronger relationships between packhouses, marketers and retailers as volume increases.

Looking ahead, Trish is confident sales in New Zealand will continue to lift, with consumption increasing right across the board, from new mothers adding this product to their children’s meals from a very young age, through to pensioners enjoying the benefits of half an avocado a day helping lower cholesterol and with high blood pressure.

Industry catches AvoGreen® bug

By Hamish Carter, Journalist, SunMedia

Introduced initially simply as an improved voluntary pest management system, the AvoGreen programme has gone on to become an integral part of the avocado industry’s success in increasing quality fruit and orchard returns over the past 17 years.

Leafroller damage on mature leaves on an avocado tree

The programme, which became an EMS requirement, has

When Cathy Harris first began monitoring orchard pest levels under the voluntary AvoGreen programme, she was constantly coming up against growers who sprayed at the first hint of any bugs or as insurance to make sure there were no bugs.

While Cathy still comes across some resistant growers who would prefer to ‘save money’ by not monitoring, she has been pleased with the way AvoGreen and the low-spray approach has been taken on by many growers in the six years since it became compulsory for export orchards.

“I remember discussion with growers we visited under the voluntary AvoGreen programme who wanted to spray even though there were no bugs on the orchard,” recalls Cathy about her early days monitoring with FruitFed, beginning only three years after the voluntary programme was introduced in 1999. “That was a learning time, where the programme was formulated and changed to get the right balance of monitoring versus possible crop loss due to insect damage.”

“By embracing AvoGreen and monitoring regularly, the growers are now benefiting from better fruit quality, higher pack-outs and returns. Those that are resisting regular monitoring are still seeing major damage to their fruit with the resulting low pack-outs and poor returns.”

The CropCheck director, trainer and monitor laughs about how little everyone knew about orchard bugs and their life cycles in those early days.

The key has come from growers learning about the pests and their lifecycles so they understand what’s going on in their orchard, can assess if spraying is needed, and when the

Reports

become the pest control benchmark leveraged for export market access. AvoScene looks at how far AvoGreen has come, talking to a variety of industry players.

“I knew the first people who began monitoring and they pretty much made up the programme as they went along.

The only training back then was ‘read these two pages, here’s your uniform, now off you go’.”

Cathy believes there was a turnaround in many growers when they began to recognise its power as an important management tool not just as a compliance requirement.

Avoscene July 2016

l

47

best time is to apply it. Cathy also encourages growers and monitors to not only record problems but also look out for beneficial bugs and has recently been seeing some growers buying good insects for their orchards.

When monitoring, the focus is particularly on looking out for worst pests: leafrollers, greenhouse thrip, six-spotted mite and armoured scale. If monitoring shows pests have reached set thresholds, growers can choose to spray if they want, but are unable to below those levels.

Throwing away the calendar

Hard-bitten calendar sprayers have had to eat their words when discovering major pest problems despite regular spraying.

“I remember one grower who kept ignoring my calls to monitor his orchard. He was sure it would be a waste of time and swore that monthly spraying was the better way, but changed his mind when he saw just how many leafroller were falling on us when looking at his trees 10 days after a spray. Without that monitor, he would not have known there was a problem.”

As a result Cathy is seeing improvements both in productivity and orchard ecosystem health.

Reports

“You’re seeing birds and lots of insects return, some we have never seen before,” says Cathy, who describes the old heavy spray routine as putting the orchard environment ‘out of balance’.

As growers have learnt more about the bugs and their lifecycles, they are reducing the frequency of sprays and using softer, more targeted sprays, and timing them for the best effect. Alternatively, they may choose not to apply a spray when just on the threshold. As spray use is reduced and insect balance returns, Cathy says the trees benefit from lower stress and improved overall health.

“If it’s a healthy tree, it will withstand a lot more six spotted mite, for instance, than a sick tree.”

In return Cathy says growers are seeing significant pack-out rate improvements, estimating typical improvements from 60-70 percent up to 85-90 percent now. Putting aside fruit rejected for wind rub and mechanical damage, she is certain pest control is a big part of the improved pack-out rates.

48

l

Avoscene July 2016

Leafroller damage on young leaves on an avocado tree.

Quantifiying pests for optimal sprays

Early adopter Mark West of Whangarei became an AvoGreen grower about 12 years ago, only a few years after the programme was launched. Mark, who combines his orcharding duties with his role as Avoco grower representative in Mid-Northland, has seen the programme strongly embraced in his area, estimating at least 90 per cent of growers are onboard in the scheme, which is mandatory for exporters.

“You pretty much have to do it from an economic perspective for the higher returns you get with export sales,” says Mark.

“It would be good to see the exporters making more of a thing about it,” argues Mark, who believes they should be using it to promote New Zealand fruit as a premium product compared to avocados from other countries.

“There does seem to be a lot of kickback at the moment with some people wondering if it’s worth it. It’s disappointing that we are not seeing a lot of extra value placed on it in some markets.”

However Mark is a firm believer in its benefit as a great pest control management tool. Within a year of changing to the AvoGreen programme, Mark and his wife Karen were seeing the benefits.

“It didn’t take long until we had the timing of the spraying right and were only doing it when we needed to.”

Over the years since fruit and tree health has consistently improved.

“The big thing for me is if you are not monitoring and are just calendar spraying, then you are going in blind.”

Prior to getting involved in IPM, Mark and Karen were simply following a calendar spray schedule, which would be boosted if concerned about seeing pests in the orchard.

“You’d see something but wouldn’t know how much more there was, so you’d end up spraying higher rates than you needed. In some cases we would be over-spraying or underspraying. It is much better to know the pest pressure and spray accordingly.”

With a strong focus on justifying any sprays they apply, the couple have been switching to softer chemical sprays.

“You would be lucky to see any birds [previously] but that’s all changed. There are lots of birds, insects and spiders webs,” says Mark, who attributes the revival of the natural ecosystem to his switch to softer sprays.

“It’s definitely not just because of the [AvoGreen] pest management tool.

“When we were using Chlorpyrifos it would really hit orchard life; you wouldn’t see anything.”

They have stopped using Malathian and the heavy organophosphate sprays, swapping instead for soft sprays.

But shifting to softer sprays has come with challenges in finding an effective insecticide to tackle thrips.

“We definitely need some good new chemistry in this area.”

Increased packout rate

Avoco marketing director and grower Alistair Young is a strong supporter of the AvoGreen programme, both in the field and the Boardroom.

Not one to tell other growers what to do, as he respects that growers have different philosophies about orchard management, Alistair says he can simply talk about the benefits he’s personally seen on his 1000 tree block in Kauri Point, Bay of Plenty.

When it comes to orchard results, Alistair emphasises that he is only talking about his own experience with AvoGreen – something he’s been happy with particularly since increasing monitoring to fortnightly three years ago.

“Since we went to fortnighty monitoring our export pack-out rate has increased 10 to 15 per cent per cent. It’s enabled us to keep on top of any pests before they become a problem.”

Alistair is planning to continue monitoring through the winter to make sure there’s no risk.

“At the end of the day its small beer compared to what you can lose.”

Market access

Reports

Early on Mark and Karen learnt how to monitor the orchard themselves, something they encourage others to do. It’s a five to six hour task for them on their 4000 tree orchard.

Overall he’s happy with the AvoGreen programme, with his only suggested improvement being to reduce the size of samples sites needed to make it more workable, particularly for bigger holdings in Northland.

From a marketing perspective, Alistair rates AvoGreen’s IPM as a major asset in gaining access to new markets.

“As part of the Avoco management we need to be extremely careful about what we apply and when so that we have full access to our markets of choice.”

Alistair saw first-hand the value placed upon AvoGreen when he was recently involved with the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) delegation visit and Indian talks, with both “looking upon it very favourably”, he says. While he believes AvoGreen is definitely helping gain access to new markets, Alistair believes the IPM is now seen as the norm.

Leafroller on fruit with major damage from Leafroller chewing.

“It’s just something they expect from New Zealand with our clean and green image.”

Avoscene July 2016

l

49

Alistair’s only quibble with AvoGreen monitoring is that the focus on ground monitoring may miss higher pest levels in the canopy.

“It would be good to get some canopy samples, but not everyone has a cherry picker.”

Packhouse perspective

Avocado grower and Seeka avocado category manager Lynnaire Avers describes the AvoGreen programme as part and parcel of being an effective grower – essential for applying any chemicals and for those intending to export.

Seeka works with Verified Lab Services (VLS) which monitors most of its orchards. Results are emailed to the growers, Lynnaire and client relationship manager Ben Tuck.

“We are available to discuss the spray options accessible to them, especially prior to harvesting their orchard.

“I encourage our growers where possible to come into Seeka Main Road to see their fruit being packed. This provides them with ability to see any damage first-hand and then we can work with them to improve their export pack-out if needed.”

Lynnaire says their growers are always receptive to advice and feedback from VLS and Seeka when it helps them improve their pack-out rate.

“They all know that it will cost them exactly the same to pick a fruit whether its export quality or a class three fruit, so they want to make sure they’re limiting any problems.”

As pest damage falls every year, Lynnaire is continuing to see improvement in Seekas growers’ export pack-outs.

Lynnaire, a grower herself, encourages orchardists to do the monitoring training even if it’s only to help them learn more about the bugs and their lifecycles.

AvoGreen in action The good, the bad and the ugly – CropCheck director Cathy Harris has seen how fruit and orchard returns vary depending on their pest management.

“There are many growers who do an amazing job of managing their orchards using the AvoGreen monitoring in their management programme, applying sprays when and if needed only, getting a pack-out of 85-plus percent for their first pick.”

Reports

Then at the other end are the growers who want to save money by not monitoring. “Therefore they’re not spraying as regularly and having massive amounts of damage to their fruit as a result of missing the critical times of the insect lifecycles.”

As a monitor, she is frustrated with these reactive growers, who often blame the AvoGreen programme for the damage.

“When in actual fact if they used it as a management tool as the first group do, they would also have clean fruit to send to the market.”

“It’s false economy trying to save on monitoring and spraying.

It may be a saving of $500 to $800 for monitoring per year and about the same for a spray - instead of losing thousands of dollars due to insect damage.”

In the past three years, as mite numbers have increased dramatically, she has seen some orchards ‘come unstuck’ by stopping monitoring over winter.

50

l

Avoscene July 2016

“Many orchards were caught unaware, only realising they had a major problem when they saw all their leaves on the ground.”

She has also seen crops devastated by thrip when growers have tried to save money by stopping monitoring from January to April. “Then when we eventually talk them into a monitor, they have such massive damage that their crop value has gone and may in some cases be worth nothing.”

Recently Cathy has also seen leafroller devastate crops when monitoring was not carried out at the right time.

Reduced pest damag e = Increased returns $$

AvoGreen monitoring provides one of the bes t pieces of intelligence a grower can receive about the ir orchard.

By receiving an early wa rning of the increasing numbers of high impact pests bre wing in their orchards, growers are able to make informed and proactive control dec isions to directly influence their export pack out.

On average, pest dam age accounts for near 30% of all fruit rejected from export.

Any grower looking at the reject rates listed on their end of sea son report will quickly see the financial returns if som e of their reject numb ers mo ved to export class.

The annual cost to un dertake AvoGreen mo nitoring will almost never amount to the significant financi al returns that can be made by selling more fruit at export pric es.

It just makes good bu siness sense.

Man plus machine – the future of orcharding Imagine that your spray contractor is automatically alerted to a pest monitoring round showing results above the spray threshold for a particular pest.

Photo: CONNEX: Event Innovations

Attendees of the Mobile TECH event in Rotorua listening to the Young Leaders panel made up of young leaders from various industries including Agriculture and Horticulture.

The contractor phones you to arrange a time to spray,

already knowing which block the monitoring occurred in, how much spray is needed, what spray options you have to maintain market access, and how much each will cost.

They can then tick a box to say that they acknowledge those hazards, and your records are automatically updated with their response. Equally, if they identify a hazard while on your orchard, they can report it on the phone and its location is logged and you are alerted.

A GPS tracker in the spray vehicle then allows you to track its progress on your phone from anywhere in the world, ensuring the spray is applied to the correct block and you know the exact time the spray was applied.

Your spray diary is automatically updated on completion of the spraying. All of this information, along with historic

Reports

That spray contractor then shows up at the gate and automatically gets a map of your orchard with the hazards identified on their phone.

monitoring, spray information, pack-out and reject analysis, is available to you and presented in such a way that allows you to see the effectiveness of your spray programme and offers suggestions for improvements tailored to your orchard and based on the success of other growers in your area.

The more data collected leads to more accurate suggestions of ways to improve, and you can share successful innovations rapidly within the industry.

Soon a reality

All this could become a reality in the not-too-distant future say NZ Avocado's research and development team members Phillip West and Danni van der Heijden, who attended the MobileTECH event at Scion in Rotorua.

The major industry event, held in March, showcased new technologies designed to increase the productivity of primary food and fibre industries and both Danni and Phillip say there was much which was relevant to the avocado industry.

Avoscene July 2016

l

51

The use of drones to map orchards and also the health of trees, apps to enhance health and safety in the orchard, “intelligent” machines, and targeted spreading of fertiliser were among the technologies which caught their attention.

“There was a lot of talk about 'The Internet of Things', which is connecting any device with an on and off switch to the internet and/or to each other,” says Danni.

For personal use this includes everything from cellphones or coffee makers to washing machines, but Danni says for avocado growers it could mean connecting anything which is working on the orchard, including tractors, sprayers and picking platforms together to “talk to each other” so operators and orchard managers know where everything is at any one time.

FarmIQ, a system which helps capture and securely store farm information to build up a reference and meet compliance requirements, was also demonstrated. It includes planning tools and benchmarking reporting is another aspect of the programme, which now includes health and safety and environment planning.

A lot of the presentations related to technology that simplified data entry and made information much easier to access in a centralised and summarised way to aid decisionmaking and compliance.

Internet availability

Reports

Phil was also impressed at the possibilities new technologies offer but says current internet and broadband availability in many rural areas, including the Far North, will limit their immediate uptake.

“There’s a cellphone app which could call for help in an emergency. The example at the conference was fitting a device to a quad bike or vehicle that alerted people remotely if it tipped over. Equally though, if a mobile phone stops moving for a set length of time, this could be used to send an alert.”

Near-infra-red reflection

“One of the most exciting aspects of the seminar was the work Ian Yule, Professor in Precision Agriculture at Massey University, is doing as part of the Pioneering to Precision PGP,” says Phil.

The $10.3 million Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme between Ravensdown and the Ministry for Primary Industries aims to improve how fertiliser is

52

l

Avoscene July 2016

applied to hill country.

The technology uses hyper spectral imaging to detect the unique signature of objects or land areas, based on a nearinfra-red reflection scanned by the sensor installed in a plane or drone.

Originally developed to help the military find things like camouflaged tanks, it can also identify different types of soils and vegetation. Professor Yule says the tool can make New Zealand agriculture more efficient, profitable and environmentally friendly.

The technology is being used to identify areas of hill country deficient in specific nutrients for the agriculture sector but could have an application in determining nutrient requirements of avocado orchards. It could allow a targeted programme based on individual blocks or trees, rather than a “blanket” programme.

More than 320 industry representatives from throughout New Zealand and Australia attended MobileTECH 2016.

Billed as an “event not for your average farmer with a passing interest in gadgets”, it attracted the very people who are shaping the technology future of the primary sector.

Keynote speakers

MobileTECH 2016 featured 36 speakers and covered topics such as rural connectivity, cloud-based platforms, automated tracking, mobile hardware, remote sensors, robotics, field capture tools, data management and satellite mapping.

Keynote Speakers included Graham Smith (CEO of Federated Farmers), Ulrich Adam (Secretary General of Belgium based CEMA), Evelyn Seewald (GM Operations and Farmer Services, Fonterra),Yasir Khokhar (Founder of Netherlands based Connecterra) and Joshua Miller (Director of US based Farmshots).

Checking in with Gisborne Danni van der Heijden, R&D Associate, NZ Avocado danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz & Brad Siebert, Biosecurity and Programme Manager, NZ Avocado brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

In April, Brad Siebert and Danni van der Heijden from New Zealand Avocado visited Riversun Nursery and growers in Gisborne to discuss avocado cultivars and the NZAGA High Health Scheme for nursery propagation.

What is the High Health Scheme?

The objectives of the avocado industry High Health Scheme (HHS) ensures plants are propagated under a nursery management system that reduces the risks of Avocado Sunblotch Viroid (ASBVd) and Phytophthora cinnamomi are minimised while also ensuring traceability and minimum physical specifications. Purchasing only certified nursery plants provides assurance that every new tree introduced onto your orchard has genetic traceability and that the nursery followed a management system based on minimising, and testing for, plant diseases.

The current review of the HHS was raised with Riversun representatives, and discussions focused on ensuring the methods to sample and test for ASBVd are both scientifically robust and achievable when dealing with a large volume of seeds sourced from right across the country. Under the

Having a programme to ensure disease-free planting material is available for growers is fundamental to any successful and sustainable horticultural industry. Growers’ decisions on where to source new planting material can make all the difference to their orchard and the industry’s future.

Why do clonal rootstocks cost more than seedlings?

Clonal rootstocks cost more due to the more arduous propagation methods involved in producing them. In order to answer the question, we were shown around one of Riversun’s nurseries. The propagation process for each of the nurseries crops (grapes, kiwifruit, avocados and persimmons) are very different. With avocado varieties, it was explained to us that although the royalty is only a few dollars, clonal rootstocks cost the grower around double the amount compared to seedling rootstocks, as it costs Riversun a lot more to produce the clonal rootstocks.

The process of growing the nurse seed, etiolation and two grafting steps require more resources and time than growing a rootstock seed and grafting the scion straight onto it.

Reports

Figure 1: Hass on Dusa trees at Riversun's avocado block, Gisborne.

HHS, nurseries have to maintain traceability of this seed while also testing all source mother trees on a regular basis.

An investigation is underway with MPI researchers at the Plant Health and Environment Laboratory and researchers from the University of California to understand sampling and testing options for end point testing using seedling material prior to grafting.

What are the benefits of clonal rootstocks?

Figure 2: Hass on Zutano trees at Riversun's avocado block, Gisborne.

Clonal trees show greater consistency than seedling trees.

When first walking into Riversun’s avocado block, we saw a visual representation of this difference in consistency. Along the drive, there is a row of Hass on Dusa next to a row of Hass on Zutano (Figure 1 & Figure 2). The Hass trees in the Dusa row all looked very similar, however those in the Zutano row differed greatly in both height and health.

Although they may be able to “turn the Zutano around” through injecting and/or other treatments, they refrain from doing this in order to show customers the difference

Avoscene July 2016

l

53

Figure 3: Avocado variety with large tear-drop shaped fruit at Taylor Orchard, Gisborne. Figure 4: Daley avocado variety at Taylor Orchard, Gisborne.

between the seedling and clonal varieties. The philosophy for the block is to ‘treat them mean’ in order to try and encourage fruit-set rather than vegetative growth (due to fruit-set issues in the Gisborne region). They do not fertilise regularly, especially with nitrogen, only when it is perceived that the trees need it. They are going to try to keep the block at the 3.5m by 5m spacing, and have them at a height where 80% of the fruit can be picked from the ground.

What other varieties are growing in Gisborne?

We visited Taylors Orchard and Avogrey Orchard where they are growing interesting scion varieties, quite different to Hass, for the local market.

Reports

The first orchard visited was owned by Linda and Greg Taylor, who purchased it in late 2015. The orchard has a new cultivar block consisting of 180 Carmen and 180 Maluma.

There were also mature trees of at least four other varieties on the orchard. One had large, tear-drop shaped fruit (Figure 3). Another, called Dayly, had large fruit-lets with extremely elongated necks which we were told would weigh 1.5kg at harvest (Figure 4). The third tree produced fruit which was highly regarded by the owners for its taste - we believed this to be Sharwil. The orchard also had a few Reed trees.

The second orchard visited was owned by David and Judi Grey. David’s father Len introduced the Hass variety to New Zealand in the 1950s and is also responsible for the importation of other varieties. On the Avogrey Orchard, there are a number of varieties including Gwen, Esther,

54

l

Avoscene July 2016

Whitsell and Sharwil. Sharwil, a variety which is commonly grown in Hawaii and is said to produce fruit of exceptional post-harvest quality, generally does not produce well in New Zealand or Australia. As this variety is favoured by the Greys, David has created his own small-scale breeding programme in order to try and develop a variety with fruit similar to the Sharwil variety, but which produces larger crops (Figure 5). In 1999, he planted a row of approximately 30 seeds collected from Sharwil trees surrounded by other varieties (including Hass and Reed). These trees are now mature and have been producing fruit for the last few years. David has observed the yields and tasted the avocados from these seedling trees before selecting a few for further evaluation.

He has taken cuttings from the selected trees and grafted these onto Zutano rootstock for further evaluation. Two varieties (GreyStar and Eclipse) have shown promising features and are under assessment for Plant Variety Rights.

Figure 5: Sharwil seedling trees (right) and grafted cuttings of these for further evaluation (left) at Avogrey Orchard, Gisborne.

Food Act 2014 impacts for new avocado growers Existing horticulture producers and processors will begin their transition to comply with the Food Act 2014 in 2018 - so what impacts will this have on new growers who have started their business on or after 1 March 2016? NZ Avocado raises this query with MPI.

The Food Act 2014 came into effect on 1 March 2016.

The transition period for existing horticulture producers and processors will begin in 2018, however new avocado growers who start their business on or after 1 March 2016 are required to comply with the requirements of the act and register their business under National Programme 1 (NP1) immediately. This excludes new growers who only sell their own fruit directly to consumers, such as at the orchard gate or at farmers’ markets. These growers are not required to register their business under NP1.

In April 2016, NZ Avocado sent a letter to MPI to communicate the issues being faced by new avocado growers attempting to register to NP1, and recommended interim recognition of existing Food Safety programmes until MPI review of existing schemes had been completed.

Key issues included: • New avocado growers are experiencing significant challenges with registering their businesses to National Programme 1 due to appropriate registration process not being in place with territorial authorities and verification agencies not being accredited by MPI to assess against NP1.

NZ Avocado, the NZ Avocado Packer Forum Inc and the New Zealand Avocado Marketers Group collectively urged

NZ Avocado has received a response from MPI regarding the impacts of the Food Act on new avocado growers. A letter from Peter Thomson, Director Plants Food and Environment at MPI, to NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular follows below. The key points from the letter are: •N ew avocado businesses may register to a National Programme without a letter from a confirmed verifier/ auditor, subject to conditions outlined in the letter •N ational Programme verification visits may be undertaken as soon as practical once a verifier becomes available • To minimise audit costs, MPI suggest that growers may be able to arrange for an auditor that has recognition by both MPI and NZGAP (or a relevant private or industry body) to enable the first audit of their business to satisfy the requirements of both programmes and not incur costs for two separate verifications. NZ Avocado is in discussion with auditors of existing food safety programmes about this.

Reports

• Duplication of audits and costs for growers registered to existing industry recognised food safety programmes such as NZ GAP, Global GAP, NZ Avocado Food Safety Programme and Avoco Food Safety and Sustainability programme.

MPI to postpone the requirement for National Programme 1 verification audit of new avocado growers who are registered to an existing, industry approved, third party audited food safety programme until the MPI review process for existing food safety programmes has been completed.

If you have any questions about the Food Act and avocado growers, please contact NZ Avocado Market Manager Bevan Jelley on bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz or call 07 571 6147.

See overleaf for letter from MPI

Avoscene July 2016

l

55

4 May 2016

Jen Scoular Chief Executive Officer NZ Avocado Growers Assn Inc PO Box 13267 TAURANGA 3110

Dear Jen,

Getting started with your template food control plan

Food Act 2014 Impacts for New Avocado Growers

Thank you for your letter, dated 19 April 2016, outlining a number of concerns you have about new avocado growers being able to comply with the requirements of the Food Act 2014, particularly in these first few months of the first transition period. We appreciate that some councils and verifiers may be more prepared for the new Act than others, and that this can cause some frustration. However, MPI is happy to assist with transition as much as possible, within the confines the Food Act 2014 places on us. Our responses to your concerns, and points raised, are as follows:

Reports

Registration Challenges: • MPI has provided a registration form template that Councils can use to register new businesses.

The registration form covers registration under either a food control plan or a national programme.

It is unlikely specific forms will be needed, or developed, specifically for National Programme 1 businesses.

If a fewuse Councils have yet to release their own forms weplan expect this will be rectified in You should a template food control if you the near future. are a: • All verification agencies and verifiers are listed here: http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/ registers-lists/auditors/index.htm • food such restaurant, takeaway, There are aservice number ofbusiness agencies that, evenas if they do not have café, a verifier based locally, provide caterer, regular servicesortohospital other areaskitchen and minimise costs of travel being on-charged to businesses.

• We are aware some new businesses are having difficulty engaging a verifier in these early months.

•Therefore food retailer that prepares manufactures sells food we have advised Councils it isoracceptable to registerand the business without– a verifier letter, subject to the following conditions: fishmongers, delis, and supermarkets. including retail butchers, o The business must engage a verifier as soon as one is available, and notify the Registration Authority as soon as this is done, and o If the initial verification cannot be done within the timeframe specified in the appropriate clause 91-93 of the Food Regulations 2015, then it must be done as soon as practical once a verifier become available.

• National Programme 1 guidelines are expected to be published very soon. However Part 2 of the Food Regulations 2015 does include the requirements National Programme businesses need to meet.

These can be viewed here: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2015/0310/latest/ DLM6684211.html#DLM6684216

Serves 1 Prep time: 10 minutes

56

l

Avoscene July 2016

Existing Food Safety Programmes: MPI has been in discussion with a number of industry organisations regarding recognition of existing industry programmes. These discussions are ongoing.

New businesses are required to register prior to the beginning of the operation, and National Programme businesses are required to renew registration every 2 years. Within 1 month of the first registration the first verification is required. New avocado growers may be able to arrange for an auditor that has recognition by both MPI and NZGAP (or their relevant private or industry standard body) to enable to first audit of their business to satisfy the requirements of both programmes and not incur costs for two verifications. If the first verification is acceptable a National Programme 1 business will need no further regulatory verifications unless issues are identified through, for example, complaints or monitoring programmes.

To change verification or registration requirements for new National Programme businesses would require a change to the legislation. The lead time for such a legislation change means that this would not occur until at least early 2017, by which time we may already have come to a conclusion with respect to recognition of industry or private standards.

Another option that could be explored is that perhaps your organisation could negotiate recognition of a regulatory verification as full or partial equivalence with the industry/private standard audit in order to reduce costs to new businesses? This may be worth exploring given industry or private standards are not subject to the same legislative constraints as the National Programme.

I am confident the difficulties you have identified for new growers are temporary and will be addressed in the coming months. Thank you again for raising these concerns with us.

Yours sincerely

Reports

Avoscene July 2016

l

57

The proven method for controlling Phytophthora

Built-in resistance for ease of measurement Low Pressure System Strong Design for use in multiple seasons UV Light Stabilised Suitable for all tree types Small syringe tip ensures minimal entry wound Easy grip handle

Call Now To Order

58

l

Avoscene July 2016

+64 7 552 0916 enquiry@coolstore.co.nz www.coolstore.co.nz

AVOQUIP

Increasing values make fruit even more tempting for criminals

By Elaine Fisher, Journalist elaine@thesun.co.nz

Record high prices and limited fruit availability in the New Zealand market has seen a heavy resurgence in avocado orchard thefts - we urge growers to be vigilant and take necessary precautions.

The high prices local market avocados are realising is making the fruit even more desirable for thieves.

“I have heard of some growers legitimately receiving $44 a tray, so it’s no wonder some people are tempted to steal fruit,” grower and NZAGA & AIC Chairman Ashby Whitehead says.

Ashby has been hit by thieves on his own orchards and has devised a number of simple methods to deter them.

“We put up a surveillance camera with a red flashing light powered by a solar panel.

“We also bought a couple of tents from The Warehouse, along with solar lights and set them up in the orchard, complete with sleeping bag so if anyone checked during the day, it would look like someone was intending to sleep there that night – or at night, would look like someone was on site.”

Another method which proved successful is a car siren attached to a 12-volt battery, in turn attached to a trip wire which, when stood on or driven over, will trigger the alarm.

“It went off at 2.30am one morning and certainly scared the thief off.”

Stolen licence plates

“Avocados are growers’ livelihood. In the past chicken and horse thieves were hung – today anyone who gets caught will be slapped over the knuckles with a wet bus ticket and get a $50 fine or 50 hours’ community work – it’s not enough to deter thieves at all.”

Grower and NZAGA & AIC director John Cotterell says consumers who know nothing about avocados don’t understand that it is a seasonal fruit and apart from small volumes of late-hanging fruit left over from the last harvest, no other fruit is ripe enough to eat until around July-August.

Reports

Ashby says there were no thefts from the orchard blocks which had the tents in them.

“Avocados are a growers livlihood. If your orchard has been hit once, do something about it, because you can be sure they’ll be back a second time,” warns Ashby.

Supermarkets only sell fruit which has undergone third party testing for dry matter and has the paperwork which shows the source of the fruit.

Growers need to be vigilant and check their orchards regularly but even getting the registration numbers of vehicles is no guarantee of identifying them.

Stolen fruit unsafe

“The registration number of one van used by thieves turned out to belong to a Mercedes car – so the thieves are even stealing licence plates to escape detection.

“Stolen fruit is not safe to eat. The only safe fruit to eat is that which has been through a packhouse and the New Zealand export system, which means it has been harvested at the

John says there is a food safety issue too in that the fruit may be stolen shortly after being sprayed.

Avoscene July 2016

l

59

correct dry matter and outside the withholding period for sprays.

“I heard of one grower who was spraying his orchard at 9pm at night and on his fifth round came upon two guys picking his fruit. When he stopped to ask them what they were doing, they took off.”

“From experience it was found that the fruit was being off-loaded, mainly to unscrupulous fruit and vege vendors who obviously were not fussed with receiving questionable fruit.”

WARNING

This year’s harvest is likely to be early to mid-July, which will be earlier than usual, but any fruit on the market before that will not have been harvested under export standard and is probably stolen.

He suggests growers who have gates on their orchards should keep them shut, or even better, locked, even during the day time.

“The would-be thieves will often rock up at any time and if someone is around they will make up an excuse for being there, but if no-one is about they will help themselves to fruit.”

This property is under 24 hour surveillance

THEFT OF AVOCADOS IS A CRIME

Reports

“Normally these thefts were committed overnight and the orchardists would find stripped trees in the morning.

Sometimes it’s only a single tree and other times multiple trees, causing great distress to the growers who rely on their crops for income.

“Last season we had around 10 to 15 orchardists report thefts of fruit in our area. The area surrounding Te Puke also had a number of thefts. A number of offenders were apprehended on occasions and eventually we managed to stem the flow of thefts.”

The offenders’ vehicles ranged from utilities and vans to normal sedans and the thieves came from far and wide, including Whitianga, Auckland, Hawke’s Bay and Rotorua.

The occasional local is caught.

Avoscene July 2016

111 Calls

“Police have had the greatest success in apprehending the criminals when orchardists have called 111 immediately upon finding thieves on the property. This has given the Police time to catch the thieves on the property or on the road after having left the scene of the crime.

Punishable by imprisonment under section 219 (Theft or stealing) of the Crimes Act 1961

Trees stripped (side head)

l

“Thieves usually already have somewhere to off-load their fruit, but at times they will go door-to-door to fruit shops trying to sell them, perhaps passing them off as coming from their own trees.”

Steve says the past two years he has noticed a greater tendency for the thieves to operate in broad daylight.

Katikati police Sergeant Steve Hindmarsh says every year there is a spate of thefts involving offenders stealing avocados from local orchards.

60

Fruit is also being sold at Auckland markets and even to restaurants.

“It is inadvisable for orchardists to try an engage directly with the thieves, as they have proven in the past that they will do anything to escape prosecution.”

In one incident an Omokoroa orchardist blocked the driveway with a vehicle so the offenders drove through the orchard and over a five metre bank to escape but crashed onto the state highway and rolled the vehicle.

“A Police dog tracked the offenders from there and they were found to be responsible for several orchard thefts in the greater Western Bay of Plenty.”

The thieves have started early this season, with several Katikati orchards being targeted in the past month. Some orchards around the lower Kamai area have also been hit, says Steve.

“Currently we are following positive leads after number plates of vehicles were recorded on three occasions.

“In one of these instances a grower pursued one of the offending vehicles all the way to Katikati, where the vehicle stopped and the driver got out and intimidated the female orchardist. Police later found the vehicle abandoned with several hundred avocados inside.

“An arrest is expected in this case due to the good information provided by the grower. Of all of the vehicle registrations recorded, all were linked to Auckland addresses and Police enquiries are continuing to apprehend the offenders.”

Steve say one orchardist recently reported about $10,000 worth of fruit taken over a two-week period.

Example of stolen fruit.

“It is not unusual for orchardists to not notice the fruit missing for days or even weeks later, which means there is a delay in reporting the matter to the Police.”

“It is highly recommended that all suspicious activity is reported to the Police. If people turn up on properties with seemingly poor excuses for being there, such as they are looking for a missing dog or they are looking for some random person, then let the Police know.

A number of offences do go unreported as the orchardists can see little point in reporting the crime after the fact, however it is useful for the Police to know where the offending is happening and when, he says.

penalties imposed.

Tough charges

“Ideally take down the registration number of the vehicle which that person may have arrived in. Don’t be afraid to discreetly take a photo of the person or their vehicle without making it too obvious what you are up to.

Traditionally apprehended thieves were charged with theft but in more recent times Police have been looking at charging offenders with burglary, in line with the new national crime recording standards which could see harsher

“Most importantly, don’t put yourselves in danger by trying to apprehend these people for the sake of some fruit. It’s not worth getting hurt over,” says Steve.

Reports

Avoscene July 2016

l

61

A day in the life of the world’s most popular fruit NZ Avocado Industry Day

By Midge Munro, Communications Manager, NZ Avocado midge.munro@nzavocado.co.nz

The NZ Avocado Industry Day was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our industry to the stakeholders we are connected to and do business with. It was great to be able to provide an insight into our thriving industry and illustrate why avocados have become the world’s most popular fruit.

Avocados are becoming one of the world’s most popular

fruits as celebrity endorsement, growing awareness of its health benefits and its ability to fit into popular diets propels sales.

A popular American fashion blogger last year announced that avocados are the “Oprah” of Instagram, summarizing the surge in popularity of avocado toast in America and its massive share of voice in the food space online. Pinterest, the mood board social site, stated that avocado is by far the most “pinned” food ingredient among its users.

This growing popularity among consumers and the success of the avocado industry in New Zealand is a compelling story and was shared with guests at the NZ Avocado Industry Day held 27 April at Mills Reef Winery in Tauranga.

NZAGA & AIC Vice Chair Tony Ponder opened the day, which included 30 invitees from the banking sector, accounting firms, other product groups, science and innovation groups and people from Bay of Plenty businesses.

Reports

NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular, Avoco Marketing Director Alistair Young and NZ Avocado R&D Manager Marisa Till presented the industry’s successes, export story, and key research being undertaken.

“We wanted to share the New Zealand avocado story with those businesses that might not have the opportunity to understand avocados firsthand but who are indirectly involved with the industry through their clients or activities,” says Jen Scoular.

62

l

https://www.instagram.com/manrepeller/

“We love the avocado industry and are passionate about sharing what we can with new growers and those interested in knowing more,” says Sandy Imlig.

Jen Scoular shared the incredible story of how the industry has developed over the past five years and the impact that the Primary Growth Partnership has had only two years in.

“Avocados are trending. We see them across the internet, in our foodie magazines, on Nigella Lawson’s cooking show and we are now seeing huge investment from growers developing large commercial orchards, even converting dairy land for this purpose.”

Along with presentations given at Mills Reef we took the group to an orchard in Omanawa, Lower Kaimai, where attendees got to speak directly with growers about their business.

“We have a vibrant and successful New Zealand market which I was once told would never be any more than a 20-million-dollar market. Through public relations, television promotions, in-store tastings, and collaboration and communication of the suppliers, this market hit 30 million dollars in 2012-13 and this year we have broken the record at 41 million dollars,” said Jen.

Orchard gate returns is always a hot topic and Bay of Plenty growers Franz and Sandy Imlig were on hand to share their experience of the highs, lows, costs and returns of being involved in the avocado industry.

“Our industry strategy is to recognise Australia as a hugely valuable market but also to develop Asian markets. Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are our major Asian markets. We now have marketing material developed in

Avoscene July 2016

local languages, and consumer research and insights about how to position New Zealand avocados in these markets.”

Alistair Young, Marketing Director for Avoco, presented the export side of the industry, showing New Zealand’s place in the world of avocado supply.

“New Zealand is two percent of global supply of avocados but we are the ninth largest exporter,” said Alistair.

Alistair shared the stunning consumption statistics from the USA showing that Americans consume twice New Zealand’s annual crop in one day during the Superbowl.

“The rise and rise of the avocado in the world’s largest market [USA] is extraordinary. Australia, our largest export market, is following this trend, showing huge and growing demand, even with the record prices last season where we saw avocados going for as much as eight dollars per piece.”

New Zealand has a significant opportunity in Asia for the supply of healthy, safe and high quality fruit.

“We may be a small producer but we are good at what we do, we are a nation of exporters and we have processes in place that ensure a quality product is delivered to discerning consumers in Asia.”

The avocado industry promotes best practice from orchard to consumer – which means best practice growing methods, setting mandatory industry timelines and systems, strict adherence to import standards in regards to food safety and phytosanitary requirements.

Kate Longman of NZKGI tweeted from the event: “18-month old fruit and new season fruit on the tree at the same time, I am enlightened”.

Marisa also shared a video about the amazing avocado flowering phenomenon where the avocado flower opens one morning as a male then closes after a few hours and opens the next morning as a female flower.

“The avocado is interesting in that the flower has both female and male organs, there is no other plant quite like it,” said Marisa.

NZ Avocado’s R&D programme takes a collaborative approach involving growers, technical advisors and Plant & Food Research to deliver a programme that aims to increase productivity to 12 tonnes per hectare and reduce the impacts of irregular bearing by 2023.

The industry has also just embarked on research to understand the nutritional makeup of a New Zealand Hass avocado.

“We may find something that makes our avocados unique from avocados grown in other parts of the world,” said Marisa.

Reports

Marisa Till, NZ Avocado’s R&D Manager, shared details of the industry’s R&D programme but first went back to basics for the group explaining the two-year growth cycle of the tree and its unique flowering.

Tauranga Industry Day attendees were treated to an avocado orchard tour on Franz and Sandy Imligs lower Kaimai orchard.

Industry day guests then had the opportunity to take a look at Springfield Orchard, the avocado orchard of Franz and Sandy Imlig located in Omanawa in the Bay of Plenty.

“We are in the middle of some quite major pruning; you can see the before, during and after effects of this management practice throughout our orchard. We are pruning to bring down the height of the trees which reduces picking costs and also pruning to get more light into the trees to increase productivity,” explained Franz Imlig during a walk through his orchard with the group.

The management regime of Springfield Orchard was discussed freely with industry day guests, who were also very taken with the aesthetics of the orchard.

Sandy keeps a “home tree” which is 30 years old and huge.

Avoscene July 2016

l

63

Franz says that Sandy won’t let him apply the same pruning techniques to it as have been used in the rest of the orchard.

It is a majestic example on the edge of their lawn which showed the guests the height potential of the avocado tree if left unpruned and also the difficulty of picking fruit at the ten metre height extremity.

“This event is our opportunity to invite other businesses and industries to spend a day immersed in avocados – we even had an avocado themed lunch where everything from the starter to the dessert contained avocado, showcasing its amazing versatility,” say Jen.

Reports

The event is in its second year and was extended to a session in Wellington which was held in late May.

64

l

Avoscene July 2016

Tauranga Industry day attendees hearing from Avoco marketing director Alistair Young about the 'insatiable global demand' for avocados.

Newcomers enjoying orcharding

By Elaine Fisher, Journalist elaine@thesun.co.nz

Purchasing an avocado orchard has brought a welcome lifestyle change for new growers Peter and Kathy Hareb.

As newcomers to the industry, Peter and Kathy Hareb value the advice and guidance of Daniel Birnie, avocado manager with Trevelyan’s (left front).

If he had known how enjoyable avocado orcharding is, Peter He and wife Kathy bought a 2.11 hectare avocado orchard near Paengaroa in September last year.

“We knew virtually nothing about avocado growing but when this orchard, just up the road from our lifestyle block, came on the market, I said, on a whim, to Peter – let’s buy it,” says Kathy.

Both she and Peter are quickly bringing themselves up to speed with growing the fruit and the industry, tapping into a networks of friends and family with appropriate skills and knowledge.

Key among that network is Daniel Birnie, avocado manager with Trevelyan’s, who had managed the orchard for the previous owners with most of the on-orchard work being subcontracted to David Wills.

Reports

Hareb probably would have got into it sooner.

“When I first met Kathy and Peter I thought they might need quite a bit of help but I quickly figured out they had the skills and knowledge to do a lot themselves, with a bit of guidance,” says Daniel.

Gas pipelines and stock trucks

The Harebs’ backgrounds have little in common with orcharding. Kathy has been driving stock trucks for more than 13 years, a job she absolutely loves, and Peter has been a pipeline mechanical technician for 31 years, looking after the high pressure pipelines in the Gisborne, Taupo and the Bay of Plenty areas.

The couple own a 10 acre lifestyle block near Paengaroa and lease some neighbouring farmland to graze beef cattle.

The orchard they bought has 239 trees, planted in the late 1990s to early 2000. The planted land is generally flat, with the Mangorewa River at its furthest boundary. An area of

Avoscene July 2016

l

65

steeper land beyond a shelterbelt row has the potential to be contoured and planted in avocados too, says Peter.

Before embarking on expansion however, the couple are concentrating on learning all they can and managing the trees through to harvest 2016-17.

Daniel says during the time Trevelyan’s was managing the orchard for the previous owners, he decided to strap several of the trees with truck tie-down straps to stop limbs breaking off.

“It’s worked well. We bought 40 straps at total cost of around $1000 and they proved their worth because just one of the trees which would otherwise have lost a limb and fruit, went on to produce $1000 worth of avocados.”

Guiding markers

Kathy likes the idea: “The straps are much kinder on the trees than other forms of support, as they don’t damage the bark.”

It’s the park-like appearance and feel of the orchard which most appeals to Peter.

“I just love being in here. It’s so peaceful.” That’s despite the fact he’s inclined to get lost in the maze of trees.

Reports

Peter’s solution? He’s installed numbered white plastic marker pegs next to each tree, which will be used to record the performance of the trees on a data base, but also serve as a guide back to the orchard gate.

Peter and Kathy have mulched all the prunings previously spread under the trees and intend to buy a mulcher.

Plastic markers help Peter Hareb keep track of individual tree performance – and when navigating the maze of the orchard.

“I like the orchard to look neat and tidy,” says Peter, who also does the orchard mowing.

Beehive locations

The trees are in good health, thanks largely to the injections of phytophthora treatment and pruning programme carried out by David Wills.

Kathy and Peter have consulted Jonathan Cutting for fertiliser recommendations and tree health, applying fertiliser by hand to each tree. Irrigation is installed, using water from a bore, but so far it has seldom been required and the orchard is not prone to frosts.

Kathy plans to have beehives placed in at least two different parts of the orchard this year.

“They were all in one place last year and I know bees don’t like to fly too far, so I think having them in more than once place is a good idea.”

Under Trevelyan’s management, several trees have been supported with straps to stop limbs breaking.

66

l

Avoscene July 2016

In their first harvest last season, the couple’s orchard

produced 61 bins, which equates to 9.8 tonnes per hectare.

The average fruit size was 24, and the export pack-out 75.47 per cent.

Orchard Performance Graph

The orchard’s average production for the past five years is 17 tonnes per hectare of count 23.8 size fruit and in most years it has produced above the industry average.

Big crops

Its highest year in five years was 2013 with a crop of 34 tonnes per hectare and an 84.23 per cent pack-out.

The orchard is on track for another big harvest performance this season. Plans are to carry out the first pick in late December, January and a further later pick for local market.

Kathy and Peter regard the orchard as part of their retirement fund and a business they can continue to be involved in when they give up their current day jobs.

“It’s also a great place for our family – the grandkids love coming here,” says Kathy.

The Hareb orchard is on track for another big harvest performance this season.

ATP

ALL TERRAIN PLATFORM

CONTACT DETAIL +64 (0)7 5490766 info@allterrainplatforms.com www.allterrainplatforms.com

Ph: +64 (0)7 5490766 Email: info@allterrainplatforms.com Web: www.allterrainplatforms.com

Reports

Ph: Email: Web:

Operational rating 25 degrees (47%)

Avoscene July 2016

l

67

Avocados are the perfect pregnancy food, according to science

Nourish

Avocados have long been heralded as the answer to everything, from smooth skin to supple nails, good hair, a healthy lifestyle and more. Just when you thought they couldn't get any better for you, according to a new study avocados are a must-eat for pregnant women.

Packed with minerals, antioxidants, dietary fibre and

vitamins, they are a great natural source of folate, a B vitamin known to help prevent birth defects when taken during pregnancy.

While avocados don’t typically have a place in a traditional Mediterranean diet, the report argues that they fit well and comply with the restraints of such a diet, giving people necessary vitamins and anti-oxidants.

The new research, which is part of a broader effort to overhaul nutrition guidelines for pregnant women and children under two years old, examined previous research.

The researchers admitted that avocado needs to be studied further to determine if it should be directly included in the USDA food recommendations.

This research suggested that avocados in particular are a 'unique nutrition source for pregnant and lactating women and, thus, should be considered for inclusion in future dietary recommendations for expecting and new mothers’.

However, researchers have said: ‘Avocados offer a range of beneficial nutrients that can make a substantial contribution to a nutrient-rich diet when offered as a staple food for the periconceptional period, as well as during pregnancy and lactation.’

The study, published in Nutrients, finds that avocados work well in both low-glycemic and Mediterranean-style diets, which are known to be antioxidant-rich and to contain what are often called ‘good’ fats.

Turns out sometimes your taste buds really do know best.

For more on this study, visit http://www.mdpi.com/20726643/8/5/313/htm

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3612279/Avocados-perfect-pregnancy-food-according-science.html

68

l

Avoscene July 2016

Recipe

Avocado brownie Recipe by Glenda Goldsbury, Little Fish Catering

Note: If you like a bit of spice, add 1 teaspoon of chilli powder to the dry ingredients.

Method 1 Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2 Butter and flour a 23 x 33cm pan.

3 In a medium size bowl combine salt, flour, cocoa powder and cinnamon.

4 In a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter until smooth, add pureed avocado and stir until completely combined.

5 Turn off heat and add white and brown sugar, stir until combined.

6 Remove bowl from double boiler and cool to room temperature.

7 Add 3 eggs, vanilla, and stir until combined.

8 Add remaining eggs and stir until combined.

9 Slowly fold in dry ingredients.

10 Pour into prepared pan and spread out evenly.

11 Bake for approximately 30 minutes.

Avoscene July 2016

Nourish

Ingredients 1 pinch of sea salt 1 1/4 cup flour 2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder ½ teaspoon cinnamon 10 ounces dark chocolate chips 4 ozs of butter 1 ripe large avocado pitted and pureed 1 1/2 cups white sugar 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 5 eggs, divided 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

l

69

Out and about

Sandy and Franz Imlig and Dave Flett sharing their experiences as avocado growers to new and potential avocado growers at the information evening held at the NZ Avocado offices in June.

Danni van der Heijden assessing Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower of the Year competitor Nikesh Gurung for NZ Avocado’s tree assessment challenge.

Out & About

Members of the Whangarei avocado growers newbie group discussed new cultivars at one of the new cultivar trial orchards at their meeting recently.

70

l

Avoscene July 2016

NZ Avocado’s Midge Munro, Danni van der Heijden, Jodi Senior and Phillip West at the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition where they ran an avocado tree assessment challenge for the competitors.

Various Government organisations and other industry body representatives attended the Wellington Industry day at the end of May.

NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular with news presenter Mike McRoberts who was the MC at the Summerfruit conference dinner in June.

JAPAN

PACIFIC ISLANDS

HONG KONG TAIWAN

MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE THAILAND AUSTRALIA

YOUR CROP WILL TRAVEL FAR AND WIDE

programmes

CONTACT US

Avoscene July 2016

l

71

SMILES FOR MILES Chances are you’ve seen Apata truck driver Shaun Sievers on the road. Shaun’s job is to make sure our bins are always exactly where they need to be, and that means Shaun is on the move; a lot. It also means Shaun has to work long, unsociable hours and has zero room for making mistakes or being late.

With the weight of that responsibility Shaun could be forgiven for being a bit grumpy, but somehow he just keeps on moving the bins like clockwork, and he keeps on smiling. In our eyes that makes Shaun a hero.

If you see Shaun on the road, give him a toot or a wave and enjoy a beaming smile coming back your way.

72

l

Avoscene July 2016