Avoscene may 2016

Avoscene New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Journal

May 2016

Maximising opportunities in the Far North

Avocentric Page 60

Inside this issue: Avocado industry joins GIA Biosecurity Partnership Understanding irregular bearing Support for "newbies" to the industry Access to China a little closer

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“We filter out the information. If you ask 10 different people, you’ll get 10 different answers. We figure out what’s the best for us.”

ROY ORLOWSKI, TEAM AVOCADO AND AVOCO GROWER OF THE YEAR 2014-15

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AVO0316

www.avoco.co.nz 2

NZ Avocado Office PO Box 13267 Tauranga 3141

Contents

New Zealand Level 5, Harrington House 32 Harington Street Tauranga 3110 Ph: 07 571 6147 or 0800 AVOCADO (0800 286 2236)

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On the Orchard

Newsroom

www.nzavocado.co.nz

View from the Chair

4

Industry news

15

@NZ_Avocado

Growing the business

6

New faces

18

NZ Avocado

Outside the box

8

Industry matters

20

@nz_avocado

The New Zealand Market 9

Recommended reading 23

Whangarei PGP Working Group

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Regional roundup

Avocado news from the world

Understanding irregular bearing

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NZ Avocado

Directors

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Pest and disease watch: Fullers rose weevil 27 Cuke-set survey results 28

Bay of Plenty Ashby Whitehead NZAGA & AIC Chair Ph 07 573 6680 m. 027 283 2192 alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz Dave Flett m. 027 555 4420 dave.flett@yahoo.co.nz Far North Ian Fulton Ph 09 406 8808 ian.fulton@clear.net.nz

Reports

Post Harvet

Understanding market rots

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At Large Roger Barber Ph 09 435 0785 m. 021 488 124 barbers@ihug.co.nz

Markets

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

Export market contestable promotions fund 38

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

New Zealand market contestable promotions fund 38

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

Nourish

Reducing organophosphate use

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How eating avocado could save your life

Season Review

46

Recipe 64

Access to China a little closer

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Important elements to consider in Packer-Grower contracts 52 Roadmap to Exporter-Grower Contracts 53 Support for 'newbies' to the industry

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Serving up the future

57

Avocentric - Tomo Orchard

60

Export Directors Andrew Darling Annmarie Lee

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Out and About

Out and about

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Cover Shot: Maria and Diego Fathollahi. See p60 Photography by Rochelle Lewis, Little Rock Photography.

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

Midge Munro, Communications Manager

Jen Scoular, CEO

Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager

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

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

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

Edwina Aitchison, Executive Assistant

Marisa Till, R&D Manager

Bevan Jelley, New Zealand Market

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

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

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

Brad Siebert Biosecurity & Programme Manager

Phillip West, R&D Officer

Jodi Senior, Communications Assistant

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

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

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

jodi.senior@nzavocado.co.nz

Danni van der Heijden, Research Associate

Cameron Wallace, Research Analyst

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

cameron.wallace@nzavocado.co.nz

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

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View from the Chair

By Ashby Whitehead, Chair, NZAGA & AIC

alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz

Gaining phytosanitary access to China for New Zealand avocados remains a top priority for the NZAGA Board. After hosting two Chinese delegations in March, we can be proud of the industry systems we have presented to them – thank you to those involved in the preparation of these crucial visits.

AshbyWhitehead, NZAGA & AIC Chair.

It was great to host the China Entry and Exit Inspection

and Quarantine Association (CIQA) delegation as part of a cross-industry welcome. The visits to the orchards were well received - they were very interested in the way we grow avocados and the systems we have in place to export them. NZ Avocado hosted a dinner for 40 guests, including the delegation. It was an excellent opportunity to mix and mingle with the Chinese visitors as well as with other sectors of the horticulture industry – such a mix doesn’t happen very often.

This was followed closely by a visit from three representatives of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) for an eight-day official government-to-government technical visit.

This delegation was hosted by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) with the aim specifically to advance the phytosanitary access to China for avocados.

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AQSIQ is the body in charge of national import/export safety, quality, certification, accreditation and standardisation and deals with the technical assessment and phytosanitary approvals of market access and trade.

The visit is part of helping to enable access for New Zealand avocados into China. Following the submission of a technical document, which described the production and post-harvest practices within the New Zealand avocado industry, AQSIQ requested a demonstration of New Zealand’s phytosanitary and export systems.

The visit also allowed our avocado industry the opportunity to demonstrate practically the industry systems we implement on orchard and at the packhouse.

MPI staff accompanied the delegation alongside Jen Scoular, Glenys Parton, Brad Siebert and myself from NZ Avocado.

NZ Avocado and MPI presented to the delegation and

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showed a video detailing the export systems process from harvest through to container loadout, showing the documentation and assurances given along the supply chain.

The delegation also had the opportunity to visit orchards in the Bay of Plenty, Kerikeri and Far North.

This visit helped familiarise AQSIQ officials with the quality and phytosanitary measures already in place throughout the New Zealand avocado industry supply chain, and will advance the negotiation of establishing phytosanitary requirements for New Zealand avocados in China.

From my point of view, the preliminary work put into building relationships during the past two years has really paid off. I recognise how much effort goes into the preparation of these visits, with Jen, Glenys and Brad in particular ensuring every “t” is perfectly crossed and every “i” is perfectly dotted.

There is no guarantee we will get access for the next season but we have done everything we can do to advance this. Both delegations have been very engaged, and we should be proud of the industry systems we demonstrated to them.

Succession planning

Previous articles have included the need for succession planning for the Board and we have been discussing this at every opportunity. In Whangarei the Board arranged to meet with growers to engage in that region, specifically too

From left: Dr JiajiaoWu (AQSIQ representative),Tony Ponder, Jen Scoular, AshbyWhitehead, Director Guoqiang Xu (AQSIQ representative), Director Jixun Li (AQSIQ representative), James Fu (interpreter) and Glenys Parton.

to seek growers keen to be part of the governance of the industry. As I write this we have had some interest and I hope before this is published that we will have extended that. We encourage growers to vote when the election is underway.

Governance of the industry is paramount and under our rules we need eight growers prepared to put their hand up.You can make a difference. It is an opportunity to contribute to the direction the industry takes. A well governed industry leads to strong returns, capital growth and a healthy future.

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Growing the business

By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

It's fantastic to be enjoying the collective fruits of our labour. From nursery to consumer, our industry is collaborating, delivering and building capability that enables us to meet the 2016-17 challenge of 7.6m trays.

Jen Scoular, CEO, NZ Avocado.

If variety was different colours, my diary has been very colourful lately.

I’m writing this from Sydney where Midge and I met with Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd (HIAL), which manage the promotions levy paid by Australian avocado growers. Prior to this I had spent the day in Paihia with the AQSIQ delegation from China, hosting their free day before they headed back to China.

I’m very pleased to report that both the Chinese delegations, CIQA and AQSIQ, went very well. These warrant a separate article which you will find on page 50.

In March we also had the Director General of MPI, Martyn Dunn, visit us in Tauranga, I attended a KPMG agribusiness roundtable, we hosted a group of students from Massey University, I attended a Plant Market Access Council (PMAC) field day with the cherry industry, we met with

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the new owners of Bounty rootstock, attended our first meeting as a GIA signatory, and participated at AVEC and Packer Forum meetings.

Developing promotions

We always test that the marketing and promotional activity your grower levies are invested into are adding value. In the last two years we have invested into the campaign directed by HIAL, specifically the “love that avocado feeling” television commercial. HIAL has recently reviewed its strategy, and concluded the increased consumption of avocados in Australia suggests their current strategy is working, so it will continue with similar activity going forward. Over the next couple of months we will determine, with strong input from exporters and local marketers, what the best investment is for promotions in each of our markets for the 2016-17 season.

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Jen Scoular, Hon Nathan Guy and HortNZ CEO Mike Chapman at Te Hono workshop held in Hamilton in April.

To support this decision making we utilise the Avocado Exporters Council (AVEC) working group, which is a consultative group set up to make sure all investment of grower levies is enabling exporters to maximise returns from export markets for your avocado. The use of both commodity levy and PGP funds are discussed, ensuring decisions are made taking into account the needs of all. Bevan has similar discussion with the New Zealand marketer group, to understand how to maximise returns from investment in the New Zealand market.

events I have ever attended, and the impressive speakers and attendees certainly provided great food for thought as we develop plans for the future. I invited Andrew Darling and Tony Ponder to attend the workshop with me - Tony speaks very highly of the day in his Regional roundup article on page 11. We will all utilise the great networks this has opened for us.

2016-17 crop

We recognise the avocado industry can learn off other industries and I am very happy to report some great collaborations; Glenys has visited Zespri and Pipfruit NZ recently to understand their industry systems and the Te Hono workshop I attended offered terrific insights as it inspired us collectively to "unlock the power" of New Zealand's primary sector.

The first crop estimate has come out at 6.9 million with a forecast 5 million trays for export. I recall four years ago when we were looking at 6 million trays for 2011-12 and we all gulped at that challenge. Looking at a season of nearly 7 million trays, all I hear is excitement; an eagerness to be part of an exciting programme to maximise the return on that volume. The industry feels very good. We acknowledge we still have a lot to work on, but having the success of a few very strong seasons under our belts, collectively there is confidence in the future. I hope you are feeling that too.

Speaking of this event, it was amazingly well run – 200 primary industries leaders in the audience, 25 speakers limited to 15 minutes each, and we had the ability to follow up for more detailed information if we needed to. This workshop was one of the most open networking

Marisa Till has now had a few months in her new role as R&D Manager and joined me at the recent field days/ season updates to give her first impressions of the industry.

Thanks to those who attended the field days/season updates in Katikati and Houhora.

Great connections

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Outside the box

By Hugh Moore, NZAPF Executive

hugh@kauripak.co.nz

With the 2016-17 season set to be a large one, it will be helpful to take last season’s learnings with us – especially in regards to harvest timings to meet export requirements and consumer demand.

The 2015-16 season has finished and everyone is in

anticipation of the growers’ finals as each exporter jostles for the line.

The season is going to leave a memory and some targets for the future as Australia’s sale prices have surpassed the highs of the late ’70s when New Zealand had the JanuaryMarch sales window to ourselves. Sale prices back then were as high as AUD60 per tray.

The sales prices per tray have been remarkable and we have seen wholesale and direct to retail programs achieve prices as high as AUD80 per tray.

This just shows that as packers we must be looking toward packing more volume after Christmas than we traditionally have in the last decade. This later volume could be greater than 50% and will put considerable pressure on us to achieve this flow-planning on behalf of our exporters and growers.

Many growers have become accustomed to picking larger volumes prior to Christmas, with many wanting their crops harvested between September and late November, which is not in sync with the current exporters’ or customers’ requirements.

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I look forward to the Packhouse Grower Supply Committees taking a responsible position and supporting their packers to flow-plan growers equitably so the risk is shared by all in this new supply trend.

Often when I put on my “Packer’s Hat” I soon understand that we are the meat in the sandwich, sometimes even in a toasted sandwich press! We don’t have an easy job trying to manage the harvest plan for growers, who can be very demanding or don’t care about meeting the pool requirements but still want to reap the benefits of pool results from late sales.

Some exporters who run late incentive schemes, paying a premium for fruit harvested from Christmas onwards, will help make our difficult job a little easier by compensating growers for increased rejects and fruit drop.

The coming season looks massive, but also exciting, and will put pressure on all of us as we tackle the large volumes that will dwarf all other seasons. Volume like this will certainly help the economics of the post-harvest sector as a short year certainly plays havoc with our cash flows.

Wishing you all the best with the demands we face in the season ahead.

The New Zealand Market Comment

Glen Dunseath, Managing Director, Zeafruit glen@zeafruit.co.nz

Autumn is upon us as I pen this article, and what lies ahead is something new for us as an industry – a significant period without supply. What does this mean? Will fruit be imported?

How will consumers react? No-one really knows!

Across this season the industry has been indicating a

shortage of supply from mid-April onwards, with high fruit maturity and even higher export values being two critical factors in this equation.

“Is it a bad thing?” is a question we should debate, as well as exploring the positives that a shortage, for potentially eight weeks, means for the industry as we look ahead to a sizeable season in terms of tray volumes.

This season’s domestic crop will settle somewhere around 1.2 million trays – not so long ago that would have been considered a sizeable crop for this market, but not so now.

The 2016-17 New Zealand market share is forecast to be around 1.9 million trays. Will imports fill the void?

Discussion is plentiful but as yet no-one has committed a definitive ‘yes’.

Orchard Gate Returns (OGR) values to growers from domestic sales this year have been potentially the best ever paid; not bad given we will sell nothing for two months of this season. Simple maths says 1.2 million trays across 10 months equals a monthly average of 120,000 trays per month. Add that to the next two months and it would bring the season total up to 1.44 million trays. I know this is a very rough generalised summary but what extra volume could we have sold and still maintained this year’s high average returns, or how much does the drop need to be in order to sell say another 300,000 trays?

As we look forward to next season, what season average return should we be targeting to sell 1.8 million trays? We have recent history from the 2014-15 season (1.88 million trays) as a base line – can we do better in terms of managing the supply curve, especially during the peak export window, with a target to lift the category value and ultimately OGR values to growers?

The challenge for those stakeholders in the New Zealand domestic market is to take the best learnings from this year and blend them with our experience from two years ago, seeking industry-wide buy-in on issues such as: - Packing limitations on certain sizes during main export

period – do we need 120ct and 140ct packed if they will adversely affect returns on larger counts and overall returns?

- Ripening and conditioning a priority on all lines – minimising green fruit supply to ensure rapid turnover of fruit to consumers - Well planned and structured promotional activity – focused around peak export packing periods and using high volume multi-buy promotions as an option - Active involvement from all New Zealand market participants in NZ Avocado-driven industry discussions -E ncourage growers to understand their part of the supply chain – where is my fruit ending up, who is my marketer, and what are my expectations in terms of value?

We can do little across the remainder of this season, however we can do a lot now in preparation for the 2016-17 season to come.

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Regional Roundup News and views from your NZAGA Regional Representatives

Ian Fulton - Far North

Ian.Fulton@clear.net.nz

05-04-16

This season would have to be one of the best for Far North growers, with most orchards having a good crop and OGR returns being at record levels. What was particularly pleasing was the high returns obtained from the domestic market throughout the season.

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working effectively. The main thing to look at is what percentage of the tree’s rooting area is being covered by irrigation, as only the irrigated area during extended dry periods will be supporting the tree.

Growing conditions since early January have been exceptional, with significant rainfall every one to two weeks, plus hot humid weather. There has been extensive summer flush, even on trees carrying large fruit loads.

Most orchards are now in the best condition they have looked for a number of years.

The recent weather conditions have also been favourable for pests, particularly greenhouse thrips, which again have been prevalent on most orchards during late summer and early autumn. From now on growers need to carefully consider what sprays they use to remain compliant for all market access for their export crop.

Given how the trees have responded so positively to the regular rainfall, growers should take a closer look at their irrigation systems and scheduling to make sure they are

The crop for 2016-17 season looks very positive. Given the good growing conditions and no major storms, fruit are sized well and appear to be very clean.

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Prudent NZ Avocado strategic investment takes us closer to our ultimate China goal.

Tony Ponder - At Large

tony@southernproduce.co.nz

11-04-16

Another important milestone in our aspiration to secure official phytosanitary access to China was realised in late March with the arrival of the AQSIQ Chinese delegation. This group came with the purpose to complete the technical assessment of the production and certification systems for the export of our avocados to China.

This was a significant undertaking led by MPI and NZ Avocado involving the collaboration of many growers, packers and stakeholders throughout the week. They all delivered to the delegation a very comprehensive insight into our export-orientated industry congratulations to all involved.

Follow-up between AQSIQ and MPI would be expected as a result of the post-trip assessment, and while the final decision is at the discretion of the People’s Republic of China, I believe one has every reason to be optimistic of a favourable outcome.

Enterprise DNA

I attended the inaugural Te Hono Summit in early April at Mystery Creek, Hamilton along with Jen Scoular, Andrew Darling and 200 other invited agri-business leaders. The theme of ‘Accelerating Transformation’ in the context of exploring how we tackle the crowded marketplace through collaboration, alignment and transformation.

Te Hono Movement started in 2012 as the New Zealand Primary Sector Bootcamp at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, a gathering of 23 chief executives from New Zealand’s primary sector companies, together with the then Minister for Primary Industries, Hon David Carter and chief executive of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, Peter Crisp.

Several years on it has evolved, with 130 CEOs

and leaders representing 80% of the New Zealand primary sector who have built a strong foundation of trust, respect and knowledge aligned to the government’s national growth agenda.

The summit was a truly inspiring event, packed with quality presenters who delivered relevant insights into unlocking our collective future growth potential. The relevance from a NZ Avocado perspective was certainly not lost on me as we contemplate how best to deliver the fundamentals of the Primary Growth Partnership:‘Go Global’ strategy.

The Te Hono vision to develop inbound investment, joint ventures and partnerships, building diversity, supply chain alignment, business alignment, leadership in high value global niches, understanding channels to markets in a digital world while being business led and government enabled certainly resonated with me.

Facilitated by Justin Ferrell, an organisational behaviour specialist and Director of Fellowships at the Institute of Design at Stanford (d.School), the programme included New Zealand business and government leaders; the first time I can recall having the leaders of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, MPI, Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment, Ministry for the Environment and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise collaborating to deliver the summit programme.

World-leading expert Professor Simon Anholt talked about a coordinated strategy to unleash New Zealand’s competitive advantage and the measurement of national identity and reputation from a corporate, country and citizen perspective. Simon has advised

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more than 50 national, regional and city governments on the subject of seeking to enhance their competitiveness in the global marketplace.

the US will, I’m sure, empower her through experience and networks to build further on the delivery of strategy that underpins our future growth vision for this industry.

His key message, refined over many years of academic and practical experience, deals with the role of brands in economic development, what should be foremost in your strategy, and is well worth some time reading – www.simonanholt.com

Let’s continue to work together to connect and collaborate to uphold the pace of change required to maintain the competitive advantage of the New Zealand avocado industry, our policies must be disciplined and the processes that underpin them transparent and systematic – our prize is a share of a very big pie.

Jen’s invitation, supported by your Board, to attend this year’s Stanford Bootcamp in

John Cotterell

jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz

10-04-16

If this summer was an El Nino summer, I say bring it on!

We have had regular, and at times heavy, falls of rain consistently throughout the summer months in the Bay of Plenty, but I hear all avocado growing regions are similar.

There are quite a few orchards in the Bay of Plenty with their biggest crop ever on the trees and a good number of orchards very close to that too. The fruit drop has been massive this year and is still going on (10/04/16) - keep looking up as the load on most trees is still very good.

Plant & Food Research in conjunction with NZ Avocado are conducting a trial on one of our orchards in which they are counting the fruit drop. A few weeks ago they were counting fruit that 11 year old trees had dropped; 1800 fruit and they are still dropping, but the trees still have a good crop on them.

In saying that, there are a few orchards in the Bay of Plenty with almost 100% cukes, and then others with lots of cukes and good numbers of normal set fruit as well.

The fruit size is very good in most orchards, which goes to show what regular watering can do for fruit size. If the average fruit size of the national crop is one size count larger than our average, it will add about 500,000 trays to the

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national crop, so we need to put some time and effort into getting our crop estimates as accurate as possible. In doing so our exporters know what they have to market, which in turn will give growers the best possible return.

Early estimates indicate that we are looking at what could be our industry’s biggest crop ever, which means the New Zealand market will come under pressure by just the sheer volume of fruit being packed for export. Therefore, the more fruit you can get into an export tray, the better off you and all other growers will be.

We have had two Chinese delegations visit our orchard in the last month. The first was group of eleven, none of which had ever been to New Zealand before, seen an avocado orchard or even tasted avocado. About half were Government officials and the rest were industry people - fruit importers and fruit handlers etc. Also with the group were three of our Government officials from MPI and some of our NZ Avocado staff.

The second group were three Government officials, similar to our MPI officials. Both groups were here to help advance our access into the Chinese market.

NZ Avocado staff put in a huge effort to showcase our industry and make these visits as informative as possible.

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Industry News Local industries celebrate biosecurity excellence at Port of Tauranga Newsroom

During February, more than 50 industry leaders together with the Minister for Primary Industries, Nathan Guy, and Minister of Trade, Todd McClay, celebrated the official launch of ‘biosecurity operational excellence’ at Port of Tauranga.

The launch and demonstration of a cruise ship clearance provided the opportunity to showcase the innovative ways Bay of Plenty industries and government are working together to better understand and manage the biosecurity risks at the port.

Key to the initiative is raising awareness amongst the Port community to increase the general surveillance and reporting of any suspected pests.

The vision is to extend this successful model to other ports across New Zealand.

Jen Scoular, AshbyWhitehead and Brad Siebert in attendance for the launch of biosecurity operational excellence at Port of Tauranga.

Avocados on popular New Zealand children’s show Sticky TV February was 5 + A Day’s annual challenge month to encourage New Zealanders to get more fruit and vegetables (including avocados) into their diets. NZ Avocado supported this campaign on social media by incorporating the challenge’s branding in our Facebook page header and also by providing avocados for popular children’s TV programme, Sticky TV. 5 + A Day organised for Sticky TV to get involved with their February challenge with avocados featuring in three episodes. One of the three presenters, Walter, snacked on guacamole in the first episode. Avocado was incorporated throughout the second episode with the three presenters engaging with their young audience to talk about what an avocado is. In the final episode, Walter shows his audience how to make guacamole with the avocados.

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Inaugural Katikati Avocado Expo a success

Newsroom

Growers and avocado enthusiasts turned out in droves to this year’s Katikati Avocado Expo, with organisers already planning how to make next year’s event even better.

The expo in February, held in conjunction with the Katikati A&P Show, was the brainchild of Katikati avocado grower Sheryl Palmer. She saw it as an opportunity to raise awareness about avocados among the wider public and be a one-stop-shop for growers and those doing business in the industry.

Avanza had a significant presence at the expo, sponsoring a large marquee where the avocado-related activity and children’s art was on display.

Exhibitors from all corners of the industry showcased their tools, machinery, equipment, seedlings, products and fertilisers on the day and were happy to explain to curious onlookers and those new to avocado growing how their products and services could benefit them and their orchard.

Linda Flegg, from the expo’s organising committee, said Avanza’s large shaded marquee became a popular gathering point during the day for people wanting to view nearby demonstrations by the New Zealand Axeman’s Association as well as discover what the avocado industry has to offer.

A total of 12 avocado-related businesses took part, with trade stands either inside the marquee or in the surrounding area. These included chipping contractors, Hydralada from Hastings and Lynwood Avocado Nursery from Whangarei.

The Avocado Expo catered to younger age groups as well with children’s art and avocado creations a prominent feature.

In a competition to find the heaviest export grade Hass avocado, Avoco growers Jim Potroz and Bev Clerke won with their 570g fruit.

“We weren’t expecting so many of the general public to visit the marquee but our site provided a great viewing area for the wood chopping. This led to more non-growers being exposed to what our industry is all about.”

Linda said the expo’s popularity and the industry’s recent growth meant there would be no doubt it would be held again next year in Katikati - the heart of New Zealand’s biggest avocado growing region.

The general public took as much interest in the technical displays, such as the processes involved in dry matter testing, as avocado growers, said Linda.

For more photos, go to page 66 in the Out & About section.

To book advertising space in the next issue of Avoscene please contact Suzy King at SunMedia Ltd. Booking deadline for the next issue is June 3rd, 2016.

Contact Suzy on 07 578 0030 or 021 769 831 e Avosce email Avoscen ne Happy produci partnership suzy@thesun.co.nz ng gre at re New Zealan

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2016 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower Competition The 2016 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower competition aims to promote and celebrate the talents of young people employed in the Bay of Plenty fruit-growing sectors.

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This year’s competition is on Wednesday 22 June 2016 at the stunning Mills Reef Winery in Tauranga followed by a gala dinner and awards ceremony in the evening.

We have some of the best fruit in the country so it goes without saying that there are also a number of very talented young fruit growers in the region and this event is the perfect opportunity to showcase their horticultural skills.

The winner of the 2016 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower goes forward to the national final of the NZ Young Fruit Grower on 19-20 July 2016 in Pukekohe.

The day event also coincides with ‘Cultivate Your Career’ – an event attended by hundreds of Year 11, 12 and 13 secondary school students. With the aim of promoting horticulture as a career, it exposes students to the endless opportunities available to them in the horticulture sector and the skills they need to transition from school into the wider world of employment, training and/or further education in the Bay of Plenty.

Craig Ward - winner of the 2015 BOP Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition

• GOLD – sponsorship funding of $5,000 + • SILVER – sponsorship funding of $3,000 - $4,999

Here’s how you can be part of the 2016 Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower Competition:

• BRONZE – sponsorship funding of $1,000 - $2999

Enter the competition

Trade stands are $200 each, irrelevant of scale. Take this opportunity to showcase your business in the Bay of Plenty where horticulture industries are thriving.

Showcase your horticultural skills and initiative by entering the 2016 BOP Young Fruit Grower Competition. The event will expose you to great networking opportunities with industry leaders and you can win some fantastic cash prizes.

To enter go to www.bopyoungfruitgrower.co.nz.

Become a Sponsor

Align your brand with the BOPYFG competition. Attended by hundreds of industry people, the event offers great recognition and significant brand exposure for sponsors and supporters.

Hold a Trade Exhibition

Trade Exhibitors are also welcome to provide specific demonstrations during the day event which will become part of the event schedule and advertised to attendees.

Mills Reef has an extensive grass area with plenty of room for trade stands of all shapes and sizes.

For more information, visit www.bopyoungfruitgrower.co.nz.

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New Faces

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Annmarie Lee

Annmarie Lee, AIC Exporter Director.

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AIC Exporter Director AVEC members recently elected Annmarie Lee as the new AIC Exporter Director.

customers within Australia, Japan, China and Malaysia, in both retail and wholesale.

Annmarie has been involved in the horticultural industry for more than 30 years, covering numerous areas of the supply chain from growing to marketing.

She has also owned a kiwifruit orchard with her husband for 20 years.

Recently Annmarie changed roles and is now the Brand and Corporate Marketing Manager for Seeka.

Annmarie has worked in many different areas of post-harvest and moved into marketing 10 years ago when Seekafresh was formed. Her role was predominantly being accountable for the exporting of kiwifruit, avocados and kiwiberries that Seeka harvest and pack, as well as working directly with

Annmarie has played an active role in Kiwifruit Product Group (Exec member) KETA (exporting group for kiwifruit) and AVEC over a number of years and will continue being part of these important industry groups.

Annmarie’s interests include spending as much time in the beautiful Bay of Plenty sunshine as possible and being with her family; she particularly loves the precious time with her three grandchildren.

Marisa Till

R&D Manager, NZ Avocado

“It sounded like the perfect role in an exciting industry,” says Marisa, who took up the position in Tauranga in February.

“I had been involved in post doctorate research at Bristol University for four and a half years and although I loved it, the pull to return home to the Bay of Plenty was strong.”

Marisa grew up on a farm at Waihi and completed her education in the Bay of Plenty before studying at Waikato University where she gained a PhD in biochemistry, focusing on protein science.

“During my time as an undergraduate at Waikato I also did a double major in biology and chemistry and studied environmental sciences and earth science, so I have a broad science background.”

Three years ago, while back home on holiday, Marisa and husband Tony planted avocado trees on Marisa’s family land at Waihi and since then she has taken a keen interest in the industry.

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Cutting edge research with a team of scientists at Bristol University to understand production of natural antibiotics from enzymes was fascinating and exciting but when Marisa Till saw the role of research and development manager with NZ Avocado advertised, she couldn’t wait to apply.

“These are exciting times for the avocado industry which is experiencing strong growth and good research and development can make a real difference for growers.”

With her broad science background and practical knowledge, Marisa is well placed to continue NZ Avocado’s research programmes.

“Good scientific practice is fundamental to all research and once you learn that practice it can be applied to different fields of science.”

Marisa Till, R&D Manager, NZ Avocado.

Marisa is looking forward to learning more about the avocado industry, and experimenting on her own trees.

“It is vital to communicate with growers, industry professionals and post-harvest operators because they know what is happening on the ground floor, and what research is required. Whatever the research team does must be practical and of benefit to growers.”

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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Industry matters

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Avocado industry joins GIA Biosecurity Partnership

Hon Nathan Guy and AshbyWhitehead sign GIA Deed.

On 25 February, NZ Avocado Growers’ Association Incorporated (NZAGA) signed the Deed of the Government Industry Agreement (GIA) for Biosecurity Readiness and Response in Tauranga, becoming the seventh Signatory to sign the Deed.

The signing was attended by the Minister for Primary Industries, Hon Nathan Guy, NZAGA Chair Ashby Whitehead, NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular, and representatives from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), the GIA Secretariat and the avocado industry.

“Working in partnership with Government will enable us to deliver the best biosecurity outcomes that we can for the New Zealand avocado industry,” says Whitehead.

Avocados are New Zealand’s third largest fresh fruit export industry, with a Free on Board (FoB) value of $135M from sales to export markets and the New Zealand market in the 2014-15 season.

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of a biosecurity response, and influence readiness activity,” says Jen. GIA Secretariat Manager, Steve Rich, welcomed New Zealand Avocado to the partnership saying the new addition will further strengthen efforts to better deliver biosecurity outcomes.

“It’s pleasing to see more industry groups joining the growing partnership. GIA now has the critical mass to begin delivering improved biosecurity readiness and response activities”.

“The development of the GIA partnership has taken time and great commitment from participants, but we are now beginning to see the benefits of the collective strength of participants working together to achieve common goals,” says Steve.

There are more than 1300 avocado growers, with production spread across three main growing regions: Bay of Plenty (65%), Mid North (22%) and Far North (13%).

New Zealand Avocado joins Kiwifruit Vine Health, Pipfruit New Zealand, New Zealand Pork, New Zealand Equine Health Association, Onions New Zealand and the New Zealand Forestry Owners Association, along with MPI representing the government as GIA partners.

“Signing the GIA Deed will give the avocado industry the opportunity to influence how we are impacted in the event

For more information, visit www.nzavocado.co.nz or www.gia.org.nz

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Export registration instructions

You can complete this registration online at the NZ Avocado website. Please see instructions below.

Grower export registrations completed and paid by 15 August are $150 GST. Registrations made after this date will be $300 GST. If you are unable to register for export online then please contact the NZ Avocado office if you need to register manually and we will arrange a paper registration form for you. Please be aware that a $30 GST administration fee will be added to your export registration fee for a manual registration.

1. In your internet browser window, type www.nzavocado. co.nz/industry into the website address bar and press ENTER on your key board.

2. Login using the “Industry Member Sign-In” – your username will be your firstname.lastname and your password will be what you currently use to sign on to the industry website. Once signed in, click the "Spray Diary and Industry Tools” link at the top right of the screen.

3. You will now be in the Industry Tools section of the industry website. In the list of login types, click Grower AvoTools.

4. Select your 5-digit PPIN (e.g. P12345) that you wish to register for export. Click Open.

5. Click the Grower Export Registration link.

6. AvoGreen compliance - You must be AvoGreen compliant to be eligible to register for export.You will be asked to verify this compliance (either you are an owneroperator or your orchard is monitored by an operator or by another owner-operator).

Click the two tick boxes at the bottom of the screen to verify your compliance then click Proceed to next step.

If you are not compliant, a message will show on screen asking you to contact us for assistance.

7. Terms & conditions – before registering you need to agree to abide by the Terms and Conditions, and to comply with the EMS and the Grower Responsibilities

section of the AIC Quality Manual. The EMS and Terms and Conditions are available to view in this screen.

Click on the tick box at the bottom of the screen to accept then click Proceed to next step.

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

8. Your details - check that the details held on file for you or your company are correct and amend any incorrect details. Please ensure that your email address is up-to-date as it will be used to send your registration confirmation, yield estimate and intended packer choices.

9. Y ield estimate – This section has automatically populated your yields from the previous season.You must type in your crop estimate for export and local market for the current season, if you are unsure please check your packer agreement or talk to your packer.

10. Orchard hectares – This section has automatically populated your orchard hectares, please check this information and amend if it is incorrect. If you are a new grower, please add this information - there are calculation instructions on the right hand side of the screen.

11. Intended packer choices - select your intended packer. If you select a packer, your registration will automatically be emailed to that packer once your registration is completed.

If you do not select a packer during registration then it is your responsibility to provide your later chosen packer(s) with a copy of your registration.

12. Payment– choose your payment method (credit card, direct credit or cheque).Your registration will not be confirmed and verified until AIC receives your payment in full.

Please note: If paying by direct credit please use your PPIN number as the reference. A credit card transaction will incur an additional 2.8% transaction fee.

If paying by cheque, please include your PPIN number on the back and post it to: Avocado Industry Council, PO Box 13267, Tauranga, 3141 13. Confirmation- Once details are checked and the payment has been received then you will be sent a confirmation email with an attached copy of your registration form (which acts as a tax receipt).

If you have any issues online registration, please call 0800 AVOCADO for assistance.

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ProHass visit

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

phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

Newsroom

We were very happy and proud to host Victor Escobedo (technical manager) and Arturo Medina Castro (general manager) from ProHass, Peru in February. The aim of their trip was to identify any innovations that could be translated back to Peru and learn more about our industry structure.

Both Victor and Arturo were very happy to share their experiences with us, as well as the growers and industry professionals they met and I think it’s fair to say we learnt just as much from them as they did from us.

Victor and Arturo had a busy schedule, meeting with growers from the Bay of Plenty and Whangarei regions, staff here at NZ Avocado as well as Plant & Food Research, Compac, Trevelyan’s, Plus Group, Omnia and Lynwood Nurseries. Kerry Everett from Plant & Food Research kindly acted as tour guide and host for parts of their visit and was a big help in preparing the itinerary.

Both Victor and Arturo were amazed at the price our avocados were achieving in the local market and Australia and the cost of fresh produce in general, but of course we all know our avocados are worth it.

We had some great discussions on orchards comparing notes and frustrations over some of the natural tendencies of avocado trees. Peru benefits from a very steady climate that rarely drops below 14°C in winter and above 27°C in summer. This means they have about 7-9 months between flowering and harvest, compared to our 12 months + for the majority of our orchards. With no fruit or flowers on the trees for three months of the year, management decisions are a lot easier and I think it’s fair to say most of the growers we visited were quite envious of this fact.

Victor described the way they prune as being very similar to some growers’ practices here. They start on the northern quarter of the tree and prune the canopy back heavily to just the structural or scaffold branches. The next season they will do the eastern and each season following will do an additional quarter. This way they maintain production but manage the size of the trees.

CultarTM (Paclobutrazol) is a plant growth regulator that

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Victor Escobedo and Arturo Medina Castro with avocado grower Robert Jefferis.

is widely used in Peru to help with fruitset and increase fruit size. CultarTM has a similar effect to SunnyTM and is significantly cheaper, but it’s residues persist longer, making it less suitable in New Zealand where we often have fruit almost ready for harvest when trees are flowering and would be sprayed in Peru.

Phytophthora is less of a problem in Peru than it is here, with significantly lower average annual rainfall, but they were keen to hear about how we manage it and what technologies we use to apply phosphonate.

Both Victor and Arturo were impressed with the knowledge, openness and the willingness to share information demonstrated by growers and industry professionals here.

I think this sharing of information is one of New Zealand’s great strengths and helps us develop quickly and get better at what we do. Victor and Arturo extended an offer to happily host a similar visit to Peru, so if any growers are planning a visit and might like to see a few orchards, please let us know as we can likely arrange something with our Peruvian friends.

Recommended reading

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

phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

Handling a heavy crop

To maintain nutrient levels in the orchard and have healthy and productive trees, fertiliser needs to be applied to replace nutrients removed with fruit, as well as other nutrient losses - but how much fertiliser and when to apply it is not always the easiest decision to make.

The recommended reading for this issue is an article by Carol Lovatt, titled “Hass Avocado nutrition research in California” and can be found by doing a Google search of the title. While the work obviously references Californian conditions, and requires a bit of mental gymnastics to

account for the difference in seasons between here and California, the article covers a combination of useful background information and research work. The background information includes the roles of different nutrients in avocado growth, effects of pH on nutrient availability and the mobility of particular nutrients. The research shows the benefit of getting the amount and timing right of fertiliser applications in terms of improvements in productivity and irregular bearing. Carol talks about three main principles when developing a fertiliser programme:

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Big crop loads put extra demands on trees. Avocados are a nutritionally complete fruit and have more protein, potassium, phosphorous, iron, zinc as well as a range of vitamins, than bananas and kiwifruit. However, when they leave the orchard they also take a lot of nutrients away with them - this is particularly important in high crop years.

Heavy cropping trees need to be supported nutritionally to make the most out of the fruit on the tree and still be in a state to set a good follow up crop.

Principle 1: Include plans for 3 years’ worth of crop in a single season’s fertiliser programme.

Principle 2: Fertilise to meet tree demand.

Principle 3: Use your fertiliser programme to manage alternate bearing.

We recommend working closely with your technical advisers to ensure your trees are properly supported to achieve good quality fruit this season as well as next.

Reading your trees 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.

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

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

• April to May: Quality of flush, pages 20-23 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

Calendar of events NZAGA & AIC Board meetings

• 15 June • 25 August

HortNZ Conference

• 3 -5 August, Nelson

BOP Young Fruit Grower of the Year

• 22 June, Mills Reef, Tauranga

NZ Avocado BOP field days

• 2 8, 29 and 30 June - see website for details

NZAGA & AIC AGM and Grower Forum

• 1 September, Mount Club, Tauranga

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Avocado news from the world Avocado brunch pop up restaurant

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Meredith O’Shaughnessy the London pop-up Queen is back and this time with a foodie pop up celebrating the world’s most popular green fruit: take a bow the avocado.

The first of it’s kind ‘Avo-Brunch Pop-Up which, launches on 10 April and then again on 8 May, will be celebrating the brilliance of the green fruit with a five course avocado inspired brunch menu for guests to experience, with avocado cocktails and a DJ for post brunch entertainment.

The series is hosted in conjunction with #whirlpoolfoodies which, focuses on celebrating the food we love by creating unique and signature menus around speciality foods will feature upcoming chefs at varying creative locations across London.

The avocado inspired menu will include a play on the flavours and Avocado gazpacho, avocado salsa, deep-fried avocado, Avocado macarons and more.

Meredith O’Shaughnessy, who has created some of London’s most fun and fabulous experiences pop ups including Dirty Laundry, Broken Hearts and Promises, says: “The avocado is the coolest fruit in town right now for foodie lovers, so It seemed like a very obvious idea for me to create a pop-up which rejoices the deep affection so many people have for them – I’m super excited to welcome our first guests and for them to sample the amazing food on offer.”

As well as the five-course avocado tasting menu guests will be welcomed with an avocado margarita on arrival to the late Sunday brunch...

In addition everyone who attends will received a grow your own avocado kit to take home.

For more information on the avocado pop-up or to purchase tickets, please please visit: www. designmynight.com/london/whats-on/pop-up/ avocado- brunch-club.

SOURCE: http://www.tntmagazine.com/london/avocado-brunch-pop-up

Demonstration encourages love for avocado Ready-to-eat avocados

to the requirements of our consumers.”

“We were one of the first companies to import avocado into China before Chinese consumers knew about this item. At the beginning, we did go through a hard time. We could only move half a container every two weeks. After that, our effort paid off. Currently, we are importing 3 to 4 containers per week from Mexico and Chile. In the near future we will also launch imports from Peru," explains Jason of Supafresh.

“Avocado is becoming a more popular ingredient in salads. It is also used in soups and as a side dish for Japanese sushi. Juice bars have started to use avocados combined with apples and pears for juices and smoothies. The ready-to-eat market is becoming bigger and bigger. However, on the wholesale market, our clients still prefer firm and green avocados. They know that avocados should be eaten when soft and ripe, but they believe that the green fruit can provide longer shelf life. As our business is growing, we are optimistic that more and more ripened avocados can be sold through the wholesale market in the near future.”

"About 70% of our volumes still go through the wholesale market, but our retail segment is increasing quickly. More and more consumers like eating avocados, know about the product and require the ready-to-eat avocados, especially our food service clients. That is why we decided to invest in an avocado ripening facility. Now we can ripen 40 pallets at the same time, and supply the avocados in different stages of ripening, according

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Bring avocados into the West of China

"Avocados are very popular in the big cities at the East coast. In the centre and Western parts of China, avocados are still a relatively novel

Supafresh is an import and wholesale company.

In addition, the company is expanding its retail

business and food service. It has sales channels through E-commerce, TV shopping and physical stores in the centre of Shanghai. The company's food service supplies hotels and restaurants with ready-to-eat fresh produce.

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product. We can see the potential demand there.

Next to our branch in Shanghai, we opened branches in Guangzhou and Beijing, and also in Wuhan and Chengdu, which are the main cities located in the middle and Western part of China.

We are very excited about bringing our new products into these regions.�

Next to the avocado, the company imports coconuts from Thailand, Spanish citrus, raspberries and blackberries from Mexico, and apples from New Zealand.

SOURCE: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/155670/China-demonstration-encourages-love-for-avocado

World consumption could grow by 15% It has been estimated that the world's avocado consumption will increase by between 10% and 15% in the coming years. This news was to be expected, given the fruit's high content of essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, which have motivated a steady growth in demand.

Furthermore, these beneficial health properties come together with a pleasant and combinable taste for different foods.

"Spain and the Netherlands have contributed to the crop's positioning in Europe, including promotions for the development of local production. Nevertheless, the weather conditions do not allow them to have the production capacity to supply the entire European market, which opens many doors for the international supply.

Peru has taken this opportunity with open arms in recent years and the value of its avocado exports has reached over $ 300 million, thus becoming the second largest avocado exporter," explains Guillermo Parodi, technical manager of BlueAgro (Peru).

Europe is the most important destination for the export of this Peruvian product, accounting for

65% of the shipments, followed by the United States. "Peru has a suitable climate and lands for the cultivation of avocados, and we are able to produce all year round, given the different conditions in each region. The peak in production and supply starts in the second half of March and lasts until late July," stated the spokesperson of BlueAgro.

"The strict quality controls and continuous monitoring of the ripening process of the product have allowed our avocados to be considered some of the best in the world. Certifications and the enforcement of good agricultural practices reinforce our commitment to our customers, offering them a high quality product at a fair price," assures Guillermo Parodi.

The price of Peruvian avocados is stable at the moment and is not being affected by the current dollar exchange rate. But considering that production will start in South Africa (Peru's main competitor) in April-May, an increase in the international supply is expected and the price should gradually fall, although staying within normal averages.

SOURCE: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/154934/World-avocado-consumption-could-grow-by-15-procent-in-the-coming-years

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Pest & disease watch: Fuller’s rose weevil and risks to new plantings

By Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

The fuller’s rose weevil is already in New Zealand and has the potential to defoliate very young trees. Growers who have recently grafted or planted new trees need to be aware of this beetle and have a strategy to manage it.

The Fuller’s rose weevil (Asynonychus cervinus) is a foliage

On the Orchard

feeding insect that has the potential to be a threat to young avocado trees. The risk to very young trees is due to the relative damage they can have on recently planted trees compared to larger, well foliated, trees where leaf chewing would not cause significant damage. Therefore, this weevil which is found throughout New Zealand is a potential concern for top worked, recently grafted or heavily pruned trees that have little foliage.

The Fuller’s rose weevil has a wide host range in New Zealand, surviving on a range of plants species found within and surrounding the orchard. They are brown to ash-grey around 8mm in length and belong to the weevil family of beetles due to their characteristic long ‘snout’.

Adult beetles chew leaf margins, causing a tell-tale ragged, notched or serrated appearance. Damage is mostly seen on lower branches or on foliage that is in contact with the ground, as adults cannot fly and must climb trunks and branches to reach leaves.

In New Zealand, the Fuller’s rose weevil has an extended one-year life-cycle with adults emerging from the soil in warmer months. Peak numbers in the canopy occur from mid-summer to mid-autumn. Although adults will live for 3–6 months, they are rarely seen as they often feed at night.

In the daytime they hide just below the ground around the base of the tree. By pulling back the soil to a depth of half an inch at the trees footing, you may find beetles hiding in the soil.

Adults are all female and deposit small egg masses covered by a white spongy material within the crevices of bark and around the base of the plant. Once hatched, larvae drop to the ground and burrow into the soil, where they feed on plant roots for eight months or more before pupating and emerging as adults.

Fuller’s rose weevil can cause significant damage in a very short time. Starting in early December, be on the lookout for tell-tale leaf notching made by newly emerged adults. If young trees are impacted and damage to foliage is severe,

An example of damage made by the Fuller's rose weevil.

treatment may be warranted. In this case it is best to target the beetle early to kill adults before they lay further eggs.

Thiacloprid based products which have label claims for Fuller’s rose weevil in apples may have effectiveness if timing coincides with thrip management in avocado orchards.

As the weevil is not always present in the canopy, foliage spraying is not often recommended. Preventing the flightless weevils from reaching the canopy is the most effective management strategy. This can be achieved by using sticky barriers or trunk sprays around young tree trunks, especially on skirt pruned trees where the beetle must use the trunk to reach foliage. Bear in mind that a number of other beneficial insects also use this pathway into the tree. To protect very young or recently top worked trees, Alpha-cypermethrin based products (e.g. Ripcord®) banded around the trunk of a tree has been shown to be an effective tool. As per the product label, Ripcord® can only be used on young nonbearing trees.

Please refer to the AIC Quality Manual to confirm the acceptability of any intended sprays or chemical choices.

Contact NZ Avocado with any questions 07 571 6147.

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Cuke-set survey results Danni van der Heijden, R&D Associate, NZ Avocado danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz

On the Orchard

The NZ Avocado R&D team recognise that cuke set in avocado orchards has been a serious issue for a number of growers. A survey was conducted earlier this year and the information that was provided is the first step in helping us better understand the problem.

We would like to thank everyone who answered our

cuke-set survey over the last couple of months. We received six responses from Whangarei, 30 from the Bay of Plenty (including two from Opotiki) and two from South Auckland.

Across the orchards which we have received information from, cuke-set percentages ranged from 1-100% of the fruit-set. Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any conclusive trends in the data received.

Out of the responses: • 34% of the respondents observed cuke-set was consistent across the orchard while 39% observed it was inconsistent.

• 24% of respondents were experiencing a problem with cukes for the first time while 42% mentioned they had had cukes in previous seasons.

• Beehive numbers on the responding orchards ranged from 0-20 hives/ha and three were bee dumps.

• Polleniser ratios ranged from 0-16% of trees, and included Zutano, Ettinger, Edranol, Bacon,

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Fuerte and Reed.

• F ive orchards with trees of different ages mentioned the younger trees had a lower percentage cuke-set than the older trees.

• F ive respondents observed the majority of their cuke-set occurred on flowers which opened later in the season.

Twelve respondents also mentioned they believed cold spring temperatures on their orchard may have had an impact on cuke-set this year. We observed across all the regions that there was two unusually cold nights in spring last year - the 13th and 14th of November – in which some orchards experienced temperatures down to below 3°C on one or both of these nights. However, there were orchards which experienced these temperatures and did not have any cuke-set.

We will continue to build on this data-set. Any trends we identify will feed into projects in our current R&D programme to establish management practices that minimise the impact of cukes.

Whangarei Field day wrap up Marisa Till, R&D Manager, NZ Avocado

marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

It was great to see such a fantastic turn-out at the field days held in Whangarei earlier this year.

It was an interesting day filled with lots of networking and plenty of knowledge shared around.

On the Orchard

Growers at Lynwood Nursery and Orchard, Whangarei.

NZ Avocado held two field days in Whangarei on

23 February, with approximatley 150 growers venturing out on a beautiful day to learn more about various NZ Avocado research projects.

The focus of these field days was two-fold, with the hot topic of the morning being tree decline. This presentation covered the latest research into the impacts of mulch and irrigation on tree health and practical demonstrations on how to collect roots for phosphonate testing. The afternoon field day explored the new cultivars that are available to our industry, including some of the trials that are on-going around New Zealand. NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular gave an industry update and local exporters provided market updates.

The morning field day, put on by NZ Avocado in conjunction with JP exports, Freshmax and Natural Touch Ltd, was kindly hosted by Peter and Jackie Harding at their orchard in Maungatapere, near Whangarei. Thanks goes to Peter and Jackie for being excellent hosts. There was a bumper attendance of more than 100 growers and industry professionals, with people coming from as far afield as the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne to be involved.

The Hardings have been on their orchard less than two years and are in the process of rejuvenating it. They have put a lot of hard work in and the results are becoming evident. They were able to showcase the various stages of restoration in different parts of the orchard and explain the approach they had taken. They discussed their future plans for improving the health in other parts of the orchard,

which allowed for excellent discussions around addressing tree decline. Phillip West was on hand to share the latest in this area from the NZ Avocado research team and their working groups. There was a lot of fruitful discussion about alternative strategies to address tree decline with some helpful suggestions being put forward by other growers.

The orchard tour was followed by a barbecue lunch kindly provided by Freshmax and JP Exports.

Later that same day NZ Avocado, Avoco and Golden Mile jointly facilitated a second field day at Lynwood Avocado Nursery and orchard. Attendance of more than 100 growers, many of whom had also attended in the morning, meant for a productive field day. Thank you very much to Stephen Wade for graciously hosting us and sharing his experiences with the group. As well as the tree decline work being spoken about, Danni van der Heijden took the group through a section of the orchard that was part of the new cultivars trial. She spoke about the results of the new cultivar trials and highlighted some differences between the varieties.

It was brilliant to see such a great turn out by Whangarei growers. The positive feedback and generous discussion indicated a successful day for all involved. A big thanks to JP Exports, Freshmax, Just Avocados Ltd, Natural Touch Ltd, Avoco and Golden Mile for your contributions.

Please visit the NZ Avocado Industry website if you would like a copy of the handout and key messages from these field days – www.nzavocado.co.nz/industry > Resources > NZ Avocado Presentations.

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Whangarei PGP Working Group Danni van der Heijden, R&D Associate, NZ Avocado

danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz

On the Orchard

NZ Avocado imported rootstocks and scions based on their potential suitability for New Zealand conditions and our industry requirements. Trials were established several years ago and the evaluation will now be enhanced with the establishment of working groups under the Primary Growth Partnership.

Members of the Whangarei New Cultivar Working Group preparing tree tags.

The aim of these PGP working groups is to collaboratively look at the performance and suitability of new cultivars in New Zealand conditions.

The first working group has been set up in Whangarei, with Sue Culham as the coordinator. Since its inception in September 2014, the working group has been making positive progress in obtaining information on the new cultivars and delivering this to the industry.

The collaborative approach of the group has been successful, with meetings resulting in positive discussions and different ideas about how best to achieve the goals of the group.

First, the group selected orchards and chose up to ten trees representative of each variety on each orchard to be tagged for future assessments. The group then collaboratively decided on an orchard assessment protocol which is used to undertake general tree, flowering and harvest assessments at relevant times on each trial orchard.

Initial tree assessments have been completed on five working group orchards to date, with multiple assessments 30

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undertaken on three. Temperature monitoring equipment has also been installed on selected working group new cultivar orchards in order to determine any different affects temperature may have on new cultivar varieties.

The data collected by the working group augments that obtained from the NZ Avocado new cultivar trial orchards.

From the data collected, profiles have been created for each of the working groups’ orchards and the NZ Avocado new cultivar trial orchards to showcase the data to the industry and assist growers in making better informed variety decisions (Figure 1). Once further working groups are established and functioning, the compiled information will give us a better understanding of the new cultivars’ performances in a variety of regions and situations, it will also provide an indication of their suitability to New Zealand conditions.

The working group is also contributing to a document that defines guidelines for new varieties’ management; especially when best management is different to Hass.

This is in collaboration with the international managers of the cultivars.

Profiles for some of the orchards in the Whangarei New Cultivar Working Group and for the NZ Avocado new cultivar trial orchards can be found on our industry website under Orchard Management > New Cultivars.

Expressions of interest for a Bay of Plenty/ South Auckland New Cultivar Working Group A combined Bay of Plenty and South Auckland New Cultivar Working Group will be starting soon with the first meeting occuring in early July. If you have new cultivars and/or would be intested in participating in a new cultivar working group please contact Danni van der Heijden danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado or 07 571 6147

On the Orchard

Members of the Whangarei New Cultivar Working Group discussing tree health.

Figure 1: Example of a profile created in collaboration with the Whangarei New Cultivar Working Group.

It‘s not only our avocados that are growing ...

Introducing new team member Ben Tuck Supporting our Seeka Growers to excellence Lynnaire Avers m. 021 836 579 Ben Tuck m. 027 4057 491

www.seeka.co.nz

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Understanding irregular bearing Phillip West, R&D Officer, NZ Avocado

phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

On the Orchard

A grower letter in the last issue of Avoscene queried irregular bearing and NZ Avocado's current research effort in this space. It's a subject the wider international research community continues to grapple with and is a major theme in NZ Avocado's R&D programme.

New Zealand avocado industry's irregular production is

our biggest challenge, obviously for the grower relying on income from his or her crop but also for New Zealand and export marketers who are tasked with marketing very irregular volumes of avocados.

Addressing irregular bearing is a theme that runs through the majority of our research projects and we are investing heavily in not only understanding the factors that contribute to irregular bearing, but also developing and assessing strategies to combat it. This is not a trivial problem and the answer is equally complex but we are dedicated to improving the irregular bearing situation for the benefit of the industry.

be triggered by a particular stress an orchard was exposed to, or it may be that conditions have changed within an orchard that have made trees more susceptible to stress.

There can be a number of factors that change within an orchard that are not immediately obvious - climate, water quality, trees getting bigger with insufficient soil volume to support canopy, soil compaction limiting available soil and soil characteristics, and changes in pollinator populations. All of these can influence how trees respond to certain stresses and how long they take to recover. NZ Avocado research is aimed at understanding the dynamic relationship between these different factors and their impact on orchard production.

Triggers of irregular bearing

Onset of irregular bearing

Any adverse event in a single season can trigger an irregular bearing cycle that can continue for many seasons into the future. The sudden onset of irregular bearing may

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Irregular bearing is often triggered by stress on the tree, which may be very short in timeframe but has a significant effect on either the flowering or fruit set of the trees. Cold temperatures during spring are obvious events that can

cause visible damage to flowers and trees but aren’t the only stress trees face that contribute to irregular bearing.

Stress factors such as water logging or particularly high pest pressure can also contribute to having a particularly low crop one year that will likely result in a triggering of irregular bearing and high crop load the next season.

While a stress can be short lived, the ongoing effects often aren’t, as Hass has a natural tendency to alternate bear and once triggered it can continue until something happens, or something is done, to correct it.

Potential effects of sprays on irregular bearing

Organic growers face similar problems with irregular bearing. We believe other factors including adverse weather events are more likely to be contributing factors to irregular bearing. We are aware of the importance of the entire ecosystem on tree health and ultimately production.

We are actively improving our understanding of the impact of sprays on the overall orchard and as new research comes through we try our best to pass this on to growers.

Our AvoGreen programme means spray applications are only made when there is a need, so we would expect benefits to largely outweigh any possible negative effects.

Newer chemistry is often more targeted in nature with less “collateral damage” to beneficial insects and we would encourage growers to review the range of products available to them.

How can irregular bearing be corrected or minimised?

Once trees enter an irregular bearing cycle careful management can help balance them again, or you can wait for the next big spring frost in an “on” year and suffer the irregular cash flow. Obviously we encourage growers to take a proactive approach and think about next season’s crop as well as the current one. If trees aren’t producing new vegetative flush in spring, then it’s likely that flowering is consuming all the resources of the tree and some flower should be removed to try and push some new vegetative shoots that will set fruit in the next season.

On the Orchard

The grower letter in the last issue of Avoscene raised the question of whether sprays may be affecting pollen or the amount of pollen in the orchard. The effect of sprays on pollen levels in orchards, pollen count or viability is not looked at when registering chemicals, so it is possible that some may have influence on trees but we are not aware of any specific examples.

Following an “off ” year with little cash coming in, it can be difficult to prune excessive flower or fruit off a tree, but this is the best tool available to try and address the balance of the trees for long term benefit. The earlier this flower pruning can be done, the better. Pruning early has the disadvantage of not knowing what the fruit set will be like but has the advantage of minimising the resources a tree expends. There is likely still some benefit from pruning after fruit set, but any new vegetative growth following pruning is less likely to flower and set fruit the following season.

Nutritional support of the tree, and the crop on the tree, is also important. Conditions that support fruit set in an “off ” year can also help correct alternate bearing, as can a nutrition and overall tree health programme that supports the tree and the crop load on the tree. General support of the tree and a focus on minimising any stresses on the tree such as water logging and pest pressure will also help trees produce the resources needed to sustain regular good crop loads.

Current research effort into irregular bearing

Underpinning our research into irregular bearing is the idea that irregular bearing is a combination of the trees’ natural tendency to alternately bear combined with external factors/stressors that also impact tree balance both negatively and positively. Our projects are aimed at understanding the stressors and establishing best practices

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to minimise their impact, as well as actively combatting the trees natural tendencies through on-orchard management.

Our MBIE project: pruning to balance, is working to provide tools for growers to enable them to influence the balance of their trees.

On the Orchard

As part of this work we are looking at the carbohydrate reserves of trees and how they may differ between pruned and unpruned trees. Some studies have shown carbohydrate reserves are exhausted in “on� years, which likely contributes to poor flowering and fruit set the following year. We hope flower pruning and early fruitlet pruning will remove enough crop load to allow trees to accumulate more carbohydrates over the winter months for a good flowering and fruit set the following spring. Preliminary results from this work showed similar yields at harvest between pruned and unpruned trees, likely a result of greater fruit drop from unpruned trees.

Unfortunately, frost meant assessing return flower and

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fruit set wasn’t possible.

We have a floral induction project looking at understanding floral behaviour of trees and what signalling is involved; a greater understanding of the signalling may lead to a better understanding of flowering behaviour, which influences fruit set and irregular bearing.

A number of projects are looking at understanding stresses on trees, which impact the productivity and may also act as triggers of irregular bearing. These projects include orchard analysis, temperature effects, irrigation, PGP-tree decline, canopy management, six spotted mite phenology and epidemiology, leafroller mating disruption.

As you can see we are investing a lot of resources into irregular bearing and temperature is just one of the factors we are interested in.

We acknowledge that irregular bearing is a real challenge for the industry and believe we are focussing to find solutions and tools to help mitigate this challenge.

Understanding market rots Kerry Everett, Senior Scientist, Plant & Food Research Kerry.Everett@plantandfood.co.nz Shamini Pushparajah, Research Associate, Plant & Food Research Shamini.Pushparajah@plantandfood.co.nz

Due to New Zealand's high rainfall climate, our avocados can be prone to rots. Advancing research on rots in New Zealand will help ensure we maintain our competitive advantage internationally for premium quality fruit.

N

ew Zealand avocados are grown in a high rainfall climate compared with many other avocado-growing regions.By comparison the coastal plains of Peru have virtually no rainfall (Figure 1). Western Australia (Perth) and South Africa (Tzaneen) have some rainfall, but not as much as that in Te Puke, New Zealand. However, Mexico (Uruapan), one of the countries where avocados originate, also has a reasonably high rainfall, as does Queensland (Atherton) in Australia (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Average annual rainfall for avocado-growing regions around the world.

Post Harvest

The fungi that cause rots in avocado fruit are almost all spread by rain. New Zealand fruit is therefore potentially more susceptable to rots than those that are grown elsewhere. Although good comparative trials have not been conducted, the information we have so far suggests that in New Zealand we need to manage our rots well for our fruit to remain internationally competitive.

Rots found in avocados in New Zealand are caused by five major fungi: Colletotrichum acutatum (CA), Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (CG), Botryosphaeria parva (BP), Botryosphaeria dothidea (BD) and Phomopsis sp. (P). To target our rot research effort it was necessary to understand which of these fungi was the most common.

A series of experiments were conducted from 1999 to 2001 to examine the fungi that cause fruit rots throughout the avocado-growing districts of New Zealand. At that time, the major pathogens were BP and CA. However, these fruit were not coolstored before ripening, and it is possible that coolstorage may affect the relative incidence of avocado fruit rot fungi.

More recently, as part of The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited (PFR) Core avocado research, some initial isolations from rots of avocados in Auckland supermarkets were collected. This collection of isolates was extended in 2014 and 2015 when New Zealand Avocados provided access to the industry Library Tray system. This allowed for an analysis of rots in fruit that are treated similarly to exported fruit.

Any fruit found expressing rots after storage at 5.5°C

Figure 2.The proportion of isolations of each of the five major avocado rot fungi during the 2014-15 New Zealand avocado season.

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for 28 days, then ripened at 20°C was sent to the PFR laboratory in Auckland by AgFirst assessors.Upon receipt, fungi were isolated from the rots and identified.

During the first season (2014-15), 1596 isolations were made from a total of 569 fruit sent during October, December, January, February and March. CA was the most common fungus isolated from both body rots and stem-end rots (Figure 2). During this season, BP was more common early in the season, and CA became more common as the season progressed.

Post Harvest

During the second season (2015-16), 611 isolations were made from a total of 213 rotten fruit sent during November, December, January, February and March. The most common fungus isolated from both body rots and stem-end rots was CA (Figure 3).

It was apparent that CA was the fungus that most commonly caused avocado rots in New Zealand.

Although some educated guesses can be made concerning the life cycle of this fungus on New Zealand avocado orchards, there are still some gaps. Recently completed research of the same fungus on apple orchards in the Waikato region showed that CA infected apple fruit only when temperatures were above a c. 15°C threshold contemporaneous with a 72-hour wetness period. This knowledge has enabled the apple growers to target fungicides to when they are needed and likely to be the most effective. In a recent survey CA was no longer found on rotten apples from the Nelson district, and the apple growers in the Waikato region reported a dramatic decline in field expression of this disease.

During both seasons of our market survey for avocados, CA was less common at the beginning of the season and became more common as the season progressed.

This suggests that infections may be less common when temperatures are lower at the beginning of the season.

Further investigation of when infection occurs is required, to understand if infections are occurring during winter, or only once temperatures increase over a threshold. Field trials to work out when avocados become infected by the two most common fungi, CA and P, have been started in South Auckland. This knowledge should allow avocado growers to better target the fungicide applications needed to control these two fungi.

Based on the results and recommendations we will be able to assess if growers are achieving better fruit rot control through the ongoing monitoring of the Library Trays programme. This will provide an excellent feedback system to monitor the effectiveness of control of CA and P, and also to identify the next most important fungus to study.

Acknowledgements Thanks very much to AgFirst for sending samples to PFR, and to NZ Avocado for allowing access to the Library Tray fruit.

Figure 3.The proportion of isolations of each of the five major avocado rot fungi during the 2015-16 New Zealand avocado season.

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Export market contestable promotions fund Midge Munro, Communications Manager, NZ Avocado

midge.munro@nzavocado.co.nz

The NZ Avocado contestable fund for export promotions is a great way to support exporters, learn more about overseas consumers and trial innovative activities.

Avanza's smoothie wagon touring Tokyo's hot spots.

The NZ Avocado contestable fund was introduced in

Reports Reports Markets

the 2014-15 season and provides up to 50/50 funding to innovative promotional projects submitted by exporters.

In the 2015-16 season, NZ Avocado contributed $170,000 towards contestable fund activity in export markets – this investment was leveraged up to $375,000 of activities carried out in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Australia.

Striking smoothie wagon in Japan – by Ted Thomas, Avanza

Japan has always been the number one volume market in Asia for Avanza and that hasn’t changed this season.

However, reduced volumes meant our strategy this season was to simply maintain our presence and build on our reputation as a supplier of premium quality avocados.

In recent years, a movement towards cleaner, healthier food options has catapulted avocados into the global spotlight. Praising them for their health and beauty benefits, the sophisticated Japanese consumer rates New Zealand avocados highly and is prepared to pay a premium price for what they know to be a safe and healthy product.

Consumer interest in health and wellbeing fits comfortably

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with the messages developed by Avanza and its Tokyo-based promotions partner, Candlewick, to market New Zealand avocados as a nutritional, “in season” fruit.

Following on from the success last year achieved by having a brightly-coloured avocado smoothie wagon tour the busy streets and markets of Tokyo. It was a given that the smoothie wagon would be proposed to NZ Avocado to receive contestable promotions fund support to make its return in 2015-16.

The green wagon has an eye-catching presence and it certainly helps to create a buzz about New Zealand avocados wherever it goes.

In October, the wagon and its staff visited high profile sites in Tokyo, targeting business people during the week and health-conscious consumers at farmers’ markets in the weekend. One such market, the Sun Marche, was visited by 18,000 people over two days. Wagon promotional staff took this opportunity to serve 800 avocado smoothie cups and distribute printed information about New Zealand avocados, their nutritional content, versatility and ideas for how they can be used in a dish.

Combined with other weekend promotional events, about 4000 avocado smoothie cups were served in October.

In total, the month-long campaign reached hundreds of thousands of consumers plus many more online after images from the events were shared to social media.

About 40 key market influencers, including food bloggers and journalists within Japan were also given fresh New Zealand avocados to sample and photograph. The strategy was to encourage them to communicate Avanza’s key messages to their large online audience.

All of these key campaign areas also support the New Zealand avocado category story which is to offer premium quality, safe fruit at premium values. Avanza has been very successful at improving Yen returns from the Japan market.

New Zealand/Avanza avocados now demand a significant price premium over our number one competitor – Mexico.

Introducing consumers to avocado in South Korea – By Steve Trickett, Avanza

Korea is a market of 50 million people and one of the few Asian countries that prefer large sized fruit (20 & 24ct).

The lower crop in 2015-16 increased the opportunity for Mexican fruit to enter the Korean market. Although retailers acknowledge that fruit quality is not as good, it is cheaper, making it extremely important that Avanza continues its strong promotional programme and in-market presence.

Healthy competition in Australia – By Lesley Shield, JP Exports

With the support of the NZ Avocado contestable promotions fund, JP Exports Ltd led a collaborative programme with Australian wholesale customer Antico International Ltd and its customer Your Local Green Grocer (YLGG) to promote New Zealand avocados in New South Wales, Australia during November 2015.

The concept was a competition to help drives sales and develop the retailer’s confidence in New Zealand fruit.

Consumers who purchased New Zealand avocados from participating YLGG stores during the competition period, could go online, enter their unique code – found on a sticker on the fruit, answer some questions and go in the draw for a trip to New Zealand.

For many consumers their first introduction to avocado is via restaurants or cafés. Targeting Samsung Welstory, a company with US$1.5 billion in food-service sales and serving 800,000 meals per day, 25 senior chefs undertook training to prepare California roll, guacamole and avocado pasta dishes. Further training classes are scheduled this season.

Traditionally Korean retailers and

The main prize was for two people to fly to Queenstown with accommodation paid for; a secondary prize was a $100 voucher to be spent in their local YLGG store.

Markets

Offering large sales potential, Avanza undertook a comprehensive promotional programme with support from the NZ Avocado contestable promotions fund principally involving retail tastings of avocado smoothies in joint cooperation with Maeil Dairies (335 tastings directly reaching 147,000 consumers with a further 37,000 reached via social media platforms).

Maeil is the second largest dairy and drinks company in Korea and has extensive brand presence actively promoting a healthy lifestyle.

wholesalers have preferred their fruit hard-green. Visits by Avanza technical staff have concentrated on ripening and handling techniques so that most retailers are now stocking a proportion of ripe fruit.

YLGG promoted the competition on its website, Facebook page, Youtube channel, and email newsletters.

Fifty-five YLGG stores spread across New South Wales promoted New Zealand avocados and the competition for one month between November and December.

JP Export's social media competition that they ran in conjunction with YLGG.

Consumers had to complete some questions to be part of the

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competition draw. Some insights from the data were: • The bulk of respondents would purchase between 2-4 avocados per week.

• The majority bought avocados because of the health benefits and the taste • The majority of the entrants said they would not buy processed avocado Singapore ripe for the future – By Carwyn Williams, Avanza

In the 2015-16 season, Avanza utilised NZ Avocado contestable promotions funding to expand its ripening programme to a second retail chain. This programme has started slowly with a three day per week delivery of pre-ripened Avanza avocados. This has proven to be very successful with the retail chain reporting a 67% increase in volume on last season, despite a higher retail price point also being achieved.

Imported avocados are still a relatively new product for Thai consumers so educating on both the trade and consumer level is very important to stimulate future demand.

A lot of commitment has been made by Avanza’s importer Freshmart to keep driving this programme forward.

Freshmart knows how important a successful ripe programme is to all of our business.

In order to better educate Thai consumers about New Zealand avocados, Freshmax utilised NZ Avocado contestable promotions funding to undertake a variety of promotional activities.

Avanza has had years of resistance from the retailers as they have always been concerned about wastage, but we have just kept pushing the message, and finally it is getting through, the results are starting to speak for themselves.

Nine in-store tastings were held at a foodservice retailer, with each lasting a whole day. Point of sale material including New Zealand avocado recipes were used to support this activity. This material was created in Thai and utilized the New Zealand avocado category story.

Reports Markets

I believe that Freshmart taking a leap of faith in Avanza and making the investment in a specialised ripening room was the turning point.

Along with a ripening programme, Avanza carried out 40 instore tastings showcasing the avocado’s use in smoothies.

Avanza also engaged a company in-market to assist in the creation of a three-year strategy for the development of the Singapore market. Singapore is a melting pot of South East Asia culture which makes it an ideal market for testing new ideas that can then be replicated in other close by markets.

Learning about what’s ripe in Thailand – By Ben Lay, Freshmax

Freshmax's objective in Thailand was to raise the profile of New Zealand avocados at both consumer and trade levels.

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Freshmax in-store tastings in Thailand supermarkets.

Freshmax also designed and produced an exclusive new avocado ripeness sticker in both Thai and English as a tool for customers to better understand when to consume avocados.

The ripeness label has been well received and has been a useful tool during the in-store promotions. Our retail customer has also appreciated the initiatives we have undertaken to grow their sales and market share.

We hosted one of our customers here in New Zealand on a visit to see the amazing environment our avocados grow in and also to show then the packing, ripening and freight facilities.

We believe there is potential for significant future growth in the Thai market and increasing promotional activities is key to driving this growth.

New Zealand market contestable promotions fund Bevan Jelley, New Zealand Market Manager, NZ Avocado

bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz

For the first time New Zealand marketers were offered the opportunity of applying for contestable funding for promotional activity in the New Zealand market for the 2015-16 season. The contestable fund is an effective way of enabling market development and helped marketers to successfully deliver three innovative projects to completion last season.

The projects implemented with the New Zealand market

contestable fund allowed marketers to undertake initiatives addressing avocado quality, improving the consumer experience and raising avocado visibility. This was achieved through the creation of education resources for retail staff, a new point of sale information tool for consumers and promotional activity with a gourmet retailer.

Avocado Merchandising Guide and Reed Training Video - By Mike Swan, Southern Produce Ltd

The NZ Avocado contestable promotions fund has been a clear commitment from the industry to support those domestic marketers who share the avocado vision in New Zealand.

The New Zealand avocado industry has tremendous momentum at present. This is demonstrated in many ways but the obvious are the consumption, value, and profile that the fruit has enjoyed.

Consumer loyalty toward avocados has been tested this season with the high prices, but sales have maintained

Key to the quality delivered at retail is good product knowledge through the supply chain.To that end, a major focus of our contestable fund spend has been the education of store and produce staff to ensure avocados are well managed.

Merchandising guides which can be displayed as reference material in produce departments has delivered directly into the hands of produce managers and staff at expos.

Markets

The three projects are outlined below by the avocado marketers that implemented them.

at good levels, indicating that the consumer is having confidence to repeat buy, even at $2.00 + per piece.

There has also been real interest shown in the diversification of the avocado offer. The Reed avocado has traditionally been seen as a “filler� variety, especially during times of short supply of Hass.

Avocado purists have long recognised the Reed as a premium offer, for its flavour, texture and size, but as a green skin it is generally not understood by the majority of avocado consumers.

In the last two seasons Countdown has expressed a desire to grow the Reed category as part of their avocado offer.

With this in mind, the NZ Avocado contestable fund has contributed to video and point of sale material to be used

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for promoting the Reed variety to the Countdown staff and stores.

Despite a desperately light crop of Reed this season, the opportunity still exists to utilise the work done to date next year and beyond.

of avocados at various ripeness stages and written messages indicating storage information. Consumers were encouraged to use the bag when in selected Countdown stores to help them select fruit. Brand ambassadors in-store distributed the bags and provided education alongside the sampling campaign. Feedback from consumers was that they very much appreciated the selection aid, that it made for a more enjoyable purchase and gave them confidence when next selecting avocados.

Making the purchase of avocados easy for consumers will encourage increased purchase behaviours, benefiting the whole industry.

Avocado customer using the Avocado Paper Bag developed by Freshmax.

Avocado Paper Bag - By Carol McLean, Freshmax

Reports Markets

In January this year Freshmax embarked on a consumer education exercise on the back of in-store demonstrations run by NZ Avocado in selected Countdown stores. Avocado paper bags were created and delivered by demonstration staff with messages containing how to choose avocados and store them at home.

Anecdotal research showed that consumers are very interested in avocados and want to consume the fruit, however they are having bad experiences and struggling to pick fruit with the correct ripeness for the time period in which they intend to eat the fruit.

As more consumers enter the category, we as marketers must assist consumers in understanding how to select the right fruit, and to use colour as an indicator rather than squeezing the fruit!

Freshmax developed the Avocado Paper Bag using contestable promotions funding from NZ Avocado. The Avocado Paper Bag is a brown paper bag that shows images

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Nosh promotion avocado display.

Nosh Avocado Promotion - By Ana Aloma, Fresh Direct

Fresh Direct utilised NZ Avocado contestable fund resource to carry out new avocado promotional activity this season.

The main objectives were to deliver the New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime promotions theme and increase sales of avocados in Nosh stores.

To that aim we set up a series of 39 three-hour in-store sampling sessions using New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime collateral (recipe booklets, aprons, point of sale and trade presenters) across seven Nosh stores in Auckland.

“Choose the avocado that’s ripe for you” point of sale

information was placed on all avocado displays and colourful posters were used to decorate sampling tables and shop windows.

We focused on the recipes that featured innovative ways to use avocados given the gourmet focus of Nosh’s target customers. Recipes sampled included: • Avocado smoothie • Avocado bliss balls • Avocado cheesecake • Avocado on toast • Avocado and crab salad • Guacamole • Avocado and Kale crisps During the sampling sessions customers were asked two questions: • Do you know how to choose avocados by colour?

• Have you ever tried avocado in this recipe?

We found that most Nosh customers know how to choose avocados by colour. We were surprised to find though that Nosh avocado sales didn’t slow down at times when only green avocados were on display. There were times this season when we couldn’t supply ripe avocados fast enough given the fruit shortage, a phenomenon that Nosh management puts down to their avocado multi-buy strategy (2, 3, 4, or 5 avocados for X dollars).

Markets

Nosh customers were very receptive to learning new ways to use avocados and were literally “amazed” at some of the recipes, especially the cheesecake and bliss balls. Some customers got confused as to what we were sampling though, and asked where to buy avocado bliss balls and avocado cheesecake from, clearly a business opportunity for an enthusiastic avocado fan.

Nosh’s sales were up 40% on volume compared to last year despite a season of higher fruit values.

Kids enjoying avocado smoothie during Nosh promotion.

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Reducing organophosphate use

By Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager, NZ Avocado and Cameron Wallace, Research Analyst, NZ Avocado

glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz

Insecticides play a major role in ensuring we meet market phytosanitary requirements and limit pest damage to fruit. This article covers the need for decreasing the reliance on a class of broad-spectrum insecticides called organophosphates.

The New Zealand avocado industry is continually reviewing its reliance on the use of organophosphates as part of its pest management programme. Organophosphates that are contained in products having label claim for use in avocados are maldison, diazinon, chlorpyrifos and pirimiphos methyl.

Organophosphates are broad-spectrum insecticides that can be harmful to the people who apply them if the strict precautions are not taken. The chemicals are easily absorbed through the skin and lungs.

Reports

By definition, broad-spectrum pesticides are those chemicals that are designed to kill or manage a wide variety of organisms and should only be used when many different species of organisms are causing harm at one time, or when the specific organism causing harm is unknown.

Narrow-spectrum pesticides, sometimes known as soft chemistry, are designed to kill or manage a select group of organisms. Narrow-spectrum pesticides make it possible to target a specific species or group of organisms that are

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known to cause damage. Many narrow-spectrum pesticides are designed to interact with a characteristic of the pest that is specific to that organism, such as a pheromone, hormone or physical feature.

In 2013 the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) began an assessment process of the use of organophosphates across the horticulture and arable industry and as a result in 2014, acephate was removed from our list of chemicals used on avocados. This followed a natural decline in the use of acephate by avocado growers and in the year leading up to its removal no growers were using this active ingredient.

The EPA has recently called for information on the use of two products - Lorsban (active ingredient chlorpyrifos) and Fyfanon (active ingredient maldison). This is because in 2013 the EPA reassessed other products containing chlorpyrifos and maldison, but did not reassess Lorsban and Fyfanon as part of this earlier reassessment as they have a public health claim as well as a horticultural crop claim.

The industry is monitoring its use of organophosphates and has identified a continuing decline over the last five years (see Figs. 1 and 2). The industry as a whole is reducing its reliance on organophosphate. This is a positive development and the increased availability and use of narrow-spectrum chemistry will go a long way towards enabling a further reduction.

There is good reason for continued assessment of the use of these products. Broad-spectrum insecticides are by their very nature, non-selective. This can create a sterile environment in which previously innocuous populations of insects, often kept in control by beneficial insects, explode.

Figure 1: Average number of organophosphate applications on an orchard for each year, split up by region.

As well, many of the broad-spectrum insecticides have been banned from use in agriculture and horticulture in many countries around the world, citing issues with human health and their impact on the environment. Not only is New Zealand looking to follow suit, many of these countries are reducing their maximum residue limits, and more often setting these at zero.

Market access requirements for the export of fruit is two-pronged; phytosanitary and food safety. Importing countries require us to monitor and manage pests of concern to ensure we are exporting pest free fruit while at the same time limiting the chemical residues in food.

Organophosphates and other broad-spectrum pesticides often have longer withholding periods as a consequence of both their toxicity and the time needed for them to break down.

The pipfruit industry made the move away from dependence on organophosphate based products approximately 20 years ago and report very similar results.

If you have queries regarding the application of different sprays, your spray contractor or your local agrichemical consultant should be able to assist you.

Figure 3: Average number of non-organophosphate pesticidal applications on an orchard for each year, split up by region.

Reports

In support of the move away from the use of organophosphates recent anecdotal feedback from growers who have moved away from using any organophosphate products to using soft chemistry tell us the story of an increase in birdlife and beneficial bugs in their respective orchards as time goes by. They have noticed that as the increase in the beneficial insect population takes effect, the time interval between sprays also begins to increase.

Figure 2: Percentage of AIC active spray diaries of the respective years using organophosphate, split up by region.

This is part of a wider pest and disease strategy looking at agrichemical use and biological control. If you would like to be involved in developing our long term strategy in this area please contact Glenys Parton or Jen Scoular.

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Season Review Hamish Carter, Journalist hamish@thesun.co.nz

It has been a successful season in all export markets with clear demonstrations of increasing demand.

Australia

After a mixed start to the Australian season, JP Exports GM Lesley Shield says New Zealand’s major export market ended up delivering top returns.

“Australia was a surprise in the end. The highest selling prices ever known were reached, albeit for a short time.

This was great, as the selling prices prior to Christmas were average.”

Lesley rated the top prices paid in Australia as her highlight for the season, describing it as very exciting.

“Reaching the heights they did in Australia has never been seen before and probably will never be seen again.”

As part of the push to build Australia sales, JP Exports Ltd collaborated on a promotion with a group of 55 independent retail fruit shops in New South Wales.

Annemarie Lee, Brand and Corporate Marketing Manager for Seeka says that the Australian market was extremely successful for their growers.

“Fruit was sold it as quickly as it landed, demand, price, and quality were high.

“We were challenged obviously with the lack of supply which makes it difficult to keep all of our customers across retail and wholesale happy - it is not easy to market a crop that fluctuates from year to year as avocados do.”

Reports

The coming season is forecast to be almost double that of the 2015-16 season but exporters are upbeat about this which is in stark contrast to industry sentiment prior to the record 2011-12 season which saw the crash of the Australian market.

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Media coverage of supply and demand situation in Australia early 2016.

The Australian market was also a great success for Avoco, with Southern Produce director Alistair Young happy with the ‘very strong’ returns. Taken with the good prices achieved in Asia, it helped push the company’s recent final payments to growers to the highest in his 24 years’ experience.

“It was an exciting outcome to the partnerships of both Avoco and Avanza.”

The greatest challenge according to Alistair has been supply, with major demand and an average crop load making it a delicately balanced exercise to meet customer expectations.

“We do now have the opposite challenge ahead of us with a high crop but I believe we will be well stocked but not over supplied.”

“The flow of product has been difficult to manage at times, with growers needing to hang fruit until after Christmas and into February to keep our retail customers going until the Shepards started in Australia.”

Annemarie says that the challenge of marketing avocados when their crop varies so much from year to year is an issue that the industry needs to address.

Aside from the exceptional price, Alistair says the season’s highlight was the standard of fruit quality, which saw high customer satisfaction and very few claims.

“We short supplied customers this year because of the low crop but will then need our customers’ support to take double the volume this coming season.”

Improved management of the company’s flow plan ensured ongoing fruit supply, which boosted buyers’ confidence. This has already boosted commitments from buyers for the next

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season – a period he has high expectations for – as long as New Zealand can manage the flow of fruit well in to both Australia and Asia.

South East Asia

Looking back at the recent season Freshmax export manager Ben Lay says it was an exciting period in its Asian markets: Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia.

“We have seen strong interest in New Zealand avocados, particularly from South East Asia, where consumers are increasingly recognising the versatility and health benefits of our product,” says Ben. However the season also had its challenges, particularly managing customer demand to limited supply in the lower production year.

Overall Ben rates the key highlight as being part of the continued growth in markets outside of Australia.

Ben says the Asian market share of Freshmax’s avocado business has increased significantly during the past two years to about 430,000 tray equivalents last season.

“We expect increased demand across all our export markets.

Asia currently comprises approximately 17 per cent of total New Zealand avocado export volume by destination, however the Asian market share will continue to rise.”

Freshmax’s marketing included in-store tastings and promotions, using NZ Avocado promotional material and designing a new Thai ripeness guide sticker to teach consumers when fruit is best consumed.

“Playing an active role in communicating how and why Thai people should consume New Zealand avocados has helped stimulate market demand.”

One of the many supermarket tastings in Thailand organised by JP Exports.

It was a similar story from JP Exports in Thailand and Singapore. General manager Lesley Shield says demand for New Zealand avocados in Asia is strong, with the company increasing exports to the region to 25 per cent of total sales.

“The Asian sales also returned very good money to our growers for the small counts,” says Lesley.

“Asia is exciting. Demand has been increasing over the last few years, especially in Thailand and Malaysia, and we expect this to continue. The promotions exporters have been doing in collaboration with NZ Avocado funding are seeing results.”

The season’s biggest challenge was the high rate of rejections for mite and leaf roller, with Lesley saying rejections were higher than any previous year, which added to costs with fumigation and re-inspection. This also meant some shipments were delayed.

Japan

Volumes may be down but promotional activity in Japan reveals continued strong interest in New Zealand avocados according to Avanza Japan market managers Ted Thomas and Steve Trickett.

Avocado promotion in one of the Thailand supermarkets organised by Freshmax.

Reports

This season’s light crop hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for quality New Zealand fruit entering Japan, which is a major market for the industry. The season’s lower crop saw Avanza ship 128,000 trays to Japan, down on the record 286,000 trays sent in 2013-14 season.

After attracting lots of attention last season with a brightlycoloured avocado smoothie wagon touring Tokyo’s streets and markets, Avanza’s wagon returned this season with a fresh look, says Ted.

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Visiting high profile sites to target business people and health-conscious consumers, staff in the wagon served avocado smoothies and gave out information about New Zealand avocados, their nutritional content, versatility and suggestions for their use.

The smoothie wagon campaign launched in October reached hundreds of thousands of consumers directly and served approximately 4000 avocado smoothie cups.

“These key campaign areas also support the NZ industry category story which is to offer premium quality, safe fruit at premium value,” says Steve. The higher Yen returns and significant price premium over their top competitor Mexico show its success.

A mix of in-store consumer tasting and chef training sessions on using avocados were in Avanza’s primary promotions to grow demand in Korea.

The company, which dominates New Zealand exports to Korea with 97 per cent of sales, hopes it will seed an appetite for the fruit. As a market of 50 million and one of the few Asian countries to prefer large sized fruit (20 and 24ct), Avanza sees large sales potential. To increase avocado awareness they worked with Korea’s second largest drinks company, Maeli, providing avocado smoothie tastings to 147,000 consumers.

Classes with 25 senior chefs at major food service company Samsun Welstory covered using avocado to prepare California roll, guacamole and pasta dishes.

Avanza staff visited retailers and wholesalers to train them on ripening and handling techniques, so most retailers are now stocking a proportion of ripe fruit.

However the 2015-16 short crop increased the opportunity for the cheaper, but lower quality, Mexican fruit to enter the Korean market. This has underlined the extreme importance

Avanza’s promotional activity in India - avocados presented in special packaging that contained two avocados and ripening tips and information.

Avanza continues to place on having a strong promotional programme and in-market presence.

India

Avanza India market manager Tony Ponder has been happy with the progress in India during the past year, saying sales doubled from the previous year’s very low base when they began their sales push.

“It’s a market of considerable potential, but we are starting from a point of very low consumer awareness,” says Tony.

“It’s not a rock star market, but with a continual, consistent strategy over a long term we believe it will pay off and be positive for the New Zealand avocado industry.”

The five year strategy – which they are currently reviewing with Indian stakeholders two years after implementation to ensure its fit for purpose – focuses on the high-end consumer market.

By avoiding discounting, the initiative has been OGR positive from near the start, but high costs from a 30 per cent tariff and air freight due to low sales volume have left little to cover marketing costs.

“It’s definitely not delivering a return on the marketing, but we are wanting to put in the time to see it become a significant market for New Zealand.”

Reports

In contrast to many other markets, the sales channel structure in India is particularly fragmented with only three per cent of produce sold through supermarkets, while the majority went through street vendors and independent outlets.

Avanza’s popular smoothie wagon made a comeback this season.

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Careful selection of the right distributor partners has given them access to those channels serving high-end consumers.

To encourage trade and retail customers to try the new fruit, Avanza adapted pack size – selling fruit in tubes of four rather than trays of 20 and with smaller sized fruit.

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Access to China a little closer

By Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia

elaine@thesun.co.nz

Two important Chinese Government agencies are now even better informed about the New Zealand avocado industry and its high export quality standards following recent visits to this country.

John Cotterell demonstrates the use of a Hydralada to the CIQA delegation.

I n March, 11 representatives from the China Entry & Exit

Inspection and Quarantine Association, and the primary industry, spent three days in the Bay of Plenty learning more about the New Zealand avocado and kiwifruit industries.

They visited avocado and kiwifruit orchards in Tauranga and met with local growers, packers and exporters to learn production practices and to formulate collaborative programmes to improve the capability of the supply chain in China. The party also visited pipfruit growers in the Waikato.

Their objective was to facilitate bilateral trade of horticulture products between both countries.

This was followed in April by a more formal week-long visit by three representatives of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) focused solely on the avocado industry.

Reports

The two organisations are closely linked. CIQA is an administrative body of the AQSIQ which ensures collaboration between government and commercial/ industry members and safeguards China’s industry and agriculture.

NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular says both visits where important and successful, and while hopefully bringing the

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industry a little closer to access to the Chinese market, there is no indication of when or if that access will be granted.

Trade show

The CIQA visit was the result of Jen presenting New Zealand avocados at a trade show in Shanghai alongside the Chair of CIQA. “Trade is about relationships. I had met Mr Feng previously and our engagement and New Zealand's commitment to developing the Chinese market, even before we had access, impressed him.”

The March visit was funded by CIQA. NZ Avocado led the visit in collaboration with the Ministry for Primary Industries, PipfruitNZ and Zespri.

“One of the aspects which impressed the delegates was the close co-operation between the avocado, kiwifruit and pipfruit industries. They may have been visiting three different industries but because of our close ties, it was a seamless and enjoyable experience for them.”

Jen says communication was not a problem as many members of the delegation spoke English and said NZ Avocado is very fortunate that one of our avocado growers

Both delegations were treated to delicious avocado-themed food as well as the beautiful sights of the North Island, New Zealand. Many of the CIQA delegation had never tasted avocado before their visit to New Zealand. Right: Gu Haiyan from Shaanxi CIQ trying avocado for the first time.

is fluent in Mandarin.

The respectful and professional relationship between the horticultural industries, local and national government and the regulator MPI also impressed and was clearly demonstrated by the attendance at the dinner at Trinity Wharf in Tauranga of Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller, Western Bay of Plenty District Council Mayor Ross Paterson and MPI officials.

Respectful relationship

“There were many positive comments made at that dinner, including how well we work with MPI. We are not friends; the relationship is effective, professional and respectful.”

The delegation’s first visit was to the Katikati avocado orchard owned by Cindy and John Cotterell, where they inspected the large, fruit laden trees, saw a hydralada demonstration and enjoyed an avocado-themed morning tea. For many it was the first time they had seen avocado growing and for some, the first taste of the fruit.

However, Jen says avocados are certainly not unknown in China, especially among those who travel.

“We will never produce enough avocados to feed the Chinese population and so would target those who are familiar with the fruit from their overseas travels.

Jen says the delegation members said they thoroughly enjoyed the visit and were impressed with what they had seen and experienced.

Blue skies

“At dinner I asked one of the delegates what she had hoped for from the visit and she said: lots of blue sky, to learn

In contrast the AQSIQ delegation enjoyed beautiful weather for their MPI-led visit to the Bay of Plenty and Northland avocado growing regions. In all they saw nine different orchards and three packhouses.

“As one can expect with overseas delegations the visit had been delayed, so by the time the delegation arrived, packhouses were no longer packing fruit. We recorded real time videos of two packhouses in operation so the delegates could see the whole process from picking, to water-blasting, to packing and coolstorage.”

Jen says one of the aspects the Chinese delegation was particularly interested in was pest management.

“The New Zealand avocado industry has systems in place to ensure no pest is ever found on export fruit, due to our AvoGreen growing practices, and our phytosanitary process, including water-blasting fruit before packing.”

Jen says the delegates were also keen to learn more about the relationships the avocado industry and its exporters are building in China and their commitment to and investment in the development of the market.

The New Zealand avocado industry is currently working towards gaining access to the Chinese market, in line with its strategy to quadruple sales to $280m and triple productivity by 2023. To this end it is pursuing opportunities in both export and New Zealand markets, supported by innovation and collaboration with stakeholders and with new partnerships with the Crown and Crown Research Institutes.

Reports

“It is my impression that awareness of avocados is increasing in China and certainly from my visits to the ex-pat sector of Shanghai in the last three years, I have noticed that avocados are much more visible, especially in restaurants, than they used to be.”

about the horticultural industry in New Zealand and to make friends. “Unfortunately, it rained every day of her visit but she was nonetheless happy with her time here and felt the other two aspirations had been well and truly met.”

Following the official side of the visit Jen accompanied the delegates on their one free day, showing them the sights of the Bay of Islands.

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Important elements to consider in Packer-Grower contracts Ultimately growers have the authority to determine what

happens to every piece of fruit that is picked from their orchard. The mechanism that enables growers to exercise this authority is their contract with their packer and exporter.

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

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

Class 1 / Export Grade This fruit is covered under a grower’s Exporter-Grower contract. Refer to the article on page 53 that outlines the important elements to consider in the Exporter-Grower contracts.

NZ Market To support industry objectives, returns from all markets should be maximised. This requires a disciplined approach to the handling and sale of Class 2 and Class 3 avocados.

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

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

Who will my Class 2 fruit be sold to?

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

Class 3 / TAG 3 Reports

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

 



Given back to me the Grower Sold to a processor Sold elsewhere • Please specify – e.g. packhouse gate sales

Suggested inclusion to your contract:

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I expressly require my Class 3 / TAG 3 fruit to be sent for processing only.

I do not permit my Class 3 / TAG 3 fruit to be sold for fresh consumption through any channel.

Ownership of fruit As a Grower I have ownership of my Class 2 and Class 3 fruit until:

 The Packer purchases my fruit

 The fruit is sold to a processor

 The fruit is transferred to another industry party Money Flow How are my funds processed?  Returns for Class 2 are pooled

 Returns for Class 3 are pooled

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

Will I receive progress payments? If so when?

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

 Commission.What is the rate of commission  P acking costs are charged within my main packing

contract What are the additional costs e.g. Coolstorage?

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

If yes, what insurance is in place?

 Orchard to packhouse insurance

 Packhouse insurance

 Cover from packhouse to market place

 Other

 M arine Insurance in place as outlined in my packer contract covers Class 2 and Class 3 fruit.

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

 Charged to my pool

• I f so, did the previous year’s pool pick up any charges?

 Charged to me

 Worn by the Packer

Roadmap to Exporter-Grower Contracts The relationship a grower commits to when they sign up to an

exporter to market and sell their fruit is a commercial one, and as such, care should be taken to ensure growers are aware of the detail of the contract and are happy with that detail.

Here are some questions a grower might ask their prospective exporter, about the contract they are entering in to.

Accountability for fruit Who is accountable for my fruit along the supply chain?

 The grower owns the fruit until it is sold to the

 The fruit is part of a pool so the pool itself takes

retailer or wholesaler in market.

financial accountability for the fruit.

This means that your pool result will be impacted by the quality of all fruit in that pool except in circumstances specifically outlined in the contract such as noncompliance to the spray programme or excess residues.

What happens to fruit that is shipped but not sold?

 Fruit can be dumped or culled for many reasons,

including age or quality issues.

You might ask the exporter to disclose the volume of fruit in your pool not sold in the previous season, to calculate the impact on your pool return. Fruit sold for zero value should also be included in this calculation.

What insurance cover is provided for my fruit?

What happens to fruit with residue levels over the limit?

• Was there instances in the previous season of residue issues preventing fruit entering a market, and what costs were associated with that?

• How are the rules around this set out in my contract?

Pool rules Am I part of a pool?

Exporter Market Planning The setting of a market or business plan by the Exporter will be an important aspect to ensure value return for your fruit is maximised and market growth is sustainable. The market plan may not be part of the contract but presented at grower meetings after the contracts have been signed.

Questions you might like to ask about the market planning include: • Which markets are you targeting and why?

• Are you collaborating with other exporters in any market development?

• What sort of activities do you undertake to develop a market?

• How will you measure and market development progress?

• What is the split of export to destinations other than Australia?

• What is your market development plan for the next five years?

• What promotional support is provided at retail, by the exporter, to grow demand for avocados from New Zealand?

Grower responsibilities

Good marketing requires excellent planning and a consistent supply of fruit to the customer through the season. It is important that growers are aware of how the harvest of their own crop meets the needs of their exporter’s market plan.

Growers have a key role to play in providing exporters with premium quality fruit by applying best practise on-orchard and ensuring their spray programme provides the market access status that their exporter requires.

Reports

What is the time period of the pool?  Across the whole season  An early season pool  A late season pool  Combination of the above What is the location catchment of this pool?  It is a regional pool  It is a pool across all regions the exporter sources fruit from?

What costs are included in the pool return?

What is the size profile of the pool, e.g. are you being paid separately for 28’s, 30’s and 32’s or being paid an average return over those sizes?

What percentage of growers in my pool are applying a "best practice" copper spray programme? Are these fruit being tracked to see if they perform better?

The science around the application of eight coppers to protect the robustness of the fruit in the market is strong. Are you applying coppers based on this best practise science to ensure your fruit is protected for even longer journeys as exporters develop new markets?

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Support for “newbies” to the industry

By Sarndra Rotherham, Avocado Newbies Group facilitator

sarndra.m@gmail.com

In February 2015, Slim and Sarndra Rotherham purchased an avocado orchard in Maungatapere, Whangarei. Not knowing too much about the industry but willing and eager to learn they set out to find "newbies" just like them.

Sarndra and Slim Rotherham.

Very quickly Slim and I were asking many questions and

were surprised at the number of people in the industry that were eager to assist and freely give valued information to us. We were very lucky to have support from local suppliers who made life a lot easier for us. After a few months, we wondered how many other couples were new to this industry and who came across the same challenges we were experiencing. John Wilkinson, the Whangarei Horticentre technical representative, confirmed there were other people like ourselves that were new to the area and to growing avocados.

Reports

I thought there must be a way we could bring these people together to share information and assist each other develop - within two weeks I had 13 confirmed people (seven orchards) wanting to join our group. No similar group existed within the New Zealand avocado industry but NZ Avocado was more than keen to support as required and we agreed to keep them informed of our progress.

Hence our ‘Avocado Newbies Group’ was launched in August 2015. Our group keenly discussed many topics that were of interest - the importance of your PPIN, pest and disease monitoring, spraying, pollination and pruning to name a few.

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It was decided that the group would meet on the first Friday of every month. Each member would take turns at hosting the group’s monthly discussion at their orchard and then we would do a walk around the host’s orchard to understand what they were experiencing and currently implementing on their orchard.

The session usually finished with a shared afternoon tea, but soon developed into enjoying a more social atmosphere through a shared barbecue dinner at the host’s orchard.

We have held seven meetings since August with the member numbers growing month by month. We now have 20 members (11 orchards) participating. Our meetings are varied, with each member informing the group what they have been doing on their orchard in the past month, any difficulties they have experienced etc. Contacts of contractors and suppliers that other members have recently used are also shared.

At each meeting we endeavour to invite one supplier to talk to the group, or visit other points of interest. Below are a few examples of the types of topics covered and activities undertaken at our meetings thus far: • December was time to celebrate with Christmas around

the corner, so had an enjoyable Christmas function at one of our member’s home. The Secret Santa was a highlight with Santa arriving to give out the presents.

• With pruning upon us, the group were keen to learn more about effective methods of pruning. John Weissing, a very experienced local grower (6,500 trees), offered his time to the group to show us different approaches to pruning he has conducted in the past, with “the good” and “the not so good” experiences being openly shared with us. A very enlightening and rewarding visit, with special thanks to John for his valuable time and openness.

• John Wilkinson,Whangarei HortiCentre technical advisor with a wealth of knowledge, has on several occasions spoken to the group. At one of our more recent meetings John shared information about different options and methods of applications to treat phytophthora. A big thanks goes to John who has been very supportive and helpful to the group from the outset.

The group has definitely added huge value to our respective orchards and support to each other.

I am delighted to now see so many people benefiting from this group after a small idea seven months ago. We are fortunate to have a fantastic friendly group of members that welcome new avocado owners into our group. I recently received an email from a couple who have just joined up, saying “thank you so much” as the group members made them feel so welcome. Our group is currently focused on the Maungatapere, Whangarei area.

For any new growers out there in our area, if you would like to learn more, have support from like-minded people, have some fun and laughs, build friendships - the Avocado Newbies Group could be what you are looking for.

If you would like more information or would like to attend one of our meetings, please feel free to contact me, Sarndra Rotherham via email: sarndra.m@gmail.com

Reports

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Serving up the future Hamish Carter, Journalist hamish@thesun.co.nz

We like to think of avocados as the perfect super food – but in 50 years they could be served up as much more than guacamole and on toast.

While the first laboratory grown meat unveiled two

years ago has some farmers glancing over the back fence at a potential competitor, NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular believes there is a bright future ahead for the fruit, seeing the potential for a myriad of products to capitalise on its health properties.

“I’m very excited about the opportunities,” says Jen. “We all know that avocados have many great health attributes and I have no doubt they will continue to be in demand which may not always be as we know it today.”

Angus, who works closely with some of the country’s top

Over the past 10 years he says there has been a “huge shift” moving away from highly processed, additive based foods to more natural and ‘real’ foods.

“Another aspect to this market is the sustainability and transparency of the ingredients. We will see a trend towards products that use ingredients and processing that is less harmful to the environment, as well as the use of technology to produce products with more nutrient content, a cleaner label and longer shelf life.”

Reports

Innovations across the food sector are likely to change the format of even our most popular products. This is the prediction of New Zealand Food Innovation Network business development manager Angus Brown, who says a handful of key trends will change the shape of future food.

food and beverage brands, lists the trends as plant-based protein sources, brewing, smart use of waste products, to traceability and products developed to work in harmony with the human microbiome.

Angus believes smart companies will have multiple channels for their avocados to maximise returns: “Whole, pureed and so on for food service and retail, then specialised products like powders and extracts for the cosmetic and nutraceutical

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market. The latter provide opportunity to gain multiples of 50-200 if done correctly.”

It’s a view shared by Plant & Food Research, which predicts the popular fruit will be in demand in a wide range of formats if it can corner the premium market by focusing on the major trends.

Plant & Food Research’s Science Food Innovation general manager Jocelyn Eason says New Zealand producers must recognise that consumers purchase from trusted sources (countries and brands), with top food safety systems where food has been produced sustainably.

Growers and marketers also need to deliver food products that hit the mark with natural and nostalgic attributes; offer pleasure/reward; convenience and quality (appearance, taste, aroma and flavour).

“All fruits and vegetables must also sing ‘health and wellness’,” says Dr Eason, who argues all producer sectors need to focus on improving the way they tell their story.

Plant & Food Research’s Phytochem and Health team leader Carolyn Lister says extensive research is continuing on the health-promotional content of avocados, with some potential findings still too early to categorically claim.

Dr Lister says claims on the nutrient benefits can be made because there is sufficient long-term understanding and human clinical evidence about nutrients, but expects more future focus on the phytochemical (non-nutrient) benefits.

“Over time we will gain greater understanding of these, like the lutein and phytosterols in avocado, and hence potentially be able to claim benefits for health.”

While all fruit and vegetables have their own unique mix of phytochemicals, which are believed to deliver different health benefits, Dr Lister says avocados have more potential benefits than others.

Reports

A possible example is extracting the lutein, found in high levels in avocado skin, for an eye health pill. But more research is needed before benefits limiting age-related macular degeneration can be claimed.

Dr Lister says it’s the combination of nutrients and phytochemicals in produce that is important to deliver benefits. A lot more science needed to be done to understand these synergies, but Dr Lister predicts major

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potential in nutrigenomics where diets can be ‘dialed up’ to meet your individual needs.

Just looking at research already underway NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular expects avocado products made from all facets of the fruit to be available within 10-20 years.

Along with avocado powder, already available, she expects products made from the stone and the skin, parts which may have many beneficial minerals and nutrients.

After seeing a yellow-fleshed avocado on a visit to India, she is not ruling out different colours, but stresses all changes will be driven by consumer demand.

However it is the antibacterial properties which prevent avocados from rotting on the tree that she is particularly excited about, saying it will offer huge potential if they can be isolated by scientists.

“It could be the start of a whole new range of antibacterial products. It’s very exciting,” says Jen, who reports researchers are working hard to find the attributes that only allow fruit decay to begin 48 hours after picking.

“It’s such an exciting industry to be involved in, there is so much going on.”

Jen also expects new canopy formats to become available in the next 10 years that will improve avocado productivity, but stresses the focus in plant research is primarily on improving grower returns, not just on making avocados easier to grow.

“It’s all about looking at options to improve profitability.”

NZAGA Executive Representative, AIC Director, and grower Dave Flett says growing international demand is going to present the fresh challenge to increase orchard output.

The Waimapu grower is on track to increase the crop on his 3.2 hectare property by 30 per cent after replacing large established trees on a steep section with 500 small trees.

“It began as a way to cut out costs, but it’s been a great way to improve return.

“Improving returns on marginal land is the low-hanging fruit. Beyond that we need to find new ways to grow avocados in areas they are not being grown in. We need to look at areas we aren’t growing trees and ask what we can do.”

Western Bay of Plenty growers Maria and Andrew Watchorn, who have nine canopy hectares between blocks in Omokoroa and Katikati, are excited about the future 50 years for avocados.

“It’s an exciting time, there is a lot going on and lots of changes we’d like to see,” says Andrew.

The pair can foresee a time when cloned trees will produce fruit perfectly sized and developed for its particular market.

Maria dreams Plant & Food Research will develop the ultimate variety which crops about 25,000 tonnes of good quality, insect-free fruit per hectare on continuously healthy trees.

Julian Heyes predicts the ballooning global population will put pressure on all horticultural resources which will lead to new production systems and breeding targets to maximise the use of water, land and other inputs. For perennial tree crops like avocados, one focus will be on harvesting another crop you can safely grow under the orchard trees in the understorey to increase productivity.

No matter which direction avocados take in 50 years, everybody spoken to agree it will definitely remain at the centre of their plate.

Angus dismisses the idea that dining will be replaced with something more functional – like pills or liquid meal – “People still love going out for meals and cooking for friends and family, we won’t be sucking all of our meals from tubes anytime soon.”

Because of the omegas and special fats in avocados, Angus is certain avocados will remain high in his diet.

It’s a view shared by grower Nicholas Gill, who loves nothing better than adding avocado to his meals wherever he can.

“Avocados tick all the boxes. Like a good free range organic egg, the avocado should be a staple to everyone’s kitchen.

There are not many other whole, natural foods that can be eaten in any meal which add great flavour, texture and nutrients.”

“That would be my genie wish, but unless they could do it in a natural way, not with genetics, I definitely wouldn’t want to go down that path.”

Tauriko grower Nicholas Gill wants to see continued education on maximising fruit quality using ‘natural methods’ so there’s less reliance on chemical and artificial intervention in 50 years.

Reports

Nicholas believes a top priority has to be increasing yield per hectare and cutting spray requirements. As a grower living on his own orchard, he would love to see more focus on developing smarter ways to kills bugs, such as using natural insect predators.

Massey University Professor of Postharvest Technology

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Avocentric - Tomo Orchard

By Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia

elaine@thesun.co.nz

Photography by Rochelle Lewis, Little Rock Photography.

Very little goes to waste on Tomo Orchard in the Far North, thanks to a deliberate policy by its owners Maria and Diego Fathollahi to maximise everything it produces.

Visitors to Maria and Diego's property are invited to enjoy a picnic and one of their homemade berry icecreams underneath their large avocado trees.

Top quality fruit from its 280 avocado trees are

exported. Reject fruit is processed into oil and returned to Maria and Diego for sale as avocado cooking oil, or to become an important ingredient in Maria’s handmade soaps.

Tomo Orchard also grows raspberries and blueberries, with most of the fresh fruit sold on the local market. The berries are an essential ingredient of the orchard’s ice cream, and the fruits are also used in Maria’s soaps, all sold through the orchard’s shop.

Reports

“We opened the shop on Christmas day last year and it’s been very popular,” says Maria.

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believe how big they are. They are also fascinated to see the fruit growing on the trees. We enjoy telling them about avocados, what great fruit they are and how they are grown,” says Maria.

Local handcrafts

As well as selling ice cream and handmade soaps, the shop stocks a range of handcrafts created by local women, many also involved with the avocado industry.

“It’s become a great outlet for their crafts and tourists love being able to buy something unique and locally produced.”

Set in the orchard itself, the shop has tables and seats placed beneath large, mature avocado trees where visitors are welcome to picnic.

The productive avocado and berry fruit orchard with its popular ice cream and handcraft shop is very different from the run-down six hectare avocado orchard which Diego and Maria bought in December 2013.

“Many people have never seen an avocado tree and can’t

They used the proceeds from the sale of a house they had

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renovated in Auckland to buy the orchard, which is 45 minutes north of Kaitaia at Houhora. It is named after a “tomo” – the Maori word for a natural cave created by the flow of water – on the orchard.

Orchard Performance Chart

Maria has a horticultural science degree from Lincoln University, and worked with Fruitfed Supplies and then Farmlands as an adviser based out of the Farmlands Helensville store for the past six years, most recently working with growers in the Far North. Diego, a talented builder however, knew nothing about growing avocados at first.

Robust discussion

“In the early stages of orchard development we had some very robust discussions about tree management,” says Maria, who initially challenged Diego’s year round programme of pruning.

“But now I seldom question what Diego does. He has an instinctive understanding of what the trees need and his methods are achieving results,” says Maria.

“As a consultant I had highly under-rated the importance of pruning for avocado trees. I’ve since changed my mind about how vital it is.”

Diego prunes to bring light into the trees, considers where he wants fruit to hang, and if the tree is under stress from too much canopy. No flower pruning is carried out, but by constantly cutting to check tree growth, crop loading is controlled.

Last season the couple decided to deliberately sacrifice a proportion of crop, in favour of promoting tree health, and reduced the number of hives brought in for pollination. The orchard produced approximately 50 bins of fruit but Maria and Diego are happy with the result and say the trees are looking healthy and ready to return to full production.

Many of the trees are 25 to 28 years old and some were not worth saving.

“In 2013 we started with 600 producing trees, but half of them have been removed and blueberries and raspberries planted in their place, bringing diversity of income to the orchard.”

Income protection

Severe storms early in 2014 are part of the reason the couple decided to diversify, to provide some protection for their income.

Reject fruit is processed into oil and returned to Maria and Diego for them to sell as avocado cooking oil.

Like other orchards in the region, Tomo Orchard has a hard clay pan beneath its soils.

“Where young trees were planted on removed shelter belt lines, they looked good at first, now some are starting to struggle, due to the clay pan beneath. Our long term goal is to purchase more land in Houhora and develop an orchard from scratch, giving us the opportunity to prepare the soil to its optimum for planting.”

Reports

Photography by Rochelle Lewis, Little Rock Photography.

“It was hard when we lost 10-15 per cent of our avocado crop, but probably a good experience to have our worst likely loss first up – nothing could be as bad again.”

Tree health is of paramount importance. All prunings

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Photography by Rochelle Lewis, Little Rock Photography.

The berries that grow on these trees are an essential ingredient used in Maria and Diego's orchard shop icecreams.

The orchard has irrigation but it hasn’t been used this summer, despite the dry weather. Two big rain events have provided adequate soil moisture and easing up on irrigation is a deliberate move to reduce phytophthora.

Few pests

Diego and Maria carry out their own AvoGreen pest monitoring and Diego sprays as required, but last season, few pests meant not so many sprays had to be applied, a sign that their management techniques are working.

The orchard has its own spray equipment and elevated picking platform, meaning more control around when spraying and picking is carried out.

Local workers are employed during the harvest and the avocados are packed by Far North Packers and exported

by AVOCO.

Reports

“Far North Packers is a great local enterprise that we, as small growers, get plenty of support from.”

The berry orchard is increasing in size, with 2400 blueberries already in place and plans to plant 2000 more later this year.

“The berries flower at the same time as the avocados but thankfully the bees seem to enjoy visiting both berries and trees.”

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Avocados are harvested from September through until January in three picks and the blueberry harvest takes three months.

“This season we have employed members of the local netball team to pick the blueberries and it’s been very successful. Their team work has been excellent.”

Maria no longer works off the orchard. Growing avocados and berries, running the shop and caring for their 18-month old son Esmaeel is more than enough to keep her occupied.

The couple love their life in the Far North, and don’t miss the city – apart from, says Maria – the shopping.

Photography by Rochelle Lewis, Little Rock Photography.

and leaf litter are placed beneath the trees to provide nutrients and retain soil moisture. Trees are treated for phytophthora and seaweed is added to the fertiliser blend to boost the tree’s ability to take up nutrients.

How eating avocado could save your life: Fruit ‘lowers cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease’ Though classed as a fruit, avocados are high in fat. Fat has long been hailed the dietary enemy number one, but as the tables turn and the scientific spotlight shines more acutely on sugar, so the benefits of the humble avocado are being realised.

A

new study has revealed adding the green fruit to your diet can aid weight loss. Furthermore, the fruit reduces a person’s risk of heart disease, according to scientists from the Hass Avocado Board, in California.

Emiliano Escobedo, executive director, said: ‘This study supports the body of research showing the many benefits that fresh avocados have to offer when consumed in everyday healthy eating plans.’

The findings fall in line with recent recommendations from the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines stated that making small shifts in food choices can make a difference – including shifting from solid fats to oils, such as the oil in fresh avocados. The new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, confirmed that swapping solid fats for avocados can ‘significantly change lipid profiles'.

Scientists analyzed 10 unique avocado studies with 229 participants. The researchers assessed the impact of avocado on cholesterol levels. They found that consuming one to one-and-a-half avocados per day ‘significantly reduced total cholesterol'.

Additionally, it also limited the 'bad' low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides when substituted for sources of fat. Corresponding study author Dr Sachin Shah noted that the results showed that even healthy study subjects showed

significant reductions.

Dr Nikki Ford, director of nutrition for Hass Avocado Board, said: ‘Fresh avocado, as part of a balanced diet, and as a cholesterol-free substitute for solid fats, can help be part of the solution for maintaining normal cholesterol levels.

‘Beyond their naturally good fats, avocados are also a delicious way to boost fiber… and fruit intakes, both of which are under consumed in American diets.’

Having high levels of bad cholesterol is known to be a major risk factor for heart disease, according to the study.

Cardiovascular disease is responsible for one out of every four deaths – and it is the number one killer of men and women. Heart disease is also one of the leading causes of disability. The study noted that additional research must be conducted to look at the impact of avocados on major adverse cardiovascular events.

Furthermore, the optimal amount of avocado and frequency of use needs further evaluation, the scientists noted.

Mr Escobedo said: 'Clinical studies are currently underway to investigate the relationship between avocado consumption and risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, support of weight management and healthy living.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3449571/How-avocado-savelife-Fruit-lowers-cholesterol-reducing-risk-heart-disease.html

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Recipe

Avocado smoothie

By Sachie Nomura, Sachie’s Kitchen This smoothie is easy to create and is a healthy complement to breakfast - if you don’t have time in the morning you can make it the night before and add it to your toasted cereal!

Makes: 4 glasses Prepping time: 3 minutes

Ingredients: 1 avocado, peeled and pit removed 1 ripe banana 3 green kiwifruit, peeled 1 cup of almond milk / soy milk / apple juice / mango juice 2 Tbsp lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon) 1 cup of ice cubes Method: Mix all the ingredients in the blender and serve in a glass

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Out and about

ProHass visit to Plant & Food Research's research orchard in Te Puke - Nicola Mauchline, Nicci Haismen, Arturo Medina Castro,Victor Escobedo, Kerry Everett, Jen Scoular, PhillipWest and Nick Gould.

Hon Nathan Guy with Jen Scoular at the signing of the GIA Deed in February.

Village PR Director Bridgette Tapsell keeping Hon Nathan Guy abreast of information on avocados at the signing of the GIA Deed.

Katikati Avocado Expo - Children had the opportunity to participate in heaps of fun activities from colouring in to animal art using avocados and avocado art.

NZ Avocado Communications Manager Midge Munro (far left) with her winning "Fresh for Less" team at the PMA Foundation Emerging Leaders Programme in Arizona.

Peter and Jackie Harding shared about their orchard at the NZ Avocado, Freshmax, JP Exports, Just Avocados Ltd and Natural Touch Ltd field day in February.

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Out & About

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Hon Nathan Guy, AshbyWhitehead, Hon Todd McClay, Jen Scoular and HortNZ Chairman Julian Raine at the Biosecurity Operation Excellence launch at the Port of Tauranga in February.

Attendees of the Tauranga Industry day in April on a tour of Franz and Sandy Imlig's orchard in Lower Kaimai.

The NZ Avocado management team prepared for a day of planning with a refreshing early morning walk up Mount Maunganui.

Marisa Till, Danni van der Heijden and Phillip West with Jaco Marais who owns Bounty.

Arturo Medina Castro and Victor Escobedo, both from ProHass, on a tour of Trevelyan's packhouse with Daniel Birnie.

Chinese delegation Entry meeting held at Classic Flyers in Tauranga. From left: Lihong Zhu (MPI), Glenys Parton, Jen Scoular, Mr Jixun Li (AQSIQ representative), Mr Guoqiang Xu (AQSIQ representative), Stephen Butcher (MPI), Karen Sparrow (MPI), Brad Siebert, Mr JiajiaoWu (AQSIQ representative) and Henry Pak (MPI).

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