Avoscene March 2014

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

Inside this Issue

MARCH 2014

• Australian market rewards industry • New research into the effect of avocado on weight management ®

• All-market access and AvoGreen compliance topAvoscene of checklist March 2014 l

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Avoscene March 2014

Directors Bay of Plenty Ashby Whitehead NZAGA & AIC Chair Ph 07 573 6680 m. 027 283 2192 alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz Far North Ian Fulton Ph 09 406 8808 ian.fulton@clear.net.nz Mid North Sue Culham m. 021 771 686 sculham@xtra.co.nz At Large Roger Barber Ph 09 435 0785 m. 021 488 124 barbers@ihug.co.nz John Cotterell Ph 07 549 3395 m. 0274 513 138 jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz John Schnackenberg Ph 07 549 0717 m. 021 731 437 jschnack@ihug.co.nz Tony Ponder NZAGA Vice Chair Ph 07 552 4223 m. 0274 733 712 tony@flaxmillavocado.co.nz

Contents Comment Chair’s comment CEO’s comment Grower’s comment Packer’s comment Exporter’s comment New Zealand Marketer’s comment Organic Grower’s comment

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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

Newsroom

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For advertising contact: Suzy King at Sun Media Ltd email suzy@thesun.co.nz

Market development India Market focus Australia NZ promotions update

Rest of NZ David French Ph 09 238 3359 m. 0274 375 315 famille@ps.gen.nz Export Directors Alistair Young, Andrew Darling

Avoscene Advertising & Editorial Avoscene is published by New Zealand Avocado

Design and production: Kym Johnson, Sun Media Ltd email kym@thesun.co.nz Printed at: Kale Print

Markets 25 26 28

Technical

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

R&D Programme Irregular bearing, flower & fruit pruning AvoGreen compliance

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Reports Avocentric - Terry & Lynley Davies

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Nourish Cover: Olivia Lacey serving up avocado treats at Countdown Queensgate in Wellington.

Avocado aids weight management Avocado, lime and coconut cheesecake

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Avoscene March 2014

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MARKETING THE BEST

AVOCADOS IN NEW ZEALAND AND AROUND THE WORLD

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JARROD REDWOOD Avocado Program Manager P +64 9 573 8581 M +64 27 200 0295 E jredwood@freshmax.co.nz

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

RODGER BAYLY Export Marketing 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 March 2014

Comment

By Ashby Whitehead Chair, NZAGA & AIC alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz

Rewards for a job well done It has been a great season and a welcome reward after the challenges faced in the last few seasons.

We have been given some respite and a chance to replenish our enthusiasm (and our bank accounts). The challenge of the coming season will be upon us quickly and I believe that the lessons learned and the planning achieved thus far has positioned our industry well to make the most of the volumes on the horizon.

Queensland Fruit Fly I would like to remind growers of the importance of biosecurity – which is the protection of our borders, of our industry, of your orchard and livelihood.

As you will be aware, the recent Queensland Fruit Fly find had people on tenterhooks, with the export season still underway. Thanks must go to MPI for its diligent work during this situation. It does prove that when there is a pest find, the system does work.

However being vigilant all of the time is of utmost importance, as an incursion can so quickly be the undoing of the entire horticulture industry.

Seasonal roundup Thanks to growers, packers and marketers for the excellent work that has been done throughout the season; keeping to flow plans and working collaboratively together. The strength of this cooperation is reflected in the OGR growers will receive. Overall, fruit quality has been excellent, that’s all directly related to fruit age and fruit moving through the market quickly.

Next season our fruit will need to travel longer distances and the need to protect the fruit against rots is imperative. With fruit being marketed in more countries, it is vital growers are aware of the withholding periods attached to their choice of chemistry.

I would also like to draw growers’ attention to the need to have a close relationship with your picking contractors and packing facilities. With the projected large crop next season, it is important to make sure that your fruit is able to be harvested within the allotted timeframes during the export season.

Availability of picking machinery will be a challenge, so if you had thoughts of purchasing equipment, I would recommend you look at it sooner rather than later.

New Zealand I would like to take this opportunity to mention the excellent work coordinated

by Bevan Jelley at New Zealand Avocado in the New Zealand market sector. Bevan has been able to work collaboratively with the marketers to regularly forecast volumes and help marketers plan flows to market accordingly. This in turn increases the overall category value, which bodes well for the coming season with an increase in consumption.

But we need to be mindful and try to get more of our fruit in an export tray to keep the supply to the New Zealand market at a manageable volume.

The industry responded well over the Christmas period to increased volumes in the market and NZ Avocado put a promotion plan together which helped to increase visability and demand for our

avocados.

The benefit of having a dedicated person attending to the New Zealand market is paying dividends for all.

Industry compliance Growers should be aware of their responsibilities to meet the market requirements.

All of the industry compliance requirements are driven by the customers; therefore, we must meet these requirements to successfully market our fruit in offshore markets. It is very disappointing when growers don’t meet those requirements and miss out on the benefits. This includes AvoGreen®, withholding periods and gap compliance, i.e. New Zealand GAP etc.

Spray diaries are an integral part of the system and must be maintained in a timely manner to facilitate this process.

Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) The team in the office has been working extremely well in developing the New Zealand Avocados Go Global Business Plan and I would like to extend my thanks to Jen and the team for going above and beyond the call of duty on the growers’ behalf to complete this task.

By the time you read this article, Jen will have presented our case to the PGP Investment Advisory Panel and hopefully good news will following this.

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Comment

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

Good planning and disciplined execution Good planning and disciplined execution has resulted in excellent returns in both the export markets and the New Zealand market. Those excellent returns should be enjoyed across the many stakeholders of the industry, and we should celebrate the joint efforts that have produced those results.

The Australian market has had great demand, and you and your exporters have supplied a consistently high quality product to meet that demand.

Thailand has been the surprise market for New Zealand avocados this season, after phytosanitary changes prevented Australia being able to export to Thailand.

In the New Zealand market, marketers have forecast, discussed and delivered planned volumes. A strong promotional campaign was kicked in, on the back of feedback from marketers about challenges during Christmas and New Year – and suddenly we saw our New Zealand avocado ambassador Nadia Lim promoting “Summer’s Super Fruit” in newspapers and magazines across New Zealand. In one magazine in January we counted 23 references to avocados – very few of which we had specifically paid for – avocados are rightly being included as the “partner” product for Vogels and Bürgen breads, for Huntley and Palmer crackers, for smoothie makers. It’s great that visibility is going well beyond the areas we directly push.

We are also seeing real evidence of a large crop for next season, particularly in the Bay of Plenty. This will mean we all need to start planning to optimise value in a big year.

Growers, the message delivered by exporters at the AVEC meeting in February was very clear: make sure your fruit has all-market access.

Alistair reiterates this in his comment on page 12. Review your orchard plan, talk to your exporter, and your contractor if you use them, about a spray plan that means your fruit can go to all markets. A huge crop adds challenge to the supply chain. Maximise your opportunity and avoid some of that challenge by ensuring your fruit can be exported to all markets.

We are already planning for 2014-15 and have a great team in place to support the

industry. Our efforts are enhanced with our collaborations with Plant & Food Research and, we hope, with the external funding we are seeking.

We’ve welcomed two new team members, Michael Gray and Phillip West. Please read their profiles in the New Faces section on page 21. We still have one vacancy and are recruiting now for a Programme Manager, a role combining a technical role, with a role managing funding programmes such as MBIE and PGP (if we are successful with that) and biosecurity.

The team collectively has had a very busy start to the year; getting a re-written Primary Growth Partnership business plan finalised.

Bevan personally delivered 15 copies to MPI for the Investment Advisory Panel, and we will present our case to them at a meeting in March. I keep hearing those lyrics: “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I must now have a very strong team!

The New Zealand Avocados Go Global business case seeks to quadruple sales and triple productivity by 2023 in a cross-industry proposal to develop high-value markets in Asia and develop and utilise research to drive productivity. Developing our plan has required considerable time from the Board and from exporters and I thank them for that contribution and acknowledge the commitment from them and from other coinvestors. We won’t get an outcome for a few months, but as I’ve said before, the exercise of brainstorming, reviewing, discussing, and assessing different opportunities for the industry, then documenting them into a business case has been a valuable exercise in its own right.

As you get your final returns from marketers, I do encourage you to have a look at the orchard gate return template we developed, at

grower request, to enable “apples for apples” comparisons to be made across the industry.

We have also encouraged exporters and packers to use the template, and will provide support for a pool to report OGR calculations using that template. Do phone us if you’d like to find out more and see the template on the industry website under Resources then OGR Templates.

The first of the MBIE-funded Plant & Food Research trials started in late December 2013, Alvaro and Phillip report on that on page 31. It is exciting to have additional funds and experts involved in our industry. Alvaro has also described the R&D programme approved by the Board in 2013. The big change in my view is the participation in all of the research of growers, experts, innovation leaders and rural professionals. You’ll see those terms being used going forward. Innovation leaders are hugely important to us all – wanting and willing to try new innovative ways of doing things on orchard. Rural professionals include consultants, contractors and industry stakeholders, again, hugely important across the industry for their knowledge, skills and opinions, and people we want to include in our research, in our discussions, in the development of best practice.

We already have great support across our industry and I would like to say thank you to those who supported our trials, field days and events, as sponsors, experts, and participants.

Going forward we look forward to wider participation and support – let’s utilise the strength of our industry players to strengthen the whole industry.

I get a real feeling that we are all moving that little bit faster, with a bit more energy and positively enjoying the successes across the industry. It does feel like we are all heading in the same direction, and that feels very good.

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Grower comments AT LARGE

To book advertising space in the next issue of Avoscene please contact Suzy King.

Booking deadline for next issue is May 6th, 2014.

Contact Rose on 07 578 0030 or email suzy@thesun.co.nz

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Emil y Taur Katu, 7 anga and Isab havi ng fun ella Raw at the lison Avocado , 7 from Festival.

His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Governor General Honourable Sir of New Zealand at Andrew and Maria Jerry Mateparae GNZM, QSO, Watchorn’s orchard, Omokoroa.

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Inside this issue • The Commod ity Levy for avocado • Strategy to s improve quality • Roadmap to exporter contract s

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Expo l EM rt seas • Ev S subm on in alua revi iss l

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By Tony Ponder

17 February 2014 A time for cautious optimism?

As our commercial partners close out the export season, those of us who have been fortunate to submit fruit will receive outstanding returns per tray and, depending on your individual productivity, some stellar OGR results are expected. Now some might be quick to say “hey, that’s just supply and demand” and there’s an element of truth in that but these things don’t happen entirely by accident. You have to make the investment, plan, leverage the scale and execute effectively to take advantage of the opportunity and optimise the return.

Are we making inroads into building sustainable value? And what can we as growers, the key stakeholders, do to maintain the momentum?

Those of us who have been growing avocados for a while all appreciate that it’s not for the faint-hearted. Yes, the lifestyle is often very rewarding and there’s something quite satisfying in producing food of high quality for the international markets but the reality is there is so much that influences and challenges our return on investment beyond the orchard gate, much of which we have no ability to directly control.

The trick, I feel, is to stay engaged, build a depth of knowledge about the industry value chain and contribute to the development of strategy and good policy across the supply chain that allows us to actively manage the variables to appreciate outcomes which mitigate risk.

Resounding support by growers for commercial collaboration and the formation of several commercial industry alliances, combined with a shift in attitude by organisational leadership from a competitive to a more collaborative model, has created a very solid platform to add value as global avocado production will influence our future export market mix.

Many of us are fortunate to have set a very respectable crop again for the coming year; we are more actively adapting our management practices to smooth out cropping prospects from one year to the next.

tony@flaxmillavocado.co.nz

I expect we won’t all get it right and I doubt that there is one technique that fits all. In my mind there’s a conscious shift in thinking, an appreciation that it won’t happen by accident and we all need to experiment, innovate and be prepared to share information across the growing regions to strengthen our collective capability and ultimately our financial prosperity.

The NZAGA Five year plan is simple in its objective of assisting growers to achieve a sustainable and profitable return on their investment and it is great to see the NZAGA investments being leveraged across the industry as we together aspire to achieve this ultimate goal.

The New Zealand Avocado team will present the final case for a Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) in March. The security of this Crown investment provides a real opportunity to resource our industry to realise a number of the key strategies that underpin the transformation of the avocado industry in New Zealand. While I am optimistic of a favourable outcome, successful or not, the PGP process has been a very productive and valuable exercise in itself.

It has focussed industry thinking, brought elements of the supply chain community together and created a platform for industry progression. Without PGP support things will happen but clearly at a slower pace and limited by our individual appetite and capability for investment through the industry levy funding mechanism.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is supporting the industry to progress our market access strategies and will confirm avocado as the priority product negotiating access during the March bilateral negotiations with China. Sales growth continues in the key SE Asian markets and the first avocado shipments to India signalled the start of building value from this vast new market.

The prospect of increasing interest rates, difficult exchange rates and the obvious uncertainty at this time about how the market dynamics will affect returns in the coming year keep us grounded and realistic in our thinking and expectations for the year ahead.

Things are moving in the right direction – let’s keep the momentum going in 2014.

Comment

News and views from your NZAGA representatives MID NORTH

By Sue Culham

11 February 2014 As I arrived back in New Zealand from my Christmas holidays, knowing that my orchard and many in the Mid North Region had great pollination in October, I held my breath when we were warned of impending Cyclone Ian. After devastating the Islands of Tonga on 12 January 2014, Cyclone Ian was headed to the North Island of New Zealand but thankfully fizzed out with just some strong winds experienced and no damage to our trees or crops.

Then we had the news that a Queensland Fruit Fly had found its way into a trap in the Whangarei Area. But with no more QFFs found and the horticulture sector and community of Whangarei rallying around to support MPI with the ‘Controlled Zone’, this devastating pest has hopefully had its last glimpse of my region and New Zealand as a whole!

It’s a timely reminder of how important biosecurity is in our country and how with the find of one pest it can so easily devastate our $4 billion horticulture industry; it certainly brings GIA discussions to the forefront.

Pruning has been the topic of many

AT LARGE

industry discussions recently. With the on-orchard pruning trials held throughout the regions with a varied size of trees and now with funding through MBIE, the industry has been able to hold workshops such as ‘Pruning now and irregular bearing’ in the BOP region. With all the information that the industry is collating from growers, consultants, scientists and industry participants, we should certainly be on our way to have some data available to all stakeholders in the near future. If you haven’t already, take a look at the articles on nzavocado.co.nz/industry about these field days. I certainly found them an interesting read/watch. Can we apply it to our orchards? Do we need to hold a field day in our region?

The Mid North Region discussion group welcomed Alan & Susie Hedge to Dennis and Bev Rowe’s property, on 10 February.

Alan had used his pruning methods on Dennis and Bev’s orchard in April 2013 and discussed with us the methodology behind his strategy. I was rather impressed at this rejuvenating process. Dennis and Bev’s trees certainly have good flush growing and they should see fruit next season.

I have trees in the industry pruning trial and the approach taken with my trees certainly is different but as my trees are not

By John Cotterell

8 February 2014 As I sit in my home office watching the rain coming down (67mm in the last 24 hours) and thinking about the current export avocado season that is starting to wind down, the saying that we never get two seasons the same seems to be correct once again. Anyone that has exported avocados this season will be very happy with their returns. This season has almost been the perfect storm for most avocado growers; with record returns from Asia and Australia, export pack-outs at record highs and the New Zealand market returning very good values. It is a good time to put

some funds away for a rainy day.

Most picking contractors will be looking forward to having some downtime, as they have been under severe pressure to get all export crops picked before the season closes. As an industry we growers need to consider utilising the picking equipment available more efficiently.

The coming season looks to be much bigger in volume, with the Whangarei area setting a massive crop after an off-year for most of those growers this season. From what I have seen in the Bay there are some massive sets and lots of trees struggling to push flush. Growers will be tested to manage these crop loads and to set a return crop. Along with these heavy crop loads comes the pest pressure encouraged by all

sculham@xtra.co.nz

at the size where they require rejuvenating (I am managing mine through regular pruning), it undoubtedly is something the industry should look to take on board and give growers a choice when pruning. I felt he is certainly onto something if you have larger trees in your orchard.

On our orchards; set fruit should be sizing well, and if you do have a heavy crop you will be experiencing the ‘drop’. Make sure your trees have the right amount of nutrients and water.

We have had a very dry summer in the region and we need to make sure our tensiometers in the ground are not drying out and by getting water on (if you have irrigation) this will help to size the fruit. If you don’t have irrigation, ensure you don’t add more fertiliser as this could lead to root burn.

It’s also the time of the year to get your root tests taken for Phytophthora root rot control. If you do need to inject or foliar spray make sure the summer flush has hardened off. Injecting should take place late February/early March.

As I write this article, submissions for EMS and the survey for Horticulture NZ should have been completed. These are important processes for all stakeholders to have their say in industry policies moving forward. jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz

that touching fruit.

Look at spraying as an investment, and not a cost, and responding promptly to the information your AvoGreen® monitoring is providing you with will mean you get a much cleaner crop, which will pay off with higher packouts. It also gives you and your exporter more options in terms of market access and when you do the sums, it’s a nobrainer; the spend on regular monitoring and responding with spray as a percentage of the approximate value of your crop.

I attended the first pruning trial day in December at the Grayling’s orchard in Katikati; there was a big turnout of over 120 growers. Good to see some of the trial work for the MBIE-funded PFR programme getting started.

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Comment

By Hugh Moore NZAPF Executive hugh@kauripak.co.nz

Compliance benefits industry Complacency over chemical choice and pest monitoring is unacceptable in this industry.

Taking control of the situation and ensuring your fruit is compliant and available to be marketed to whichever customer demands is essential practice for those who are serious about their avocado business.

The 2013-14 packing season is the second largest to date. The season has been long, starting in early September and likely to finish early in March. The issue packers have had to grapple with has been small fruit which takes more time to process and puts pressure on everyone from pickers to packing staff.

Most sheds (except those in Whangarei) have had a more economic season with greater volumes to pack, which means overheads are spread over many more trays and will go some way to half fill the glass that has been emptied by the last two low volume seasons.

One of the problems we have had to contend with this season is trying to get enough product that is clear for all markets. Orders for Asia, particularly Malaysia and Thailand, have been sent short as we were unable to source enough compliant growers.

It’s not hard to work out that next season will be a marketing disaster if growers put their exporters in the position of not being able to supply these markets, particularly if the large Australian crop comes to fruition. We will be relying on Asia to take more volume during what will be our industry’s largest ever crop.

I urge you: do not leave your chemical choice to your spraying contractor, or your pest monitoring service! They may have an understanding of what is needed to combat specific pests but they are not marketing your fruit, and they do not know your picking schedules. Some contractors may argue that they do not carry your chemical of choice as it is more expensive.

Chemical choice is a very complex subject which takes up a large amount of my time each day, responding to our clients’ pest monitoring results, especially during the marketing season. Please do not limit yourselves as growers to only the older chemicals because they are cheaper.

I don’t have all of the answers but I do think it’s time that exporters take a leaf out Zespri’s book and gave an incentive to growers that use the correct chemicals at the right time.

This would allow packers to check spray diaries and meet our exporter’s orders. Packing for multiple markets is complex enough without having to sieve through dozens of grower lines before we can pack one that meets Korea, Thailand, Singapore or Malaysian markets.

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By Alistair Young Export Director, AIC & Chair, AVEC alistair@southernproduce.co.nz

All market ac A real effort from the industry to work together has produced a great outcome in the 2013-14 season. But this is horticulture where things change all the time and nature demands that we meet its challenges. Ensuring all-market access for your fruit is vital for 2014-15. We’ll need your support to enable more options for the placement of a potential 5 million tray crop.

Summing-up the season The 2013 season is all but done and exports will potentially break through 3 million trays. This season will be remembered for its returns and for the fruit quality.

The high orchard gate returns (OGRs) from the Australian market were brought about by three main drivers: a low volume Western Australian crop, a high consumer demand for avocados, and sensible flow planning by New Zealand.

Well done exporters, packers and growers, who all harvested to a flow plan and kept our markets supplied with fresh, top quality fruit.

What’s next for 2014-15?

The 2014-15 season will be a completely different scenario and as an industry it’s time to get prepared for it.

The Asian and Japanese markets will see a larger effort from New Zealand, but we need to be very aware that we’re not the only industry targeting the growth opportunities in Asia. Australia is growing its export markets and Asia is closer to them than it is to us.

New Zealand must do a competitive job of servicing those emerging markets. This doesn’t just mean good marketing skills; it means growing crops that can be exported to these customers when they want them. As exporters we constantly battle the limitations of Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) and spray withholding periods.

We cannot ship avocados to Asia if they are restricted by a chemical application of some kind. The reality is if we

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It’s too early to predict an outcome, but I have some confidence that the effort New Zealand hasComment put into supplying a short market in the 2013-14 season will see some retail share remain with New Zealand fruit. We have proved our worth with good quality and a reasonably steady supply in a high value market. This performance will be an asset when the time comes to negotiate market share.

The Infocado (Australian market report) predicts a higher monthly flow in spring and early summer than we have ever seen before. In my opinion it does not show a market collapse as long as we take every measure to manage the volumes with disciplined flow plans.

ccess is key for 2014-15

In 2011 when we saw market price collapses in Australia and New Zealand, the fruit did not flow at all well. In the post-season debates about what had occurred, it became very apparent that all the fruit that was shipped would have fitted into the system quite nicely if it had been flowed correctly. This was a lesson learnt very publicly and one that we would be very foolish to ignore.

Monthly flows above the last two years levels

experienced in 2011 about ‘who’ supplies lesson learnt very publicly and one that we would be very foolish to ignore. the retailers of Australia. fruit if it’s offered. New Zealand will lose.

It’s too early to predict an outcome, but Questions about fungicide The expectation on the 2014-15 crop I have some confidence effort The number of concerned growers who apply copper andthat arethe questioning why product is mixed in with Thetheir number of concerned growers who is 5 million trays of export fruit. If that New Zealand has put into supplying a apply fungicide and are questioning why fruit that notthen protected copper short is growing.

This issue is definitely coming back on the table and with volume doesisexist there’s a by strong market in the 2013-14 season will their product is mixed in with fruit that is probability of exporters shipping to the becoming see some retail share remain withto New longer distance markets increasingly a priority we need address not copper use. protected with a fungicide is growing.

USA. This means no chlorpyrifos or Zealand fruit. We have proved our worth other restricted insecticides after the end with good quality and a reasonably steady This issue is definitely coming back on the To summarise, the 2014-15 season holds promise. We have a good crop, but it will be a and unified industry that discussion table with longer distance of January. supply in a high value market. This markets increasingly becoming a priority Talk to exporter gains theyour best valueabout fromwhat our markets.

Failure towill plan, performance be anflow assetplan whenand the grow for the global markets will come we need to address fungicide use and sprays are best for the autumn spray time comes to negotiate market share. with a hightoprice - a all-market price we access don’t need to pay. substantiate the old science on the topic. programme achieve The Infocado report (Australian market Science needs to prove fungicide’s worth to and stick to the plan. Failure to do so report) predicts a higher monthly flow growers and then we can promote fungicide could mean that you don’t get your in spring and early summer than we applications once again with confidence. orchards picked until much later in the have ever seen before. In my opinion it At the Avocado Exporters Council season because we can’t ship your fruit to does not show a market collapse as long Inc. (AVEC) meeting on 13 February, Asia or the USA. as we take every measure to manage the AVEC passed a resolution to support the volumes with disciplined flow plans.

Australia in 2014-15 promotion of fungicide for the protection In 2011 when we saw market price of our fruit for any market.

Western Australia has a big crop and To summarise, the 2014-15 season holds there will be no shortages in their supply collapses in Australia and New Zealand, the fruit did not flow at all well. In the promise. We have a good crop, but it will next summer. New Zealand has a big post-season debates about what had be a unified industry that gains the best crop as well, so, for the first time, we occurred, it became very apparent that value from our markets. Failure to plan, are facing a double banger of crops in all the fruit that was shipped would have flow plan and grow the global markets will both countries. The effect of this double fitted into the system quite nicely if it come with a high price - a price we don’t banger is that we will see a similar had been flowed correctly. This was a need to pay. competitive example to the one we cannot supply a reliable volume then

customers will opt for another country’s Questions about copper

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Comment

By Glen Dunseath Business & Marketing Manager, Zeafruit glen@zeafruit.co.nz

New Zealand market update Excellent returns for growers from the New Zealand market have been seen this season, which is a great result following good communication and the visibility raising activities of NZ Avocado. Next season will present us with a big challenge and we will need to build on what we have achieved this year and ensure we plan industry promotions to best meet the needs of our retail partners.

The New Zealand market followed its traditional rollercoaster in value, with the holiday period and early January producing some solid OGR values on the back of steady trade and managed production. However, late January export packing scattered that model somewhat and the subsequent increase in volumes impacted values.

NZ Avocado ran a summer advertising programme via various media avenues, but perhaps more inter-related retail activity from local marketers could have been implemented to optimise the effectiveness of that advertising. This was a first step towards where the industry needs to be, a future where industry and marketer promotions are clearly aligned and the outcome from this activity results in a clear and measurable increase in volume sold, value, profile, or usage. We have to continually question the end-benefit of our combined investment in promotional spend something to think about with 2014-15 season, which is not too far away.

The end of export is approaching, and once this happens the signs are clear that things will change quickly within the New Zealand market. The volume of fruit available for late season supply is dramatically reduced given the export returns on offer and we should continue to see values increasing across March and April. The challenge then is simply one of supply rather than value - but we all, growers and marketers, have a responsibility

to our industry during this period. Fruit standards, food safety accreditation, and packing standards remain just as critical during this short supply period as they do during the export season.

The 2014-15 season estimates, whilst still early, do show what appears to be a bumper crop, far bigger in volume than the previous two seasons and probably closer in volume to 2011, if not bigger.

The challenge for us as an industry is to plan what potential steps we will need to take for the coming season to ensure the best possible OGR value can be achieved for growers, whilst keeping sustainable returns in the system for marketers, retailers, food service, and the myriad of outside partners we all use for specialist services.

Will the coming season force us to accept that all sizes and grades cannot be marketed? Will 100ct fruit be the smallest fruit we offer the market this coming season? How important is early season maturity to ensure customers eating this fruit actually want to repurchase the product again? How will promotions be planned and actioned to best target the needs of our retail partners and consumers, and how will these co-ordinate with the NZ Avocado promotion activity to improve consumption and category value?

Some big challenges for us to consider and address; the New Zealand market meetings that NZ Avocado are running require support from all companies over the next few months.

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Comment

By Martin Munro Chairman, NZ Organic Avocado Growers Inc. martin.jane.munro@gmail.com

Pruning proves popular A new approach to pruning has been drawing much attention recently and this method was the focus of our field day in January.

The recent NZOAGI field day held at Brett and Julie Taylor’s orchard in Pukehina had our largest turn out to date; not only were there organic growers, but we a large proportion of conventional growers too.

The day started with a meet-and-greet networking hour leading into a presentation by Alan Hedge, who shared his ‘art of pruning’.

I, like everyone present, was captivated by Alan’s presentation, which got me thinking outside the square on the topic of pruning.

We were taken through Brett and Julie’s organic orchard to see trees pruned using Alan’s method six months ago and the other half two weeks ago. Jen Scoular, CEO of NZ Avocado, was in attendance. It was great to have Jen there to see our society at work and be part of our successful day.

Following the field day she provided me with some feedback which expressed the need for the industry to be able to provide growers with a range of alternatives for pruning and to be able to measure the success of different techniques so we can demonstrate the commercial value of one technique versus another.

The pruning on Brett and Julie’s orchard is the first prune 16

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Avoscene March 2014

undertaken with Alan’s method. Following the field day, other organic growers have engaged Alan to prune their orchards. We will follow the progress made on these orchards and collate some information to share with the industry.

Exports of organic avocados have gone well this season with excellent prices achieved. The successful season has been in part due to the increased coordination of organic volumes and improved communication of the packhouses and exporters involved – we hope this can continue next season.

Fruit set on the organic orchards which exported this season looks good and more organic growers will come on board to export next season given the good examples of the export model they have seen this season.

Work is underway for our next event, which will be our AGM and field day, in early May. In terms of membership, the society continues to expand, for which I would like to thank the executive members for their efforts in making this possible. If you are interested in becoming a member or an associate member, please contact me.

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Size your Crop, Sustain Tree Health, Set up for Spring Heading into the autumn and winter there are some important things to consider that will influence the revenue from your current crop, the overall health of your orchard, and how well set up it will be for spring flowering and fruit set.

Normal practice amongst many growers has been to do very little during the winter, with perhaps some light maintenance dressings of an NPK avo mix, and maybe some capital dressings of lime. Clearly it’s not a time to stimulate growth, which any heavier applications could instigate, but there is a huge opportunity to size your crop, improve orchard health and set up your trees for spring by using a biological slow release organic fertiliser.

Revital 30 is just the thing to help achieve the 3 S’s, Size your crop, Sustain tree health, and Set up for spring. The nutrients are immobilised by the organic matter so therefore will not leach away during the high rainfall period of winter. The nutrients remain plant available allowing the tree to pull what it needs, rather than having nutrients pushed into it, (which would be the result using an NPK granular fertiliser) the input of a “living fertiliser” with all the biology available from vermicast, chicken manure and high quality compost revitalise

the soil and helps tip the balance between good bugs and bad.

We can incorporate any fine and powdery base dressings that may be required, lime flour, lime, gypsum, magnesium oxide, boron, phosphate, all of which have a tendency to blow everywhere in the wind, can be added to the blend, everything goes on together and you only need to put the fert spreader round once.

The optimum time for the Revital 30 Autumn application is from mid-March until mid-May (apply in spring between late August and late October. I will discuss this application in a future Rambling).

There are some huge crops hanging in the orchards this season and as always size matters when it comes to export returns. Also carrying a heavy crop into spring challenges your trees ability to be ready for the next flowering event, so by using a slow release product like Revital 30 you will are giving your orchard the nutrients and biology it needs to do the best job it can for you.

Give me a call for an on orchard consultation and we can decide what the best blend is for you.

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Avoscene March 2014

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Newsroom

Newsroom Pilot shipment of New Zealand avocados to India Following the market visit to India reported in the December Avoscene, a pilot shipment of New Zealand avocados was shipped by AVANZA to Mumbai in time to be served at a New Zealand event on the HMNZS Te Mana attended by the High Commissioner to New Zealand and invited guests.

The menu included an array of New Zealand specialities complemented with avocado.

The pilot shipment was airfreighted with data loggers to measure the temperature of the avo-

Strong season for New Zealand avocados New Zealand is nearing the end of a very strong avocado season, in export markets and in New Zealand.

Jen Scoular, CEO of New Zealand Avocado, said that quality has been good and there has been strong demand and a good flow of the fruit through the market to consumers.

“It has been a very good season for New Zealand avocados, attributable to a very disciplined supply into each market, matching the demand in a timely manner.”

Australian consumption is also increasing, as a result of a strong ready-to-eat programme and focussed marketing over the past 10 years. The Australian market is currently providing record returns, and New Zealand exporters have very strong relationships in that market. Source: www.fruitnet.com

Industry facts YTD 2013-14 Trays exported 2.9 million Export pack out 70% Trays packed for NZ market incl processing 1.4 million Crop estimate packed

106%

Regional share of export crop packed

cados during the 30 hour journey to Mumbai.

Data loggers were used to build a profile of the cool chain right from the packhouse through to the final destination and understand the influences on temperature in the tray and of the pulp.

Five shipments will be sent in total and information gained will be analysed to understand the conditions avocados are put through on their journey to market. This will help determine best practice cool chain requirements.

Cabinet approves Government Industry Agreements Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has welcomed Cabinet’s approval of the GIA (Government Industry Agreement) Deed as an important tool in strengthening New Zealand’s biosecurity.

“Under the GIA, industry organisations and the Ministry for Primary Industries can sign a Deed that formally establishes the biosecurity partnership. Partners will share decision making, costs, and responsibility in preparing for and responding to biosecurity incursions.

“The GIA is important because it will give industries a direct say in managing biosecurity risk. Joint decision making and coinvestment will mean that everyone is working together on the most important priorities.

“Trade and tourism benefits all New Zealanders, but with it comes the risk that unwanted organisms could enter the country.

Government has recognised this with a 20% contribution towards readiness and response costs. MPI and industry will share the remaining 80% of costs.

“Transitional discounts will help industries adjust to the new partnership arrangements. This means they won’t pay their full share of readiness costs until 2020 and won’t pay their full share of response costs until 2023. Costs will start being shared for readiness from July 2014 and for responses from July 2017,” says Mr Guy. More information is available at www.gia.org.nz

FN 14% WH 3% RONZ 2%

Continued...

BOP 81% Avoscene March 2014

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Newsroom

Global Fresh establishes Australian operation Exporter Global Fresh NZ Ltd has set up a Brisbane-based subsidiary company, Global Fresh Australia Pty Ltd (GFA).

The move is designed to get closer to the point of sale for a significant portion of the company’s product range, primarily kiwifruit and avocados. The Australia subsidiary commences operations on 1st April 2014.

Managing director Andrew Darling says currently 100 per cent of their kiwifruit and 80 per cent plus of their avocado sales are being made in Australia.

“Faced with an increasing market share and the ever-changing market dynamics not so easily read from New Zealand, we felt it was time to invest in the market and get closer to our customer base,” says Andrew.

“For the New Zealand product range being sold within Australia, GFA has a very simple founding objective and that is to lift sales values, reduce logistics costs and add to customer value. Improved grower returns will be delivered back as a result.”

No further finds of Queensland Fruit Fly A single male fruit fly was captured in a Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) surveillance trap in the Parihaka area of Whangarei on 21 January 2014. Following this find, MPI carried out a two-week investigation to determine if it was a solitary fly or part of a wider breeding population.

MPI’s investigation involved setting additional surveillance traps and examining fruit and vegetable matter from the area to look for further flies.

In addition, MPI established a Controlled Area around the location where the single fly was found which restricted the movement of fresh fruit and some vegetables from the Controlled Area.

On Friday 7 February 2014, following two weeks of trap testing with no further detections of the Queensland fruit fly, these restrictions were legally lifted.

MPI Deputy Director General, Compliance and Response, Andrew Coleman says while the controls are lifted, this does not signal the end of work in the area.

“MPI will continue with its routine fruit fly surveillance programme, with an additional 33 traps left in high-risk locations such as near landfill and industrial areas.”

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Avocado powder processing receives funding boost Waikato Innovation Park has now received $28,000 in additional funding from the Bio-Resource Processing Alliance (BPA) to help it develop a way to upscale its commercial production of the avocado powder.

The Waikato Innovation Park spray drying facility enabled Te Puna-based Avocado Oil New Zealand to launch a world-first 100 per cent pure commercial avocado powder product last year.

Avopure, which now sells successfully in the US, Japan, China and Australia, has a unique point of difference on the international stage compared to competitors, says Brian Richardson, executive director of Avocado Oil New Zealand, which also produces the Grove brand of avocado oils.

“It is the first premium avocado powder available that contains no added fillers or carriers and contains higher levels of potassium, fibre and energy,” said Mr Richardson.

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Newsroom

New resources at nzavocado.co.nz/industry Site preparation and planting guide Are you planning to plant avocado trees? Recently planted them? NZ Avocado has published the best practice guidelines on site preparation and planting.

Produced by the NZ Avocado technical team and reviewed by numerous industry experts, this guide contains updated information on: preparing the site, plant reception, digging the hole, planting, staking, sheltering, mulching, irrigation, weeding, flowering and fruit set the first season, nutrition, tree decline control, pests, replant situations. Access the guide at http://industry.nzavocado.co.nz/industry/ > Orchard Mngt > Preparation and Planting.

Can we mitigate irregular bearing with fruit and flower pruning?

Videos and information to support the work NZ Avocado is doing with Plant & Food Research on the influences of the current heavy set on return crop.

Access the information at http://www. nzavocado.co.nz/industry_news/Can_we_ mitigate_irregular_bearing_with_flower_and_ fruit_pruning

New Faces in the industry Phillip West - Grower Liaison, New Zealand Avocado The opportunity to work with growers and other key industry players to help address some of the challenges the avocado industry faces was a major part of Phillip West’s motivation to join NZ Avocado as grower liaison.

“This is an organised, growing industry which

knows what challenges it needs to overcome and with programmes in place to address them,” says Phillip, who works closely with R&D manager Alvaro Vidiella.

Phillip grew up in Edgecumbe before completing Bachelor and Masters Science degrees at Massey University in Palmerston North.

“I then joined Plant & Food Research, working mainly with vegetable crops to

understand the processes that occur within a plant before and after harvest. This research included molecular biology and biochemistry work.”

Phillip, who joined NZA in mid-January, enjoys working with orchardists and is looking forward to learning about their experiences growing avocados in New Zealand. Married to Janelle, who has a science background in pharmaceutical product development, Phillip,

Michael Gray - Avocado Analyst, New Zealand Avocado Problem solving, logical thinking and the ability to interpret data are among the skills Michael Gray brings to his new role as analyst with New Zealand Avocado.

AvoGreen administration, grower registrations and database management are among the tasks in his new role.

Michael’s pathway to the job is as varied as

the role itself.

“My family are all mechanics and engineers, so I sidestepped and completed a diploma in graphic design, was an analyst with a government department and then had my own graphic design and sign-writing business.

“The job I have now is the best I’ve ever had.

I enjoy the people I work with and I’m rapidly learning about the avocado industry.”

Mechanically minded; when he’s not at work Michael is building and developing his own superstock car which he has designed entirely

himself. From a family of past speedway champions, Michael began driving stockcars in 2006 and has won and placed highly in many races and championships.

Living in Katikati, Michael is married to Stacey and is father of four-year-old Cody, with another child on the way.

“We moved up from the Kapiti Coast (Wellington) two years ago for a change in life and scenery. We have never looked back and are all loving it here. Tauranga is such a beautiful place with such friendly people.”

Mike Schwed - Northern Regional Manager, Just Avocados JAL sister company APAC has recently appointed Mike Schwed to manage kiwifruit and avocado procurement, grower services and field operations in the Mid to Far North Region.

Mike is a former BOP man whose career in horticulture started when he was

contract-cutting posts in the Eastern BOP area for the early kiwifruit boom.

His experience includes developing his own orchard, working for Fruitfed Export as a grower services and technical representative, a packhouse/operations manager at Te Awanui Huka Pak, and spending 18 years in the wine industry before returning to full-time horticulture with a glasshouse business in Northland

principally developing, growing and marketing snow beans.

After selling the business in 2010, Mike joined Satara (now Eastpack), as Northland Grower Services representative.

Working closely with Northland avocado growers, Mike has extended his knowledge and passion for this crop, with particular interest in helping drive export opportunities.

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Enter now for BOP Young Fruit Grower of the year Enter HortNZ’s fun-filled event, develop your skills and win great prizes. The 2014 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower competition aims to inspire and acknowledge the talents of young people employed in the fruit sectors in Bay of Plenty.

We have some of the best fruit growers in the country so it goes without saying that there are also a number of very talented young fruit growers in the region.

The winner of the 2014 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower goes forward to the national final of the NZ Young Fruit Grower on 14 August 2014 in Christchurch.

While at the final the winner of NZ Young Fruit Grower also competes against the NZ Young Vegetable Grower for the national title of Young Grower of the Year 2014.

This competition is open to young growers 30 years of age or under as at 31 December 2014 who are currently working in the fruit industry and have three years practical experience.

To enter, fill out the online form http://www. younggroweroftheyear.co.nz/regions/regions/bay-of-plenty/ application. Entries close 4pm, Friday 16 May 2014: If you have any questions relating to the competition or entry form, please contact: Campbell Wood on 027 307 1042 or by email campbellw@ehc.co.nz

Industry matters Calendar NZ Avocado end of season roadshows Join your NZAGA representatives, NZ Avocado staff and representatives from the packer, exporter and New Zealand market sectors for a debrief on the 2013-14 season.

Katikati Tuesday 1 April, 5.00pm - 7.00pm St Paul’s Church, Cnr SH2 & Mulgan Street Pahoia Wednesday 2 April, 5.00pm - 7.00pm Pahoia Community Hall, Pahoia School, Esdaile Road Te Puke Wednesday 9 April, 4.30pm - 6.30pm The Orchard Church, 20 MacLoughlin Drive Whangarei Monday 14 April, 5.00pm - 7.00pm Kingsgate Hotel, 9 Riverside Drive Houhora Tuesday 15 April, 11.30am - 1.30pm Houhora Fishing Club, 4126 Far North Road

NZAGA and AIC Board meetings 27 March and 24 April

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Newsroom

Avocado News from the World Intense temperature destroys avocado crops AUSTRALIA: The intense heat of the 2013-14 summer has devastated most avocado crops in Sunraysia, causing trees on some properties to shed up to 80 per cent of next season’s crop, and causing extensive sunburn¬ to protective leaf canopies.

Koorlong horticulturist Peter Jones, whose father planted Sunraysia’s first commercial avocado orchard on his property in the 1970s, said his trees had dropped most of their fruit, despite daily irrigation and his use of overhead sprinklers to cool the canopy on

days of intense heat.

Mr Jones said he had been irrigating every afternoon during the heat.

“If I hadn’t, the fruit would have boiled on the tree,” he said.

“The trouble is that we get dry heat – just about everywhere else in the world where they grow avocados, the heat comes with humidity. In Darwin, the temperature never gets above 35 degrees, even in the dry season

Size promotions benefit avocado sales overall USA: Size-based retail promotions of avocados can be run without harming sales of other sizes of the fruit, a study by the Hass Avocado Board finds. The consumer study, “Understanding Retail Price to Drive Hass Avocado Sales,”

found that large avocados are more sensitive to everyday price changes than smaller fruit and that promotions of one size don’t significantly comprise sales of another. “While every retailer is unique, the hass avocado price-volume

information in this study helps retailers build demand, improve category performance, and increase category market share,” Emiliano Escobedo, Hass Avocado Board executive director. See the full study at

CAC establishes demonstration grove USA: The California Avocado Commission’s (CAC) Pine Tree Ranch Demonstration Grove held its inaugural field day on 23 January.

Located in Ventura County, the 11-acre demonstration grove contained two acres of existing avocado trees and nine acres

of lemon trees that were removed for avocado plantings. The development plan calls for plantings of different densities, rootstocks and varieties to show California avocado growers how different options can affect tree growth, yield, fruit quality and grove management.

Flavour secrets of Hass avocados probed USA: What makes an avocado delicious?

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plant physiologist David M. Obenland and a team led by University of CaliforniaRiverside colleague Mary Lu Arpaia are collaborating in a series of studies to answer that question.

Of course, aroma is part of what is perceived as flavour, and scientists already

know that Hass avocados have at least 25 aroma compounds, known as “aroma volatiles.” But for the most part, the precise contribution of each of these aroma volatiles has not been well studied. That’s why Obenland and Arpaia are determining the kinds and concentrations of aroma compounds that are essential to the classic Hass avocado flavour.

With further work, these key compounds might serve as “markers” that breeders could use in pinpointing the most promising new kinds of avocados. Growers and packers of the future might be able to use the markers to determine the best times to harvest the fruit, or to develop new tactics that better protect these compounds or their precursors during storage and ripening.

Peruvian avocado exports to U.S. could double USA: Peruvian grower-shippers shipped about 50 million pounds of fruit to the U.S. in 2013, and the industry has a goal of 100 million pounds this year, said Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Irvine, Calif.-based Hass Avocado Board.

That’s similar to numbers Doug Meyer, treasurer of the Peruvian Avocado Commission and vice president of West Pak Avocado Inc., Murrieta, Calif., has heard discussed.

With growing volumes from Mexico,

combined with California and Chile’s presence, more avocados continue to ship in the U.S. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t ample room for growth from Peru, which was granted access to the U.S. in 2010, Escobedo and Meyer said.

“It’s not like they’re coming into an oversupplied market,” Meyer said. “There is a fit for Peru, and we’re optimistic about the future. They’re coming in to help meet demand.”

Peruvian avocados peak in the summer,

when California is also at its height. With California grower-shippers projecting lower volumes this season, Peru will help meet demand, Escobedo said.

“Demand in the U.S. is growing consistently,” he said. “As long as the quality (of Peruvian fruit) is good, I think it will be a good thing.”

Peru’s 2013 exports to the U.S. were worth about $44 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

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CAllinG All AvoCADo GroWers Attend our complimentary grower field days!

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

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

Enjoy expert advice, grower discussion along with the latest ideas and innovations.

open to all growers.

Contact us Find out the date, time and topic of the next event - call reception on 07 573 0085.

310 No 1. Road, R.D.2, Te Puke, 3182 路 Phone (07) 573 0085 路 www.trevelyan.co.nz

AS_TREV_halfpage.indd 1

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Markets

By Jen Scoular - CEO, NZ Avocado jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

Market Development: India HMNZS Te Mana Cocktail Party Menu

I included several photos from our India market visit at the December roadshows and it seemed, in a season that is going very strongly, that growers showed the greatest interest in my update on India.

We had a very impressive visit to India in November, very well hosted and organised

by NZTE for Avanza and the industry.

We attended a lot of meetings, getting first hand knowledge from importers, logistics providers, retailers, five star hotel chefs, a researcher and nutritionist. We visited Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, as well as Nasrek, where avocados are grown, an agricultural college and seed company with a very impressive operation which has eight acres of Hass avocados planted.

We all agreed India offers significant opportunity, alongside significant challenge.

A draft strategy was mapped out, and Avanza shipped the first airfreight container of avocados to Mumbai in late January, as a pilot, but also to provide avocados for a high-profile New Zealand event in Mumbai aboard the HMNZS Te Mana - menu offered to the Indian guests at right.

It will be imperative to get the logistics and handling right, to ensure quality avocados are delivered to customers, and the airfreight container included two temperature loggers so we can see the impact of the journey on the temperature in the tray and in the avocado flesh. The loggers are being delivered back to Avanza next week for analysis.

Visits to retail offered some excellent

insights into Indian grocery shopping habits. We did visit only high-end supermarkets, those offering imported produce. People shop twice a month, one big shop then a top up-shop. Friday evening through Saturday are the busiest times in supermarkets. Imported produce will sit alongside local produce, commanding up to ten times the price per kilo, but sought after by affluent customers. Stores have a lot of signage, lots of messages about the products, lots of key messages enticing customers to buy. Produce areas are enticing; fruit and vegetables are very well displayed. We visited one supermarket which would compare well with a foodhall in Sydney or London. One thing I loved was the spice stall within the supermarket –displays of a wonderful range of spices, and you put in your order exactly to your spice taste.

In between supermarket visits shoppers use street vendors. These are often very small, sellers of fresh produce that literally line the street. These street vendors are the trusted green grocer, able to talk customers into new products, known to assess quality well, who pick up their produce daily from the huge early morning markets in each city. In Mumbai alone there are 5,000 street vendors.

Cold (Tray Service from 1910) Miniature Fruit Kebabs – Vegetarian A refreshing mini kebab with Tropical Fruits Vegetable Rice Paper Rolls – Vegetarian A mixture of local vegetable steamed and rolled in Rice Paper accompanied by various Dipping Sauces Roast Lamb on Melba toasted rounds with Tomato and Red onion Salsa Roasted lamb with a freshly homemade red onion & avocado salsa with grilled cherry tomato served on crunchy Melba toast Gravlax Spirals – Vegetarian Tortilla wraps stuffed and rolled and sliced thinly Smoked Salmon and avocado Canapés Slices of Smoked Salmon accompanied on a lemon cream cheese served on Canapés accompanied by fresh avocado slices Hot (Tray Service from 2000) Skewered Lamb wrapped in Prosciutto with Béarnaise Sauce on Brushetta New Zealand Lamb Rump wrapped in fine Prosciutto topped with a Béarnaise and served on crunchy Brushetta Miniature Mediterranean Pizza Vegetarian with red capsicum, Avocado, feta with fresh basil Marinated Lamb served on Sweet Potato Rosti with Basil & Mint Pesto Lamb fillet accompanied by a refreshing basil & mint pesto served on a NZ style potato rosti Devils on Horseback – Vegetarian Stuffed Prunes served on skewers Buffet (from 1945) Roast Lamb Carvery with Buttered Fresh Bread Rolls Vegetable Curry accompanied by Basmati Rice Vegetarian Baked Ricotta Mushrooms - Vegetarian Salt & Pepper Roasted Beetroot Vegetarian Chilli and Garlic Mussels served in a half shell Pea Puree Potatoes - Vegetarian Avoscene March 2014

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Markets

By Elaine Fisher - Reporter, SunMedia elaine@thesun.co.nz

Market focus: Australia The Australian market, where the avocado is rapidly becoming a “must have item” for consumers, has rewarded the New Zealand industry well this season, however challenges do lie ahead for the 2014-15 harvest.

At the peak of demand, wholesale prices this season reached as high as $60 Australian for 5.5kg trays of top quality fruit and consistently achieved in the $40 – $45 range.

Exporters are predicting that on average, growers will receive in the mid to high $20 per tray orchard gate return this season.

The Australian market performed exceptionally well in the 2013-2014 thanks to strong consumer demand, excellent fruit quality and co-operation between New Zealand exporters to control volumes says Jarrod Redwood, avocado programme manager for Freshmax. Freshmax growers can expect OGR of around the mid $20 mark per tray.

“We couldn’t have picked a better year to start exporting avocados. Values have been great with returns back to growers for single layer 18 to 20 count trays in the late $20s,” says Andrew Thompson, Te Mata Exports Product Manager. This was the first year handling avocados for the well-established Hawkes Bay stone and pip-fruit exporter.

Steve Trickett, Marketing Director for Global Fresh NZ Ltd / Just Avocados Ltd, says bulk packs with smaller sized fruit reached as high at A$100 per carton although A$55 - 60 per carton was perhaps more the norm. “All good values in anyone’s book,” says Steve.

Chris Frost of JP Exports agrees that the Australian market performed very well, rewarding their suppliers with good returns, on average in the mid-$20 range, for large and medium sized fruit.

Managed flow Australia has been a fantastic market for New Zealand avocados this season because of outstanding fruit quality, strong consumer demand and tight control of fruit volumes 26

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Avoscene March 2014

by exporters, says SeekaFresh manager Annmarie Lee. “We should thank our growers for the excellent fruit they provided us.” Fewer New Zealand exporters this season led to a more managed flow of fruit into Australia, which helped hold prices, she says.

Jarrod (Freshmax) says they worked closely with their wholesale customers, who were able to advise on market demand, ensuring volumes could be managed and as a result, fruit passed so quickly through the supply chain that there were no quality issues Jarrod says exporters worked together well to manage fruit volumes, identifying potential pressure points when there could be a risk of over-supply and easing back on volumes when required.

“The New Zealand avocado industry is maturing and is now well placed to deal with large volumes which is a good sign for the future.”

The Australian market has performed exceptionally well, in fact beyond expectations, says Ted Thomas, of Avoco.

“It has provided very strong demand for good quality New Zealand Hass and returned high values. Last season was completely different in the sense New Zealand had a very light crop, approx.

1.2 million export trays compared with over 3 million export trays in this current season.”

Prices have been excellent throughout the season and strengthened again in February.

With the arrival of local Australian Shepard fruit, values reduced but still remained very good, he says.

Moving quickly Favourable weather conditions throughout the season, including during harvest, as well as grower management, and the way

supply was controlled in the market, is being credited with the quality of this season’s crop.

Annmarie says SeekaFresh had no issues with fruit quality in the market. “I visited warehouses and fruit was moving through so quickly most was sold by the third day on the shelf.”

Fruit quality over-all was good but Chris (JP Exports) says the market did tolerate fruit of a higher maturity and colour than it would in a season when there was an abundance of fruit to choose from.

“The dispensation that AVEC got from AIC to export count size 36 fruit was a success and we did very well with that fruit.

We also supplied Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore and those markets paid us well with similar returns to those from Australia.”

Ted (Avoco) says the fact quality throughout the season has been very good is why such excellent values were achieved.

“The relatively dry spring and summer has allowed very little interruption to harvest as well as providing excellent quality fruit to the market. With a well-managed flow of fruit and consistent demand fruit age has been very well controlled which contributes significantly to fruit quality and performance.

“This season possibly up to 90 per cent of the export crop will be sold in Australia which is a greater percentage than last season.

The other key difference is last season very little New Zealand fruit made its way direct into the major retailers, this season direct retail demand has been significant.”

Just Avocados stuck rigidly to its preseason plan in terms of market phasing and implemented some new disciplines around weekly monitoring and reporting of individual customer performance. “This way we were able to fine-tune allocations

Markets

progressively throughout the season to ensure optimum alignment of inventory to demand,” says Steve.

“Our only issues with ripened fruit appeared early season when maturities were more variable but these were rare and insignificant. As we enter the late season we are being challenged with more “scruffy” cosmetic related quality issues which while in grade, might pose more of a problem in a weaker market.”

Buy local Andrew says Te Mata struggled to get enough avocados to meet demand in Australia this season. The exporter’s existing customer base is largely in Asia and its focus will be in these areas to develop the avocado business as supply grows he says.

The “buy local” campaign in Australia makes its impact felt most when there is an abundance of domestic production available which the national chains naturally will turn to first to meet their various category requirements, says Steve (Just Avocados).

It is early days to get an accurate fix on the Australian crop and how this may influence prospects there for New Zealand exporters, but “word is that they have a sizeable crop especially in WA which supplies the same market window.

“New Zealand will need to take account of that and while we remain confident of enjoying a good place in the Australian market on the back of reliably supplied quality product, we need to continue looking at markets beyond to absorb greater volume.

“Just Avocados is confident that the Australian market will continue to grow for all participants in the category but as with all markets it can be volume sensitive.

“We should not expect to see a repeat of the strong values achieved in the past couple seasons but with disciplined industry flow planning, tight quality standards, some promotional support and ensuring fruit is placed in the right hands, we should achieve sound value,” Steve says.

Bumper crop Low volumes of local fruit meant the Australian supermarkets were keen to take New Zealand fruit but Annmarie (SeekaFresh) says the industry can’t rely on that happening next season.

“Western Australian growers, who are our main competition, look set to produce a bumper crop this coming season and obviously supermarkets will give preference to locally produced fruit.

“We understand and accept that. It’s widespread practice internationally and we have no issue with that. However, it does mean we need to have a plan in place for the coming season.”

Annmarie says it’s around six months before fruit in New Zealand and Western Australian orchards is harvested, and much can happen to crops in that time.

However, SeekaFresh is looking to other markets as well as Australia for next season.

The Australian market remains a value opportunity for New Zealand avocados despite increasing volumes of domestic fruit, says Jarrod.

“Potentially next season could be more difficult than last. The dynamics will be different as Australia and New Zealand are both predicted to have larger crops so expectations of how the market will perform will be different.”

Jarrod says while Freshmax believes Australia will continue to be an important market long term for New Zealand, the company is also looking to further develop new and existing markets in Asia.

“India is a new market which holds potential. Over time we need to become less reliant on Australia.”

Chris (JP Exports) says developing and maintaining relationships in new markets is important, so as not to be over-reliant on Australia.

In order to find out what the prospects are for the Australian crop this coming season, Chris is making a trip to Western Australia and Bundaberg.

“You hear so many rumours about what’s happening in Australia, WA has no water, or WA has had a heat wave, so a lot of their crop has dropped off. WA has a massive crop.

Bundaberg trees have suffered badly from flooding, causing tree health problems.

“I want to see for myself what’s happening.”

While it appears the Western Australian growers may be in for a bumper harvest, Chris says they, like New Zealand growers, can be adversely affected by weather events so nothing is guaranteed until the fruit is picked.

Ted (Avoco) says information flow about the Australian market is definitely improving and some important developments have been made in this regard which helps both New Zealand and Australian suppliers.

“It is early days (to make predictions for the coming season), but we do know that both New Zealand and Australia are expecting bumper crops, so the landscape will once again be different next season.

“We know that consumption and demand for avocados continues to grow at impressive levels in Australia. It is an extremely important category for retailers and for many consumers avocados are absolutely a must have item. So we remain confident that Australia will remain a very important market for New Zealand into the future.”

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By Midge Munro - Communications Manager, NZ Avocado

midge.munro@nzavocado.co.nz

New Zealand market promo The avocado has enjoyed immense popularity this summer and is flavour of the season with major bread brands; avocado and tomato was crowned the most popular Vogel’s topping in a Vogel’s competition and Bürgen is using avocado in their new Bürgen virgin advertisements. The avocado is on a high and seems to have finally shaken those pesky rumours about being bad for you!

Summer’s super fruit promotion In response to market and industry signals regarding high packed volumes through December, and competition from more traditional Christmas-time fruits (berries, cherries, stonefruit), New Zealand Avocado implemented a nationwide advertising campaign. The aim was to raise the visibility of avocados as an essential addition to summer eating and to stimulate demand in the lead up to Christmas and through the summer holiday period.

The campaign was summer themed, included simple health messages and an endorsement from our NZ Avocado Ambassador, Nadia Lim. Advertising commenced ran pre-Christmas through to the beginning of February.

The key activities were: Radio • Time saver traffic reports - key avocado messages voiced by announcer in the intro and outro to report.

• Targeted at key meal and purchase times throughout the day, Monday to Sunday.

• 33-40

reports per week per region.

Magazine and press •F ull page advertisements across a range of key weekly and monthly magazine titles.

•H alf and 1/3 page ads in nationwide press.

This activity was spread across our social media and website and complemented by our ongoing public relations campaign.

Recipe releases Nadia Lim created four unique avocado recipes specifically for our use this season: 28

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United Fresh media baskets Our friends at United Fresh launched the 5+ A Day fruit and vegetable month (February) with a gift basket and information drop to key media around Auckland which included fresh avocados and our avocado recipe brochures.

“Avocados are so nutritious and nourishing for the body and soul. Enhance your life this summer by including avocado in your diet every day.”

Nadia Lim, New Zealand Avocado Ambassador

Heart healthy Cholesterol free Nutrient dense

For great ideas with avocados find us on

• Avocado pina colada smoothie; • Avocado, coconut and lime cheesecake; • Avocado, pumpkin, haluomi and quinoa salad; and • Vietnamese avocado spring rolls. www.nzavocado.co.nz

Tick TM used under licence

We have released three of these to the media over the season. Each time communicating usage tips and and including any new research to come out of the Hass Avocado Board’s nutrition research programme. Please see page 43 for one of Nadia’s recipes.

Facebook giveaways Our facebook page continues to have excellent engagement for our avocados lovers. We run competitions on a regular basis to give away trays of avocados and Nadia has kindly given us copies of her latest cook book to reward and engage our fans as well.

Friends of avocado It seems that more and more products want to be associated with the avocado – which is great! We are receiving a significant amount of free publicity which can be attributed to our efforts over the last three years to raise the visibility and education about avocados in New Zealand.

The recent Vogel’s Topularity competition saw the classic combination of avocado and tomato pip every other mainstream topping at the post for the title of New Zealand’s most Topular Vogel’s topping. Following this competition we contacted Vogel’s to discuss ideas for collaboration. As a first step, they ran a competition on their Facebook page to give away a tray of avocados. We will keep this relationship going and are keen to find other ways to collaborate.

Another bread brand associating itself with avocado is Bürgen who is currently flaunting their Bürgen Virgins TV and billboard campaign. One version features an attractive woman lounging seductively on a couch

Markets

otions eating an avocado laden piece of toast.

Vitamix, Sanitarium and Skin Food are all running print advertisements showing beautiful cut avocados to support their product. Vitamix wants to be the healthy smoothie maker – avocado is their choice of ingredient. Sanitarium want to be the source of nutrition advice – avocado is their example of a healthy food they want to give you information about and Skin Food want to be leaders in natural skincare – avocado is what they want you to know is in their products.

New Zealand King Salmon has also approached us to be involved in communications to their database of fans and influencers.

The fading fat issue Not only are avocados becoming popular with complimentary products, we are also developing evermore favour with media.

We have noticed over the past year a popular topic emerge for articles that discuss avocado – they talk about the good fats in avocado and how they are essential for your health.

A few years ago, media and consumers in New Zealand were confused about avocado and wary of it because of its high fat content. Now, if someone wrote an article about avocado being bad for you they would likely receive a lot of backlash from consumers. An example of this is the overwhelming support we received over the Healthy Heart food guide issue; growers, health organisations and consumers rallied around the avocado and supported our arguments.

The media have been well educated over the past few years and we have amassed a growing number of fans on social media who all attest to not only the avocado’s taste but its contribution to their wellbeing.

Thanks to the work of the Hass Avocado Board (USA) we are now armed with an ever growing resource kit of scientifically proven facts about the benefits of avocados

and their good fats.

The true test of our efforts will be seen in the season ahead when we will be counting on avocado lovers to consume our fruit as fast as we can put it onto the shelves.

We (everyone in the avocado industry) are all ambassadors of avocado and my mantra

is “any opportunity” - use any opportunity you have to spread the good word about avocados. Here are some easy key messages for you to recall should the opportunity arise to let someone know why they should be eating avocados: Heart healthy, Nutrient dense, Cholesterol free.

In-store tastings In December 2013 local marketers Freshmax and Southern Produce joined forces to provide in store avocado tastings, recipes and demonstrations for shoppers in Countdown stores throughout New Zealand. Promotional staff were used to help to raise awareness of avocados and to increase sales amongst shoppers.

• 44 sampling sessions took place • S essions ran in 22 selected Countdown stores across New Zealand • Each session lasted four hours • 8196 customers were spoken to •O ver the course of the campaign 5266 loose avocados and 359 multi packs were sold Alongside the sampling sessions a shopper survey also took place. Statistics from this survey showed: •O ver 90% of shoppers preferred to buy single avocados as opposed to pre-packs because usually all the avocados in a prepack are ready to eat at the same time • 9 3% of consumers choose their avocados by squeezing them. But – promotional staff reported that nearly all consumers were happy to hear about using other methods, such as skin colour, to choose a ripe avocado • The demonstration combined salmon with avocados. This combination generated a high amount of positive feedback from customers.

Following on from the strong message at the NZ Avocado conference last September, Countdown and Freshmax together developed the Super Avos twin pack of two medium sized avocados. Messaging to consumers is

focussed on the nutritional benefits of eating avocados: cholesterol free, full of antioxidants, provide sustained energy and source of folate and iron. We worked alongside NZ Avocado, 5+ a day and the Heart Foundation on the validity of the health claims, and the pack seems to have resonated with consumers as they are responding well to the new development in the Countdown avocado offer.

Ben Bartlett, Countdown Category Manager, explains “Countdown are committed to working with Avocado growers and marketers to continue the growth of the Avocado category, for the New Zealand industry. The Avocado category has seen and continues to see good growth. The growth can be attributed to greater consumer awareness of the fantastic nutritional benefits and superb taste of Avocados. This along with continued range extension, such as the new packs, in-store demos and industry marketing will continue to provide further opportunity for the category to grow.”

By Sarah McCrae – Marketing Manager, Freshmax smcrae@freshmax.co.nz Avoscene March 2014

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Spraying one side of a leaf with water (+ fluoro dye) and the other side with half the water + Du-Wett demonstrates

OUTSTANDING COVERAGE IN MUCH LESS WATER.

THE WORD IS SPREADING Du-Wett is a registered ™ of Elliott Chemicals Ltd

www.etec.co.nz

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Technical

By Dr. Alvaro Vidiella - R&D Manager and Phillip West - Grower Liaison, NZ Avocado

NZ Avocado R&D programme New Zealand Avocado has developed an R&D programme in conjunction with industry stakeholders to deliver best practice options for optimising orchard management and ultimately to increase orchard productivity, yield and reduce variability of yield across seasons.

The New Zealand Avocado R&D programme contains a number of projects, each involving in-depth analysis of our orchards. The projects are focused on developing best practice that can be shared across the industry. Adoption of best practice will improve management practices and increase productivity in the shortest possible time.

The programme recognises firstly that growers must be involved in developing best practice, and secondly that growers are on their orchards and know most about their orchards. It also utilises the knowledge and skills of what we refer to as “rural professionals”, those involved in our industry as contractors, consultants and other interested parties. It also relies on experts and opinion leaders,

those people we identify can help us collectively develop best practice to drive productivity and therefore profitability.

The projects of the R&D programme are funded by NZ Avocado, Plant & Food reasearch (PFR), and the Government. Government funding comes via MBIE - the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment bids; “Avocados for Export” and “From bee minus to bee plus and beyond: Higher yields from smarter, growthfocused pollination” programme (onwards Bee-Bee+). Both of these programmes are run with involvement from both PFR and NZ Avocado. To complement this funding AIC have submitted a Primary Growth Partnership business plan.

Main Projects funded by NZ Avocado New cultivar programme The new cultivar program is based on the evaluation of the performance of the clonal rootstocks and fruiting cultivars imported 10 years ago into New Zealand.

This evaluation is carried out in replicated trials in Bay of Plenty and Mid North, and in the geneblocks in Bay of Plenty, Mid North and Far North.

Results from this programme are helping us understand if the good characteristics that are claimed about these new cultivars are also observed in our conditions.

Results from this programme have been reported in the Avoscene and at industry meetings. The next issue of Avoscene will Continued...

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include a report on the 2013-14 season results.

Pruning trial The NZ Avocado pruning trial started in Autumn 2011 in 11 orchards based in our main growing regions. The objective of the trial is to understand the influence on productivity of pruning 15 or 30% of the volume of the tree canopy in spring or in autumn. We are currently performing an analysis of the results of the three seasons that the trial has been running.

This analysis will be reported in the next Avoscene issue.

Main projects funded through MBIE programme ‘Avocados for Export’

factors that are limiting productivity in the low performing orchards.

The MBIE funded PFR programme programme will see government investment of $4 million over five years in avocado R&D activities. NZ Avocado contributes an additional $500,000 to this programme over its lifespan.

Temperature effects on flowering and fruit development This project has two parts, one looks at the temperature profiles of orchards and the other at the effect of minimum temperatures on the development of the reproductive organs.

For the first part, temperature logger networks will be placed in several orchards to determine the differences in minimum temperature between different orchards and different parts of an orchard. This information will be correlated with the productivity of the trees subject to different temperature regimes.

For the second part, the effect of different minimum temperatures on the development of the reproductive structures (buds, developing inflorescences, flowers and fruitlets) will be studied to determine the minimum temperature thresholds that cause their failure.

Matching orchard temperature profile and temperature thresholds for successful flower and fruitlet development will give an indication of what management practices can be developed in the areas of the orchard that are prone to temperature stress.

Factors influencing productivity This new project is looking at the influence of environmental and management factors on productivity in our orchards. It aims to identify which factors limit productivity in different circumstances. Identifying the factors that limit productivity in these orchards will help us to put together strategies to mitigate their effect in the orchards through the development and implementation of best practice related to these factors. On top of this, the learnings from this project will be fundamental to establish future priorities of the R&D programme.

This project is built on the recent analysis of industry data that has demonstrated that in almost every region where avocados are grown in New Zealand there are large differences in orchard performance. Some orchards are performing very well, with high and consistent production, surrounded by other orchards that are not doing so well. We intend to do a detailed analysis of these orchards (the ones performing well and the ones not performing so well) by locality with the help of growers, consultants, and other industry professionals to determine which are the 32

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Regulating transition from vegetative to floral meristems in avocado This project will establish the optimum timing and intensity of fruit removal to maintain regular flowering and cropping of ‘Hass’ avocados. Molecular biology studies

into the timing and nature of processes that promote or inhibit floral transition in avocado, specific to New Zealand orchards, will underpin this work. This project will provide new knowledge on the effect of fruiting on return bloom and the economic benefit of using selective crop removal protocols to mitigate irregular bearing.

Timing and severity of pruning to mitigate alternate bearing This project will determine the influence of flower and fruit pruning on crop load and return bloom. See the article on page 34 of this Avoscene for more details.

Super intensive plantings This project will determine whether super intensive plantings (orchards with more than 400 trees per ha) are a sustainable option in our growing conditions. We will be working with growers that have established, or are planning to establish, super intensive orchards to test different management strategies to try to optimize their systems.

The assessments to be carried out in the trial will include a cost-benefit analysis. If this system proves to be viable, this project will enable the production of best practice guidelines to optimize its management.

Field testing of plant growth regulators This project will field-test the plant growth regulator uniconazole as a canopy management tool used to reduce shoot growth and as a method to improve flowering and fruit set to mitigate irregular bearing.

Technical

Irrigation Irrigation management in New Zealand orchards will be studied in this project.

For this purpose, the performance of trees under different irrigation strategies, from non-irrigation to heavy use of irrigation, will be determined in different conditions.

The knowledge obtained from this project will help develop best practice to optimize irrigation strategies in orchards with different conditions.

Pollination: PFR core funding and BeeBee+ There is contradictory information about the benefit of pollenizer trees such as Zutano, Bacon or Edranol in New Zealand avocado orchards. The industry needs to determine under what circumstances pollenizers are needed in New Zealand orchards, and, when needed, to determine the optimum pollenizer design (cultivar and density). Plant and Food Research has intensified their work on pollination in avocados in the last few years and a significant amount of research is currently being conducted on different aspects of the pollenizer’s role in our orchards.

Bee hives are a scarce resource and perspectives are that the situation will get worse. There is evidence that other wild insects play an important role in the pollination of some crops. The Plant & Food Research MBIE funded Bee-Bee+ programme is aimed to develop novel ways of increasing populations of unmanaged pollinators, of managing wild bumblebees for pollination, and of improving honey bee performance by controlling their behaviour.

Avocados for export – delivery on an industry vision

By Grant Thorp, Nick Gould and Jem Burden of Plant & Food Research It is with great pleasure to report that Plant & Food Research’s MBIE funded research programme established in partnership with NZ Avocados is well underway. This research is designed to support the industry vision of increasing net sales from $74 million (2010) to $184 million by 2020 through a five year programme focused around improvements to orchard productivity and the export supply chain. This new programme has enabled Plant & Food Research to bring several new plant scientists into the avocado research arena, adding expertise in environment impacts, orchard productivity, statistical analysis and modelling, plant nutrition, molecular biology and biochemistry.

In summary, our productivity research will look at the impact of key environmental factors affecting orchard productivity such as winter frosts, cool spring temperatures and water stress.

Plus we will use new knowledge on the molecular control of flowering in avocado and floral signalling processes to develop and optimise management techniques, such as pruning and crop removal, to help regulate return bloom, mitigate alternate bearing and increase orchard profits. Using new knowledge on harvest index and architectural features we will also explore novel more efficient “small tree” growing systems suitable for hillside plantings.

To better manage the increased supply of exported fruit we will optimise the

parameters required for programmed dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) storage so fruit can be packed out of inventory. This will involve the development of minimum fruit quality standards for new low oxygen and low temperature shipping systems and confirmation of physiological markers to identify poor quality late-season fruit.

As expected there has been a rush of activity since the research started late last year. With a key goal of the programme being to engage all aspects of industry from an early stage it was great to work with NZ Avocado to set up a new trial over summer looking at the effect of pruning on return bloom and yield. NZ Avocado ran two pruning field days at the trial site with a phenomenal level of interest from growers, contractors and supply groups. It was staggering to hear that approximately 260 people in total attended the two days. It was also good to see that further information of this trial is being reported in this issue of the Avoscene.

The level of interest from growers in the programme as a whole has been great, and many growers are already putting their hand up with offers to be involved. Of course we are always looking for suitable orchards to carry out trials so please let us know if you are interested. We look forward to updating you all through the Avoscene journal and industry field days as the programme develops.

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By Dr. Alvaro Vidiella - R&D Manager and Phillip West - Grower Liaison, NZ Avocado

Irregular bearing, alternate bearin Flowering and fruit set have been very successful in many New Zealand avocado trees in the spring of 2013. However, this positive outcome means for many a much lower crop the following season. New Zealand Avocado, in collaboration with Plant & Food Research, is investigating how pruning can help mitigate this cycle.

Irregular bearing Many avocado orchards in New Zealand suffer irregular bearing with large variations in production season-to -season. Irregular bearing results from the combination of alternate bearing and additional external stresses. Alternate bearing is part of the ecological behaviour of many perennial plants including avocado trees. Alternate bearing trees seem to have decided that what is best for the continuity of the species is to use all available resources to produce as much fruit as it can in any particular season, often to the detriment of fruit production the following season. Avocados, as good examples of alternate bearing trees, tend to follow a natural cycle of high production (exhausting) seasons and low production (recovery) seasons. However, this alternate bearing behaviour is altered, and usually 34

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exacerbated, by more or less frequent external stresses that can result in a low (or nil) production season. In most cases these external stresses are environmental in nature, such as frost. In conclusion, alternate bearing, in combination with these external stresses results in irregular bearing.

What can we do to mitigate irregular bearing? We basically need to do two things. We need to have balanced trees and we need to avoid as much as possible any external stress that can drastically reduce the production of our trees.

To have balanced trees will mainly require maintaining the plant nutrients at the right levels, maintaining the right soil moisture regime in the soil, controlling pests and diseases, following an adequate canopy management strategy, and, of course, balancing competition of the

different seasons’ crops that the tree is carrying (e.g. in spring: flush, flowers and old fruit).

Avoiding external stresses mainly requires identifying the main risks present in the orchard and implementing all possible protection measures to avoid them. Some of the main risks that have been identified by industry professionals in New Zealand orchards are frost, drought during key phenological moments, unsuitable environmental conditions for pollination, heavy continued rainfall, high winds, high pest or disease pressure, and cold temperatures during flower and fruitlet development.

The NZ Avocado R&D programme has an objective to optimise orchard management practices by developing best practice to achieve tree balance and mitigate any external stress that can

Technical

ng and flower and fruit pruning

drastically reduce production (for more details see the article on page 31 in this Avoscene issue on this programme).

Excessive fruit set Flowering and fruit set have been very successful in many avocado trees in the spring of 2013 in New Zealand.

These trees had enough resources to set a very high crop and the environmental conditions were favourable for fruit set.

Unfortunately, most of these trees acted quite irresponsibly and now carry what seems to be an excessive crop for next season. These trees will most likely not be able to produce enough flowers and will most likely not have enough reserves to produce a reasonable crop for the following year.

From the moment that we notice that the tree will carry a large crop it will be very important to ensure that plant nutrients are kept at the optimal levels (including extra fertiliser due to the expectation of a big crop), that soil moisture is managed adequately, that pests and diseases are controlled correctly. If this is the case and the tree canopy has the right size and shape for the tree spacing of the orchard, we can then focus on balancing competition of the different seasons’ crops that the tree is carrying.

Obviously, one of the first things we need to ensure is that the fruit due to be harvested in this season is harvested as soon as possible. It is not always possible to harvest all the fruit from the trees early enough, but it would be advisable to remove as much fruit as possible and as early as possible from the trees with higher flower intensity.

Flower pruning would be the next thing we would need to focus on. If we go back in time to the beginning of the flowering period of the past spring, we could say that the best possible solution to balance these trees would have been to do some flower pruning. If we go even further back to autumn 2013, we could say that the best approach would have been to do some structural pruning, which would have reduced the number of flowers.

This structural pruning could have been complemented with flower pruning if it had not achieved as much as we expected.

These two approaches have become routine practice in some of our orchards with different degrees of claimed success.

The fact is that there seems to be consensus about flower pruning being an effective way of avoiding an excessive fruit set and obtaining good flush growth to sustain a return flowering the following

spring. But it is also true that there is no objective information about the effectiveness of flower pruning or about the right timing or the amount that needs to be pruned.

It is also true that reports about the effectiveness of structural pruning to balance trees are becoming more numerous each season. But again, there is even less objective information about this than about the results of flower pruning.

If there is little information about flower pruning and about how structural pruning contributes to balance the trees, there is even less information about the effects of thinning fruit to balance trees. When we have a tree with too much fruit, it seems logical that by removing the excess fruit we could contribute to its balance, as occurs in other horticultural crops. Of course, it is much more difficult to thin fruit in Continued...

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avocados because they are such big trees.

However, many experienced growers, contractors, and consultants think that removing some of the fruit in a heavy set could have some positive influence on fruit size and leave the tree less exhausted with a better chance of having a return flowering able to set a significant crop.

On top of this, it has been pointed out that removing excess fruit might help to bring on more flush which will protect fruit from sunburn and frost. As a matter of fact, there are some growers (and some of them that have been flower pruning for a long time) that have started to thin fruit by pruning fruit from the areas of the trees that have set excessively.

However, removing fruit from these trees has its risks. Late summer and early autumn fruit fall could further reduce the amount of fruit on trees that have previously been flower thinned, potentially compromising the tree’s final load. On top of this, if the fruit is removed by pruning, a part of the foliage will be removed with the fruit, reducing the photosynthetic capacity of the tree.

So is it worth removing fruit at any point after fruit set to balance our trees?

The trial In the context of the NZ Avocado R&D programme, as part of the project “Timing and severity of pruning to mitigate alternate bearing” within the “Avocados for Export” MBIE-funded PFR programme, a trial has been implemented on Don Grayling’s orchard in Katikati to determine how pruning fruit from overloaded trees in late December 2013 and early February 2014 can affect the crop, the flowering and the fruit set of spring 2014.

The trial removes excess fruit by pruning 30 trees in late December and 30 trees in early February with 30 trees control trees left unpruned. All the trees belong to the same block of Don Grayling’s orchard.

The trial was designed in randomized blocks. Trees were divided into 30 groups of three homogeneous trees in terms of tree age and size, health, fruit load, flush intensity and length, position relative to a pollenizer, and position in the orchard block. One tree from each group was pruned in late December, another one in early February and the third one will be 36

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left unpruned.

NZ Avocado organised workshops around the two pruning rounds. More than 140 and 110 growers attended the first and second workshops respectively.

Early in the morning of December 30 a group of growers, consultants and NZ Avocado staff worked with the contractors to decide what was the most effective and practical way of pruning off the excess fruit of the trees. It was decided that most of the pruning had to be done with the aim to remove: • Exposed fruit.

•F ruit hanging on branches with no or little flush, with small yellowish leaves • Fruit located close to the ground.

• From 20 to 60% of the fruit of the tree, depending on its initial fruit load.

This was followed by a session open to all growers in which the principles of the trial were discussed. Finally, the contractors pruned the first 30 trees in the presence of the growers with some time allocated to discussion.

Some of the data recorded during the pruning rounds: •E stimated average proportion of fruit removed: 30% •E stimated average of tray equivalents removed: 25 TE •A verage number of cuts done per tree: 64 cuts • I t took contractors from 3 to 11 minutes with an average of 6 minutes to prune each tree.

During this year we will be mainly assessing: • This season’s fruit drop pattern.

• Tree health.

• Flush intensity and length.

•R eturn flowering, fruit set and fruit drop.

• Individual tree yield.

• Pack out and size profile of the fruit.

Nutrition, irrigation, air temperature, and other management practices are being monitored to ensure best practice is followed.

As well as at the pruning sessions, industry workshops will be held coinciding with relevant monitoring activities.

Trials in future seasons will evaluate the effect of pruning flowers and fruit at different times of the year, starting in late winter, before flowering, and finishing in late January. The effect of structural pruning on tree balance is the subject of a different project. If you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at NZ Avocado.

We would particularly appreciate any comments about previous experiences of fruit thinning that you may know of.

Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to: Don Grayling for allowing us to carry out the trial at his orchard.

MBIE for funding this activity.

Plant & Food Research for working with NZ Avocado to put together this trial.

AVOCO and Just Avocados for contributing to the pruning workshops.

Pruning contractors Michael Darling and Michael Dillon for participating in the trial and for donating some of their time.

Consultants Lindsay Heard and John Emett (DMS Progrowers) and growers Ron Bailey and John Cotterell for donating their time during the first round of pruning helping define the pruning method and with capturing data.

Those who participated in the workshops.

Technical

By Glenys Parton - Industry Systems Manager, NZ Avocado

glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz

AvoGreen compliance ®

All-market access and AvoGreen® compliant fruit is essential if you are planning to export avocados in the coming season.

AvoGreen® compliance The current crop is defined as commencing with fruit set on 1 November. For an avocado crop to comply as AvoGreen® all sprays to the current crop, from 1 November to harvest, must be justified as described below: 1. E ach spray needs to be supported by monitoring results showing that the threshold for a pest has been met or exceeded (without data rounding). Spraying should occur soon after deciding to apply; after 4 weeks monitoring data no longer adequately reflects the current situation and so can longer be used to justify a spray. (In specific circumstances alternative reasons can be used to justify a spray, see Section II below, ‘Justifying a spray other than by monitoring’.

2. P est monitoring has to be carried out by an accredited AvoGreen® Monitor as defined in the AvoGreen® Specifications of the AvoGreen® Manual.

3. A ll agrichemicals used must be approved and applied at no more than the maximum rate given in the AIC Avocado Quality Manual and on the product label.

As an industry we are approximately four months into growing fruit for the 2014-15 export season and our immediate activities with regard to pest monitoring and spray application will already have an influence on whether individual growers achieve all market access and be AvoGreen® compliant at the time of harvest.

The four objectives that AvoGreen® was introduced to address are as follows: • Facilitate “all market access” • Reduce quarantine issues •P rovide a point of differentiation due to market demands and customer perception with regard to food safety and sustainability • Increase industry export pack-out rates With recent events creating questions around food safety in other product sectors, it is really important to be able to establish and prove, through audit, that we are doing what we say we are doing.

A visit from Thailand Government officials in January was an example of market interest in auditable systems.

Continued...

4. A ll agrichemical applications used in producing an avocado crop must be recorded in the electronic spray diary for that PPIN and the diary verified by the Packhouse before the crop is picked.

5. The appropriate Pre-Harvest Interval (PHI) given in the AIC Avocado Quality Manual for each agrichemical and market must be met.

6. A ll persons spraying agrichemicals within an orchard in the AvoGreen® programme must have a current GROWSAFE certificate.

7. S pray rigs must be well maintained (a legal requirement under the HSNO Act) and should be regularly calibrated and used as set up.

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Having gained a greater access to this market and increased our exports from just over 3,000 trays to in excess 30,000 trays we have established an important and growing market for the coming season.

The officials were very keen to visit an orchard and understand how we monitor and manage the pests that are of interest to Thailand. They were also interested in our packhouse procedures of grading, quality control and traceability.

During their day with us we were able to show them the path of a bin of fruit from the orchard to the packhouse and through to grading, packing, quality control, on to the pallet, into cool storage and in the case of Australian-bound fruit, pre-clearance.

Compliance with AvoGreen® is an important part of the supply chain ensuring all-market access and food safety. While there are some supply chain efficiencies to be gained in the way we record and manage the data generated by

S TA F F C O N TA C T S

NZ Avocado Office: 0800 AVOCADO

Jen Scoular, CEO

Dr Alvaro Vidiella, R&D Manager

Develop and implement the industry strategy jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 741 014

Managing and implementing the NZ Avocado R&D programme alvaro.vidiella@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 025 20412

Edwina Aitchison, Executive Assistant

Phillip West, Grower Liaison

Administrative support to the CEO, NZAGA Executive, AIC Board and AVEC; administration support for new germplasm and spray diaries. edwina.aitchison@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 977 890

Nici Kennerley, Business Manager Accounting functions and reporting of industry data nici.kennerley@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 164 6875

Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager Quality and export systems, and assisting with current NZ Avocado R&D programme glenys.parton@nzavocdo.co.nz | 0274 99 70 81

Midge Munro, Communications Manager Developing and implementing the communications strategy’ promotions, stakeholder events and publications, industry website development, media liaison midge.munro@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 275 3331

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AvoGreen® it is essential that growers and spray contractors are familiar with the selection of sprays that will facilitate all market access and keep their monitoring results and subsequent spray diary records up-to-date on a monthly basis.

All orchard activities with regard to AvoGreen® must be directed towards these two objectives.

AvoGreen® compliance is defined under the AvoGreen® Standard in the AvoGreen® Manual.

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Assisting with grower trials, data collection and technology transfer phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 706 504

Bevan Jelley, New Zealand Market Investigating the local market supply chain and identifying opportunities for improvements bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 994 097

Michael Gray, Avocado Analyst Grower registrations, AvoGreen administration, weekly reporting and crop estimation administration michael.gray@nzavocado.co.nz

Joanne Nunn, Administration Assistant Reception duties and assisting NZ Avocado staff with administration tasks jo.nunn@nzavocado.co.nz

Reports

By Elaine Fisher - Reporter, SunMedia elaine@thesun.co.nz

Avocentric Terry and Lynley Davies’ Te Puke orchard, Avo Nice One, has produced up to 58 tonnes of fruit this season from its 2.5 hectares. Despite being challenged by frost, the orchard has a viable crop virtually every year.

The night Terry and Lynley Davies and friends finished planting 430 young Hass trees on their 2.5 hectare Te Puke orchard, temperatures plummeted to freezing.

“We were about to relax with a barbecue and few beers to celebrate the end of planting when the temperature started to drop,” says Terry.

Lynley and helpers worked until 10pm putting covers on top of the protective frames around each tree and Terry continued working into the early hours of the next day.

“We were pretty worried. The trees had cost us $7,000. By dawn the place was white but we didn’t lose a tree,” says Terry.

That was September 2003 and all

the trees supplied by Penny Rule of T/A Moananui Avocado Nursery have continued to flourish.

“Many set fruit early on and though we were told to remove it, we didn’t. Since then we have only had one season without a crop.”

Lynley and Terry had been dry stock farming on land in Te Matai Rd, Te Puke, when they made the decision to venture into horticulture.

“Dry stock farming was no longer economic for us and we wanted something which would earn an income from the land, but also enable us to work off the property,” says Lynley, who works in the Countdown Te Puke supermarket. Terry

is a diesel mechanic, working for Capital Tractors in Tauranga.

Initially their focus had been on kiwifruit but a chance discussion with experienced grower and now Chair of NZAGA and AIC, Ashby Whitehead, led them to consider avocados instead.

“We are very glad we did, given what has happened to kiwifruit because of the disease Psa,” says Lynley.

There have been other frosts at the orchard called Avo Nice One since that anxious first night and when one threatens Terry ‘floods’ the orchard with smoke from smouldering hay bales, to stop the freeze.

However, his best efforts were no match Continued...

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for the polar blast which struck the entire region on 5 August, 2011.

“The next morning it looked like the fruit was OK but within days fruit started dropping off the trees.”

The orchard still produced 129 bins of export quality fruit but Lynley and Terry had been expecting close to 200 bins and there was no fruit to harvest the following season as the frost killed all the buds.

Initially the trees were planted in 7x7 metre spacing but now they are maturing, some are being cut back to not much more than stumps to let more light into neighbouring trees. The plan is to transplant 40 to 45 trees to a new half a hectare of land, using a tree spade.

“It’s quite an expensive operation but you don’t have to wait up to three years to get a crop.”

The aim is to keep the mature tree to a height of five to six metres for ease of picking. They are pruned to open up the centre of the trees to encourage fruiting on the exterior of the canopy right down to ground level.

From the start Terry and Lynley employed consultant Colin Partridge to advise them on planting, nutrition and management of the trees.

Based on his recommendations, each tree receives 750 grams of fertiliser, including Ravensdown’s Nitrophoska Blue which contains both forms of nitrogen; nitrate

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nitrogen (5.5 per cent) and ammonium nitrogen (6.5 per cent) as well as a full range of trace elements (Iron 500 ppm, Boron 200 ppm, Zinc 100 ppm, Manganese 70 ppm and Copper 10 ppm) plus calcium and magnesium.

Terry also applies boron before flowering and urea during the winter.

Because they work off the orchard, Lynley and Terry spend a good deal of time in the evenings and weekends caring for the trees, but Lynley says the attention pays off.

“You have to look after your trees if you want to get a return from them.”

The trees individually are fed on average every six weeks.

“It depends on the weather. I prefer not to apply fertiliser before heavy rain because that risks it washing away. Just after rain is

ideal, as the soil is moist and the uptake is better.”

Apart from a generous application of mulch when they were first planted, the trees haven’t received any mulching, other than that which they provide by their own leaf fall.

Phytophthora hasn’t been a significant issue for tree health.

“One or two trees have died back, but recovered. I did a round of injections two years ago and will do another round this year.”

Trevelyan’s carries out AvoGreen® pest monitoring and Terry and Lynley say the service is excellent.

“I remember in the early days of kiwifruit when people sprayed by the calendar, whether there were any insects in the

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orchards or not. It makes so much more sense for the environment and to save costs to monitor for pests and then only spray when necessary,” says Terry, who uses his own mobile elevating work platform to look for pests higher in the canopy than ground-based monitors can.

While pest pressures to date have not been great, leaf roller and thrips are the main insects found and six spotted mite hasn’t so far appeared in big numbers in the orchard.

Pollination is normally good as a beekeeper has hives permanently based on the orchard, but last spring pollination was not entirely effective, with a number of tiny un-pollinated fruit or ‘cukes’ evident alongside fully pollinated fruit.

Flower pruning has not been used on the orchard.

In the early days Lynley, Terry and their son Jessie (16) harvested the crop. Terry and Jessie worked from the mobile elevating work platform and the “ground crew”, Lynley and daughters Tori (18) and Keely (12) used small hand trailers Terry constructed to save them the strain of carrying heavy bags of fruit.

“I enjoy picking. It’s actually quite relaxing to get out in the orchard in the evenings,” says Lynley.

However, this season David Wills of Pulse Avo picked 169 bins, beginning in October and ending in January.

“Trevelyan’s are excellent to work with and the rebates we receive make paying to bring in pickers worthwhile,” says Terry.

Avo Nice One orchard has produced up to 58 tonnes of fruit this season from its 2.5ha and virtually all of it is of export standard. Despite the work involved in managing the orchard themselves, Lynley and Terry say their efforts are worthwhile and with a crop virtually every year, it’s an economic and sustainable use of the land, providing them and their family with a lifestyle they enjoy.

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Nourish

Avocado with lunch aids weight management New evidence published in Nutrition Journal reveals insights into the effects of adding half an avocado to lunch Loma Linda University study on satiety is the second in a series of Hass Avocado Board-funded nutrition studies expected to be released over the coming years The Hass Avocado Board (HAB) has announced the publication of a study that suggests adding one-half of a fresh avocado to a lunch may have helped 26 healthy, overweight people feel more satisfied and reduced their desire to eat following a meal.

The avocado study, which was conducted by researchers at the Loma Linda University and funded by HAB, was published in Nutrition Journal, a monthly peer-reviewed journal that publishes work in the area of human nutrition.

The human clinical study is the second in a series of HAB-funded nutrition studies expected to be released over the coming years as a part of HAB’s single-minded nutrition marketing and research strategy.

Researchers found that study participants who added half of a fresh Hass avocado to their lunch reported a significantly decreased desire to eat by 40 percent over a three-hour period, and by 28 percent over a five-hour period after the meal, compared to their desire to eat after a standard lunch without avocado. In addition, they reported increased feelings of hunger satisfaction by 26 percent over the three hours following the meal.

“HAB has found that more and more retailers are communicating health information to customers to help them make smart eating choices,” said Emilano Escobedo, executive director, Hass Avocado Board.

“The nutrition research conducted by HAB is an important program that will help retailers accomplish that goal.”

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“Satiety is an important factor in weight management, because people who feel satisfied are less likely to eat between meals,” said Joan Sabaté, MD, DrPH, Chair of the Department of Nutrition who led the research team at Loma Linda University.

“We also noted that though adding Hass avocados increased participants’ calorie and carbohydrate intake at lunch, there was no increase in blood sugar levels beyond what was observed after eating the lunch without avocado. This leads us to believe that Hass avocados potential role in blood sugar management is worth further investigation.”

While the findings were generally positive, more research is needed to determine whether the conclusions drawn from this study can be applied to the general public.

However, the results do provide promising clues and a basis for future research to determine Hass avocados’ effect on satiety, glucose and insulin response.

“The publication of this study indicates a continued step forward for HAB’s nutrition research program,” said Escobedo. “We are confident that the program will continue to strengthen the positioning of Hass Avocados in the market.”

The research at Loma Linda University is one of several studies supported by HAB as part of a research program established in 2010. Clinical studies are currently underway to investigate the relationship between avocado consumption and risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, support of weight management and healthy living with top researchers and universities in the United States.

To view the abstract or the full study, “A Randomized 3x3 Crossover Study to Evaluate the Effect of Hass Avocado Intake on Post Ingestive Satiety, Glucose and Insulin Levels, and Subsequent Energy Intake in Overweight Adults,” visit www.nutritionj.com/content/12/1/155/ abstract.

Nourish

Avocado, Lime and Coconut Cheesecake Base 140g ground almonds ž cup desiccated coconut 8 large medjool dates (pitted) 5 tablespoons melted coconut oil Filling Flesh from 5 medium firm ripe avocados 1 cup lime juice (preferably freshly squeezed) Finely grated zest of 2 limes 1 cup coconut cream 2 teaspoons vanilla essence or paste 1 cup maple syrup 2 tablespoons gelatine powder 2 tablespoons cold water 3 tablespoons boiling water

Preheat oven to 160°C. 1. Place all base ingredients in a food processor and blitz until well combined and crumbly. The mixture should hold together well when pinched together.

2. Lightly grease and line the base and sides of an 18cm round spring-form cake tin with bakingpaper and tip in the base mixture. Press mixture down firmly and evenly with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned, then set aside to cool completely in the fridge.

3. To make the filling, place all the ingredients, except the gelatine and water, in a food processor and blend until the mixture is smooth. Taste the mixture and add more maple syrup, lime juice or

Serves 10-12 Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 10-15 minutes

zest or vanilla to your taste buds if necessary.

4. Mix gelatine powder with cold water and leave to swell for a few minutes. Add boiling water and mix well to completely dissolve the gelatine. Add dissolved gelatine mixture to the food processor and blend with avocado mixture until smooth and well incorporated.

5. Remove cake tin from fridge and pour filling over the base. Cover with a plate or clingfilm, and return to the fridge to set for at least 4-5 hours or overnight.

To serve, carefully run a knife between the tin and the cake to loosen, then push base of tin up and carefully transfer cheesecake to a plate. Serve garnished with fresh raspberries.

To serve 2 punnets fresh raspberries

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