Avoscene march 2015

Avoscene New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Journal

March 2015 Inside this issue: Pest and disease watch: Avocado thrips Interpreting soil tests AvogreenÂŽ - empowering growers An avocado a day keeps the doctor away

Inside this Issue

Getting a taste of New Zealand avocados Page 40

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Contents NZ Avocado Office PO Box 13267 Tauranga 3141 New Zealand Level 5, Harrington House 32 Harington Street Tauranga 3110

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On the Orchard

Newsroom

Ph: 07 571 6147 or 0800 AVOCADO (0800 286 2236)

View from the Chair

4

Newsroom

22

Growing the business

6

New faces

25

@NZ_Avocado

Going global

8

Recommended reading 26

NZ Avocado

Outside the box

11

Industry matters

27

The New Zealand market

12

Avocado news from the world

29

Certifiably organic

15

Regional roundup

18

Grower letter

20

www.nzavocado.co.nz

NZ Avocado

@nzavocado

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

Pest and disease watch: Avocado thrips 33 Interpreting soil tests Copper (Cu) 34

Markets Offshore promotions programme

38

NZ markets promotions update 40

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

Reports

Nourish

Out and About

Keeping up with biosecurity: GIA progress

Out and about

44

An avocado a day keeps the doctor away 55

PGP Quality report

46

Avocentric Whispering Pines

48

AvogreenÂŽ empowering growers

51

Recipe

58

57

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

Cover Shot: Bevan Jelley, NZ Avocado, serving up avocado samples at the Taste of Auckland festival.

Export Directors Jarrod Redwood, Andrew Darling

NZ Avocado Staff Avoscene Advertising & Editorial For editorial contact: Natasha Mitchell, Sun Media Ltd No.1 The Strand, Tauranga Ph: 07 578 0030 Fax: 07 571 1116 email natasha@thesun.co.nz For advertising contact: Suzy King at Sun Media Ltd email suzy@thesun.co.nz Design and production: Kym Johnson, Sun Media Ltd email kym@thesun.co.nz For subscriptions contact: Michael Gray email michael.gray@nzavocado.co.nz

Midge Munro, Communications Manager

Bevan Jelley, New Zealand Market

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

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

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

Edwina Aitchison, Executive Assistant

Alvaro Vidiella, R&D Manager

Michael Gray, Avocado Analyst

Jen Scoular, CEO

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

alvaro.vidiella@nzavocado.co.nz | 021 025 20412

Jay Bent, Business Manager

Brad Siebert Biosecurity & Programme Manager

jay.bent@nzavocado.co.nz | 027 465 8886

Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager glenys.parton@nzavocdo.co.nz | 0274 99 70 81

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

michael.gray@nzavocado.co.nz

Danielle van der Herijden, Research Assistant danielle.vanderherijden@nzavocado.co.nz

Phillip West, R&D Officer

Joanne Nunn, Administration Assistant

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

jo.nunn@nzavocado.co.nz

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Comment

View from the Chair

By Ashby Whitehead, Chair, NZAGA & AIC

alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz

The end of the export season has come and the amount of the final payment across the exporters will be debated into the future. One thing I can say is that as an industry we have grown and taken on board the messages hammered home by growers after the disappointing 2011-12 season.

We have seen very good planning and

information-sharing this season, for which I congratulate our exporters, packers and growers. Planning to ensure supply meets demand is a huge requirement and sharing information about volumes and timing really supports a collaborative approach to driving industry value.

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A thank you must go to Alistair Young for his stewardship of the largest volume season ever.

AVEC has had very constructive meetings this year, introducing a fortnightly conference call to get an update on flow planning and markets.

There has been some robust discussion at times, with positive outcomes resulting. Understanding better the flow of volume out of Western

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“We look forward to continuing to work closely with AVEC and with local marketers to drive value and growth within the industry”

Australia also provided excellent market intelligence about the timing of our volumes into Australia.

Growers shouldn’t underestimate the planning that goes into getting such a large crop onto vessels and into market without major hiccups.

I was reminded at a recent meeting with MPI of the power of industry systems to ensure that volume was accepted into our export markets without issue. I was reminded of the value of our industry standards, and the respect given to those standards by growers, packers and exporters to ensure the integrity of our systems.

This will be particularly important as we strive for access to China and for good industry returns to continue from export markets that remain open for New Zealand avocados.

With Alistair Young standing down from the AIC Ltd Board, and as Chair of AVEC, I welcome Andrew Darling to the position as Chair of AVEC and Jarrod Redwood as the new Export Director on the AIC Board. We look forward to continuing to work closely with AVEC and with local marketers to drive value and growth within the industry.

Thank you to those who attended the recent round of roadshows about Government Industry Agreements. The Board resolved to sign the GIA, but wishes to confirm that growers are behind that decision by seeking grower mandate.

Your vote is important. I ask you to take the time to make that decision, which I believe will positively impact the future of our industry.

resolution in 2013 regarding representation.

This has resulted in the Board decision to go to postal vote to seek grower support for a rule change in the NZAGA Rules for the reduction of two At Large Rep’s and the addition of two extra BOP Rep’s to achieve one Far North, two Mid North, three BOP and two At Large representation.

Further to this, in order to ensure all growers have a voice, the BOP constituency will be extended to include Rest of NZ, so will become BOP/Rest of NZ. This ensures that a grower from Rest of NZ is able to stand and be elected to the Executive, and would fill a BOP/RoNZ seat. Any change would take effect from the 2015 AGM. I received good feedback about my last article when I asked growers and packers to refrain from putting Class 3 fruit into the New Zealand market. I urge growers to check their New Zealand market returns and compare the Class 2 and Class 3 returns. I strongly believe that my Class 2 return is significantly and negatively impacted by the sale of Class 3 as fresh fruit in the New Zealand market.

We have enjoyed a significant increase in the value we get from the New Zealand market over the past few years, as well as increased sales and visibility of avocados. Let’s continue to build our closest market into a high value market by ensuring we deliver a consistent and high quality of avocados.

Also in the voting pack is a call for a change in the NZAGA rules, amending the regional representation. Over my time as Chair, I have been the only BOP representative. Some others as At Large members of the Board felt that they didn’t have a constituency, so found it hard to suggest they were representing a specific set of growers. We also took account of the AGM

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Growing the business

By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

The New Zealand Avocado team is well into planning for the coming 2015 - 16 season and there is no sign of slowing down after coming out of the largest season this industry has seen.

This industry certainly knows how to keep us

all on our feet. I started the year reasonably confident that the planning and collaborative activity across the industry was supporting continued growth, that we were setting up well the plans for 2015-16, that our industry systems are being continually improved and that new opportunities were being sought and explored.

We looked at the new activity we wanted to add to our plan for next season and low and behold, we have an extra eight things on our plan and we dropped only two things. I guess the stronger we grow as an industry the more confident we can be in pursuing opportunity, and we are learning all the time that better systems mean greater efficiency, and therefore we increase our capability to take on more.

New Zealand delegation at China Fruit andVegetable Fair, Beijing.

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We had a very energetic and constructive team planning session, one where we each presented the activity we believe needs to be undertaken to continue towards our five year plan and Primary Growth Partnership goals. The team is working very strongly together, each utilising our strengths and expertise to help us deliver more as a team, and support the industry in achieving the value we are seeking.

We will present our 2015-16 business plan to the Board this month, and develop our budget for approval at the April meeting. Prior to that the Board will have reviewed the strategy at the 26 February meeting and tested that the expectations on me and my team have been well defined, and that the industry and business risks have been reviewed and are being mitigated well.

The Queensland fruit fly find in Grey Lynn in Auckland highlights the desire by MPI and industry for better biosecurity, and I hope we have secured your vote to sign the industry up to Government Industry Agreements (GIA).

Following MPI advising China that avocado is now the top horticulture priority for access, Ashby and I attended the China Fruit and Vegetable Fair in Beijing, and, with Tony Ponder as an Avanza Director, jointly fronted a stand on the New Zealand pavilion. It was a real coup for New Zealand to be the partner country at the event, and we had significant visibility for avocado and for New Zealand because of that status. MPI, MFAT and NZTE provided excellent support in market, arranging meetings with the top AQSIQ officials. We also participated in a four hour seminar post the show, on a long but very informative Sunday afternoon, where I had the opportunity to present the New Zealand avocado industry to the 20 or so high ranking Chinese quarantine and inspection officials and the New Zealand delegation. I presented the New Zealand avocado story – telling the story of our strong, independently audited systems from nursery to consumer, our growth story, the collaboration and the engagement and the very strong commitment and passion shared across the participants in our industry. As Ashby said in his report in this issue,

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“Our expectation is that you also play your part, by adopting best practice, sharing information and supporting industry initiatives”

your commitment to following and meeting our industry requirements is essential as we promote the integrity of those mandatory industry systems in our export markets.

The FVF show is organised jointly by the Beijing branch of Chinese Quarantine, CIQ, and provides a platform for industry to meet with AQSIQ officials in regard to developing and maintaining valuable access into China.

As I explained in an AvoConnect just before Christmas, AQSIQ, or General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine is a ministerial-level department in charge of entry-exit commodity inspection, quarantine, food safety and certification, similar to our MPI. CIQ is the Beijing branch of AQSIQ. I will repeat the response we got from Roger Smith, who leads the China access negotiation from MPI in Beijing. Roger said of the avocado industry’s participation in Beijing:

“It was indeed a fantastic event and great to see what NZ Inc can do when we seize the opportunity. From a MPI perspective it is great to see industry taking a proactive approach and investing time and energy in building a relationship with Chinese officials in ‘peace’ time.Your commitment to the Chinese market was clearly noted by our host and that will bring long term benefits.”

MPI has since received a response from China in regard the information we provided them last year. We are being pro-active with MPI and have responded to their requests for more information which they are drafting into an official response to China. We had anticipated that our access request would be discussed at meetings following the bilateral talks between New Zealand and China in early March. Unfortunately the fruit fly find in Auckland in February suddenly but understandably diverted resource in MPI. Ashby and I anticipate further visits to China this year, demonstrating the commitment of this industry to the China market, and ensuring that the integrity of our export and growing systems is well understood.

Packaged vegetables in a Chinese supermarket.

So the planning, implementing and delivering of activities that ensure we progress towards our goals continues. You have an energetic and passionate team delivering for you. Our expectation is that you also play your part, by adopting best practice, sharing information and supporting industry initiatives. I will reiterate Ashby’s comment about protecting value in the New Zealand market, a comment Glen Dunseath backs up too in his article and his reference to the grower letter about needing as an industry to improve quality in the New Zealand market.

I am looking forward to seeing the final results for the 2014-15 season and having an approved plan in place to support the industry to maximise opportunities that deliver growth and increased returns in the 2015-16 season.

Left: Avocados for sale in a Chinese supermarket.

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Going global

By Andrew Darling, Export Director, AIC & Chair, AVEC

andrew@justavocados.co.nz

As we come to the end of another long and busy export season. All AVEC exporter members can look back and be well satisfied with their efforts and outcomes for what has been our largest export season to date.

Over the last 20 years the Australian market has been developed by the commitment of both New Zealand and Australian growers to providing premium ready-to-eat avocados.

The 2014-15 season was expected to be

a massive challenge for exporters with an anticipated 5.1 million export trays to market, this in conjunction with a large Western Australian crop to compete with. Growers were well communicated with in preparation for returns that would be significantly less than those of 2013-14.

With 2011 still fresh in our minds, given the difficulties we had in marketing 3.7 million trays, attempting to market 5.1 million in the same time frame only three seasons on would require considerable planning and execution and was not without some level of anxiety leading in. Working together would be critical.

As an exporter fraternity that had been criticised for its handling, or lack thereof, of the 2011 crop into Australia, and the subsequent

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collapse of the Australian market, AVEC has since spent the last three years looking to make considerable improvements. Specifically, but not limited to, the manner in which it collaborates, communicates and works together - as closely as is possible for a group of competing exporters.

Improving its overall performance as individual exporters and as a group was fore front, with maximising grower returns as our primary focus.

By incorporating the organisation in 2013, AVEC has since improved its internal communications around industry flow planning, weekly reporting and commitment to market development.

Lead by the outgoing chairman, Alistair Young, significant improvement has been largely achieved. Alistair should be congratulated for his efforts, acting as the central figurehead in what is a very competitive business. Alistair managed

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“Internationally the avocado category is proving to be the “growth” category amongst all fruit categories, with phenomenal growth statistics in all avocado consuming countries”

to communicate with all exporters through the difficult peak selling period of November, in the best interests of industry good, while endeavouring to manage his own commercial position and differentiation to the rest of us.

This is by no means an easy feat when both New Zealand volumes are peaking alongside Western Australian volumes and the Australian market is full.

During this time all exporters worked well together and kept the Australian market place in good order, managing to maintain quality and reasonable returns where in any previous year a crash could well have taken place.

For his efforts Alistair hands the baton on leaving the chairman’s role with more grey hair and stress lines than I’m sure he would care for.

AVEC recognise Alistair’s contributions and thank him sincerely.

This more coordinated, collaborative approach to managing volumes, in-market stock levels and quality in the Australian market, alongside continuing consumer demand growth in Australia and significant commitment by a large number of growers to invest in new market development, has allowed us as an industry to continue to extract outstanding values from Australia for all growers.

Make no mistake, had we not as an industry managed the volume into Australia to the levels we did, we would have had a considerably different outcome than the one we are now reconciling at the season’s end.

Those grower groups who supported new market development and the placement of up to 1.3 million trays or approximately 29% of the total industry volume to new and developing markets,

and lower returning markets such as the USA, should be congratulated for their commitment to the long term sustainability of our industry and in particular for the preservation of the Australian marketplace going forward.

In finishing I would like to make comment on the Australian market and the good fortune we have as exporters and growers to participate in what is an outstanding premium international avocado marketplace.

Over the last 20 years both Australian growers and New Zealand growers have developed the Australian market by providing it with premium quality, ready-to-eat avocados, on a consistent basis. This market is now rewarding its suppliers with outstanding growth and premium returns.

It’s absolutely imperative that we recognise our place as a contributor alongside the Australian supply base and recognise that by working with the Australian industry and maximising our window of supply when it best suits both countries, together we will continue to build demand and value. New market development and market optimisation will also be a critical element in achieving this objective.

Internationally the avocado category is proving to be the “growth” category amongst all fruit categories, with phenomenal growth statistics in all avocado consuming countries. The future for our industry is absolutely outstanding.

Producing a consistent supply year-on-year is the current big challenge that we will need to come to grips with if we want to keep pace with demand growth over the next ten years. This is a challenge that as exporters we are totally reliant on our growers and grower organisation to overcome.

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By Linda Flegg, NZAPF Executive

Comment

Outside the box linda@kauripak.co.nz

As we head towards the end of a very busy season I am pleased to say that we have had very few issues from a packing perspective – touch wood!

The season began with the NZ Avocado

workshops to inform key staff of changes to the Quality Manual. The Packer Forum held its early season meeting in October, which was well attended. From then on in it was full steam ahead as we set about harvesting and packing the largest crop to date.

Probably the biggest frustration this season has been dealing with the differences in withholding periods for the countries that we ship your fruit to.

Each country has its own requirements in relation to what chemicals can be used and the corresponding maximum residue levels.

This season it was not uncommon for us to be packing for USA, Japan, Australia and Thailand on the same day, which means that the fruit needed to be compliant for all four markets.

Every week saw us juggling who could be harvested to try and meet the number of trays we had been allocated to pack - all while still making sure that the country specific orders our marketers required were filled.

Export pack-out rates remained exceptionally high until just after Christmas, with quality and fruit size impacting on reject percentages as we progressed into our second picking round.

Pest pressure has been on the rise since midDecember, with more instances of leaf roller and six spotted mite showing in monitoring results.

This season to date there have been 70 pest interceptions at preclearance Inspections, resulting in 16 failed lots. Two interesting

points: the majority of the failures were for actionable mites and only two of those failures were for brown headed leaf roller.

Luisa Taumalolo inspecting avocados.

Overall as a group I think the packing fraternity has done a stellar job this season and performed very well under pressure. Time for a well earned rest!

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New Zealand market

By Glen Dunseath, Business & Marketing Manager, Zeafruit

glen@zeafruit.co.nz

The Christmas and New Year holidays are behind us (thankfully) and as we look ahead to the start of the 2015-16 season we will need to sit back and review some of the things this current season has taught us.

There is a definitive need for a frank and open

review amongst the New Zealand Marketer Working Group and that will happen during the next few months once everything wraps up for the season. Likewise we should look back at some of the things that have gone well this year and use those as the benchmark practices for moving forward.

NZ Avocado in-store tastings.

The late season crop is showing high maturity levels and early indications are clear that supply late into the season may be tight - very coloured and quite valuable. In late January

the market was sitting in a good position, with domestic values stable since Christmas. Limited but well-targeted promotional activity did well at taking the edge off some quite steady inward supply numbers.

Domestic market percentages of pack-outs have lifted and the amount of smaller sized fruit is quite significant. The challenge for the domestic marketers is to maintain the value at current levels or better whilst ensuring we keep ahead of fruit age timeframes. It is expected but not yet guaranteed that values for the March onward period should be strong, although this will depend on what product comes out of the woodwork during this period, and what type of certification it may or may not have.

During the last few months I have received a steady stream of feedback - I am not shy of offering an opinion and it is good to get some back. In this issue of AvoScene is a grower letter regarding quality in the New Zealand market - it is a good read and I firmly believe his suggestions need further discussion.

Whilst the New Zealand market has improved its performance, lifted its overall value, and made big steps with industry-wide communication, it still remains a home for a range of activities and practises that are simply below par. I would encourage you to read the letter on page 20, and offer your thoughts.

The domestic market is the second largest avocado market available to New Zealand producers - should we treat it better than we do?

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By Martin Munro, Chairman, NZOAG Inc.

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Certifiably organic martin.jane.munro@gmail.com

Twenty-nine years ago we began the development of an organic farm and orchard. This property now has its own ecosystem and requires little human interference to achieve what we believe are excellent results. We thank those that helped us in the beginning and would like to share the story of one of our early mentors.

Doug Brown and partner Linda Downey in front of a very old Nabal avocado tree from South Africa.

I’d like to share a version of an article which first appeared in the Nov/Dec 2014 issue of Organic NZ (www.organicnz.org.nz). It profiles the life and activities of one of our society’s founding members, Doug Brown of Homestead Orchard and EcoAvo. I have known Doug for quite some time and he was the inspiration and mentor for Jane and I to develop a certified organic avocado orchard. Alice Bulmer, a journalist, interviewed Doug and gave permission for her article to be republished here.

Avocado pioneer This genial American-turned-Kiwi is one of the old-timers of the local organic sector. Recently he was honoured by BioGro as a member of the “30 year club” – one of three veterans who have been certified three decades. About 15 years ago Doug and two colleagues wrote the Organic Avocado Resource Guide – it’s still available from Organic NZ.

Doug and his partner, Linda Downey, live at Homestead, in a beautiful old farmhouse alongside the organic avocado orchard that he established 39 years ago.

A “farm boy from Illinois”, Doug grew up in Hawaii. In the 1970s Doug’s father built a trimaran in Hawaii, sailed to New Zealand and bought an orchard. Doug followed, bringing his family here in 1975. He had had an avocado tree in Hawaii and decided to grow what was then an unusual crop for New Zealand.

Doug was organic from the start. “I decided I didn’t want the chemicals with kids around.”

People told him it wasn’t possible, but that just made him more determined.

In 1977 he planted the orchard. By 1980 he was getting some fruit, and two years later he was exporting as well as selling in the local market. But demand soon exceeded supply. So he encouraged other growers to put in organic

Doug is proud to be the tenth grower to get BioGro certification.

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avocado trees, and he now has other certified growers supplying his packhouse and marketing operation at Homestead.

The right place for avocados

Homestead and EcoAvo at a glance • 2 hectares • Sunny, north facing slope • Nice dark alluvial volcanic soil. Deep loam.

• 220 trees • 10 varieties • Main crops – Hass (summer) and Fuerte (winter) • Zutano root stock grown on contract for nurseries • Homestead produces 25 tonnes in a good year • 80-90 tonnes of fruit per year through the shed • BioGro certified since 1983

Doug took his time finding the right piece of land: a sunny, north-facing slope.You need free-draining soil and the right microclimate, he says. In spring you need the temperature at 12-13 degC for 24 hours for three days in a row, when the trees are flowering. And avocados need regular rainfall. This is why the Bay of Plenty is New Zealand’s “avocado belt”, he says.

Doug gets leaf and soil tests done once a year.

He works with an advisor, Malcolm Cooke. “If nutrition is out of balance, the trees will not set fruit, even though the seasonal flowering may be heavy,” Doug says.

Doug spends a lot of time in his avocado picker, high in the canopy.

Doug feeds his trees with liquid vermicast, kelp, humates and compost (amongst other things).

He makes his own “ultra-smelly” fish fertiliser, adding in homegrown comfrey. Avocado trees in an orchard need feeding small amounts often, in an annual fertiliser programme.

wouldn’t be able to reach the fruit.

Around each tree is a mound of compost, mulch and soil, to recreate rainforest conditions, where the soil is 15 feet deep. Doug works hard on building the soil. Also, the trees don’t like having wet feet. A raised mound over the root area helps with this. Doug doesn’t irrigate, although he did water them in the first couple of years after planting, during a dry spell.

Marketing avocados

Avocados can be susceptible to thrips, leafrollers, aphids, and soil-borne phytophthora root rot.

There are organic sprays available, but Doug doesn’t use them often. “I feed the trees. If the trees are healthy, the bugs don’t seem to take over.”

Avocado picking

Doug visits each tree five times a year, picking fruit and pruning. The trees grow to 12m high, but anything over 9m is “haircut time”, because he

Doug invested in his New Zealand made avocado picker after nine years. Quite a few growers don’t have their own picker, he says. It’s customized with rams, which stop it tipping over on the steep orchard slope. He spends a lot of time in the bucket, high in the canopy of the trees.

Direct marketing is an important part of Doug’s business. EcoAvo sells Doug’s avocados and also the avocado production of around 10 local certified organic growers.

Doug picks to order, usually weekly. He gets orders from individuals, groups, co-ops, distributors and shops. He has longstanding relationships with many customers. Sometimes it’s just Doug or Linda in the packing shed, or it could be up to five people.

Doug grows about 10 varieties of avocado, and sells eight. Hass (in summer) and Fuerte (in winter) are the two main varieties.

Alice Bulmer is a Hamilton-based writer and musician who loves writing about food producers.

Her website is www.waikatofoodbasket.co.nz Photograph by Alice Bulmer.

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Comment

Regional roundup

News and views from your NZAGA Regional Representatives

David French – Rest of New Zealand 16.02.15

We harvested our final orchard last week and now have a few weeks to do some pruning (and hopefully fishing) before kiwifruit harvesting begins in late March.

I think it has really been “a summer of two halves” this season in South Auckland; the first half was not too good weather-wise but the second half has been brilliant.

Most orchards in our area appear to be carrying less fruit than last year. In my case I think we will drop from about 220 bins this year to about 50 bins for next year (16 tonnes per hectare to about 4 tonnes per hectare), which is not good. This forecast drop is down to two main factors; an early frost in May that I wasn’t prepared for and consequently had quite a bit of damage, and the cold, wet and windy weather that seemed to prevail through pollination time.

I believe it was the frost that was the main culprit though. Once flower buds have been burnt off, there are no second chances.

There was an interesting article by David J Sher in the December 2014 Orchardist magazine regarding “Winter-set fruit in Avocado”. In the article David discusses the relationship between temperature and successful fruit set and concludes that there isn’t one.

Based on what I have observed in both my own and other orchards I agree with David. Temperature at pollination time is just one of the factors which decide whether or not your trees will set a crop.

Other factors include bees, soil moisture, light, nutrition levels, previous years’ crop and more.

I am certain however that no matter how careful you are with managing the above factors on your orchard, if you cannot mitigate frosts you will always struggle, and unfortunately, I seem to have proved this on my orchard this year.

Roger Barber - At Large 11.02.15

With harvesting in the mid North largely completed, growers can reflect on what has been a satisfactory season given the successive storms with extreme wind and rain during the previous winter months. Pack-outs have been good with few quality problems emerging from the markets except for a brief period of checker-boarding in mid-season caused by variable maturity.

Fruit set for next season has been patchy following inconsistent flower intensity, even between trees in the same orchard. Cool night temperatures during the early to mid stages of flowering further contributed to variable fruit set in all but very early or late flowering localities.

Most noticeable this season in spite of a record national crop has been the growth of the New Zealand market, which has stayed buoyant, even experiencing some short supply towards the end of the export season, with prices remaining firm.

Industry-based funding complemented by the Primary Growth Partnership with Government has allowed an expansion of research activity. Two grower-based working groups have been set up in the mid-North to investigate two areas of research

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activity relevant to the greater Whangarei area. The first will focus on evaluation of new varieties and particularly clonal rootstocks with potential to improve yield and longevity and mitigate problems with the more difficult soils and climatic limitations of the district. Such rootstocks will assist with replant problems associated with establishing a new orchard on an old avocado site. Two clonal rootstocks, Bounty and Dusa are already showing considerable promise, though new plantings are restricted by lack of availability of trees from nurseries. The second group will investigate the related problem of tree decline which is widespread and causing declining productivity on older orchards.

From a national perspective the 2014-15 season has been very satisfying, with a record export crop of around 4.5 million trays.

Australia continues to be our key market, taking two thirds of our exports in spite of growth in South East Asia and a strategic revisiting of the USA market. A changing trend very noticeable this season has been the reduced reliance on retail sales and the increasing demand from the Australian wholesale sector.

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Comment

Grower letters

18.12.14

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all, scruffy and overr and saw these very sm be vem No in e time ti tika Ka into Countdown en dumped. At the sam grower when I walked ch and should have be a ea as ts d cen sse 10 rra rth ba wo em n s I wa weren’t eve at 50 cents each. They each. ripe avocados for sale g avocado at 50 cents kin loo ely lov TV on ng tisi ver ad re s, small and windfall Countdown we wing our Class 3, reject allo s ter rke ma d an ses packhou fault. The grower, AIC, It is all of us that are at rket. avocados onto the ma investment. urn for our efforts and and should get a fair ret tion era op l rcia me We are a com in my opinion: blem? It is quite simple How do we solve the pro export market is run. t in the same way as the cked.

• Treat the local marke e being picked and pa be MRL compliant befor d an t tes r tte ma dry independent • All fruit must pass an 3 and small fruit with your reject, class ing en pp ha is at wh te ct must sta • Your packhouse contra mped/composted. du or sed ces i.e. oil, pro

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en tick. for sale. Maybe a big gre approved and cleared AIC is it say to d elle t going to be more of the ll fruit sold is lab •A ly do something it is jus tive lec col we s les un t the above bu will not be happy with or.

I know some growers t fruit is going to be po rke ma Dennis Maclean for quality local same and our returns

We thank Dennis for taking the time to share his experience and for suggesting possible actions for his fellow growers, packers, marketers and NZ Avocado to improve quality outcomes in the New Zealand market.

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Avoscene March 2015

The actions suggested by Dennis around independent dry matter testing, Class 3 fruit, MRLs, food safety, windfalls and packhouse contracts are all currently industry best practice for the New Zealand market. These best practice guidelines are in place

to ensure a positive experience for avocado consumers in New Zealand and to continue to grow the value for avocados sold in the New Zealand market. An article titled New Zealand Avocado Guide to Packhouse Contracts was published in the April 2013 issue of

Improving outcomes in the New Zealand market is a key strategic focus for NZ Avocado and the AIC Board.

New Zealand has been prioritised as a Tier 1 market for development as part of the Primary Growth Partnership and NZ Avocado has facilitated the New Zealand Marketer Group since 2013. This group’s purpose is to address domestic market issues and create initiatives to grow the value of the market through improved quality, supply chain education, consumer education and effective promotions to grow consumer demand.

While our home market is still a work in progress, it is important to acknowledge the rapid improvement in value outcomes from avocados sold in New Zealand during the past two seasons. As demonstrated by the Total New Zealand market value graph on this page, the total value of avocados at first point of sale has grown from $19m in 2012 to $33m in 2014, a remarkable 74% increase in value in two seasons.

This progress has been driven by an increased level of communication and collaborative activity undertaken

by NZ Avocado, domestic avocado marketer/suppliers and avocado retailers, in particular the large supermarket chains. Many of the activities that have been undertaken and initiatives that are currently being worked on are well aligned to Dennis’ list of suggestions.

Collectively we have introduced

Total New Zealand market value (FPOS) Comment

$35 $30

$ Millions

AvoScene and will be included again in the next issue of Avoscene. As the end of the season approaches we encourage you to refer to this guide to review your arrangement with your packhouse, question what you are uncertain of, and agree your approach for next season.

$25 $20 $15 $10 $5 $0

Season

a crop forecasting system for the New Zealand market and created the Avocado Retail Toolkit and the Retail Avocado Training Video to help supermarkets improve the avocado knowledge of their staff. We have developed and introduced an exciting new promotions theme, New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime and a promotions programme that major avocado retailers want to be a part of. The AIC Board has removed the levies payable on processing grade fruit and introduced free early season independent maturity testing and collection for all New Zealand market fruit that “passes” the New Zealand market minimum maturity requirements.

Dennis’ letter refers to a specific supermarket in Katikati, however less than acceptable quality outcomes are still apparent across all supermarket chains in all regions from time to time.

Produce category managers in each of the large supermarket chains openly admit that they have difficulty presenting good quality, ripe and ready to eat avocados to consumers in every store, 100% of the time. Part of our strategy to improve quality outcomes looks at how we can work with retailers to make every produce manager in New Zealand an avocado lover, who recognises and rejects poor quality avocados and consistently delivers mature, ripe and ready to eat, fresh grade avocados to

New Zealand consumers.

An important point to consider when evaluating tactics to improve outcomes in the New Zealand market is that the legislative environment is very different for exported avocados compared to fruit supplied to the New Zealand market. For export, the Horticultural Export Authority Act 1987 provides legislation which allows AIC to enforce quality requirements on all exported fruit, whilst in New Zealand The Commerce Act 1986 provides legislation that prohibits the enforcement of quality requirements that may alter the supply of goods to New Zealand consumers.

This leads us to Dennis’ final point around an AIC approval “Tick”. A quality tick can only be useful if it is recognised and supported by the stakeholders across the value chain, including growers, packers, marketers, retailers and further into the future, consumers. The New Zealand Market Group is currently documenting a collective strategy for New Zealand market development. This will include objectives across quality, crop flow, supply chain education and promotions. The formation of this strategy is important as it will enable collective buy-in to agreed objectives and significantly improve the chances of uptake towards a collaborative solution that supports the delivery of collective objectives.

Avoscene March 2015

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Newsroom Want to eat clean in 2015? An avocado is the best place to start!

Newsroom

If you’ve made yourself a promise to join the clean eating food trend next year, then avocados are the perfect way to kick off 2015.

The New Year is the fresh start we all look for to get our diets and health back on track. Clean eating is all about consuming whole or ‘real’ foods that are as close to their natural state as possible without being processed or having other ingredients added to them.

Nadia Lim, qualified dietitian and award-winning author, says New Zealand avocados fit perfectly with this concept and are an easy, delicious, nutrientdense option you can enjoy anywhere, anytime.

“Avocados are one of my favourite foods because they not only taste great but are so nutritious – they’re the best way I know to get a good dose of healthy fats, vitamins and minerals,” says Lim. Avocados and clean eating are trending worldwide at the moment, partly due to the growing popularity of CrossFit and Paleo diets (which advocate people only eat foods our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have had access to).

And given New Zealand has produced a record avocado crop this season, they are the perfect way to launch your New Year clean eating plan.

Here are five reasons why you should make eating avocados a priority in 2015: 1. Avocados are a nutrient booster – they help your body absorb more nutrients from other fruit and vegetables you eat. They’re also cholesterol free, sodiumfree and full of fibre.

2. Avocados are great for 22

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vegans and vegetarians – they contain oils and protein which means they can be used as a substitute for butter, cheese and meat.

3. Avocados are linked to staying slim – international research published in Nutrition Journal shows people who regularly eat avocados weigh 3.4kg less on average, and have waistlines around 4cm smaller, than those who don’t. Avocados are rich in monounsaturated (‘good’) fats and are a low GI (glycemic index) food, so they will help you to feel fuller for longer.

4. Avocados are versatile – you can eat them on toast, make gourmet salads, blend them in smoothies, use them when baking and even whip up delicious desserts. Their creamy texture makes them perfect for mousses, ice cream and decadent sweet treats like an avocado lime and coconut cheesecake.

Remember, clean eating should taste as good as well.

5. Avocados are everywhere – they’re trending all over social media, with clean eating gurus, celebrities and foodie experts all raving about how amazing they are. They’re also home grown – and you gotta love New Zealand made.

Clean eating expert Millie Elder-Holmes is a big fan of avocados and regularly posts pictures of healthy meals on her Clean Eatz NZ Facebook page which has 45,427 followers.

Millie is focussed on conscious living and looking at food for its nutritional value.

“Eating organic, nutritionally-rich real food is the key to clean eating,” she explains. “Avocados are one of my absolute favourite ingredients. I regularly have them for breakfast with poached eggs, in salads for lunch or dinner, or with a handful of nuts for a great mid-afternoon snack.”

Millie also recommends drizzling a little balsamic vinegar over half a ripe avocado, or squeezing a few drops of lemon juice over avocado slices to help keep them fresh and green.

“They’re a yummy meal all on their own and you don’t have to do anything fancy to them. Just grab a spoon and enjoy!”

Avocados are indeed one of nature’s super foods so start your wholefood, clean eating journey in 2015 by eating some today.

Chef Kunal Kapur adds a Kiwi twist to Indian cuisine Richard White - Trade Commissioner, Trade and Enterprise, New Zealand - and AVANZA hosted a masterclass conducted by celebrity Chef Kunal Kapur at the New Zealand High Commission in Chanakyapuri, India on 11 February 2014.

complete foods in the world.”

The 2014-15 New Zealand avocado season is underway and Chef Kunal Kapur showcased how well avocados blend with Indian meals. Guests were treated to a delightful avocado and coconut stew as well as avocado chicken kebabs paired with a zesty pineapple vodka salsa.

“This healthy superfood is harvested by New Zealand growers who only harvest it when the taste and quality of each avocado reaches its best, setting a global benchmark for quality.”

Newsroom

“Coastal India is known for its “ishtew” and most of the stew has seafood in it. This recipe is a fine example of how Hass avocados seamlessly blend with the spicy tones of the coastal curry. Whereas the latter is a traditional homemade chicken tikka with a Kiwi twist of AVANZA Avocados. The subtle flavor of the kebab with the buttery notes of the avocado makes for a hassel free healthy snack,” said Chef Kunal.

“We are glad to partner with Chef Kunal Kapur in bringing the goodness of avocadoes to Indian homes,” said Richard White.

Chef Kunal concluded the masterclass by preparing the classic Litti with an Avocado Chokha and traditional Namak Para paired with an avocado dip. Guests celebrated the splendid evening with a dinner paired some excellent New Zealand wines and cocktails.

Chef Kunal Kapur (left).

“Avocados are healthy, versatile and blend seamlessly with Indian delicacies lending them a unique flavour with its soft buttery texture. It helps your body to absorb more of the nutrients from other foods it is eaten with. In fact, it’s regarded as one of the most nutritionally

Pukenui School’s “The Avocado Book of Cooking” Room 1 at Pukenui School in Northland have put together a recipe book containing all avocado recipes.

The main ingredient was chosen because avocados grow very well in the Far North, and, as the youngsters now know, are a superfood meriting two ticks from the Heart Foundation.

Jen Scoular, CEO of New Zealand Avocado, was thrilled to be invited to meet the very talented young authors and congratulated them on such a great book.

“The production of this cookbook has been an

extremely worthwhile process, albeit very time consuming,” teacher Debra Sheeran said.

“The students have learnt many entrepreneurial skills that they can use in the future, and are now experts on avocados.”

The cookbooks were snapped up as soon as they were printed and have already been reprinted four times. The 68 page book is just $10.00 plus $1.00 for postage. Orders can be emailed through to debra@pukenuischool.ac.nz or alternatively phone the school office and speak to Shirley on 09 409 8812.

Avoscene March 2015

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Newsroom

Newsroom

VALIC NZ announces acquisition of Awanui Orchard, plans expansion VALIC NZ Ltd, an agricultural investment company, announced in February it had acquired King Avocado – a 160ha, 75,000 tree avocado orchard in the Far North of New Zealand.

of the Overseas Investment Office application, is expected to be the first of several investments VALIC will make in the New Zealand orchard industry.

“This orchard employs state-of-the-art cultivation methods developed in Chile and Peru which we look forward to bring to their full, mature and productive potential in a New Zealand context,” said Alistair Nicholson, VALIC’s director.

Mr Nicholson, a New Zealander who has been growing fruit commercially in New Zealand for more than 10 years, said he is excited at the potential of the horticulture sector to contribute significantly to New Zealand’s economic performance.

“We are delighted that the previous owner, Terry Jarvis, has agreed to continue to advise the enterprise and that all of his on-the-ground-team are joining us at VALIC, as we very much value this continuity and we think they are doing a great job.”

“Our plans for King Avocado should see us taking production from 160,000 trays this season to over 500,000 trays in four years, by 2018. That will make a significant contribution to achieving the Export Marketing Strategy approved by the Horticulture Export Authority and the ambitious goals of the recently announced ‘Go Global’ initiative of the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Avocado Industry Council.”

VALIC’s investment in the Awanui Orchard, and the extensive expansion of the Awanui operation which has been committed to as part

Buy NZ campaign in Taiwan promotes New Zealand avocado oil A consumer in Taiwan who purchased six bottles of The Village Press avocado oil recently won a three-night trip for two from Taipei to Auckland as part of a New Zealand Trade and

Enterprise “Buy NZ” promotion.

The excited prizewinner purchased the oil online, via Taiwan distributor SOMUCH, and commented that she loves using the avocado oil because when she fries vegetables with the oil, they stay green and fresh.

Jamie Chien of NZTE Taiwan says the competition was developed to raise the profile of New Zealand products in Taiwan and encourage distributors of New Zealand products to look at expanding their New Zealand product portfolios.

NZTE Taiwan presents Buy NZ competition winner, Ms Chen, an NZ avocado oil consumer in Taiwan, with a trip to Auckland.

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The winning purchase has helped to raise visibility for avocado oil from New Zealand in Taiwan, a market currently also in early stages of development for fresh avocado exports.

New faces

Newsroom

Jay Bent – Business Manager, New Zealand Avocado

Jay Bent had more than a little “inside information” when he decided to apply for the position of business manager with New Zealand Avocado.

For two years in his previous role with KPMG, Jay had audited their books, so when the chance came to work for NZ Avocado, he was more than keen.

“My second major was in agri-business and for some time I’d been looking for ways to merge both accounting and agri-business and this role offers that,” says Jay.

Kevin Ravenhill - Avocado Grower Service Rep, Apata Group

Ben Tuck - Market Operations & Logistics Manager, Just Avocados Ltd

Kevin has recently returned from a two year sabbatical with a large privately owned Horticultural supplies company E Muir and Sons based at Mount Gambier in South Australia. Here he worked as an agronomist, providing technical support to many growers in both South Australia and Victoria and furthered his depth of horticultural experience across a number crops grown in these areas.

Ben Tuck recently joined the team at Just Avocados taking on the position of Market Operations & Logistics Manager based at Katikati.

Jay, 25, grew up on a dairy farm in the lower Kaimai Ranges before studying at Massey University.

Kevin is already known to many avocado growers around the Bay of Plenty having previously worked for KauriPak for ten years running its harvest and orchard management division before moving to join the Kiwifruit Services Team at Apata in 2012.

The role of business manager is wide ranging, from looking after accounts and the day-to-day running of the business to working closely with Jen Scoular, New Zealand Avocado CEO and Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager on the Primary Growth Partnership project.

Jim Tarawa, Apata Group’s Avocado Business Manager, said he has been pleased with Kevin’s progress so far and he has really “hit the ground running” by trying to get around to see as many growers as possible to reacquaint himself with the New Zealand avocado industry again.

Jay says now is an exciting time to be involved in the avocado industry, particularly because of the New Zealand Avocados Go Global vision which aims to triple per hectare orchard production and deliver NZ$280m annually in net sales by 2023.

“We are pleased to have Kev home and we value all that experience and knowledge he will bring to the table.”

“I also like the fact that I’m involved with a tangible product and can actually see real market results from the hard work put in by the industry,” says Jay.

Having previously worked as Avocado Shipper and key account manager at Turners & Growers, Ben is familiar with the Just Avocados operations.

In addition to providing a support role for the export avocado programmes as well as other fruit categories handled

by Global Fresh, Ben will interface with associate company Zeafruit Ltd who manage Just Avocados New Zealand market programmes.

Kevin and his wife Gail enjoy being closer to all the family here in New Zealand and he certainly doesn’t miss the Australian heat and driving 300km daily just to visit his growers!

Avoscene March 2015

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Newsroom Recommended reading

By Phillip West

Best practice guidelines on pruning to balance trees Newsroom

NZ Avocado has completed a best practice guide on pruning to balance avocado trees.

Growers, contractors, consultants, and scientists have been involved in the preparation of this document while participating in the development of different pruning methods aimed at balancing their trees.

This document will be updated on a regular basis to include the knowledge derived from our two

five-year pruning projects started in 2014.

You can view the guidelines at www.nzavocado.co.nz/industry under Orchard Mngt > Canopy Management.

We welcome feedback on this document, so please contact us or make a comment in the NZ Avocado Growers’ Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/nzavocado

Reading your trees Below are the key tree characteristics as set out in your Reading Your Trees Guide to assess at this time of year: • March: Canopy density, pages 30-31 • March to April: Summer flush, pages 16-17 • March to April: Roots, pages 28-29 • March to May: Quality of flush, pages 18-23 • April to September: Flower buds, pages 6-8

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Once your trees have been assessed you will be ready to consider the suggested intervention strategies. At the bottom of each section in this guide there are a number of factors to consider to optimise your orchard management.You will need to determine which is the best option for your own situation – if in doubt, seek specialist advice.

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

Industry matters NZAGA rule changes - consultation and grower vote be to have one Far North, two Mid North, and three Bay of Plenty rep’s, leaving two At Large positions.

During the discussions some At Large Rep’s said that because they did not have a constituency they did not feel aligned to any growers, nor feel they had the opportunity to represent all growers as they didn’t travel very often to all regions.

That the NZAGA go to postal vote to seek grower support for a rule change in the NZAGA Rules for the reduction of two At Large Rep’s and the addition of two extra BOP Rep’s to achieve 1 Far North, 2 Mid North, 3 BOP and 2 At Large representation.

Ashby, as the single Bay of Plenty Rep as well as being Chair, was by far the most active across all regions.

Discussions suggested that with 60% of volume in the BOP there needed to be more than one BOP representative. It was also noted that the Rest of New Zealand constituency, currently represented very well by David French, was an area that stretched nearly as far as the At Large area.

The Board was presented with statistics of the past three years’ export production and hectares which suggested that a better allocation would

Newsroom

The Board has been reviewing the NZAGA rules and the membership of the Executive. Currently the rules provide for eight members, one from the Bay of Plenty, one from the Far North, one from Mid North, one from Rest of NZ and four At Large representatives.

As a consequence of the discussion the Board resolved at the November Board meeting:

Further to this, in order to ensure all growers have a voice, the BOP constituency will be extended to include Rest of NZ, so will become BOP/Rest of NZ. This ensures that a grower from Rest of NZ is able to stand and be elected to the Executive, and would fill a BOP/RoNZ seat. Any change would take effect from the 2015 AGM. We are seeking your support for this NZAGA rule change via a postal vote currently underway - at the same time as we seek your support to sign and implement the Government Industry Agreements (GIA).

NZAGA & AIC Board meetings • 26 March 2015 • 30 April 2015

World Avocado Congress 13-18 September 2015 Lima, Peru www.wacperu2015.com

GIA and Biosecurity Act levy - Consultation and grower vote NZ Avocado Growers’ Association (NZAGA) is seeking a grower mandate to become a signatory to the Government Industry Agreement for Biosecurity (GIA) and to establish a compulsory Biosecurity Act Levy.

A grower referendum via a postal ballot is currently underway to ascertain support for both GIA and the associated Biosecurity Act levy.

Information outlining the proposal is on the NZ Avocado website www.nzavocado.co.nz/ industry/government_industry_agreements.csn An information pack has accompanied the

ballot papers which have been posted to all PPIN holders. All growers currently producing avocados for export or local market are eligible to vote.

To have your say, please ensure the NZAGA has your contact details. If you are not currently registered with NZAGA and would like to vote, please contact NZ Avocado on 0800 286 2236.

We welcome feedback on GIA, so please contact us or make a comment in the NZ Avocado Growers’ Facebook group www.facebook.com/ groups/nzavocado

Avoscene March 2015

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Newsroom

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Avoscene March 2015

Avocado news from the world China to lift quarantine measures for Chilean avocado regions

China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said the two areas in question were the Metropolitan region and the V region (Valparaiso), which collectively produce some 85% of the Chile’s avocado export volumes.

Although the quarantine due to be lifted was originally put in place to protect China against fruit fly, the pest is reported to still be present in the two regions.

Once the new measure comes into effect, avocados from the two key regions will be eligible for export to China without requiring cold treatment, which often damages to the fruit.

“It is hugely important for us that this be reverted,” Chilean Hass Avocado Committee general manager Juan Enrique Lazo told www. freshfruitportal.com.

Although the export protocols were finalized in the middle of 2014, only the IV (Coquimbo)

and VI (O’Higgins) regions were allowed to ship avocados as fruit fly had not been detected in those areas.

Newsroom

Avocado growers in central Chile have gained a breakthrough in the Chinese market, after authorities from the Asian country announced they would begin the legal process to lift the quarantine for fruit from two large production regions.

Lazo said the combination of this and the fact the protocols had been signed late in the season meant that last year only one container had been shipped to China.

“The fruit in the container was not subjected to cold treatment, as is required for other regions, and just had controlled atmosphere. This meant the fruit arrived in the best conditions,” he said.

“The tropical avocado can be preserved at no less than 4-5°C (39-41°F), and so you cannot use cold treatment. It essentially kills the fruit. The same thing happens when you put a banana in a refrigerator – it turns brown inside.

“That’s why it is so important that this requirement be lifted, because if not there is simply no way to export the fruit, and our main production regions are the ones affected.”

While it remains unclear when the cold treatment requirement will be lifted, Lazo said he was confident everything would be finalized for the 2015/16 season, beginning in July.

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com

Avocados show strong growth in 2014 trade statistics Avocados were the big winner among U.S. fresh produce imports in 2014, while top U.S. fresh produce exports showed weakness compared with 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA reported that avocados — the thirdranked fresh produce import by value behind bananas and tomatoes — showed growth of 40% in value and 28% in volume in 2014 compared

with the previous year. Avocado imports were valued at $1.5 billion, up from $1.09 billion in 2013; volume was 729,000 metric tons, compared with 572,000 metric tons in 2013.

Mexico accounted for about 85% of the value and 83% of the volume of U.S. avocado imports in 2014. Mexican avocado shipments to the U.S. jumped 30% in value and 19% in volume.

Source: www.thepacker.com

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Innovative monitoring technology for Chilean Hass avocado

Newsroom

More than 600 small and medium Hass avocado producers from the IV and VI Region will benefit from the results of an innovative project which, by means of hyperspectral remote sensing, seeks to optimise the management of orchards and thus improve their yields.

The initiative, led by the Universidad Mayor and supported by the Foundation for Agricultural Innovation of the Ministry of Agriculture, will allow for an accurate, fast and cost-effective monitoring of the flowering, with the aim of determining applications, treatments, irrigation programmes and differentiated management.

The annual management of an avocado plantation is determined by keeping track of the flowering; however, “the method currently used is of low reliability and accuracy, as well as time-consuming and costly,” explains the innovation executive at FIA, Loreto Burgos.

“Considering these difficulties, the project aims

to develop products making use of analyses of radiometric data and in situ hyperspectral imaging, which will make it possible to optimise the agronomic management of Hass avocados,” added Burgos.

Chile currently has a production area of close to 35,000 hectares, with a cost of monitoring amounting to 875 million dollars annually, i.e. $ 25,000 per hectare. “This project aims to reduce this cost by between 40 and 60%,” states Cano. The initiative will also have environmental benefits, “since the differentiated management and accurate application will minimise the impact on the environment and water consumption.”

Among other goals, the project aims to generate a spectral library of flowers, leaves, branches and red buds; generating a spectral algorithm to determine the flowering percentage and determine an adequate method for the postprocessing of images suitable to the user’s needs.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

U.S.-South Africa Committee seeks to overcome trade barriers Executives representing major avocado companies in the United States and South Africa announced during the Fruit Logistica in Berlin the establishment of the U.S.-South Africa Avocado Committee (USSAAC).

The committee’s primary purposes are to work with the African Growth and Opportunity Act and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to obtain the necessary approvals to allow for the importation of avocados from South Africa into the U.S. This landmark committee comprises top U.S. and South Africa avocado grower, packer, exporter and importer companies.The binational co-chairs of the committee are Zac Bard of Westfalia in South Africa and Jim Donovan of California-based Mission Produce.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) and its South African counterpart, the Department of Agriculture, 30

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Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) are in the process of developing a Pest Risk Assessment.

The committee’s first order of business will be to support the development of such Pest Risk Assessment for the U.S. importation of South Africa Hass avocados.

“It is also the first binational agricultural committee between the U.S. and Africa. Such a committee signals an exciting new era of innovation and partnership in bringing high quality South African avocados to the U.S.” “The USSAAC could potentially pave the way for other countries in Africa, such as Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, to enter the U.S. market in the future.”

“Once all approvals are secured, the U.S. could see the first shipment of avocados from South Africa in the near future,” Donovan said.

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com

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THE WORD IS SPREADING For improved performance of crop protection sprays

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Pest and disease watch: Avocado thrips

By Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

There are two types of thrips found in New Zealand; however there is another type that we must ensure does not take up residence in our orchards.

On the Orchard

Far left: Avocado thrip damage. © Mark S. Hoddle, University of California - Riverside, Bugwood.org

Left: Adult Avocado Thrip Scirtothrips perseae. © Jack Clark, University of California Davis, Bugwood.org

What are Avocado thrips?

What should I look for?

Avocado thrips (Scirtothrips perseae) are a major insect pest of avocados causing significant fruit losses in California, Mexico and Guatemala. They have not been found in New Zealand but as we have a suitable climate, they are considered an exotic pest that we need to look out for.

Avocado thrips larvae and adults can be seen feeding directly on the underside of immature leaves and fruit.

Using a magnifying glass examine newly flushed leaves for both larvae and adults thrips. Symptoms of leaf damage appear as exterior feeding scars along leaf veins and as the population increases bronzing is observed in random patterns between leaf veins. Severe infestation can also cause leaf drop. Damage to the fruit shows up as brown surface scarring which can cover the entire fruit surface resulting in the characteristic ‘alligator skin’ appearance.

What thrips are already in NZ?

Two kinds of thrips are commonly found on New Zealand avocado trees; the damaging Greenhouse thrips and the harmless New Zealand Flower thrips. Adult Greenhouse thrips are black in colour, feed on fruit and leaves and never infest flower parts. The New Zealand Flower thrips are found within avocado flowers and have dark brown adult females and yellow adult males.

What do Avocado thrips look like?

Adults are small (approx 1mm in length) straw yellow in colour and have thin dark lines running across the upper surface of the abdomen caused by their folded wings.The abdomen of adults may appear greenish because of the chlorophyll extracted during feeding. Adults also have three bright red dots between their eyes.The two larvae stages, which resemble wingless adults, progressively turn from pale white-yellow to bright yellow in colour.

How do they spread?

Thrips are generally poor flyers, but they can be transported over short distances by wind. Spread over long distances is likely to be the result of moving infested avocado plants, plant material or contaminated harvest bins.

Who can I call?

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

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Interpreting soil tests: Copper (Cu)

By Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

The application of copper-based sprays to protect foliage and fruit from a number of diseases is best practice in the New Zealand avocado industry and unanimous support has been given by AVEC to support the promotion of fungicide for the protection of our fruit. However, copper is a potential environmental contaminant so orchardists must ensure that soil copper levels are monitored and applications are made with this knowledge in mind.

On the Orchard

Copper sprays in horticulture

Many avocado growers actively manage seasonal pathogens by applying copper-based solutions as a foliar spray at key times of the year.

Copper works well to kill bacterial and fungal pathogens on contact, yet the overuse of copper at any one time is well known to result in acute damage to the plant (phytotoxicity). Sustained overuse of copper also has the potential to increase copper levels in the soil, which can have both toxic affects to soil processes and subsequent plant health. In extreme cases the build-up of copper residues can prevent the land from immediately being used for other activities, due to regional soil contaminant regulations.

Copper in soil

Copper is a trace element and is essential for

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plant growth and generally found in soil at levels <100ppm (parts per million). Noticeable effects on soil microbial activity occur when copper levels rise above this level and at elevated concentrations (>500ppm) copper can become toxic and have some significant negative effects on soil biology and plant health (Holland & Solomona 1999).

Copper residues in avocado orchards have been shown to impact significantly on soil microorganisms (Merrington et al. 2002).

However, the soil concentration at which copper influences soil fertility or becomes toxic to plant life depends on a range of factors, including plant type, soil type, soil pH and the form in which it is present. Copper can accumulate in soil, however the vast majority (>99%) of copper in avocado orchards is tightly bound, either to organic matter or soil particles. When tightly bound there is very

Interpreting soil analysis tests

The difference between ‘Total’ copper and ‘Bioavailable’ copper needs to be understood before interpreting results from a standard soil analysis test. Standard soil tests which growers receive list trace element levels as milligrams/litre mg/L which equals, or is the same as, parts/million ppm.

Generally copper in soils is measured in two

On the Orchard

little movement through the soil profile or into the plant, which helps protect soil life and plants against the toxic effects of free copper. The widespread practice of mulching and high soil pH levels (>6.5) in most avocado orchards also assists with this retention of copper. The other form of copper is biologically available or extractable and in this form copper has the potential to become toxic at high concentrations, as it is present in a form which organisms and plants can assimilate. Therefore, the rate and amount of copper accumulation in soil and how much is available to the plant is complex and is significantly influenced by soil chemistry and composition. different ways: 1. Total copper – measures accumulated levels of copper. These levels reflect previous copper use history of the site 2. Bio-available or extractable copper – measures the amount of copper potentially available for release to the soil/plant. (Release level can vary from 30-100% depending on soil characteristics being influenced by soil mineral composition, organic matter content and pH).

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Total copper

New Zealand virgin soils generally have < 30ppm Total copper. Holland & Solomona (1999) looked at total copper in soils across 19 orchards in New Zealand from different districts, including the Bay of Plenty where total copper in soil ranged from 80-210ppm.

AIC conducted a more recent survey during 2008 of 150 avocado orchards across all major avocado growing regions to looking at both Total and Bio-available copper.

This study showed Total soil copper levels ranged between 4-541ppm with a mean of 100ppm (Elmsly and Pak 2008).

On the Orchard

Regional differences will always occur due to the differences in soil composition. For example, Whangarei soils have higher clay content so more copper is bound and less is bio-available, yet the very sandy soils of the Far North that have low clay and organic matter have more readily extractable copper. As a reference point for organic growers the NZ BioGro Organic Standards states < 60ppm Total copper as a desirable level.

Bio-available / extractable copper

Measuring Bio-available forms of copper is difficult as it is present in the soil in various forms bound by absorption and complexation with organic substances making only small quantities of the Total copper available to plants.

The majority of soil analysis tests avocado growers receive are measuring the Bio-available copper levels.

This is often listed as a Copper (Mehlich 3) test which is a quick and inexpensive extraction method for trace metals.

Mehlich 3 results are expressed as mg/l of soil (i.e. ppm on a volume basis) and are often displayed alongside a medium range figure (often from an unrelated crop or land use). This can potentially make rather normal Bio-available copper levels appear high or in some cases extreme.

As with all soil trace element tests, the relationship between soil extractable levels and plant uptake may not be strong. Interpretation should be made with caution, without undue weight being placed on the soil trace element levels alone. An understanding of the soil composition combined with copper use history on the site will provide further clarity around when copper readings should result in further management strategies.

The 2008 study by Elmsly and Pak also showed that as

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the amount of Total copper in the soil increased there was a relative increase in bio-available copper meaning an (Mehlich 3) extractable copper result could be used to provide rough estimates of Total soil copper and to help track copper levels over time.

Copper levels and land use

Most regional councils define land use broadly across Agricultural, Residential and Commercial/Industrial and based on the National Environmental Standard soil guidelines will define limits of total copper that can be associated with each land use. As an example, the Bay of Plenty Environmental interim guidelines state that copper should be below 325mg/kg soil, above which it is considered copper will have adverse environmental impacts, particularly in an aquatic environment.

In order to maintain the fertility of soils and maintain the soil for a range of land uses, it is important to monitor both the Total and Bio-available copper, along with other soil elements, through regular testing. If growers are concerned about the copper levels in their soil in relation to how levels may influence future land uses, they should request a Total copper test to understand how this relates to their local council guidelines. Bio-available (Mehlich 3) copper test results, commonly provided as part of a standard soil analysis test, should be monitored to manage long-term soil/ plant health. For longitudinal studies of copper levels keep sample sites as consistent as possible to account for the different soil characteristics between blocks.

Key points on copper maintenance in the soil

• Soil pH affects availability of copper.

• S oils with copper residues >100ppm should be maintained at pH>7.

• Applications of lime increases the soil pH (>6) and helps copper to be tightly bound.

•M ulches and composts added to the soil help bind copper residues.

• As best practice, it is recommended to periodically monitor copper levels through soil tests.

Thank you to John Turner (Hill Labs consultant) for information relating to soil chemistry and the interpretation of lab results.

Elmsly T, Pak H (2008) How Much Copper is in Our Orchard Soils? Sustainable farming fund project report/AvoScene 2008.

Holland P, Solomona S (1999) Copper status of orchards.The Orchadist 72(4), 44-45.

Merrington G, Rogers SL,Van Zwieten L (2002) The potential impact of long-term copper fungicide usage on soil microbial biomass and microbial activity in an avocado orchard. Australian Journal of Soil Research 40, 749-759.

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Offshore promotions programme

By Bevan Jelley, New Zealand Market and Midge Munro, Communications Manager, NZ Avocado

Markets

We have made some exciting developments during the promotions programme this season, especially in the new market of South Korea where a concerted effort has gone into setting this market up to accept avocados from New Zealand.

Korean Chef Lee stars in a series of videos promoting the use of avocados from New Zealand.

South Korea

NZ Avocado has developed a Korean language website www.nzavocado.co.kr to help support exporter market development activity in South Korea. Korean consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; knowledge of avocados is very limited and the purpose of the website is to provide a reference point for consumers following their first avocado experience, with recipes, nutritional information and tips on how to select an avocado.

Video content of Korean chefs creating recipes

NZ Avocadoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Korean videos communicate the nutritional properties of avocados.

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with avocados from New Zealand was added to the NZ Avocado Korean website in December 2014.

The videos star Chef Lee, who appears on a Korean Food TV channel (Kuki TV) and has a well subscribed YouTube channel in Korea.

From the production, NZ Avocado has received seven videos in total which are all used on the NZ Avocado Korean website. These consist of three recipes, New Zealand avocado guacamole, New Zealand avocado on toast, New Zealand avocado dumplings and five additional videos on nutrition, selection, storing, and preparation of avocados.

A trade section of the website has also been recently added, containing resources for Korean importers, distributors and retailers of avocados from New Zealand. The purpose of these resources is to assist exporters with educating

the Korean supply chain and to promote the story of Premium Avocados from New Zealand through information on our industry systems, quality requirements and unique growing environment.

NZ Avocado offered avocado samples to 3000 people, as well as distributing recipes and information. D&D also put a special avocado dish in its deli for sale during the market. This was a stuffed avocado.

Japan

NZ Avocado had hoped to continue this activity through the season but competition for a spot in the Green Market is fierce and D&D likes to have a turnover of vendors to keep the market fresh. This was however a great way to reach target consumers and to create awareness at the beginning of the season.

Following the successful media launch in September, NZ Avocado ran two tasting sessions at the Roppongi Dean & Deluca (D&D) market and cafe. D&D is a chain of upscale grocery stores first established in New York City. Tokyo was the first international location for the store.

D&D allowed NZ Avocado to take part in two of its Green Market events in September and October 2014. These events are held monthly and are where the producers of products can hold in-store tastings.

Avocado dish on sale at high end store Dean & Deluca.

Australia

Planned airing of the “Love that avocado feeling” TV commercial (TVC) has been completed, however the TVC continued on air for a further two weeks due to lower than expected ratings on channels 7 and 9. To get us up to our expected audience reach, the stations agreed to make up the shortfall.

Markets

In New York, D&D is considered exclusive and expensive, but in the heart of Tokyo consumers expect nothing but the best - imported luxury foods included. D&D is a trendy destination where consumers can immerse themselves in a fashionable food shopping experience and choose to eat in or take away from the bakery counter, New Zealand avocados on display gourmet packaged during sampling at Dean & Deluca food, herbs and in Tokyo. spices, deli cases arrayed with sandwiches, cold cuts, cooked pasta and salads; and a counter serving coffee and tea.

Horticulture Australia (HAL) and Avocado Australia (AAL) have been conducting research to track the TVC campaign’s effectiveness and consumer behaviour against objectives.

The results indicate since the last survey (October 2012) the proportion of Lovers and Enthusiasts has grown and now represents 67% of total avocado purchase volume, which is a key marketing objective. Importantly the TVC makes consumers feel both hungry and happy, and makes them want to buy an avocado, with 60% saying the TVC makes them want to eat an avocado. Overall the recommendation from the research results was that HAL’s continued investment in television advertising using this ad would continue to deliver positive returns for the industry.

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New Zealand market promotions update

By Bevan Jelley, NZ Markets Manager, bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz and Midge Munro, Communications Manager, midge.munro@nzavocado.co.nz

Markets

Our high visibility promotions campaign, New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime, continued over the holiday period with primary activities of television and print advertising supported by in-store sampling sessions in New World, Countdown and PAK’nSAVE supermarkets throughout New Zealand.

Nadia Lim pouring samples of her avocado smoothie at the Taste of Auckland festival.

In-store Sampling

Getting a Taste of New Zealand avocados

More than 350 in-store sampling sessions took place across 89 New Zealand supermarkets, where customers were offered a slice of avocado, cherry tomato and a basil leaf on a water cracker and told about how avocados are Amazing Anytime, in breakfast, lunch and dinner meals and snacks in between.

More than 10,000 foodies descended on a waterlogged Western Springs in Auckland 13 – 16 November 2014 to sample the latest and greatest food and beverage offerings from the boutique to the big brands in the industry at the Taste of Auckland food festival.

Great feedback was received from supermarket staff and consumers. Consumers love the recipe booklets and recipe cards given out with the samples and many commented that they were keen to try out the recipes. More than 42,000 New Zealand consumers have been spoken to by demonstrators during the sampling programme this season to date and 31,000 avocado samples have been enjoyed by Kiwi shoppers.

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The new category story “New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime”, developed under our Primary Growth Partnership programme, provided the inspiration for our prominently positioned star marquee. We created an inviting garden party themed space where attendees were treated to delicious avocado samples, as well as recipe books, live music and cooking demonstrations.

New Zealand Avocado staff promoted avocados

to foodies with the goal of getting as many people as possible inspired to get creative with avocados, and boost their nutritional knowledge of the fruit.

Brightly coloured garden seating, large trees, lanterns and rustic props provided the perfect setting for guests to our stand to enjoy everything from avocado toast to smoothies to gourmet canapés and decadent avocado desserts and the refreshing avocado pina colada. The variety of dishes on offer showed the versatility of avocado and that they really are amazing at any meal time of the day.

A selfie competition and constant updates by the NZ Avocado Team connected the event to social media and allowed those not at the festival to see what was happening. The selfie wall was put to use with people taking their picture in front Nadia Lim with My Kitchen Rules stars Aaron and Josh aka “The Corporate dads”.

NZ Avocado ambassador Nadia Lim and glutenfree chef Jimmy Boswell featured on the stand and were major drawcards. They each held demonstrations where they created awesome dishes such as avocado chocolate mousse, avocado & feta dip, and avocado cream on cucumber, just to name a few. The surprise of Nadia’s sessions was the ambush by My Kitchen Rules’ Josh and Aaron, who helped Nadia out with her demos and drew even more people to the stand.

Markets

As a qualified nutritionist, Nadia also conveyed the key nutrition messages of avocados and involved the audience by asking them to name the various vitamins and minerals found in avocado.

Two helpful students were engaged for the event and were on full-time avocado on toast production. A simple dish but a classic Kiwi favourite that was a massive hit with attendees, especially with our options of smoked NZ King Salmon, Suga Babes tomatoes and hot sauce to top it off.

During the three and half days we went through more than 450 avocados and 60 loaves of Vogel’s bread plus a number of other fresh ingredients to make up more than 5000 samples of avocado toast, guacamole, smoothies, dip, mousse and various canapés.

We had lots of support from our “Friends of NZ Avocados” – NZ King Salmon, Vogel’s, NZ Hothouse, Go Nutz, and Tahi Honey, who all provided product for use in our demonstrations and samples.

of our brightly coloured wall covered in facts about avocados and beautiful recipe images. By doing this and uploading to social media with the hashtag #nzavocado they went in the draw to win all the ingredients to make Nadia Lim’s avocado, lime and coconut cheesecake.

We did battle with rain and subsequent mud for half of the festival but our marquee stood up to

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Taste of Auckland, please check out our Youtube Channel - search NZ Avocado.

Media releases distributed

In December and January NZ Avocado distributed three media releases to share the avocado’s link to various health benefits – curbing cravings, helping reduce bad cholesterol and being part of the clean eating movement.

Avocado onVogel’s toast withVintage Harvest Sugarbabe tomatoes was a hit at Taste of Auckland.

the weather and provided an inviting space for the bedraggled attendees. Attendees had become wise to the weather by day two and had swapped the designer heels for more practical gumboots.

Markets

Guest numbers were affected by the conditions on Thursday night and Saturday but Friday and Sunday (which was given extended opening hours), showed us what an awesome event Taste is for getting in front of a large number of enthusiastic foodies.

We received incredibly positive feedback from guests and the Taste organisers in regards to our stand. People loved our samples and there was a real interest in the recipes and also the industry.

To see a video of the highlights of our time at

These have been picked up successfully in all main stream media and as a first, the release on avocado’s positive link to cholesterol was featured on NZDoctor.co.nz which is the website of the niche printed publication New Zealand Doctor, which is aimed at GPs. Auckland nines Fanzone – Aotea Square Auckland 31 Jan – 1 Feb 2015

Rugby League fans have already made this football/cultural festival the most successful league event and annual sporting event in the country’s history.

All sixteen NRL clubs and 288 players ventured to the Fanzone to meet the fans and watch all the action unfold. With AUD$2.4 million prize money split between the teams, the excitement reached fever pitch during the weekend, with many fans dropping by to watch all the Nines action on the 50 SQM super screen. The screen broadcast live Auckland Nines games, related content, music videos, news and weather.

NZ Avocado booked advertising space on this screen to air the Amazing Anytime 15 second commercials featuring Nadia Lim. The package consisted of 300 seconds of airtime (guaranteed minimum). Due to scheduling changes they broadcast an additional 150 seconds. Foot traffic in the Fanzone was in excess of 125,000 people per day.

Social media – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Popular New Zealand social media stars were sent “Avocados are trending” t-shirts which generated conversations about avocados.

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NZ Avocado continues to be active on social media and achieves good engagement. The NZ Avocado Facebook page now has more than 10,000 likes.

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Shoppers enjoy avocado, tomato and basil on a cracker during NZ Avocados in-store tastings.

Nadia Lim 12 Days of Christmas giveaway

Nadia promoted an avocado giveaway on her Facebook page in the lead up to Christmas – this was to give away a summer’s worth of avocados.

Nadia has more than 149,000 likes on her page. The prize went to a very enthusiastic winner from Dunedin. She is receiving a tray of avocados each month from December to March, plus an apron and recipe books.

Whangarei - Briar Burke (09) 430 0345 Bay of Plenty - Philip Kilpatrick (07) 572 5942.

Eligibility criteria apply. spicers.co.nz

5+ A Day product of the month

Avocados were promoted as a product of the month for 5 + A Day during October 2014 via the following activities: Public Relations – Avocados were sent to key media with a spring press release. The press release featured nutrition information, recipes and fun facts encouraging consumption of avocados. www.5aday.co.nz – the website showcased avocados through photography, fresh recipes and serving suggestions. 5 + A Day encouraged its social media traffic to visit www.5aday.co.nz for inspiration and recipes with avocados.

5+ A Day and Fredge’s Social Media Platforms – During October their highest reach on Facebook was for the Avocado and Mango Summer Rolls recipe post which was seen by more than 49,000 people.

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Keeping up with biosecurity: GIA progress

By Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

There is still work to be completed on finalising the details of how the Government Industry Agreement (GIA) will work in practice, however there has been significant progress within some key areas of the new biosecurity partnership.

GIA Deed signatories

The New Zealand Equine Health Association has become the first GIA signatory of 2015 and, following a grower vote during late 2014, Pipfruit New Zealand has also signed the Deed. This brings the total number of GIA signatories to five (Ministry for Primary Industries, Kiwifruit Vine Health, NZ Equine Health Association, NZ Pork and Pipfruit NZ). Many other industries continue to consult with their members to determine the best approach to the biosecurity partnership, with the NZ Avocado Growers’ Association seeking a grower mandate to become a GIA signatory during 2015.

Operational Agreements

Reports

NZ Avocado sits on the Interim Fruit Fly Council (IFFC), a group of industry representatives charged with developing the first Operational Agreement. This document will formalise the government and industry partnership for the management of a select number of economically

significant fruit flies and detail the process for joint decision-making and cost-sharing.

The Operational Agreement will focus on Readiness activities to reduce the likelihood of a fruit fly incursion, detect any fruit flies early enough to ensure successful containment and to continually demonstrate New Zealand’s freedom from fruit flies. It will also focus on Response activities to successfully manage a fruit fly detection or eradication and to reduce the impact of a response on production and market access.

Once the Fruit Fly Operational Agreement is finalised, the principles agreed to for cost sharing, joint readiness planning and response management may be used as a template for future Operational Agreements developed for other pests and diseases of concern. The final Agreement will be made available to industry during 2015.

Minimum commitments

Both Government and Industry Signatories to the

Spotted anything unusual?

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

Calls to MPI’s pest and disease hotline 0800 80 99 66 are confidential and ensure industry pests are discovered early before they spread.

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GIA Deed are required to meet a set of minimum commitments which establish the foundation of the biosecurity partnership. Minimum commitments are not eligible for cost sharing but are drawn from the capacity and capability that Signatories can contribute to the biosecurity system.

For industry it means ensuring growers and industry members are made aware of potential biosecurity risks and that as an industry we are taking steps to reduce those risks. It also puts responsibility on the industry to promote the early reporting of potential biosecurity threats and to identify appropriately skilled and committed people to engage in readiness and response activities. A detailed list of the Minimum Commitments can be found on the GIA website www.gia.org.nz What will it cost?

GIA and Biosecurity Act levy Consultation and grower vote

NZ Avocado Growersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Association (NZAGA) is seeking a grower mandate via a postal ballot to become a signatory to the Government Industry Agreement for Biosecurity (GIA) and to establish a Biosecurity Act Levy.

All growers currently producing avocados for export or local market are eligible to vote and would have received a voting pack for the referendum at the beginning of March.

If you are not currently registered with NZAGA and would like to vote, please contact NZ Avocado on 0800 286 2236. We welcome any feedback on GIA, so please contact us or make a comment in the NZ Avocado Growersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Facebook group www. facebook.com/groups/nzavocado

Reports

The NZAGA executive has looked at both the potential costs of a response and what contributions would be equitable across the export and domestic markets. The proposed Biosecurity Act Levy would have a default rate of zero until there is a requirement for the industry to repay their share of a response. If the levy was activated by the NZ AGA executive, the maximum levy would be 5 cents per tray for exported fruit and 0.25 percent of the selling price for domestically sold fruit. When the shared response costs have been repaid, the levy would again be set at zero. Any Operational Agreement the avocado industry signs to undertake biosecurity activities will also set a fiscal cap to ensure any financial

liability is sustainable and that the potential costs are relative to the long term benefit to growers.

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Primary Growth Partnership New Zealand Avocados Go Global QUARTERLY REPORT: OCT – DEC 2014

The New Zealand Avocado Go Global PGP programme began in June 2014 with five key objectives: market entry and growth; consistent and sustainable supply; efficient supply chain; products from waste; and information transfer and adoption.

This is a five year programme with a vision that by 2023 an integrated New Zealand avocado industry will deliver NZ$ 280m annually in net sales and have tripled productivity to 12 tonnes per hectare.

Reports

Collaborative development of the category story for ‘Premium Avocados from New Zealand’ has led to good uptake of messaging and imagery in export marketing. Collateral has been tailored to suit individual export markets and has been included in supermarket and retail displays in South Korea, Japan and Singapore and Thailand. In New Zealand, the New Zealand Avocados ‘Amazing Anytime’ category story has achieved endorsement from

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freephone 0508 00 11 22 | www.asurequality.com

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major retailers, with imagery being used on retail displays in supermarkets nationwide. An Avocado Supply Model has been developed to measure the attractiveness of export markets, using consistent parameters and methodology to help prioritise future marketing activities. Programme partners have also developed resources for supply chain education and have implemented technical support programmes in key export markets.

Research and industry working groups have now been established and are meeting regularly. Sites for new cultivar and tree decline field trials have been selected, with monitoring equipment set up to start to define baseline information on environmental conditions. Technical working groups are already drawing on some initial findings to implement changes to on-orchard management practices.

The fundamental research from the existing Plant & Food Research/MBIE research programme continues to provide insights and guide the field

work into understanding the factors that influence yield, irregular bearing and tree decline.

Meetings with packer and exporter representatives will provide the foundation for the supply chain efficiency project. This is a major project, as an evaluation of the supply chain has never been done for avocados.

Site visits to post-harvest facilities are giving insight into the management systems that handle agrichemical use, pest control, logistics and market access. The information will also start to build an end to end a picture of the supply chain and highlight the areas for further investigation.

Feasibility work has now begun to investigate the potential high value properties contained within avocado skin and stones with a comprehensive literature review. The outcome of this will determine the feasibility of continuing with the

next step in the research process, focussing on extraction methods and opportunities relating to the nutritional, health and cosmetic applications from avocado waste products.

The collection and use of industry information is being investigated to understand the requirements of all industry members who are intended to interact with the information portal. This work is also examining advances within other primary industry IT and communication systems and providing a greater understanding of how industry information can be collected and evaluated.

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Avocentric - Whispering Pines

By Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia

elaine@thesun.co.nz

Many of the skills Tony and Angela Payton gained while sharemilking have come in handy now they are avocado growers.

“I definitely consider a flowering tree in October is similar to a cow at calving,” says Tony.

“It’s a critical time for your future production and if you don’t get things right, if the cow is skinny, or you run out of feed, or the tree is stressed and doesn’t have the right nutrition, you’re not going to get the best from the tree or the cow.”

Reports

Growing avocados was not something the couple had considered when they were sharemilking at Reporoa and trying to buy a dairy farm.

“Our Livestock Improvement rep mentioned he was buying an avocado orchard up north, so we thought that might be an investment for us too.” They took a holiday in Northland but their

Tony and Angela Payton and their daughters Hannah (17) and Amy (15) who help out on the orchard when they’re not away at school.

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research convinced Tony and Angela that to be successful in the avocado industry, they needed to be hands-on growers.

In 2004 they bought a 6.9ha avocado orchard on Hukatere Road at Houhora in Northland and a house at Maunganui to renovate. These assets provided the stepping stone to a 20ha avocado orchard located within 700 metres of their first property, with seven canopy hectares of 11-yearold trees. They have since developed a further five canopy hectares, now with four-year-old trees on Dusa rootstock.

Fish hook

“Houhora is a great area to grow avocados, with a climate mild enough to mean you generally get a crop every year – but there are some fish hooks too. It’s quite expensive to develop orchards here.”

That’s because of a hard iron pan within the sandy soils, which the Paytons, and the previous owners of the orchard, had to break up with a digger before planting.

“We took off all the top soil, stored it and broke

“There is a still a perception that avocado growers are semi-retired orchardists earning little off their trees, when the truth is that this is a very good industry with a bright future and orchards can return a good income”

Whispering Pines orchard has produced 19 tonne per hectare over the last three years from 15 year old trees, which is well above the industry average.

the pan in each row, before putting the soil back.

Where there were hills we pushed them into low areas, as the goal was to make sure we had no low spots which would hold water.”

The sandy loam soils are generally free draining, which also means fertiliser application has to be little and often, to ensure it is used by the trees and to reduce leaching.

The Houhora peninsula is frost-free and just 12km from coast to coast. While salt spray isn’t a problem for the orchard, it is exposed to easterly winds which can be damaging.

“Last season we lost around 100 bins, about one sixth of our crop, as a result of the July storm that stopped Northland in its tracks, with road closures and power outages. Fortunately we hadn’t had a lot of rain, because if we had I think we would have lost more trees.”

That’s despite the shelter of 12 metre high pines, and blocks not much bigger than a hectare each.

Every season Angela and Tony reduce the canopy of half of the 2500 trees on the orchard by one third.

During harvest, branches to be removed are marked with ribbons so they are strip picked.

Reports

Frost-free

The aim is to keep the trees on the older block to no more than 8 metres high, and slightly lower for the second block. The pruning programme also aims to let enough light in to create fruiting wood and maintain fruit production at a level the trees can sustain year on year.

After the chainsaws have been through a large chipper is brought in to mulch the limbs, with the chips spread beneath the trees.

AvoGreen®

Angela and Tony do their own AvoGreen monitoring and enjoy understanding what’s happening on their orchard. The advent of new softer chemicals in pleasing, including one for six spotted mite which kept the trees free of the insect for five months, especially helpful over flowering.

The orchard is irrigated from an aquifer, (in summer the trees can take up to 400 litres of water each a week) and the system is also used for fertigation.

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further than that.”

The digger has been brought back to break the pan between the rows and extra top soil has been built up around the trees. This process can alleviate the “wet feet” problem.

Environment awards

Tony and Angela entered the Northland Ballance Farm Environment Awards this year, Tony says with an aim to profile the avocado industry and to network with other like-minded people.

Establishing a productive avocado orchard on the Houhora Peninsula in Northland required the use of a digger to break up the hard iron pan within the sandy soils.

orchard and in establishing the new block. With increased tree health we are now incorporating more hard fertiliser on the older trees as we can achieve a greater spread, a more balanced product in terms of nutrients and at a lower cost.”

Angela and Tony are part of the NZ Avocado’s PGP in The Far North which is monitoring trees to establish what factors cause their decline.

“We don’t have a big problem with tree health in our orchard but do have some trees which don’t perform as well as others.”

Root disease

Reports

Tony believes the root disease phytophthora gets too much blame for tree decline. In fact he thinks healthy trees can cope with the pathogen whereas trees which are stressed, in poor health, carrying too much fruit, or growing in soils which retain too much water will be more vulnerable to its effects.

“A number of factors, even shelter, can have an impact but through the research we are seeing trends which should help in establishing best practice procedures for the future.”

The AIC has been granted research funding to research tree decline and growers involved are giving their time as an ‘in kind’ contribution. Tony says it’s interesting research to be involved in.

“We are seeing some trends in our orchard to do with wet soils. Even though the pan was broken up in the original orchard, it’s only done in one metre widths and the roots of course travel

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“There is a still a perception that avocado growers are semi-retired orchardists earning little off their trees, when the truth is that this is a very good industry with a bright future and orchards can return a good income.”

Whispering Pines has an average production of 19 tonne per hectare over the last three years from 15 year old trees, which is well above the industry average.

“I’m pleased with that but think we can do better.”

Rationalisation within export companies has also given the Paytons more confidence in the future.

Angela and Tony do virtually all the orchard work themselves and will this year take on a part-timer to assist. They’ve no regrets at the course their agricultural and orcharding careers have taken them.

Tony and Angela have two daughters, Hannah 17 years and Amy 15 years; both board and attend Whangarei Girls’ High School. The girls are employed during harvest, operating Hydraladas and ground picking. They are also employed to carry out other tasks during their holidays when the need arises.

“Dairying put us in good stead to move into orcharding and I think the avocado industry is a good one to be involved in. It still has a long way to go but the future looks exciting.”

The work of orcharding is rewarding but Tony says if the morning and sea looks promising, and nothing too pressing needs attention, fishing’s on the agenda. That’s not often possible in the dairy industry.

AvoGreen® – empowering growers

By Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia

elaine@thesun.co.nz

The AvoGreen® programme has not only improved pack-out rates, it’s also empowered and financially rewarded growers by giving them information to effectively manage pests, says NZ Avocado Industry Systems Manager Glenys Parton.

“The avocado industry showed great foresight, more than a decade ago, in introducing and adopting the industry IPM based programme of AvoGreen. In 2015 it is pretty well integrated into the orchard management systems of our growers,” Glenys says.

Evidence of lower pack-out reject rates as a result of insect damage indicates the positive impact that the AvoGreen programme is having on returns to growers. As well, having systems in the packhouse that identify the causes of reject fruit drives the grower to look at their pest management monitoring programme with a view to lowering pest damage to fruit.

“The AvoGreen monitoring programme empowers the grower by giving them information on which to base their pest management decisions.

They are in a position to target their spraying to the pest that is present in their orchard and also time the spray for greater efficacy.

Benefits understood

“It has been my experience in my role as Industry Systems Manager that once the grower understands the benefits from both a cost, packout return and a market access perspective, they commit to the programme.”

Compliance is a hefty part of most businesses these days, especially those that are engaged in exporting and even more if it is about food, she says.

“If a grower has questions around the need for

Damage to an avocado caused by leafroller.

Photo by David Harris of JustShootIt Photographics

“We understand it is always a challenge financially when a grower is in a year with a small or no crop but the programme makes allowance for this.”

Markets are looking closely at the New Zealand industry’s ability to monitor and manage pests of concern to them from a phytosanitary perspective.

Reports

Glenys says there are growers achieving pack-out rates in the 90 per cent range when fully engaged in the AvoGreen programme and they are reaping the benefits of this in financial returns.

compliance such as AvoGreen, it is usually due to not having a full picture of the benefits and the market access requirements and expectations of countries we export our avocados to.

Export access

A recent ICPR (Importing Countries Phytosanitary Requirements) from Thailand has a prerequisite of compliance with the AvoGreen as part of the requirements for access of export avocados.

“We are expecting that such requirements will only increase.”

Joint venture

Alastair Reed of Fruitfed Supplies has been involved with the AvoGreen programme for about

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says this should be resisted, unless AvoGreen scouts have identified a pest problem.

Like all Integrated Pest Management programmes, AvoGreen is continuing to evolve, but Alastair says it is firmly established as a vital part of modern avocado orchard management.

Take action

An AvoGreen monitor identifying pests.

nine years and he’s seen and been involved in not only its evolution but also the evolution of grower attitudes to the monitoring system.

“Fruitfed was involved in a joint venture with the Avocado Industry Council to develop AvoGreen and a lot of work and research went into it before it became mandatory.

“Many growers who were part of the voluntary programme benefited from it but human nature, being what it is, even some of them were not happy when it became mandatory. However, the vast majority of growers now understand that despite all market access being the primary driver, there are other benefits to having AvoGreen.

Reports

“Some growers also didn’t understand that when scouts identified that pests had reached a threshold in their orchard, that they had to take action to control them quickly and wondered why AvoGreen wasn’t, in their view, working as well as their traditional calendar spraying.”

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Cathy Harris of CropCheck Limited says one of the biggest hurdles early on with AvoGreen was convincing growers that they needed to take action within days of pest levels reaching the AvoGreen threshold.

“There is now an expiry date on AvoGreen monitoring reports so that, if action has not been taken within 28 days, the orchard must be monitored again to ascertain whether a spray is needed because the pest situation will have changed within that time frame.”

Cathy says the other early issue was convincing growers they didn’t need to spray if no pests were found by scouts.

“They had been so used to spraying on a regular basis, some were nervous about spraying only when we found enough insects to trigger a need for action.

“Now we have built up our clients’ trust in both AvoGreen and the work of our scouts. Many of our growers have seen up to a 20 per cent increase in pack-out since using AvoGreen, easily covering the cost of monitoring.”

Alastair says most growers are now well informed about how AvoGreen works and the actions they need to take. There has also been the realisation that the old ‘traditional’ method was no longer sustainable.

Valuable exercise

Because many growers do not have their own spray equipment and therefore have to use contractors, the temptation is still there to add pesticides to other routine sprays like copper, because of the application costs involved. Alastair

“Four growers who were training to become AvoGreen owner/operators worked together to check each other’s work and that gave me confidence that I could identify the pests correctly.”

Lynnaire Avers, who monitors the three orchards she owns, says working with others when she was learning to become an AvoGreen monitor was a very valuable exercise.

“The reduction in the use of ‘hard chemicals’ since the introduction of AvoGreen is a positive for the growers, the environment and everyone working with and handling the products”

Lynnaire also studied the lifecycle of the insects AvoGreen targets and says that not only improved her understanding of their impact in the orchard, but also gave her respect for bugs.

“I have gained a respect for insects and their lifecycles. I also enjoy monitoring my orchards and gaining more knowledge on how their position can change with temperature and the season. Also the interaction of bebeficial insects and the positive impact they can have on pest levels.”

Lynnaire is also Seeka’s Client Relationship Manager for Avocados and in that role has access to AvoGreen monitoring data across all of the orchards which pack with Seeka. This means she has an over-view of pest activity on more than her own orchards. This, combined with her own monitoring experience, results in Seeka growers benefiting from her knowledge and her desire to not only improve her export pack-out but also Seeka growers export packouts. This is why Lynnaire supports the AvoGreen programme.

Improved packout

Daniel Birnie,Trevelyan’s avocado manager, says AvoGreen monitoring has had a significant impact on improved pack-out rates for the company’s growers.

“Most growers enjoy having our scouts coming on to their orchards to monitor pests. They appreciate the non-biased, and objective assessments of pest levels and feel good about being able to take action as required.

“It is totally a good programme which brings benefit to the growers and the industry.”

Daniel says the programme is constantly under review and growers who have suggestions for improvements or concerns about any aspect AvoGreen can made submission to the AvoGreen Working Group.

Technology has been developed to assist in recording AvoGreen monitoring results.

The reduction in the use of “hard chemicals” since the introduction of AvoGreen is a positive for the growers, the environment and everyone working with and handling the products, she says.

“New softer chemicals which are more targetspecific are now available for avocado growers, which means they can start to move away from broad spectrum insecticides which affect beneficial insects as well as pests and therefore tend not to be compatible with Integrated Pest Management.

Reports

Up to two-thirds of the company’s growers were involved in the voluntary programme before it became mandatory and they generally had better fruit quality than those not using AvoGreen.

Tayah Ryan is Fruitfed Supplies’ senior technical advisor whose areas of responsibly include technical support to avocado growers in the Bay of Plenty and Northland.

Tayah says there is a continued need for product development to keep up with changing market pressures, and to ensure issues like resistance don’t arise from overuse of certain chemicals.

“Internationally there are widespread resistance issues to a number of insecticides, including many which we use here in New Zealand, so we need to look after them.”

Growers can keep up-to-date with what products are best suited to their orchards and pest problems through their merchants, the AIC, and their packhouse, she says.

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For expert advice and grower discussion, join our experienced team at an upcoming field day.

Call (07) 573 0085 for more information. www.trevelyan.co.nz

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An avocado a day keeps the doctor away One of the United States’ leading nutrition experts says everyone should eat an avocado a day, after proving the super fruit can reduce bad cholesterol which causes heart disease.

“Just as we’ve long suspected, a diet that includes an abundance of these creamy green treats is now proven to help stave off bad cholesterol.”

New research, published this month

by the Journal of the American Heart Association, studied the effect avocados had on cardiovascular risk factors by replacing saturated fatty acids from an average American diet with unsaturated fatty acids from avocados.

The research has been lauded by Australian health coach and ‘I Quit Sugar’ guru, Sarah Wilson, who says the news is a great reason to celebrate (http://iquitsugar.com/doctors-sayeat-avocado/).

“Just as we’ve long suspected, a diet that

In the US study, 45 healthy but overweight or obese patients between the ages of 21 and 70 were put on three different cholesterollowering diets for five weeks.

One group ate a lower fat diet without avocado, one consumed a moderate-fat diet without avocado, while the last group had a moderate-fat diet plus one avocado every day.

Nourish

They concluded the good fats found in avocados can help lower bad cholesterol levels, particularly for people who are overweight and obese.

includes an abundance of these creamy green treats is now proven to help stave off bad cholesterol,” she says.

Dr Penny M. Kris-Etherton, senior study author, chair of the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee and Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at Pennsylvania State University, says the

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MARKETING

subsequent blood results were clear.

THE BEST

Those who ate a moderate-fat diet plus an avocado every day had lower bad cholesterol levels than those on a similar diet without the avocado or those on the lower-fat diet.

IN NEW ZEALAND

“We need to focus on getting people to eat a hearthealthy diet that includes avocados and other nutrientrich food sources of better fats,” Dr Kris-Etherton concluded. (http://newsroom.heart.org/news/anavocado-a-day-may-help-keep-bad-cholesterol-at-bay)

AVOCADOS AND AROUND THE WORLD

“Avocados can also be eaten with salads, vegetables, sandwiches, lean protein foods (like chicken or fish) or even whole.”

New Zealand Avocado CEO Jen Scoular welcomed the new research findings, saying Kiwis can easily take advantage of the health advice because we grow an abundance of avocados here in New Zealand.

“New Zealand produces some of the finest avocados in the world, and we’re used to seeing them on our supermarket shelves.”

Kiwis love experimenting with avocados in the kitchen, using them to make simple snacks like avocado on toast, delicious summer salads, smoothies and desserts, and people are more confident about cooking with them than ever before.

Nourish

“Avocados are getting a lot of positive media coverage these days, which is wonderful. Consumers are learning more about their nutritional benefits and are really getting the hang of choosing and using avocados.”

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

Scoular says it’s easy to incorporate avocados into your daily diet.

“They’re amazing anytime, and you can enjoy them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Avocado oil is a healthy and tasty replacement for canola or vegetable oils when cooking. Or try swapping mayonnaise for avocado next time you make a sandwich or salad,” she suggests.

Avocados are cholesterol free so they’re a perfect wholefood and great for maintaining a healthy heart.

Avocado also help your body to absorb more of the nutrients from other foods when eaten together, which is why it’s regarded as one of the most nutritionally complete foods in the world.

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Recipe

Avocolada Shake Serves 3 Prep time: 5-10 minutes Method

4 cups frozen pineapple cubes - you can use fresh or canned pineapple Flesh of 1 ripe avocado ½ can coconut milk 1 ½ cups pineapple juice 1 ripe frozen banana 1-2 tablespoons liquid honey, to taste Small handful of ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into tall glasses and serve immediately.

Nourish

Ingredients

Recipe created by Nadia Lim for New Zealand Avocado

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Out and about

PhillipWest, AshbyWhitehead, Kevin Thomas, Jen Scoular at Kevin’s and Danielle O’Connor’s Far North orchard.

NZ Avocado field day in Whangarei at JohnWeissing’s orchard.

NZ Avocado field day in Katikati at Matt and Helen Heller’s orchard.

Jen Scoular visiting students at Pukenui school who have created an avocado cookbook.

Joyce Liu (NZTE) with AshbyWhitehead and Jen Scoular at the China Fruit & Vegetable Fair in Beijing.

Jen Scoular and Midge Munro meet with Sachie Nomura, cook and star of TV show Sachie’s Kitchen (above), and Nadia Lim (above right) to discuss promotions.

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Enjoying the NZ Avocado tent at the Taste of Auckland festival - avocado growers Steve and Victoria Cotton and their daughter, with Midge Munro.

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MUCH OF THE WORLD’S MOST NUTRITIONALLY COMPLETE FRUIT IS MISSING ONE VITAL INGREDIENT

There’s no need for alarm though, that missing ingredient is easy to source, and it’s very, very well proven. It’s certainly a great comfort to all those in the Avocado industry that it’s not some closely guarded trade secret, or something reserved for a fortunate few.

Better still, the essential additive that transforms good to great comes absolutely free to every grower who makes the smart choice to partner with Apata.

The vital ingredient? Expertise, from the Avocado experts at Apata.

KEVIN RAVENHILL AVOCADO GROWER SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE DDI: 07 5520 0537 • MB: 0274 835 699 • kevin.ravenhill@apata.co.nz

PETER SNEDDON CLIENT MANAGER, MENDS LANE, TE PUKE

TM

NIKO TAHAU

CLIENT MANAGER, TURNTABLE RD, KATIKATI

DDI: 07 552 0528 • MB: 027 226 5489 • niko.tahau@apata.co.nz 60

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PROUD TO PARTNER WITH Avoscene March 2015

TOGETHER WE’RE BETTER

0215AGL DEVCICH.CO.NZ

PH: 533 6212 (EXT 803) • MB: 027 205 7496 • peter.sneddon@apata.co.nz