November 2016

Avoscene New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Journal

November 2016

Introducing Ollie avocado!

Inside this issue: Effective spray application in New Zealand avocados Grower forums - outcomes of the workshops Opinions from within the industry: soil moisture September Northland field days wrap up Avoscene November 2015

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Avoscene November 2015

NZ Avocado Office

Contents

PO Box 13267 Tauranga 3141 New Zealand Level 5, Harrington House 32 Harington Street Tauranga 3110 Ph: 07 571 6147 or

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Markets

On the Orchard

Pest and disease watch: Managing soil-borne pests 37

0800 AVOCADO (0800 286 2236) www.nzavocado.co.nz

NZ Avocado @NZ_Avocado

View from the Chair

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The New Zealand Market 16

Growing the business

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New Zealand Market Promotions Update

Going global

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17

The scale of the problem

NZ Avocado

Outside the box

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Regional Roundup

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Introducing the new directors

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Effective spray application in New Zealand avocados 40

@nz_avocado

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

John Cotterell Ph 07 549 3395 m. 0274 513 138 jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz Far North Alistair Nicholson Ph 021 946 391 anicholson@vulposinvest.com Mid North Roger Barber Ph 09 435 0785 m. 021 488 124 barbers@ihug.co.nz John Dawson Ph 021 724 900 jd@team.org.nz

This year's shoots are 2018's fruit

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Soil moisture opinion

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NZ Avocado recognises deserving industry service award recipient 21

September Northland field days wrap up

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Reports

New faces

Dave Flett m. 027 555 4420 dave.flett@yahoo.co.nz

Newsroom

Industry matters

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Recommended reading 53

Grower letters

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Celebrating the industry's success

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Grower forums outcomes of the workshops

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Industry awards: Grower of the Year

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Avocado news from the world

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Chine Market Insights Tour

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AsiaFruit Congress and Logistica

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Avocentric Ian Fulton

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At Large

Linda Flegg Ph 07 549 1047 m. 021 458 782 linda@kauripak.co.nz

Nourish Recipe

Industry News

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

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Out and About

Out and about

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Cover Shot: Introducing Ollie avocado!

NZ Avocado Staff

Export Directors Andrew Darling Annmarie Lee

Jen Scoular, CEO

Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager

Bevan Jelley, Market Manager

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

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

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

Avoscene Advertising & Editorial

Edwina Aitchison, Executive Assistant

Marisa Till, R&D Manager

Anna Farquharson, Market Manager

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

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

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

anna.farquharson@nzavocado.co.nz

Brad Siebert Biosecurity & Programme Manager

Phillip West, R&D Officer

Jodi Senior, Communications Associate

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

jodi.senior@nzavocado.co.nz

Danni van der Heijden, Research Associate

Joanne Nunn, Administration Assistant

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

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

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

jo.nunn@nzavocado.co.nz

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

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

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View from the Chair

By Ashby Whitehead, Chair, NZAGA & AIC

alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz

We can confidently say that as an industry we are moving in a positive direction, as presented at our two successful Grower Forums held in Bay of Plenty and Whangarei, which saw collectively more than 150 growers attending.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank those who attended the Grower Forums and the Annual General Meeting in September. The Grower Forums were well attended in both the Bay of Plenty and Whangarei.

Big thanks must go to Marisa Till, NZ Avocado’s research manager, for compiling the Research Bulletin in a very timely manner. It was great to capture all of the research data and have it compiled into one document to be able to present to growers at the Grower Forums.

The Grower Forum was a great opportunity to be updated on our research and the results that are coming through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Avocados for Export projects and the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme.

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Avocado Industry Council (AIC) Directors and regional grower representatives – Linda Flegg is your new NZAGA At Large Representative and AIC Director and John Dawson is your new NZAGA Mid-North Representatives and AIC Director. We also welcome Roger Barber back as your other NZAGA Mid-North Representative and AIC Director.

Alistair Nicholson has been appointed by the Board as the new NZAGA Far North Representative. I look forward to working with you all - it will be great to be working with some new faces around the table. Thank you to all those who put their names forward, making for a good democratic election. I would strongly encourage those people to consider putting their name forward next time around.

Thanks goes to our growers for their support for the motions that were put forward by the industry at the AGM. The funding stream is vitally important to keep the industry moving forward.

At our next two meetings, the Board will spend half a day at each covering off risk and strategy. Our risk meeting will be centred around ensuring that we have got all bases covered regarding any potential risks to the industry. Our strategy meeting will be centred around ensuring that as an industry, we are on target and heading in the right direction, essentially “making the boat go faster”.

A big welcome must go to the newly appointed New Zealand Avocado Growers Association (NZAGA) and

Currently, I am seeing the industry from a contractor’s perspective - I have recently started a small business doing

Avoscene November 2015

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all things avocado. I’m getting out and about looking at other growers’ orchards and seeing how they do things.

The Research Bulletin that was presented at the Grower Forums highlighted the need for pruning to mitigate some of the irregular bearing problems. I have recently just pruned an orchard that even a 10-metre Hydralada would not have been able to pick, proving that timely intervention would have made the grower money rather than cost the grower money.

Weather is having a big influence over the start of our season, though the weather may have been a timely intervention as it has slowed the supply to the Australian market, which was getting oversupplied during midSeptember to early October. However, picking wet fruit has resulted in a lot more peel damage showing up in packhouses. We need harvesters to follow the best practice guidelines to ensure this is mitigated.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Jen and her team for their efforts during the past 12 months, as the industry is poised to have the biggest harvest ever and it

looks set to be another great year.

I would also like to thank Midge Munro for her contribution in the industry throughout her eight years of service.

Jen represented the NZAGA & AIC at Asia Fruit Logistica at the beginning of September. This was a great opportunity for us to raise our flag in the China market.

After Asia Fruit Logistica, Jen then led a small team of exporters on an insight trip into the workings of the China marketplace.

We also attended the China Fruit and Vegetable Fair (FVF) held in Beijing at the end of October. This event is a political trade show for the produce industries, with representatives of Chinese authorities, AQSIQ and CIQA attending. I am still focussed on gaining access to China for our avocados, so we need to demonstrate our commitment to that market. We will report on the FVF and our access negotiations in the next issue of Avoscene.

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Growing the business

By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

It was great to see record numbers of enthusiastic, engaged growers at recent grower forums and field days in Tauranga, Whangarei and the Far North, and at the AGM in Tauranga.

We are very aware that the activity we undertake at NZ

Avocado is funded by the commodity levy, export systems fee and registrations growers pay on their avocados. So the theme of the Grower Forums was: “How does your levy money get spent?”

The team covered off an array of topics, from the New Zealand market activity through to promotions in the export markets, from AvoGreen updates, through spray diary to biosecurity.

We reported that our Primary Growth Partnership is going very well as we start year three of the five year programme and that the Ministry for Primary Industries is happy with the progress being made under our PGP. We updated growers at the Annual General Meeting on the financials for the 2015-16 season and gave an explanation on the budget for the 2016-17 season. We reported back on a remit regarding library trays from last year.

As an industry we get real value out of the information from library trays, including understanding seasonal and regional differences. We asked growers their view and

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growers agreed by a show of hands that NZ Avocado would take on the costs of the library trays, to ensure value was being received from taking a library tray sample per grower line. There were no remits from growers this year, so the AGM went swiftly through the business before we networked over a drink and went on to the AGM dinner. Thanks to those who attended any or all of the events - we enjoy your participation.

Following each of the Grower Forums we hosted field days in the Bay of Plenty, Whangarei and Houhora. Marisa, Phillip and Danni all presented our research projects, each of which is reported in our first Research Bulletin you will have received by mail recently.

Pruning is a huge industry topic, and rightly so. It was a great exercise to divide the field day participants into groups of ten or so and allocate each a tree of similar size and age.

At the field day in Whangarei 40 growers were split into four groups, and were allocated one tree on a grower’s orchard. The trees are all around 12 years old, holding a good crop of avocados to be harvested in the next month

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or so, and covered in a medium volume of flowers, the fruit to be set in November for next year’s crop.

The trees are four metres high, lovely wide boughed trees, with glossy green leaves and a good strong shape. But avocado trees need pruning – and pruning a 12 year old, four metre high tree is about deciding how much work the chainsaw does.

It was interesting listening to the different views of growers as they peered into the tree, looked from the outside then back into the middle. Light, next years’ growth, flower intensity, spacing to the next tree were all part of the conversation. Lots of views and lots of questions.

One grower commented that you only have three minutes to look, make a decision and start up the chainsaw, or you’ll be there forever. As we have heard before, there is no perfect way to prune an avocado tree, except to agree that it must be pruned! It’s interesting to get the Chair’s perspective on pruning from “inside the tree” in his report.

I headed to Hong Kong for Asia Fruit and then onto Shanghai with three exporters on a market insights tour,

which I have reported on separately on page 43.

What a great competition it was to name our new avocado character who until now has been Mr Avocado Man. Over 1,200 people entered the Facebook competition (sadly the number of growers voting through AvoConnect was only 33), and the winning name is ‘Ollie”. We decided he might be Oliver if he is a little bit too naughty, or especially crafty, and maybe even if he is being particularly charming he might be Oliver too. But our facebooks fans loved Ollie the avocado, and we look forward to Ollie sharing some fun and games with our consumers and fans.

I was at a Tauranga event recently and someone noticed that everyone who came up to me, came with some comment about avocados.You all know I could talk up avocados until they blackened (which of course they never do in my kitchen because I eat them pretty fast), but the comment was, I should wear a badge highlighting other topics I’m happy to talk about because everyone seems to think they should tell me their avocados stories. I enjoy the stories about avocados, the love for avocados and even sometimes hearing the bad things about avocados - not that there are very many of those. Avocados are amazing!

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Going global

By Annmarie Lee, General Manager – Growers, Seeka

AnnmarieL@seeka.co.nz

In the midst of our biggest volume season yet, it is crucial exporters cooperate and work collaboratively to ensure the best outcome for growers and our international avocado-loving consumers.

If you have been in the avocado industry for a long time

you soon realise every avocado season is different with its own unique challenges. This season is no exception, with the Australian market very full of Queensland fruit at the time the New Zealand export harvest usually begins.

The large New Zealand crop also puts pressure on the picking capacity of the industry and as a consequence we are all keen to have the harvest underway as early as possible.

Past seasons tell us that with the largest export crop on record we need to be mindful to manage the crop flow to markets, most especially Australia when that market is already full. Additionally, key to a successful start is getting the maturity and quality right so the fruit arriving in a full market stand out and keep the reputation of New Zealand fruit high.

Unfortunately, the start of every year does not always go perfectly and this is what we saw in September with the oversupply of fruit, both New Zealand and Australian, in the Australian market creating a soft market and low sales prices. The best way to fix an oversupply of fruit is holding back on the harvest and all exporters being sufficiently disciplined to moderate the flow of fruit, while at the same time being mindful of arrangements already negotiated with customers. It is this season where the co-operation between exporters developed over the past three seasons is paying off

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for growers, to avoid an oversupply and market crash.

In a large crop year quality is paramount, as slow movement through the market means the fruit age can easily blow out past four weeks from picking. Old fruit means poor quality and it is hard to get low prices to lift, as customers have long memories. The decision to pull back the harvest, communicated out to growers by the exporters is smart, as it allows the bulk of the Australian fruit to clear and helps push the New Zealand supply of fruit later when the market in Australia should improve. Apart from concerns on picking capacity, there is no need to rush the start of the harvest.

Consumers of avocados in New Zealand and Australia are looking forward to lower prices and more avocados being available. This should mean that while prices will be lower than last season, demand will still be strong at good prices once the current bubble of fruit passes through the market.

While, at the time of writing, Australia is a challenge, other markets are looking positive. The Asian markets are on a par with other years and are a good option in this high volume year. Japan is performing well against current Australian returns and is being more flexible with sizes. The exporters talk to each other regularly and are working to manage this challenging period in order to best maximise their growers' returns.

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Outside the box Helen Gray – Quality and Compliance Manager, Just Avocados Ltd

HelenG@justavocados.co.nz

Compliancy is an incredibly important element to maintain across the industry supply chain read why below.

P

ersea Americana: Avocado, Summer’s Super Fruit – the versatile avocado which is now a staple in many households.

Promotion of this fruit in recent years and education on handling techniques at a retail level has increased sales and improved the keeping quality for consumers respectively.

Hopefully from a consumer point of view the days of taking avocados home and leaving them until they are inedible, then complaining about the quality, are long gone.

There are now some very innovative ways of using avocados - check out the amazing variety of recipes on the NZ Avocado website, ranging from savoury to sweet with the emphasis on healthy eating. The supermarkets also support avocado consumption by having numerous recipes for the taking.

Food safety and compliance have come to the fore in the last decade with the introduction of EurepGAP, now GlobalGAP, and NZGAP for both growers and packing facilities. Initially the introduction of any form of compliance and grower inspections, especially the original 345 questions put out

by EurepGAP for kiwifruit, was met with resistance and

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frustration. However, as growers have come to accept the annual inspection of their orchard and records and understand the global demand for assurance, they realise compliance is here to stay and is vital if we want to keep supplying our overseas markets.

One of the most important aspects of compliance is to keep abreast of anything that could place our industry in jeopardy and continually manage risks. The dairy industry has been exposed to risk several times – thankfully, so far, the avocado industry has avoided any incidents.

As a packing and export facility we are often asked to supply our current certificates to overseas companies who handle our product. These include the AIC Food Safety Certificate, NZGAP Grower Group Certificate, Cole’s certificate and the big one for any packhouse British Retail Consortium (BRC), a programme designed to ensure that the quality of the end product is compliant. To this end, each packhouse is audited annually by an independent auditing body to ensure that the BRC or NZGAP required standards are being meet.

The Global Standard for Food Safety, Issue 7 was introduced

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last season. As the standard already comprehensively covers all aspects of food safety and quality management systems, site standards, management commitment and internal auditing to name a few areas, one would have to wonder just what additions were needed? Audit is always stressful when at all times we are striving to operate to very high standards.

As you can imagine it is always a huge relief to get through a day-long audit, followed by more questions and supplying evidential paperwork the next morning, and finally by lunchtime being told the packhouse has retained its grade or even gone up a grade.

Moving on to the start of packing, growers have a very important part to play in ensuring compliance and being engaged in their export business. This begins by being registered with NZ Avocado and by ensuring NZ Avocado Export Registration has been completed. In addition, to facilitate flow plan the grower must ensure they have an up-to-date spray diary and link that spray diary to the packhouse. Creating this relationship allows the packhouse to review the sprays applied and if required, collect a residue sample representative of what has been applied to the fruit, and finally plan the marketing strategy based on all of this information.

The start of this season has been hampered with the persistent rain, making picking very spasmodic.

Consequently this has presented planning difficulties for packhouses and exporters. It has been great to get the first

export packing day over, especially as the facility had the luxury of packing only one PPIN on that first day. Even better, when following a full systems audit by AsureQuality on behalf of NZ Avocado was completed, we had all systems of compliance in place.

These startup audits cover: - Grower registration - Maturity clearance - Electronic spray diaries - Fruit receivals - Water blasting - Weights - Package labelling - Pallet security: strapping and tama wrap - Time chain: pick to pack and pick to ship - Temperature monitoring - Thailand registration - Ethylene monitoring - Library trays - Internal audits - Notification of packing and grade standards Moving on from start-up and the initial audit we will continue to pack in the biggest season yet and aim for good returns for everyone.

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Regional Roundup Roger Barber & John Dawson barbers@ihug.co.nz johnd@cooee.co.nz

NZAGA Mid North Representatives and AIC Directors 6.10.16

Northland Regional Council (NRC) and Whangarei District Council (WDC) are currently reviewing their regional and district plans. A number of proposed plan changes have the potential to impact avocado growers in the mid-north.

Furthermore, the existing land use is part of the characteristics and qualities of the environment and contribute to the quality of the landscape.

The Northland Regional Policy Statement has listed Whatitiri mountain as an Outstanding Natural Feature. This is the best example of a shield volcano in the country. As such a series of measures are proposed in the Whangarei District Plan to protect its high landscape value. However, the mountain is important to rural production, particularly avocados. Of its total area of 947ha, more than 50% is plantable land.

Currently, 350ha is planted in avocados by more than 50 growers. It is currently the main avocado production area in the mid-north. Measures designed to protect these natural features need to take into account existing land use that is already established in the area. Proposed plan changes will limit the ability of growers to undertake their existing activities, particularly relating to land preparation, earthworks and structures.

The other main area of concern is in the proposed plan changes 85A-D in the Whangarei District Plan. This provides for large areas of the Rural Production Environment to be rezoned as 85-D Rural Living Environment to cater for lifestyle development. However, rather than restricting these sites to marginal production areas or areas compromised by previous land development, many of these new zonings cover prime horticultural sites of versatile soils, where commercial horticulture is an important rural production activity. Examples include Whatitiri, Glenbervie, Kara Road and Apotu Road. The consequence will create difficulty to continue to undertake normal horticultural activities and this productive land may be lost to high value rural production.

Reverse sensitivity would impact on established horticultural producers due to noise, smells, spray and fertiliser usage and other activities associated with orcharding which are incompatible with lifestyle living. These proposed zoning changes would have a major impact on the economy of Whangarei and Northland and be wasteful use of resources as these districts already have infrastructure in place for horticultural development.

Although the sloping contour provides good air movement and soil water drainage, best practice is for growers to mound soil in the tree rows to further aid root aeration and help avoid problems of root rot. However, plan changes would limit earthworks to a maximum threshold of 500m3 (it is unclear whether this relates to per year, per hectare or per property). The effects of mounding tree rows is not an activity that will compromise the integrity of the Whatitiri Shield Volcano.

Another example is a constraint on the height of structures.

With a limit of 5.5 metres, this will affect buildings such as implement sheds, packing sheds, and also the ability to erect artificial shelter belts.

The definition of land preparation does not adequately provide for normal cultivation undertaken in orchard establishment, such as preparation for planting – e.g. blading, contour ploughing or deep ripping.

However, it is reasonable to expect the above activities to be permitted activities where orchard development is the dominant rural production activity. The council is required to “allow the maintenance of established authorised activities and not render the land incapable of reasonable use”, as provisions of Section 10 and Section 85 of the Resource Management Act.

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And that’s not all!

New Zealand Avocado has worked with Horticulture NZ and growers in preparing submissions on the various plan changes. The next stage is that the Council will notify a summary of all submissions made in a few months. Growers will then be able to make further submissions supporting the Horticulture NZ submission. After that there will be a hearing before the Council (potentially mid 2017) where growers will have the opportunity to speak about the impact of the changes before decisions are made on the proposed changes.

The submissions can be found on the NZ Avocado website and growers affected by these proposed plan changes are urged to submit their concerns before the consultation period closes and the new plans become operative.

If you would like more information on how to make a submission, contact Brad Siebert at NZ Avocado. brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

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Linda Flegg – At Large

linda@kauripak.co.nz

10.10.16

Let’s hope by the time you are reading this the weather patterns have changed and we have dried out. September and October have been as wet as I can ever remember and this has had a significant impact on harvesting operations in most regions.

Far North has reported seeing scruffier lines than normal but only attributes 26% wind rub/ blemish. Mid North has reported 56% wind rub/blemish. Average fruit size is tracking along at a similar pace to last season currently at 23-24 across the regions.

R e g i o Australian n a l R o u n d U p wholesale market challenges in Scale is becoming an ever-increasing problem The L in d a F le g g – A t L a r g e and I look forward to the next AvoGreen late September saw a need for all exporters to Lpull e t ’ s back h o p e b to y t h avoid e t i m e y ao u train a r e r e a smash d i n g t h i s on t h e the w e a t other h e r p a t t e r n s h a v e programme c h a n g e d a n d w e review h a v e d r i e and d the implementation of o u t . S e p t e m b e r a n d O c t o b e r h a v e b e e n a s w e t a s I c a n e v e r r e m e m b e r a n d t h is h a s h a d a s ig n ific a n t some recommendations to control scale at the side i m p a of c t o the n h a r ditch. v e s t i n g o The p e r a t rain i o n s i n has m o s certainly t r e g i o n s . helped e A u s t regard r a l i a n w h but o l e s a lnow e m a r k by e t c the h a l l e nsecond g e s i n l a t e week S e p t e m in b e r s a w a n crawler e e d f o r a l l stage. e x p o r t e r Make s t o p u l l sure you take advantage inT h that b a c k t o a v o id a t r a in s m a s h o n t h e o t h e r s id e o f t h e d it c h . T h e r a in h a s c e r t a in ly h e lp e d in t h a t post flowering leaf October r e g a r d b u t n we o w b are y t h e starting s e c o n d w e to e k tip i n O c the t o b e scales r w e a r e in s t a the r t i n g t o t i p t of h e s the c a l e s ability i n t h e o t to h e r apply d i r e c t i o your n w it h s h o r t a g e s o f f r u it in J a p a n a n d A u s t r a lia . roller spray to protect next season’s crop. other direction with shortages of fruit in Japan S e p t e m b e r h a s s e e n lo w e r e x p o r t p a c k -o u t s a c r o s s t h e r e g io n s t h a n la s t s e a s o n , m a in ly d u e t o w in d r u b / Australia. b le m is h . W e p e r s o n a lly c a n a t t r ib u t e 6 8 % o f o u r r e je c t s t o t h is d e f e c t . F a r N o r t h h a s r e p o r t e d and s e e i n g s c r u f f i e r l i n e s t h a n n o r m a l b u t o n l y a t t r i b u t e s 2 6 % w i n d r u b / b l Ie m found i s h . M i d an N o interesting r t h h a s r e p o r t e d weather related 5 6 % w in d r u b / b le m is h . A v e r a g e f r u it s iz e is t r a c k in g a lo n g a t a s im ila r p a c e t o la s t s e a s o n c u r r e n t ly website that may be of use – check out September export pack-outs a t 2 3 - 2 4 % a c r o has s s t h eseen r e g i o lower n s.

Sacross c a l e i s b the e c o m regions i n g a n e v e than r - i n c r e last a s i n g season, p r o b l e m a mainly n d I l o o k f due o r w a r to d t o t h www.weatheronline.co.nz. e n e x t A v o G re e n p ro g ra m m e See the graphs below r e v ie w a n d t h e im p le m e n t a t io n o f s o m e r e c o m m e n d a t io n s t o c o n t r o l s c a le a t t h e c r a w le r s t a g e . that show measurements of rainfall at Tauranga wind rub/blemish.

We personally can attribute M a k e s u r e y o u t a k e a d v a n t a g e o f t h e a b ilit y t o a p p ly y o u r p o s t f lo w e r in g le a f r o lle r s p r a y t o p r o t e c t n68% e x t s e of a s o our n ’ s c r rejects o p . and Auckland airport. to this defect.

I fo u n d a n in t e r e s t in g w e a t h e r r e la t e d w e b s it e t h a t m a y b e o f u s e – c h e c k o u t w w w .w e a t h e r o n lin e .c o .n z R a in f a ll a t T a u r a n g a A ir p o r t

Rainfall at Tauranga Airport

Rainfall at Auckland Airport

Spotted anything unusual?

R a in f a ll a t A u c k la n d A ir p o r t

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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Introducing the new directors John Dawson NZAGA Mid-North Representative & AIC Director

John and Paula Dawson are in their seventh season of “wrangling” 1,000 avocado trees aged from one to 30 years of age in Mangawhai.

“Alongside this more recent focus, I have spent the last 30 years providing marketing and communications strategy and activities to New Zealand and internationally-based businesses,” says John, who has been elected as one of the new NZAGA Mid-North Representatives and AIC Director.

John Dawson

“Many thanks to those of you who voted for me. Once I have seen the current five-year strategy I will have a better idea of how I can add value to the Board and to the growers who I will be representing. However, you can be assured that I will be focusing on any and all aspects of the industry that enhance our OGRs. “One of the areas that I would like grower guidance on is how to improve the level of engagement that we as growers have with our industry. In the mid-north there are approximately 220 PPINs, however, fewer than half of these growers are actively participating in the knowledge-sharing activities provided by NZ Avocado. I would like to know why and what would encourage this group to both hear and contribute.

“The other topic that is on my mind is a graph that I saw for the first time at the industry Annual General Meeting. The graph showed that the mid-north is significantly behind all other regions in the country in terms of improving orchard performance. This gave me a bit of a shock and as a result I will be encouraging as much special attention for our region as I can get from NZ Avocado.

“Finally, I look forward to meeting those of you who I don’t currently know and hearing from you about issues you identify that may need attention. I’ll be in touch, but in the meantime, feel free to contact me at jd@team.org.nz .”

Alistair Nicholson NZAGA Far North Representative and AIC Director

Helping a South African friend find a New Zealand avocado orchard to invest in was what sparked Alistair Nicholson’s interest in the industry and led to he and wife Alison Gerry buying their own 22 hectare property near Whangarei.

The property the couple owns adjoins the orchard previously belonging to their friend (who has since moved on to other ventures), explains Alistair, who is a newly elected NZAGA Far North Rep and AIC Director.

Alistair Nicholson

More international friends looking to invest in New Zealand horticulture has resulted in the purchase of two further orchards: one near their own and the other in the Far North.

In combination the orchards have nearly 190 hectares of avocados under cultivation.

Alistair and Alison were living in Singapore when they became orchard owners in 2004 but now Queenstown is their home. While Alistair makes regular trips north to visit the

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orchards, the day-to-day running is carried out by skilled teams working in each location.

“When I was helping my friend look at the avocado industry as a place to invest in New Zealand I thought it might also work for us.”

That decision was influenced by the potential Alistair saw to increase production and returns, thanks partly to industry funding into research and development.

“Growing avocados is part science and part art, blended into an uncertain outcome by the challenges thrown up by Mother Nature.”

Alistair grew up on a dairy farm, has in the past been a school teacher, a university lecturer, an investment banker and a hedge fund manager. He is a director of Gareth Morgan Investments Ltd (a Kiwisaver provider) a member of the advisory board of NEXT Foundation, and a director of a Singapore-based Investment Management Company. It’s this varied background, plus his experience and knowledge of growing avocados on a large scale, which Alistair brings to the AIC board table.

“I still have a lot to learn about avocado growing and the industry but believe I have something to offer from a governance point of view.”

Linda Flegg NZAGA At Large Representative & AIC Director

A casual conversation at a Chiefs’ rugby match prompted Linda Flegg to stand for election to the NZAGA & AIC Board this year.

“We were talking about the elections and I said I’d like to stand sometime in the future, but was instead encouraged not to put it off, but to do so now,” says Linda, who is a director of the orchard and post-harvest company Morris Moore Farms of Katikati.

She has grown up with avocado orcharding and today has an administrative role for the company so brings to the Board table a comprehensive overview of the industry from growing, to post-harvest to marketing and export.

Linda Flegg

“I decided to stand for the Board because I believe the industry needs younger people to be involved in governance roles. I guess we need more women too but that didn’t cross my mind at the time of standing for election.”

Linda also benefits in having industry pioneer Hugh Moore as a mentor.

“Hugh has extensive knowledge and experience of all aspects of the industry, including politics, so I have his advice and guidance to help me along.”

This is an exciting time with research and development funding secured by the team led by NZ Avocado Chief Executive Jen Scoular helping the avocado industry grow and develop even further, says Linda. As well as being an AIC director Linda is also one of the NZAGA At Large Representatives.

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The New Zealand Market Glen Dunseath, Managing Director, Zeafruit glen@zeafruit.co.nz

Waiting for the flood gates to open accurately describes the state of the New Zealand market in our biggest season yet.

September is normally a very chaotic period in the local market as export

Markets

is well underway, fruit volumes traditionally lift significantly, and the season generally flies flat out until late February from this point.

In reality that could not be more at odds with current activity this season.

We are in what could only be described as “a very odd local market” – even the feel of it is hard to gauge. It seems as if the industry is standing before a dam waiting for it to burst and a flood to occur. Market pricing is stable and holding, orders are consistent and there are good promotional plans in place at agreed values – yet everybody is nervous, and with some quite valid reasons.

NZ Avocado market forecasts (information provided by marketers) haven’t helped that mood with indicative numbers over late October and early November averaging 60,000 trays a week – in context that would see us struggling to maintain any Orchard Gate Returns (OGR) above $10.

The local market threshold of ideal volume versus value mix sits somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 trays per week, and I mean every available week of the sales calendar – not just the export window. The split is also reliant on positive trading conditions, fruit quality, retail space, and retail pricing all being advantageous to achieving sales closer to 40,000.

Hence the sight of multiple 60,000 weeks has put the local marketers on edge – our sales window is diminishing week by week, and whilst we have a robust and growing consumer base in New Zealand, we simply lack the population to clear significant surplus volume whilst still achieving equitable OGR numbers.

Where does that leave us? At this stage it is too early to accurately gauge what the outcome will be later in the season once the high export volumes start to initiate. Current high export pack-out rates are a positive sign and we would hope they continue, but at some point decisions will need to be made about the viability of packing small count fruit for the local market. Already a number of companies have made this decision as returns on these counts are simply not viable, and potentially detrimental both in value, but also in competition for retail space for the larger more valuable count sizes.

The next few months promise to be a challenging period for the New Zealand market, but after significant consumption growth over the last few years we shouldn’t be scared by what we face, instead we should be looking to use this season as another opportunity to increase our consumer base, and drive consumption to new highs that will benefit the industry in the years to come.

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New Zealand Market Promotions Update Bevan Jelley, Market Manager, NZ Avocado

bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz

We’re pleased to introduce you to the newest member of the team at NZ Avocado, Ollie the avocado!

Markets

As avocado volume pressure builds in the New Zealand

market, our promotions programme to raise visibility of avocados and support New Zealand avocado marketers to drive sales and increase consumption has become more important than ever.

In recent seasons the amount of promotion activity we have been able to undertake in New Zealand has risen dramatically, as a result of the Primary Growth Partnership and working more closely with New Zealand marketers.

We have worked with marketers to develop the New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime promotions theme to share the benefits of avocados with New Zealanders through television and magazine advertising, supermarket avocado sampling, events and social media activity.

‘Amazing’ refers to the nutrient properties of avocados and their associated health benefits. ‘Anytime’ describes

avocados unique benefit of fitting seamlessly into any meal time, through breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, as well as snacks in between.

Television commercials

New avocado television commercials went to air in September and will play on channels 1, 2, 3 and TVNZ OnDemand throughout the season. The commercials showcase the versatility of avocados, their health benefits and introduce our new avocado character.

The avocado has come of age as a global food superstar. It is a social media personality of its own and has charmed a powerful following from foodies, families and the health conscious and has been hash-tagged in over four million photos on Instagram.

The new television commercials leverage off the avocado’s

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Markets

A still shot from our NZ Avocado television ad.

rise to fame with the creation of an avocado character as the star of the campaign. The character is central to our promotions campaign for the coming season, appearing across television and online advertising, supermarket avocado sampling sessions, events and Facebook activity.

He will be available for New Zealand Avocado marketers and retailers to incorporate into their New Zealand market promotions activity.

We are excited to see New Zealand’s reaction to him, and about the possibilities for his use in our avocado visibility raising activity in New Zealand.

Facebook naming competition

We introduced him to our 17,000 avocado loving Facebook followers with a competition to give him a name.

Over 1,200 suggestions for a name were received and the shortlist was circulated to avocado growers to vote on the winning name – Ollie!

Ollie will feature prominently this season in NZ Avocado social media across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. The new ad starring Ollie has been viewed over 9,200 times on our Facebook page to date.

In-store sampling

In-store avocado sampling has allowed us to connect the New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime message with consumers in New Zealand’s largest supermarkets. This season we will undertake 300 sampling sessions in 80 supermarkets nationwide.

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Shoppers are offered a sample of avocado, prosciutto and tomato, which are the key flavours in Nadia Lim’s avocado pizza. Sampling staff also give away avocado recipe booklets that showcase amazing avocado recipes for any time of the day.

Website refresh & online advertising

The New Zealand Avocado consumer website has been updated to reflect the themes and colours of the Amazing Anytime promotions theme and is now looking cleaner, fresher and more vibrant.

Usage data shows that the majority of visitors to the New Zealand Avocado consumer website are searching for avocado recipes and these have been prioritised on the new home page. The refreshed website has also been optimised for mobile phones and tablets, a crucial update as our usage statistics also show the 55% traffic to the website comes from mobile devices.

As media consumption habits in New Zealand evolve we are adapting our promotion focus more toward online advertising. This will allow us to reach our target consumer groups more effectively than traditional advertising, with avocado content that is relevant to what consumers have searched for and the times of day they are online.

Our online advertising aims to build avocado awareness and drive more consumers towards our refreshed website for amazing recipe ideas, nutritional information and avocado grower stories.

WE’RE TICKLED PINK WITH PROGRESS SO FAR After spending more time in the market, we are on track to deliver: • A far stronger Australian retail presence • Niche Asian market premiums • Better returns for your fruit To enjoy these benefits and more, talk to our team...

Jarrod Redwood General Manager Operations & Grower Services 027 200 0295 Greg O’Carroll Field Services Manager 027 2680 374 www.justavocados.co.nz (07) 549 3027

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New faces Anna Farquharson Market Manager, NZ Avocado

Anna Farquharson has joined NZ Avocado as a Market Manager.

Anna initially took on a three-month role supporting Market Manager Bevan Jelley with New Zealand and export market promotion activity and implementation.

Anna Farquharson

“The work is really varied, which is great. We have recently released the TV ad for New Zealand and are working on digital media now. The website has now been refreshed, and then there are in-store tastings and events to arrange,” says Anna, who recently returned from London where her most recent role was with Playstation.

Anna completed a double degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing at Otago university before heading overseas.

Reports

“I spent four years in London working at a digital marketing agency, PlayStation and at OVO Energy as Customer Marketing Manager.” Then Anna decided to return home to New Zealand, taking some time out to see a little more of the world on the way.

Anna also spent time in Japan where she worked teaching English and understanding the lifestyle in Japan.

She is enjoying being part of the avocado industry and is excited about the marketing of this season’s very large crop, and the chance to encourage even more people to enjoy avocados.

In other changes at NZ Avocado, Jodi Senior steps up in the role of Communications Associate following the departure of Midge Munro who has joined Darling Group, based in Katikati, as Group Communications Manager.

Vaughan Judkins General Manager, Pole to Pole Exports Ltd

Vaughan joined the Pole to Pole Exports Ltd team on 3 October as their General Manager.

Before this, his most recent role was at Zespri as Global Marketing Manager – Organics.

Vaughan joined Zespri in 2006, working in the Supply Chain in a variety of different positions which included Demand Team Leader, Special Programmes Manager and Market Supply Manager.

Vaughan Judkins

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Vaughan has a very good global network in the produce industry and Pole to Pole Exports Ltd looks forward to Vaughan’s addition to their team as they continue to build their export avocado business.

NZ Avocado recognises deserving industry service award recipient At this year's NZ Avocado AGM a new award was introduced – the New

Zealand Avocado Industry Service Award. The award was given to Helen Sillars, who was an Investment Manager for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and looked after the NZ Avocado Primary Growth Partnership.

Helen Sillars.

Reports

Helen took over as NZ Avocado's Investment Manager for MPI during the early stages of the PGP programme business case development. Throughout the long process to get the business case approved and through the initial year of its implementation, Helen provided exceptional support to NZ Avocado. Helen went out of her way to understand the industry and our needs and ensure that NZ Avocado utilises the wonderful opportunity offered by being part of MPI's Primary Growth Partnership.

NZ Avocado recognised Helen’s significant and valuable contribution to our industry through this award.

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Grower Letters There is new research showing that if a 150g avocado is eaten alongside a raw carrot, which is a good source of vitamin A, then the amount of active vitamin A is considerably increased. See below a recipe that combines avocados and carrots.

the retina, and is critical for a healthy functioning immune system. Very important against viral diseases, it can also be used in treating skin diseases. Research has also shown that children with low levels of vitamin A are much more susceptible to measles and respiratory diseases.

This is particularly important as research is also showing that vitamin A levels are low in many people in the Western world these days.

Yet another reason for us to keep on growing and eating this amazing fruit!

Ann Rowland Dip ION Nutritional Therapist

Vitamin A is vital for the health of the eye, in particular

Raw chilled creamy avocado and carrot soup (by Luci Lock) Reports

INGREDIENTS: • 3 large organic tomatoes, chopped • 2 Tablespoons green onions, chopped • Small handful fresh basil, chopped • 1 avocado, peeled, pit removed • Juice from 1/2 a lemon • Approx. 1 1/2 cups freshly-juiced carrots • Approx. 1/3 teaspoon cumin PREPARATION: 1. Place tomatoes, green onions, basil and avocado into large mixing bowl if using immersion blender (or large blender or food processor).

2. Pour in carrot juice.

3. Add cumin.

4. Add lemon juice.

5. Whiz up with immersion blender (or blend in blender or food processor) until smooth.

You may think it's a funny color, but fear not. The taste is superb! If you'd like, you can strain it before serving, but I like mine a bit chunky, with the veggies left in.

There you have it: A fantastic, chilled, raw, summer soup that's really good for you and your family. I'm sure you'll all love it!

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Inside this issue: Exploring Geogra phical Information Systems The value of library trays Growing strong New Zealand market sales A day in the life of the world's most popular fruit

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Fullpage Dupont 2

Realise the difference. Quality control.

Altacor ® provides effective control of Leaf rollers in Avocados, and because it has minimal impact on beneficial insects it works very well in an Integrated Pest Management program.

Altacor

®

This season realise beautiful fruit with DuPont™ Altacor ® insecticide.

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997 P7831. Copyright ©2016 DuPont. All rights reserved. The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, Rynaxypyr ® and Altacor ® are trademarks or registered trademarks of DuPont or its affiliates. DuPont (New Zealand) Limited. Level 1, 14 Ormiston Road, East Tamaki, Auckland 2016.

For export fruit check with your exporter before applying.

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16_JF1565_AGRIMC_DU PONT NZ Altacor Avocado A4_v2 .indd 1

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Celebrating the industry’s success

By Jodi Senior, Communications Associate, NZ Avocado

jodi.senior@nzavocado.co.nz

Our annual Grower Forums are a fantastic platform for us to share a review of the activities that have made a difference in the past season, as well as a way for us to share the planned activity that will continue to drive growth going forward. Below is an overview of the recent Grower Forums.

W

e celebrated a phenomenal season in the New Zealand market last year, reaching a value of $41m, a 17% yearon-year increase since the $19m result in 2011-12. To celebrate, more than 100 avocado growers gathered for the annual NZ Avocado Grower Forum in Mount Maunganui on 1 September. A second Grower Forum took place in Whangarei on 27 September with 50 growers attending.

Reports

Bay of Plenty Grower Forum

At the Bay of Plenty Grower Forum, held at Club Mount Maunganui, NZAGA & AIC Chairman Ashby Whitehead opened the day, welcoming growers and setting out expectations for the day. The whole NZ Avocado team was on hand to present and to engage with growers and industry stakeholders.

The day included presentations on all major activity undertaken by New Zealand Avocado as well as updates about the temperature research from Plant & Food Research, the new Health and Safety legislation from WorkSafe and a presentation by freshLearn on achieving effective spray coverage.

Jen Scoular, CEO for NZ Avocado, began the day with an industry update which included highlights of the 2015-16 season as well as an introduction to 2016-17 and focus areas going forward. Jen talked about how the amazing avocado has risen to superstar status, with consumer demand being at an all-time high and how we are working to meet and maintain this demand.

Bevan Jelley, Market Manager for NZ Avocado, provided growers with an update on New Zealand market promotions activity and how we are working closely with New Zealand market stakeholders to support value growth for avocados in the New Zealand market. The New Zealand market achieved record values last season – Bevan shared about the activity undertaken to drive this exceptional performance.

Jointly, Jen and Bevan then provided an update on the export markets, the innovative activity being undertaken in them, and how the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme is enabling greater market development in our

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There was a fantastic turnout of growers at the Bay of Plenty Grower forum.

priority avocado export markets.

David Wilkinson, Acting Assessment Manager at WorkSafe, joined us to provide an introduction to the key changes in the new health and safety legislation and how it will impact avocado growers.

Marisa Till, Research Manager for NZ Avocado, provided an outline of the research plans for the coming year, including an update on some of the exciting results that have been coming through both the PGP programme: New Zealand Avocados Go Global and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Avocados for Export programme.

Nick Gould, Team Leader of Kiwifruit and Sub-Tropical Fruit at Plant & Food Research, provided an update on the results of the MBIE Avocados for Export – Temperature project. Nick’s update reviewed the latest results about temperature variability throughout orchards and low temperature thresholds below which damage to flower buds occur.

Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager for NZ Avocado, provided an update on industry biosecurity, resource management and market access.

Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager for NZ Avocado, took us through the library trays scheme and where they fit

in our industry activities, as well as an overview of growing with AvoGreen.

Information stands at the Bay of Plenty Grower Forum

David Manktelow, from freshLearn, joined us to take growers through calculating canopy area and sprayer set up to achieve effective spray coverage. David's presentation was followed by a practical workshop the day after the Grower Forum and included demonstrations on coverage and spray unit setup and performance.

Interactive workshops

As a part of the two Grower Forums, we hosted two interactive workshops that aimed to answer important questions relevant and useful to growers. These workshops proved to be effective and very popular with growers.

Reports

The first workshop, held at both Grower Forums, focussed on the fact that growers are faced with making a range of decisions about their orchard, with many of them having a medium to long term impact. The workshop aimed to explore what information is used to support decision making, while also sharing some examples of how collecting information at a tree level has benefited growers. There was also great discussion around some future trends in orchard information.

Mike Sim from Biobees.

The other workshop, held only at the Whangarei Grower Forum, focussed on exploring the limiting factors in growers’ orchards. In this workshop, growers had the opportunity to brainstorm different ideas on how they may combat the main factors limiting production within their orchard.

Read more on the outcomes of both of these workshops on page 48.

Whangarei Grower Forum

Cathy and David Harris from Cropcheck.

The Whangarei Grower Forum ran similarly to one in the Bay of Plenty with updates on the Primary Growth Partnership Programme deliverables, the New Zealand and export markets and the innovative promotional activity taking place within them, the exciting results that have been coming through the PGP and MBIE programmes and plans for the year ahead, as well as our biosecurity strategy and AvoGreen in relation to market access.

Information stands

This year, we offered businesses the opportunity to ‘exhibit’ at both Grower Forum events. Information stand spaces were available for businesses to come along and interact with growers during break times. It was a great opportunity for growers to chat to the exhibitors and ask questions about services or products that are relevent to growers.

Dan Young from Ecomulch.

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Grower Forums – outcomes of the workshops Danni van der Heijden, Research Associate, NZ Avocado danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz

Reports

After the success of the interactive workshops held at the 2015 Grower Forum in the Bay of Plenty, we decided to host workshops again aimed at answering important questions relevant and useful to growers. Below are the outcomes of these workshops.

Growers interacting during the workshops held at theWhangarei Grower forum.

M

arisa Till, Phillip West and Danni van der Heijden ran three workshops across the Bay of Plenty and Whangarei Grower Forums. The enthusiasm of those participating in the workshops was fantastic and sparked a lot of great discussion and debate.

Whangarei – Limiting Factors Workshop

other factors mentioned, are focus points of New Zealand Avocado’s research projects. The five most mentioned factors were selected and growers were asked to brainstorm solutions or ideas to combat the factors impacting production (Figure 2).

There were a lot of interesting ideas proposed, and some more alternative ones, for example; hanging dead possums in trees to attract flies as an alternative pollinator to combat the impact of cooler spring temperatures on pollinators.

The workshop gave everyone lots of different ideas and was particularly helpful to newer growers. Copies of the brainstorm sheets can be found on the NZ Avocado Industry website www.nzavocado.co.nz/industry/resources.csn Bay of Plenty and Whangarei – Information and Decision Making Workshop

Figure 1: Graph of factors limiting production inWhangarei, mentioned by growers attending theWhangarei Grower Forum, 2016.

In Whangarei, we ran a brainstorming workshop to identify factors limiting consistent production in Whangarei. Prior to the workshop, registered growers were asked what they thought the main factors were that may be limiting production on their orchards (Figure 1). Interestingly, the factors most commonly mentioned, along with most of the

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At both the Bay of Plenty and Whangarei Grower Forums, we ran a workshop about decision-making. We asked attendees to consider what decisions are made on an orchard, what supporting information is available to inform decision making and identify what level information is available and decisions are made at orchard, block or tree level.

The majority of responses were around fertiliser and pruning decisions. In both regions, supporting information

for fertiliser decisions was thought to be mainly available at an orchard level, with limited information at a block or tree level. In contrast, information to support pruning decisions was mostly at a tree level, with some information coming from a block or orchard level.

We then provided some examples of methods that growers are using to identify and collect information at a tree level on their orchards and new technology which is being developed in the area of data collection.

Reports

Figure 2: Brainstorm of possible solutions or ideas to combat the limiting factor of pruning uncertainties, compiled by attendees of theWhangarei Grower Forum, 2016

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Industry awards: Grower of the Year As an industry we have made fantastic progress in terms of productivity and consistency – we thank you all for your hard work and effort towards achieving our collective goals. For the first time ever we recognise some exceptional successes from our growers.

The benchmarking of orchard productivity, both yield and

consistencey of yield, being done under the Primary Growth Partnership has enabled us to measure and compare the success of our orchards.

We do not collect all data from packhouses not registered for export. We are working with those packhouses to see if that data can be collected at a PPIN level.

Reports

Congratulations to the following growers: 2016 Top Grower – Maria and Andrew Watchorn

The 2016 Top Grower award is awarded to the grower of the orchard larger than 1.5 ha with the best four year average yield (t/ha).

Maria and Andrew’s Prole Road orchard has achieved a four year average yield of 24.5 t/ha made up of 2012-13 - 18.6 t/ha 2013-14 – 31.2 t/ha 2014-15 – 37.6 t/ha 2015-16 – 10.4 t/ha Maria and Andrew’s average Irregular Bearing Index (IBI) across the four year period was 27, a fantastic achievement.

Highest yield for the 2015-16 season – Ashby and Linda Whitehead

Annual yield is calculated as total volume of all fruit packed against a PPIN in a single season divided by productive hectares.

Production information is supplied from registered packhouses and includes all fruit packed against a PPIN. Ashby and Linda’s Gridley Road orchard in Te Puke achieved an impressive 38.5 tonnes per hectare in 2015-16. They have recently sold this orchard and have purchased a new property on which they plan to plant avocado trees - we look forward to seeing what they achieve there in future.

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Omokoroa growers Maria (pictured here) and Andrew Watchorn won the inaugural Top Grower 2016 award.

Highest four-year average yield with the highest consistency for the 2015-16 season – Tony and Angela Payton

The highest four-year average yield with the highest consistency for the 2015-16 season was calculated by finding the orchard with the highest four year average yield and an IBI of zero. IBI is calculated using both the most recent season’s production and the previous season and is a measure of the change between the two. If an orchard achieves increasing production for three years in a row then it is deemed to be increasing production rather than irregular bearing, therefore having an IBI score of zero.

It was fantastic to see that there were 97 orchards with an IBI of zero last season.

Tony and Angela have owned their orchard in the Far North since 2009.

China Market Insights Tour

By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

It was NZAGA Chair Ashby Whitehead's suggestion that we host an in-market tour of China directly following Asia Fruit and invite all exporters to join. This proved a very good initiative, with three exporters, Tony Ponder from Avanza, Andrew Darling from Just Avocados and Ben Lay from Freshmax, as well as Bob Major, Chair of the Primary Growth Partnership Steering group joining for what was a comprehensive look at opportunities for New Zealand avocados in China.

Yiguo was established in 2005, has over 10 million customers, and delivers over 100,000 online orders a day.

Each order averages six different items, most of which are repacked by Yiguo in China.

As a group we met with a number of New Zealand agencies, companies and commercial Chinese companies interested in importing avocados from New Zealand.

Many of these we had visited before, but each time we meet we have more to discuss, more knowledge of the market and can better understand the options available.

We met Loren Zhao, co-founder of FruitDay, another hugely successful online produce company.

market – we’re working hard on that and although I can’t suggest other than that, we are not getting further away from access.

Over the three days in Shanghai we visited NZTE, Primary Collaborator’s NZ, Zespri, T&G Global, Foodview, FruitDay, Yiguo, several retailers and the Shanghai Fruit Market.

We heard from New Zealand agencies and commercial parties that iterated we would need to differentiate our avocados from Mexican avocados; we like to think New Zealand produce automatically creates a premium in any market but it is far more challenging than that. Mexico can provide avocados 12 months a year, have been trading in China for five years and have established a good market for size 30 and 36’s. Importers know them, good relationships have been formed and growth in the category is very positive.

We heard that many other countries market a clean, green image, that saying our fruit is safer or higher quality no longer cuts the mustard in terms of differentiation. We were told we need to properly invest in the market, create demand with new consumers, create demand almost for a new product – a healthy, large, superfood, with a strong branded presence, for a short time in the market.

Over the three days in Shanghai we visited NZ Trade & Enterprise, Primary Collaborators NZ, Zespri, T&G Global, Foodview, FruitDay,Yiguo, several retailers and the Shanghai Fruit Market.

Reports

We do not yet have phytosanitary access to the China

Foodview is another company set up by three New Zealanders, to capture the niche opportunity of marketing New Zealand produce directly to consumers online.

We met with a specialist in marketing produce in China and heard the options we might have in regard selecting a Chinese name for avocados from New Zealand. With huge conversations happening online, from friends chatting about their purchases, to celebrities sharing their purchases, to blogs marketing products, it is essential we represent our avocados with a name that is easily written in Chinese characters, but more importantly that represents the attributes of avocados from New Zealand.

It was a very full few days, although thankfully we improved markedly on the logistics - as on the last trip we tried to fit in too many meetings in a day which is impossible to manage in a city of 22 million, with roading not quite keeping up with that population. Discussion was very constructive, we were all open to listening to the suggestions of those we met, and able to debate and assess the opportunities and challenges of this huge market.

Whatever strategy we take as an industry or as individual exporters, it is clear that strong planning and investment are needed to help ensure a successful China market entry for avocados from New Zealand.

Ashby and I returned to Beijing at the end of October to attend the FVF trade show where I presented at the FVF conference. China FVF is a political show – one where we need to demonstrate our industry’s commitment to the China market.

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APPLY GYPSUM NOW

IMPROVE SOIL STRUCTURE, DRAINAGE & REDUCE COMPACTION OF IN ROW TRAFFIC “I have observed the benefits of annual Gypsum applications over many years in a range of soil types and I will continue to recommend Gypsum in fertiliser programmes for Avocados” Lindsay Heard, Brenmark Horticultural Consultants Gypsum improves Soil Structure by adding calcium which is needed to flocculate clays in acid and alkaline soil.

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

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

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

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

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

Gypsum Multiplies the Value of Other Inputs including fertilizers.

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

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

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

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AsiaFruit Congress and Logistica

By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

AsiaFruit Logistica and the AsiaFruit Congress in Hong Kong in early September provided good insights into the Asian markets.

It was a great opportunity to meet Ren Chen and KelvinYu fromYiguo.

The trade show was busier than it’s ever been, and the NZ

Avocado stand on the New Zealand pavilion attracted a good amount of interest and some very worthwhile discussions were had.

The networking was very positive across our industry and with other industries and countries.

JP Exports, Te Mata and Valic each had a stand within the New Zealand pavilion – it was great to share insights and updates regularly over the three days and I joined Te Mata at their customer dinner one evening. Avanza, Seeka and Freshmax exhibited separately from the New Zealand pavilion.

The congress and trade show introduced some excellent new contacts. NZTE set up two valuable meetings including the first one with Yiguo, which we went on to visit in Shanghai.Yiguo was founded in 2005 and is the number one eCommerce platform for fresh fruit in China with 10 million customers. The campany delivers more than 100,000 orders per day, with an average of six different items in each order, having re-packed most products at its own facilities.Yiguo is experiencing growth of 300% year on year and has 4,000 employees.

I met again with Loren Zhao, co-founder of Fruitday, another hugely successful online platform for fresh produce in China. Loren has been the keynote speaker at two Asia Fruit congresses; this year he spoke about kiwifruit, cherries and a case study on avocado – so New Zealand produce is pretty high in his priorities. We also met him and some of his

Reports

Joseph Lu and Serene Dang from NZTE Shanghai office with Jen.

Talking to the Mexican Industry about avocados in Asia.

team in Shanghai as part of the in-market insights tour with three exporters.

Both companies are very interested in being involved in avocados from New Zealand, particularly keen to work with the industry to launch a “new product” on their platform.

AsiaFruit also provides the opportunity to see what’s happening across fresh produce; to network and meet contacts was excellent. I visited the Mexico stand and we chatted about their strategies and successes with avocado in Asia. The shipping time for Mexico is 4-7 days longer than for us, which gives New Zealand an advantage, but conversely their drier growing season gives them back an advantage over New Zealand fruit.

Exporters took the opportunity at the show to have a meeting to discuss the Thailand market. It was great to all be in a room together and share market intel about how collectively they might build value in that market.

We are very appreciative of Yvonne McDiarmid at Plant & Food Research who works very hard before each show to ensure we get a great placement and our stand provides good visibility for our collateral. Jodi Senior from NZ Avocado did a great job getting all our collateral printed in Hong Kong (much easier than carting it over!). NZTE provided excellent connections for us as well as hosting an informative breakfast one morning. Mike Chapman and Richard Palmer from HortNZ did a good job manning our stand one morning to allow me to have a look at the rest of the show.

See Out & About on page 62 for more photos of this event.

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Avocentric - John and Cindy Cotterell

By Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia

elaine@thesun.co.nz

Reports

Pruning for fruit production and to reduce tree height is the management technique which has made the biggest positive impact on the orchards owned by John and Cindy Cotterell of Katikati.

Cindy and John Cotterell with granddaughter Mia Giacon (11) of Hamilton.

“Right from the start when we bought the orchard 18 years ago we have employed consultants to advise us on inputs and management and have been consistent with fertiliser, spray and disease control programmes, but there were still big swings in the orchard’s production season to season,” says Cindy.

Since changing the pruning techniques five seasons ago the couple has seen a lift in production during what would have been low cropping years and today trees carry fruit right down to the ground, as well as inside the canopy.

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“Some of the fruit on the trees was hard to pick even using a 10 metre Hydralada,” says Cindy.

“I think pruning has made a big difference but more consistent yields could also be nature being kind to us,” says John.

However, he’s not about to give up on the current pruning programme which, as well as producing more fruit, has also reduced the number of trees being blown over or damaged by strong winds.

Flower pruning

“The only thing we have done differently in recent years is prune to keep the trees at a height where fruit can be harvested from a 6.4 to 8 metre Hydralada and to allow light into the canopy,” says John.

Several of the trees ready for harvest in October this year had red marks on limbs to indicate they had been selected for pruning by contractor Mike Dillon, once they had been strip-picked.

“When we first bought the orchard, we never pruned and then later pruned with ease of picking and spray application in mind, not so much for fruit or light.”

“We have experimented with flower pruning in the past, but if you prune regularly I don’t think flower pruning is necessary,” says John.

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When Cindy and John bought their 8.5ha (4.5ha avocados) Walker Road West orchard in 1998 it represented a change of tack for them both. John had been a builder and at one stage a house-husband when their children were young and Cindy worked in real estate.

Both grew up in the Waikato but for eight years lived in Whangarei, where they owned a construction company.

The move to the Bay of Plenty 26 years ago was prompted by a wish to be closer to their families and it was then that they became involved in property development and two car rental businesses.

Orchard matures

“At one stage we got up to 1100 trees as we planted new areas but now we are down to around 400, due to removing trees as the orchard matured.”

The couple also owns a 6.7ha (5ha in avocados) orchard in nearby Wright Road and 12 months ago bought an 11ha property adjoining their home block which has 75 avocados (1.2ha avocados) and grazing land, some of which will be planted in 420 avocados in the next two years.

John has worked for Team Avocado and Southern Produce Ltd since June 2009 as a Grower Services Rep and until just recently Cindy managed the day-to-day orchard work, with John carrying out spraying and fertilising mostly at weekends.

“However, we have recently employed Sean Redfern to help out, giving me more time for family and other interests,” says Cindy, who sets Sean his jobs for each day, in consultation with John.

Pest monitoring is handled by FruitFed and pruning and picking by contractors but all other orchard tasks are carried out by John, Cindy and Sean.

Wet weather

Spring and summer are the busiest times, with fruit on the home orchard harvested in October and December and the last pick on the Wright Road orchard in January.

This season, like most other Bay of Plenty growers, the Cotterell’s harvest was delayed by wet weather.

Many of the trees on the Cotterell orchard carry fruit right to the ground.

Reports

Looking for a change of pace and interest, Cindy and John bought their first orchard, which was planted with 800 trees.

From early on in orchard ownership the couple has taken a keen interest in research and development and in learning from other growers. For many years John has organised regular orchard discussion groups and field trips for growers and says these are of value for a number of reasons.

“We can learn from each other, see how another grower does things, and as each discussion group ends with a lunch, we have time to socialise, which is something many growers don’t get to do very often.”

John and Cindy have travelled to Chile, Peru and Australia and taken the opportunity to see how avocados are grown there.

“It is interesting to see how other countries grow them but I’m not sure much of what they do translates to New Zealand,” says John.

“We are growing avocados in what is probably the most marginal of areas, especially in the Bay of Plenty, and unlike Chile and Peru, we don’t have hot dry conditions. Those countries also have much cheaper labour than we do here.”

Research trial

Always keen to support research, Cindy and John have 90 trees under a five-year Plant & Food Research and NZ Avocado trial to assess the effectiveness of different pruning techniques and the use of growth regulators.

Six years ago, before the trial started, John planted the trees (Hass on Dusa rootstock) at seven by three and a half metre spacings.

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John has been involved in governance at an industry level since 2011 when he became an NZAGA At Large Representative and AIC Board member.

He became involved after serving on the Team Avocado Trust as a Trustee for six years, and out of a desire to contribute to the industry on another level.

It’s a role he’s found both satisfying and at times frustrating.

“You go into this with ideas of what you might achieve, and some things you do, some you don’t, but overall it’s rewarding.”

John and Cindy say the industry is coming of age, and has matured significantly in the time they have been involved.

They are particularly encouraged by the funding NZ Avocado has secured for research into growing and management techniques.

It’s not easy Reports

John Cotterell checks one of 32 bumblebee “domiciles” which are part of a Plant & Food trial on the home orchard. Note the bumblebee-size entry hole in the foreground.

“After what I had seen of the success other orchardists had had from re-planting areas using Dusa rootstock, I decided to do the same here,” says John. Dusa rootstock is more tolerant of the disease phytophthora and that’s proved to be the case with these young trees.

This part of the orchard the trees are on had been occupied by big old trees which had become hard to pick fruit from.

After what they had seen in South America, John was keen to find out if, by controlling tree size through pruning, he could grow more trees and more fruit to the hectare and make picking easier on the sloping site.

This is the third season of the Plant & Food trial, which is using four different treatments. Some trees are pruned into a pyramid shape, on others selected limbs are removed.

Growth regulators at different strengths and timings are used on other trees as a means of controlling size. The fruit is picked and packed separately so results can be assessed. So far John and Cindy believe the trail results look promising.

Bumblebee domiciles

The increased levels of communication between exporters and with the avocado industry in Australia it has brought significant benefit to the industry both here and across the Tasman.

Contrary to what some may believe, growing avocado for profit isn’t easy, says Cindy.

“People buying small orchards used to be told they didn’t have to do anything but pick the fruit and enjoy the returns, but they soon found out that’s not right. However, if you put in the effort and manage your orchards well, there are good returns to be made even from a small number of trees.”

The beauty of avocado orcharding, says John, is that apart from harvest, there’s a degree of flexibility in when tasks have to be completed. “It’s not like dairying where you have to milk cows twice a day.”

In avocado growing John and Cindy have found an enterprise which is profitable, stimulating, at times challenging, never boring, and has the flexibility to enable them to enjoy life including time with family, friends and for overseas travel.

Orchard Performance Graph

In another Plant & Food trial, 32 bumblebee “domiciles” have been installed at various sites around the home orchard in an effort to find out what positions and condition queen bumblebees prefer when establishing colonies.

The domiciles are small concrete structures partly buried in the ground, with pipe tunnels and bumblebee-sized entry holes. The aim of the research is to increase bumblebee numbers for pollination and the domiciles on the Cotterell orchard have produced some interesting findings, with one domicile being occupied last year by a colony of 968 workers and producing 71 new queens.

C o t t e r e ll: 2 0 1 0 - 1 1 t o 2 0 1 3 - 1 4 C o t t e r e ll: 2 0 1 1 - 1 2 t o 2 0 1 4 - 1 5 C o t t e r e ll: 2 0 1 2 - 1 3 t o 2 0 1 5 - 1 6

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The knowledge, experience and guidance to grow your business Call (07) 573 0085 for more information.

www.trevelyan.co.nz

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Pest & disease watch: Managing soil-borne pests Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

Many plant diseases that are caused by soil-borne pathogens can be difficult to prevent, detect and diagnose. Gaining an understanding of how plant pathogens move through the environment and the disease symptoms they cause is a challenging aspect of plant biosecurity.

Soil-borne simply means viral,

bacterial, fungal or nematode pests that can survive in soil and consequently spread between properties through soil movement.

Fungal pathogens are perhaps the most common of soil borne pests.

Phytophthora, a fungal-like pathogen which many avocado growers are managing daily, is not inherently found on all orchards. Therefore, like many other pests, this pathogen must be introduced through infected nursery plants, contaminated soil, footwear, vehicles or muddy storm water from infected neighboring properties.

Although there are management practices to reduce the impacts of phytophthora, if New Zealand was ever to have a detection of a more serious soil-borne pest, like brown root rot from Australia, knowing how to protect your property from the initial introduction of these pests is your best, and maybe only, defence.

There are very few biosecurity examples worldwide where the exact location and date of an incursion has been determined. This is because pests

Avocado growers overseas are managing some extremely high impact pests, some of which can result in total orchard failure. During a biosecurity incident, growers will always reflect on how the situation might have been avoided by being more proactive. With the stakes so high, those responsible for managing an orchard need to consider what cost-effective biosecurity measures could be implemented now.

• Start questioning the origin and potential soil contamination risk of all orchard inputs (vehicles, shared machinery, footwear) • Provide wash-down areas at property entrances for shared equipment and vehicles that you consider high risk.

• Lock gates and use biosecurity signage so visitors are aware of your expectations if they are to enter your orchard.

On the Orchard

Many soil-borne pathogens are extremely effective at surviving long periods without a plant host or when environmental conditions are unfavorable. Often their survival is aided by their ability to form robust resting structures like spores. It is this pervasive nature and ability to survive independently in soil that makes control and treatment particularly challenging.

and the resulting plant symptoms are not often reported until they become obvious, well established and widely spread. This raises two key points of effective biosecurity; early reporting and proactive hygiene practices, as you’ll often be unaware if an exotic (new to New Zealand) pest is spreading through your region.

If you would like more information or have suggestions of how you have achieved better biosecurity on your property, please contact Brad Siebert at NZ Avocado brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz or 07 571 6147.

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The scale of the problem Brad Siebert, Biosecurity & Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

Armoured scale insects are of increasing concern for New Zealand avocado exports with a number of countries refining market access restrictions against this quarantine pest.

Post-harvest water-blasters do remove scale insects,

however where insects are found during a phytosanitary inspection the consignment can be subject to restrictions.

The industry needs to focus pest management efforts right through the supply chain, including on orchard to identify how best to reduce resident pest populations on the trees.

Life cycle and biology

The two main armoured scale species found on avocados in New Zealand are greedy scale (Hemiberlesia rapax) and Latania scale (Hemiberlesia lataniae). Both species are resident throughout the year on the fruit and leaves of avocado trees and spreads to new trees during a mobile life-stage, the crawler.

On the Orchard

Once the scale crawler has located a suitable host, the crawler spins a waxy cap over itself and once settled will remain in the same position for its entire life. The scale insect develops through three instars, feeding on the fruit or plant it has settled on (Figure 1).

Other hosts and shelter plants

Understanding what types of shelter, amenity or native plants support these particular species of scale will help growers plan what plants are best suited on their property and where to target scale monitoring and any proactive agrichemical use.

Armoured scale insects can be found residing on many other plants in and around the orchard. Industry monitoring programmes show that the highest infestations are

Latania scale on Hass avocado

consistently seen in orchard areas of an orchard that are adjacent to shelter plants that are known to be support scale populations.

Willows, poplars, Leyland cypress, pittosporum and taraire trees can host high numbers of scale, but the insects are rarely found on pine, Cryptomeria or Casuarina.

Some common garden plants and native species also act as reservoirs for scale. If monitoring indicates that neighbouring plants are a probable source of scale, you will need to consider including shelter plants in any spray applications.

Figure 1. Armoured scale are sap-sucking insects that live under protective coverings (caps).

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Scale Control

Armoured scale insects generally have two generations per year in New Zealand. Infestation of avocado trees and fruit tends to result from the dispersal of crawlers during two peak periods, November to January and March to May (Figure 2).

Some crawlers will settle a short distance from the mother scale but aerial dispersal from infested plants also occurs during windy periods.

Under the AvogreenÂŽ programme a spray for scale is already permitted if your packhouse has identified scale when grading fruit. Chemicals approved by the industry to control armoured scale include Mineral oils and Diazinon.

In some circumstances natural enemies such as European earwigs, ladybirds, predatory mite species as well as several species of parasitoids feed on armoured scale insects. The impact of natural enemies in avocado orchards is not well understood and has never been quantified. The use of broad spectrum sprays is more likely to have a negative impact on natural enemy populations within the orchard.

On the Orchard

As well as scale control, Diazinon has label claim in avocados for thrip, mealy bug and leafroller while mineral oils will also reduce Thrip and Mite populations. Diazinon has an extended withholding period so would be most effective against scale after harvest during periods of crawler activity yet care would be needed to avoid any exposure to bees.

Calypso has label claim for armoured scale in other crops, so if spraying for Thrip in avocado, Calypso will also help reduce scale numbers if applied during periods of crawler activity.

Timing to coincide with the peak times of crawler activity is important as most contact insecticides cannot penetrate the waxy covering of mature scale. Mineral oil sprays may have some success at killing the more mature stages of scale as oil works by suffocation. With all chemical applications please follow best practice and bee safety guidelines.

Figure 2. Periods of crawler activity in the orchard.

Source: Plant & Food Research (Kiwifruit study, BOP)

The ability of the industry to manage scale and meet the ever increasing market access requirements of our export markets will ultimately depend on grower participation preharvest.

Effective scale control depends on managing the source of the problem by carefully considering spray timing and chemical choices as well as identifying alternative host plants.

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Effective spray application in New Zealand avocados Dr David Manktelow, freshLearn Ltd

david@freshlearn.co.nz

On the Orchard

At the Bay of Plenty Grower Forum, David Manktelow presented on calculating canopy area and setting up your sprayer for effective spray coverage. David takes us through in more detail below concepts to create a greater understanding around chemical application rates – just how much spray do your trees need?

Figure 1 Outer canopy avocado leaves sprayed to the point of run-off with a spray drip point formed on the lowest leaf tip. Note the difference in spray coveage visible on the top versus bottom leaf surfaces.The undersides of avocado leaves are much more difficult to wet than the upper sufaces and show different coverage patterns. Underside leaf spray retention and coverage can be greatly improved by the use of appropriate spray adjuvants

Agrichemical spray application for pest and disease control

is a necessary part of commercial avocado growing. Given how common and important agrichemical use is, there is a surprising amount of confusion as to how agrichemical label rates should be interpreted. This article provides a review of how best to interpret agrichemical labels for avocado tree spraying and how to adjust chemical application rates and spray volumes to achieve equivalent deposits on different sized trees.

Agrichemical label rates

The aim of any agrichemical application is to apply an effective dose of the chemical as evenly as possible on the target parts of the crop. Agrichemicals applied through booms to treat crops growing in a specific area of land are usually prescribed on a rate per hectare basis. However, the size and density of avocado trees varies greatly with row spacing and age, so the use of a single chemical application rate per hectare across different blocks will result in different levels of chemical deposit per square centimetre of leaf or fruit surface area on different canopies – the larger the surface area of a target tree, the lower the average

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chemical deposit per square centimetre.

To help avoid uneven dosing, agrichemical labels for tree fruit crops are written on the basis of a chemical tank mix concentration (the “rate per 100 litres of dilute spray mixture”) that will give reliable control of a pest or disease if it is applied using a spray volume sufficient to wet the target canopy to “the point of run-off ”. The point of run-off is usually easy to visualise as the point at which the outer canopy is sufficiently wetted by spray droplets that spray droplets begin to coalesce and run to the lowest point of leaves from which they will just begin to drip.

Spraying to the point of run-off is usually called “dilute spraying” (Figure 1).

It is not practical to wet all parts of a target tree canopy to the point of run-off. Usually at the point of run-off, when the outer canopy is beginning to drip, the inner canopy should be well covered with spray, but will only receive a half to a third of the spray volume (and hence chemical dose) that is deposited on the outer canopy. In many cases pest and disease problems are more likely to occur on young tissues

in the outer canopy, so that is where the higher deposits are most needed.

sprays has been shown to greatly improve spray droplet retention and coverage.

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On the Orchard

The use of chemical rates per 100 litres of spray Chemical registration trials are usually based on handgun mixture assumes that the spray volumes required for spraying of trees to the point of run-off and the chemical dilute spraying can be estimated by the person making label rates per 100 litres of spray mixture are rates that can the spraying decisions. Some chemical labels include be expected to work - provided trees are sprayed to achieve additional information on minimum rates per hectare or sufficient coverage and provided there is sufficient chemical recommended spray application volumes. These are useful, in the spray mixture to deliver an effective dose. The use of spray volumes above the point of run-off is highly inefficient, but they are a guide not a requirement. Large/dense trees will require more chemical than small/open trees. as excess volume (and chemical) is lost to “It is important to Likewise intensively planted blocks on close row the ground. Sprays (usually oil sprays) that aim to control hard to reach pests, such recognise that both chemical spacings will require more chemical than the dose and target coverage same sized trees on wider row spacings. as insects or eggs hidden in bark cracks have to be right; good and crevices, may need to be applied in The New Zealand Environmental Protection volumes above the normal point of runcoverage with a sub-lethal Agency (EPA) is requiring the addition of a off in order to achieve sufficient inner dose, or poor coverage with maximum rate per hectare to at least some canopy coverage to be effective – but this a high dose, can both fail to recent agrichemical labels. These reflect an is an exception to normal practices. provide control.” environmental loading limit beyond which the chemical could potentially cause environmental Water is just a carrier to dilute the agrichemical and help achieve an even chemical coverage on damage. It is important not to exceed any maximum rate per hectare requirements specified on labels. the target. Most agrichemicals for tree crops will include a statement on the label about “low volume” or “concentrate The rate per 100 litres on avocado agrichemical labels is spray application”. A concentrate spray is any that is applied the critical piece of information that you need to apply an using a volume that is below the point of run-off for a effective chemical dose to your trees. How can you most particular tree target. The critical assumption behind low easily work out what spray volume different trees will volume spraying is that the chemical rate (per hectare or require to wet them to the point of run-off? per tree) that would have been applied as a dilute spray will be maintained, but will be applied in a lower spray volume.

Working out how much spray to apply to different The use of a lower spray volume will require the chemical canopies mixture in the tank to be increased (or concentrated) in Ten years ago a spray application research project on New direct proportion to the volume reduction below the point of run-off. For example, if the spray volume used is a third of Zealand avocados produced some guidelines for calculating that required to reach the point of run-off in a target canopy, spray application volumes and chemical application rates then the chemical concentration in the spray mixture should for different sized trees (Manktelow and May 2006, Gaskin et al. 2008). In that work we confirmed that the Tree be three times higher than the rate per 100 litres on the Row Volume (TRV) spraying approach works for avocado label. canopies in New Zealand. TRV spraying is based on the Concentrate spraying offers some significant potential (proven) assumption that the spray application volume advantages over dilute spraying in that the reduction in required to wet a tree canopy to the point of run-off can the number of tank mixes required to spray a block can be estimated from the number of cubic metres of volume significantly improve spraying work rates and timeliness. occupied by rows of trees. The system uses row volumes Concentrate spraying also lends itself to the addition rather than just individual tree canopy volumes, as most of superspreader organo silicone spray adjuvants. The sprayers operate continuously down rows and still emit undersides of avocado leaves and the fruit are hard to wet spray liquid into any gaps between trees. At its heart, TRV and the use of appropriate adjuvants in 3X concentrate spraying assumes that one litre of dilute spray mixture is

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capable of covering a certain number of cubic metres of canopy volume to the point of run-off. The number of cubic metres that can be covered per litre of dilute spray is termed the “coverage factor”.

On the Orchard

In low vigour or open, relatively hollow, avocado trees a coverage factor of between 17 and 14 cubic metres per litre can be expected to apply, while in dense avocado canopies, typically medium sized trees that have a continuous leaf canopy to the trunks, a coverage factor of 14 to 11 cubic metres per litre would be more appropriate. Note that empty spaces in tree centres or unskirted areas beneath trees that are not occupied by canopy so can be omitted from any tree volume estimates. The spray volume requirements estimated for different canopies in Table 1 account for loss of inner canopy foliage in large trees in excess of about 7 metres in height and spread, as typically seen in current New Zealand ‘Hass’ canopies. Where canopies lack foliage skirts, the tree height and spread estimate should account for just the foliated height and spread of the trees.

A set of guidelines were published in 2006 for estimating spray volume requirements for avocado canapies in New Zealand (Manktelow and May 2006). More recently Nufarm/Croplands have produced a set of very simple guidelines under their “Spraywise” brand. The Spraywise

recommendations for avocado canopies is that a dilute spray volume for fungicides and insecticides will require delivery of 25-30 litres of spray volume per 100 metres of row length for each metre of tree height. Thus, a block of four metre tall trees should require something between 100 to 120 litres per 100 metres of sprayed row. The Spraywise system uses some very simple conversion tables to allow users to convert between litres per 100 metres and litres per hectare (Table 1). For example if our four metre tall trees were planted on seven metre row spacings, they would need to be sprayed using between 1,400-1,700 litres per hectare to reach the point of run-off.

The reassuring thing here is that the avocado spray volume requirement estimates from the SprayWise system and from the TRV system both give very similar recommendations.

The next challenge is to work out how best to get your sprayer to deliver the required volume – but that discussion will have to wait for another article.

References: Gaskin, R.E.; Manktelow, D.W.L. And Pak, H. 2008 Improving spray distribution and coverage on avocado trees in low volume, concentrate sprays. New Zealand Plant Protection 61: 147-152 https://nzpps.org/journal/61/nzpp_611470.pdf Manktelow D. and May W. 2006. Determining and optimizing chemical application rates and spray application volumes in different avocado canopies. New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association Annual Research Report Vol 6: pp 71-80 www.avocadosource.com/journals/nzaga/nzaga_2006/nzaga_2006_ pg_71-80.pdf

Reports

Table 1: Nufarm/ Croplands Spraywise table for converting between application volume per 100 metres of row and application volume per hectare.

Arrows show and example tree 4m tall (needing 25-30 l/100m of row per metre of tree height to wet to run-off = 100-120 l/100m) that on a 7m row spacing should require something between 1,400 to 1,700 l/ha Note that some miticides are recommended to be applied in higher volumes of 30-35 litres per 100 metres of row per metre of tree height.

Spraywise resources link: http://www.croplands.com.au/Application-Centre/Horticulture-Application/Tools-Resources#.V7MzSZh96hc)

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This year’s shoots are 2018’s fruit Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

This is a very busy time of year for many growers; flowering is underway, many crops are reaching maturity and harvests are in full swing. Below we take a look at the challenges growers may face in the coming months and possible solutions.

One challenge that flowering brings is the influx of

pollinating insects overlapping with pests in the orchard impacting on control strategies and spray considerations.

This is then compounded by harvesting windows and chemical withholding periods as not to exceed residue limits for export markets. Successful pollination is a key determinant of the upcoming coming crop – Plant & Food Research Scientist Dr. Nick Gould’s article in the last Avoscene (September 2016) highlighted that as little as 10% of flowers open on any given day may be viable, so ensuring there are plenty of pollinating insects around maximises the potential of setting fruit from the viable flowers. It is important to consider bees when spraying - avoid spraying during the day when bees are active, don’t spray open flowers and choose bee friendly sprays.

To support good flush and for stress management, things to consider include irrigation – access to water is very important but so are health roots; soil moisture levels are extremely important for root health. This spring has been very wet in many parts of the country. The work done by the tree decline working groups as part of the NZ Avocados Go Global Primary Growth Partnership indicates that excessive soil moisture is an important contributor to declining health of trees. Too much water in the soil should be considered as much a problem as not enough. Irrigation is important but

Figure 2 - determinate flowering shoot.

On the Orchard

The spring flush is pushing through; remember this year’s shoots will be the fruiting wood for next season, which is your crop for the 2018-19 season. It is crucial that growers are thinking two years ahead as now is the time to influence the potential of that crop. Flowering shoots come in two types: indeterminate, where a new shoot grows out of the panicle (Figure 1), and determinate, where there are no new shoots coming from the panicle (Figure 2). Indeterminate shoots provide the spring growth. A well balanced tree will have a good mix of both indeterminate and determinate flowering shoots, however after the heavy crop many have just experienced it is likely there will be a higher proportion of indeterminate shoots coming through this season, which should result in a strong spring flush. If there is little spring flush it is important to be proactive about stress management.

Figure 1 - indeterminate flowering shoot, white arrow showing emerging shoot.

using soil moisture monitoring equipment to guide your irrigation strategy will allow for maximum benefit to be gained from that system and water to be used as efficiently as possible. Fertiliser is also important; developing a fertiliser regime based on leaf and soil tests allows for any nutrient imbalances to be addressed but it is also important to factor three crops into a fertiliser plan – the one that is hanging, the one about to set and the one that will be on the current flush when it becomes fruiting wood; as flowering advances, fruit begins to set and flush levels become apparent fertiliser regimes should be adapted to respond to the needs of the tree.

Canopy density following flowering will give you an indication of the health of your trees. A strong canopy will protect fruit from sunburn and maximise the carbohydrate accumulation within the tree. Carbohydrate reserves are important as they are the fuel for the tree going forward.

Trees may be experiencing some leaf drop but maintaining healthy leaves for as long as possible is beneficial.

As always, we encourage growers to keep walking your orchard, keep an eye out for pests as the earlier they are detected the better the chance of minimising the damage they cause. Enjoy the Christmas and New Year period - we wish everyone a safe and happy festive season.

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Soil moisture opinion Phillip West, Research Officer, NZ Avocado phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

Whether it’s worrying about the effect of heavy spring rains on your tree health or the impact of a dry summer, soil moisture plays a big part in avocado production. Monitoring soil moisture can be a valuable tool to support decision-making around irrigation and drainage.

We invited some growers and industry professionals to share their thoughts about soil moisture monitoring.

On the Orchard

Jonathan Cutting, Orchard Productivity Manager, Trevelyans

benefit from supplemental irrigation rather than being limited by lack of rain.

“Soil moisture monitoring is routinely used in avocado orchards around the world. Avocados are often grown in environments where irrigation is required to meet the annual water needs of the avocado tree. The primary purpose of the monitoring is to determine when soil moisture levels are too low for commercial growing and to provide growers with a measure to optimise the amount of water applied. It is important not to over or under irrigate avocado trees.

In my view one of the bigger advantages of soil moisture monitoring in the BOP is knowing for how long your soils are at field capacity, or near field capacity. This provides some guidance as to root drowning potential and associated phytophthora disease pressure. Growers are then better informed in managing root health.”

Very few avocado orchards in the Bay of Plenty have irrigation capability. The deep, well-structured, high water retention ash type soils coupled with annual well distributed rainfall often approaching 2000mm mean that water is seldom the limiting factor in avocado orchards in this region.

There are indeed exceptions to this general statement, such as lighter sandier soils, contoured soils, windy exposed sites and micro climate rain shadows. These growers would

Maria Watchorn, Bay of Plenty Grower

“When asked to comment on the importance and value of monitoring soil moisture I find it a little difficult to answer; we seem to be either injecting due to too much water or watering due to not enough.

It started back 10 years or so ago when we installed tensiometers. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time but I could find very little information giving advice on how to use them in reference to avocados. I attended a

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field day not long after and watering requirements was a topic and some suggested/recommended PSI measurements were put forward to the group. They were a starting point for us and to this day we still pretty much follow those recommendations. Water is a precious commodity and we try to use it as wisely and efficiently as possible. Our tensiometers are our one and only measuring tool we use to determine water requirements. We vary water requirements depending on the phenology of the trees.

During flowering we usually water when PSI levels reach about 25 and then increase that to just above 30 PSI over the summer months. Each tree has specific water volumes given depending on size, age, health and others and through trial and error we have established how many hours the system needs to be run (how many litres per hour) to drop levels to below 10 PSI with any one watering cycle.

On the Orchard

We are strong advocates of getting water to our trees for several reasons such as - ensuring trees are not stressed (by lack of water), to sizing up fruit during early conception and continuing through their growing period, and ensuring that hand-applied fertilisers are utilised by the tree when actually required (not relying and waiting on rainfall).

Research on watering requirements of an avocado tree is presently being undertaken, and with this comes changing opinions and hopefully more concrete research which will give us direction moving forward.”

Tony Payton, Far North Grower

“The conclusion to soil moisture monitoring is the ability to match irrigation water supply to the demand of the avocado tree.

The less obvious benefits from soil moisture monitoring is to micro-manage the variance that we have in soils.

Within a block we may have two or three (or more) areas that behave in differing ways. This can be attributed to soil type, light, pan, compaction, contour, drainage and general environment.

Soil moisture monitoring can also help better understand problem areas that may occur over the wetter months. Also, in the Far North we are required to pan break our planting rows (if pan exists). We have the added complication of within a tree root system, there is an area of free draining soil (the width of a digger bucket) and the area that has pan under it. Hence, as the trees get bigger the ratio changes.

The potential to over-water and under-water the same tree

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is very real, and it is beneficial for the grower to be able to measure this, to help with management decisions.”

John Wiessing, Whangarei Grower

“On my orchard irrigation scheduling based on soil moisture monitoring has led to improved tree health, larger fruit and a considerable saving in water costs.

Originally tensiometers were used but over the last few years volumetric water content measurements with a Hydrosense unit has improved the accuracy and efficiency of monitoring by enabling readings to be taken at multiple sites very quickly.

Another benefit of using a Hydrosense unit is helping identify wetter areas in the orchard so that sprinkler outputs can be adjusted to avoid over-watering.

The investment of around $2000 for my Hydrosense unit has been well worth it in the savings of the water cost alone, having paid for itself in the first year.”

Jason McLarnon, Far North grower

“I’m a big fan of moisture monitoring. I have traditionally used tensiometers, but also have industry moisture probes and a portable moisture probe.

I like having tensiometers as the readings need less interpretation across the different soil types. The portable Hydrosense II that measures volumetric soil moisture requires you to interpret each soil type to make sense of the numbers. Despite this, it’s useful for spot monitoring.

I use monitoring equipment throughout the year as a more accurate way of determining when trees need irrigation, and when they have received enough. I don’t like to work on “feeling” as this doesn’t seem accurate enough for me.

Moisture monitoring has also been a valuable tool in showing which areas are performing poorly in regard to drainage.

The impact on poorly managed irrigation and soil moisture is significant.

Over the years monitoring has illustrated to me the different management requirements across the different soil types and irrigation zones. Within my own orchard I have had to tailor each irrigated zone differently as I’ve found they all differ with response to water application and a one size fits all approach has a negative impact on my tree health.”

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September Northland field days wrap up Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

Thanks to those who attended our Northland field days in September - we had a great turn-out at both field days. There was good discussion around minimising stress on trees in order to maximise productivity, and it was great to share our latest harvest results from the new cultivar trials.

On the Orchard

Danni van der Heijden, NZ Avocado Research Associate, presenting a new cultivar update at theWhangarei field day

The first field day was held in Whangarei at Janice Cates and David Farrow’s orchard, and the other in the Far North at Neil Thompson’s orchard. Both field days had great turnouts and covered similar themes, including the latest results out of the New Cultivar trials and a discussion on pruning strategies.

pest control around harvest time – with bees and pests overlapping, management is challenging, this was a common challenge among the growers that attended. The practice that Janice believes has the most significant impact on her orchard was pruning - “I do like a good chainsaw!” says Janice also doing things in a timely fashion.

Both field days began with an industry update from NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular. Jen updated us on the election of the new Board members Linda Flegg, John Dawson and Roger Barber, her recent visit to Asia Fruit Logistica in Shanghai, and the continuation of the process for access to China, as well as the recently released NZ Avocado television commercial debuting our new animated avocado character.

On Janice’s orchard the aim of her pruning is to manage the height, maintaining light throughout the canopy and keeping the tractor rows clear for access. She uses a variety of methods that differ from tree to tree depending on many factors - in particular, whether or not there is fruit on the tree or not. She noted that some of her trees are closing in on each other, reducing the spray coverage and limiting the light that gets to the lower part of the canopy – no light means no flowers, no bees and ultimately no fruit in that area.

The Whangarei field day proceeded with a question and answer session with Janice as we walked through her orchard.

This orchard includes three hectares of 12-year-old Hass trees and an additional hectare of Carmen trees that will be five years old this November. The Carmen trees had a rough start to life with their first winter in the ground being very wet, causing a few in the lower lying areas to die. This was followed by another cold winter causing the set to drop and the flowers to be burnt. Subsequently Janice has installed frost protection in this area.

When asked what were the biggest challenges faced on this orchard, Janice thought that they were pruning and

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Janice said she was currently waiting for maturity and the rain to stop so she can get picking and then get pruning.

When asked what she enjoys most about growing avocados, Janice replied “the lifestyle, love being out there amongst it and being out with other growers.”

From the NZ Avocado benchmarking data, it appears Whangarei as a region has struggled recently when compared with other regions in regard to performance, based on yield and consistency. When talking with growers, a common message is the storm in 2007 followed by two wet winters

that really hammered the trees; the younger trees appeared to have recovered better than the older ones. The aim of the pruning discussion on the orchard was focussed on reviving these struggling trees, using pruning as a tool to manage stress, in addition the alternative of replanting led for a timely discussion of the latest results coming through the new cultivar trials. The discussion has definitely moved from ‘if to prune’ to ‘how to prune’ and there are as many opinions about the best way to do this.

Both field days also included a discussion about pruning and an update on the New Cultivar trials.

Many growers are trialling techniques, learning as they go, but the one thing that they all seem to agree on is you have to do something. Most of the growers attending the Whangarei field day said they are regularly pruning and see their neighbours doing the same.

Are you hoping to maximise financial returns? Increase consistency? Better spray penetration? Reducing picking costs? Or managing stress through maintaining a certain root to canopy ratio. The next question is what have you got to work with? What are your spacings? Do you have frost protection? Do you have restrictions on water use for irrigation? It is important to work through these questions and formulate a plan of attack to guide your pruning. As yet, there are no hard and fast rules for ‘the best way to prune’ – there are many successful strategies all still being developed and fine-tuned. It is a topic that invokes great discussion.

One of Neil’s biggest challenges is tree height. He, like many growers, doesn’t like to cut trees out that are producing. However, last year he started taking out every second tree on a diagonal to open up the canopy and let more light into the trees to encourage production lower down the trees.

“The aim is to get quality light; fruit set requires more light than just vegetative growth.”

Neil will harvest the fruit off the trees first before going through and pruning his trees, aiming to maintain their height so they can be picked by a 6.5 metre Hydralada. The orchard was due for a maturity test and Neil believed he would be picking early October. The recent rain had left a few areas with ‘lakes’. He noted that the areas where the grass grew didn’t suffer from the retention of surface water, it was just areas where there was no grass that the water failed to drain away well.

When thinking about pruning there are some important questions a grower should work through.

Firstly, when, why and how much? The answer to this is based on what you are wanting to achieve; if you can ascertain that, it helps direct the decision-making.

On the Orchard

In the Far North, Neil Thompson talked us through his orchard. Neil started planting his trees in 2004, planting out the first three blocks, an additional three blocks in 2005 and then another two blocks in 2006. Some of his more recent plantings have struggled and he thought maybe that it is too wet in the area they were planted. Although many assume that the Far North area is all sand and faces no drainage issues, they are challenged with silt coming to the surface and sealing off so the water just sits on it. Neil’s orchard had been pan-broken down to four metres to help with drainage. The Far North can struggle with the lack of top soil available and soil volume to support their trees; many aim to maintain a good canopy to root volume ratio to maximise the health of their trees.

Pruning

Choosing the timing can be difficult because there is always fruit on the trees - spring pruning allows the maximum time for the regrowth to develop before the following winter, summer offers better certainty about the crop load before removing limbs with fruit, and winter is a quiet time which also has its benefits.

One idea was during the down time in winter go through the orchard and spray-paint limbs that are to be taken out and when picking starts, strip pick those limbs and then they are ready to be pruned without the loss of fruit. It is important to follow through and not to deviate, set your ideas and stick to them. It is always hard to take limbs off that have fruit on them: that equates to money being chopped off but can often result in better long term returns. Pruning is also a great tool for balancing crop load; maximum benefits to health and relieving stress are seen if pruning is done in early spring when trees are flowering; this pruning ideally will be structural as well.

When reducing height there is often a lot of regrowth, this requires ongoing work to keep on top of. If too little is taken off in spring, the flush over summer usually provides enough growth to fill the window that has been made losing the benefit of improved light penetration to lower parts of the canopy.

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On the Orchard

desired shoot. Branches and shoots would There was discussion at both field be removed to create a ‘bowl of light’ inside days around optimal tree height the canopy to encourage new growth and compared with row spacings fruiting wood inside the canopy. This was to maximise light interception a common strategy with other groups (Figure 1). Research out of indicating they would trim a lot of branches Israel has concluded that in their back to maximise light penetration and avocado hedgerows tree height encourage fruit growth that was accessible at 80% of the inter-row distance for ground picking. Discussion also raised maximises light interception, for the question, “does it shock the tree if example if your rows are 8m apart, you take too much off?” - the response maximum tree height should be was no, they are fairly weedy, just think of 6.4m. In New Zealand we are staghorning. further away from the equator so the angle of the sun is different, New Cultivars latest results however we estimate that this might drop to about 70% for There are five trials between Whangarei us so if your trees are 8m apart, and the Bay of Plenty that involve new Figure 1 - Pictorial illustrating light penetration into cultivars, as well as the Whangarei and tree height for maximum light different canopies Bay of Plenty New Cultivars working interception would be about 5.6m – groups that are part of our Primary Growth Partnership a convenient height for picking as well. This is easy to gauge by the grower – if you are not getting any fruit down low on programme: NZ Avocados Go Global. The oldest trial is at Mangawhai and we had fresh harvest results to take to the your trees and there is no grass between them, chances are Northland field days. These trees were planted in 2009 your trees may be too high. Both growers in Whangarei and in a replant situation. The survival rate and health of the the Far North thought their optimal height to row spacing trees has been better for the Bounty and Dusa clonal was in the general area of 70%. rootstocks than that of the seedling Zutano and clonal Duke 7 rootstocks throughout the trial. In this year’s harvest The following are some of the key points that came out of the average yield that came from the Bounty and Dusa pruning discussions during the field days. rootstocks was almost double North facing limbs were that of the seedling Zutano and clonal Duke 7 rootstocks from typically chosen as the the Mangawhai orchard (Figure first to be removed, 2). Additionally, the average fruit opening up the canopy size from the Bounty and Dusa and allowing light right trees was a 23 compared with an through the tree. Most average size 25 from the Zutano groups decided they and Duke 7. would take off around 30-40% of the tree, while There was brief discussion some decided to prune about pollinisers in orchards, off more on the less the new cultivars working healthy trees.

Figure 2 - latest yield results from the Mangawhai New Cultivars trial. group members are involved in

Recipe

Branches that were too low were an issue for machinery access and were chosen for removal, while branches that appeared to be damaged were also put at the top of the list for removal, especially those damaged by Hydraladas.

Structurally weak limbs were first to be removed, as they may blow out in any strong winds or under heavy load anyway: there is little point in sacrificing strong wood to keep weaker limbs. If a shoot was growing in a ‘good’ direction, the decision was to cut the main branch just above that shoot so that the energy and ‘vigour’ would be channelled into the

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collecting data to compare tree yield with respect to distance to polliniser. Initial data we have on this shows in certain seasons the distance to polliniser correlates quite well with yield, and the further trees are from a polliniser the lower the comparative yield. This data is limited and we are working to verify this relationship more thoroughly; it is also important to note that this correlation is not seen every year on all orchards.

All hand-outs from the field days are available on the industry website under the resources tab.

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Industry matters Overview of AGM There was a great turnout at the NZAGA and AIC Annual General Meeting on 1 September. The event was held at Club Mount Maunganui and over 70 industry members attended.

The 2015 AGM remit around the Library Tray scheme was reviewed and reported back to attendees. It was reported that NZ Avocado strongly support the Library Tray scheme – for more information on the scheme’s benefits, see the July 2016 issue of Avoscene.

sold in both export and the New Zealand market.

Executive motions were reviewed and approved – there were two this year that considered levy rates for avocados

The AGM preceded the NZ Avocado Grower Forum – for a full report on the Grower Forum go to page 46.

Are you picking over the Christmas-New Year holiday?

NZ Avocado staff contacts over Christmas-New Year

If you are intending to pick over the Christmas-New Year holiday period, then please ensure your PPIN applications and Export Registrations are submitted to NZ Avocado by 10am Monday 19 December 2016 to allow us time to process these. We also ask that growers please review their spray diary and have it up to date ready for a clearance to pick to prevent scrambling to resolve any issues at the last minute.

The NZ Avocado office will be closed from midday 23 December 2016 and will open again 9 January 2017.

Should you have any urgent query during this time, the following staff are available: Jen Scoular 021 741 014 or Glenys Parton 0274 99 70 81.

Happy holidays from the team at NZ Avocado!

Building a strong safety culture in your workplace Newsroom

Often one of the main reasons that people are so resistant to Health & Safety (H&S) is due to the “F” word – irrational and disproportionate FEAR! A lot of what many businesses do in the name of preventing prosecution, is actually using fear as the driver to try and get staff engaged - how often do we hear “We need to cover our butts” or “I’m not losing my house or going to jail”. This fear of prosecution is often disproportionate to the reality.

It is true, like other risk-based legislation, the Health & Safety at Work Act has the ability to prosecute both individuals and businesses for breaches. There is nothing new or surprising about this. The reality is you have a much greater risk of being prosecuted for driving your car and having an accident.

Often it is the fear of prosecution or repercussions within an organisation that drives a poor H & S culture. There is little to be learnt for an organisation that uses fear as the basis of

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education. Learning is only facilitated by trust, relationships and engagement – fear has the opposite effect.

Have a think about teaching a child how to ride a bike – do we use fun, encouragement and support, or fear to get the most favourable outcome? If the child is motivated and has the will to ride the bike he will learn a lot quicker than if you start by telling him “If you fall off you will hurt yourself and there will be trouble.”

It is no different when you are looking to promote Health and Safety in the workplace. If you want people to engage in the safety culture you are trying to develop, the best place to start is positive relationships built on trust rather than through fear of repercussions.

If you have any questions on H&S call the team at AGSafety Limited to arrange a free appraisal for your business’ H&S and HR requirements on (06) 769 9483 or Freephone 0508 424 723.

Recommended reading

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

phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

Avocado growers are often the most passionate advocates for the industry with first-hand experience of the versatility and health benefits of the fruit they produce. Despite this, I don’t think it hurts to highlight good news stories about the health benefits of avocado so you can all feel additionally proud of the produce you grow and supply to the world.

This issue’s recommended reading is an article titled “The role of avocados in maternal diets during periconceptional period, pregnancy, and lactation”, published in May this year, which can be found by doing a Google search for the title.

It’s reasonably well known that avocados are a very nutrient dense fruit with higher amounts of certain key nutrients compared with many other fruit and vegetables, including folate and potassium. The article explores how avocados

can contribute to maternal nutrition for improved health outcomes, many of which also translate to general health and well-being of the general population. The article is funded by the Hass Avocado Board, which is a promotion group established to promote the consumption of Hass avocados.

Their website details a wealth of research investigating how avocados can help with cardiovascular health, weight management, blood sugar control, cancer, as well as other aspects of health and nutrition. I’ve written previously about avocado’s holding the Guinness World record for the most nutritionally complete fruit. With the huge task of harvesting what is likely to be a record crop this season, hopefully knowing a bit more about the positive health aspects of your avocados adds some extra job satisfaction! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4882725/

Reading your trees Below are the key tree characteristics as set out in your Reading Your Trees Guide to assess at this time of year: • October to December: Spring flush, pages 11-15 • December: Roots, pages 28-29, Canopy density, pages 30-31 • December to January: Fruit, pages 24-27 • January: Summer flush, pages 16-17

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.

Newsroom

Once your trees have been assessed you will be ready to consider the suggested intervention strategies. At the bottom of each section in this guide there are a number of factors to

consider to optimise your orchard management.You will need to determine which is the best option for your own situation – if in doubt, seek specialist advice.

The Avocado Problem Solver Field Guide The Avocado Problem Solver Field Guide is available to purchase from the Avoshop section of the NZ Avocado Industry website.

This guide has been produced to assist avocado growers and others involved in the avocado supply chain to identify the wide range of pests, diseases, nutrient deficiencies and toxicities and other disorders that may affect orchards and the quality of fruit reaching the consumer.

Calendar of events NZAGA & AIC Board meetings • 24 November

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Industry News August Media Release:

Green Carpet rolled out for launch of New Zealand Avocado’s biggest season ever

Nadia Lim and Jen Scoular enjoying avocado smoothies at the NZ Avocado season launch event in August.

There’s only one fruit with enough star power to attract a high profile crowd and shine at its own official season launch party – New Zealand’s amazing avocado.

A “green carpet” event was held at Ostro’s Screening Room in Auckland in August to celebrate the beginning of the 2016-17 avocado season.

Newsroom

Attending guests included New Zealand celebrities, influential social media bloggers, high-profile chefs and New Zealand magazine editors - all of whom are influential New Zealanders who love avocados.

Avocados are set to return to our lives in a big way. Avocado trees bear fruit biennially, meaning they can produce a small crop one year which is often followed by a large crop the next. Thankfully this summer is set to deliver a whopping 7.6 million trays – nearly double the volume available last year.

NZ Avocado Chief Executive Jen Scoular says this launch celebrated not only the biggest crop they have ever had, but also the fact that they are nearly half way to achieving their sales goal of $280 million by 2023.

“Our nation is full of diehard avocado fans, so for many Kiwis 2016 is the year of the New Zealand avocado!”

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NZ Avocado hosted the launch party to celebrate the fruit’s enormous popularity and showcase its great flavour, versatility and health benefits. Guests were served five different avocado dishes to help whet their appetite and inspire new ideas about how to serve and enjoy this delicious fruit.

Popular author and Healthy Food Guide nutritionist Claire Turnbull spoke at the event about the incredible health benefits avocados have to offer. Avocados can legitimately be called a “superfood”. They’re full of healthy monounsaturated fats which are great for your heart and cholesterol levels, and help keep your appetite under control. They’re also packed with a wide range of essential vitamins and minerals, are low in sugar and sodium, and are a good source of dietary fibre.

Thanks to a growing body of scientific and nutritional research, avocados have never been more popular. They’re now the star attraction on breakfast menus worldwide, and have been called the “Oprah of Instagram” thanks to the number of snaps people post of their favourite avocado creations.

“The social media buzz and excitement around avocados returning to our supermarket shelves is unbelievable, so we want to grab this opportunity to showcase and celebrate everything we love about this amazing fruit,” says Scoular.

September Media Release:

Supercharge your kids lunchbox with avocado Back to school means getting back into a lunch box routine.

There’s one superfood which will provide your kids with the essential nutrients they need to keep them full of energy at school.

Avocado is an increasingly popular addition to school lunchboxes as parents come up with clever ways to encourage their kids to eat it.

Including avocado in wraps, sandwiches or bread rolls; using it in place of mayonnaise, butter or margarine; and including it as a healthy ingredient when baking muffins, brownies and cupcakes, are all great ideas to up your kid’s intake of this superfood.

Avocado bliss balls are also a lunch box winner as they are easy to transport, kids love them and they pack a big nutritional punch in a small package. Our avocado bliss balls recipe is delicious and super easy to make – see page 61 for the recipe.

Avocados are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids and B complex vitamins which contribute to a healthy nervous system and improved brain function including memory, focus and learning.

Opting for unprocessed foods like avocado will also reduce the overall amount of trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup your kids might eat during the day. Fresh food is always best to keep kids’ energy levels balanced and help them maintain their concentration.

So what are the best avocado lunch box ideas?

You could pre-cut avocado into little cubes, prepare a small container of guacamole for them to dip crackers or carrot sticks into, or include it in sandwiches, wraps or rolls. To keep avocado fresh, just squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over the top. When baking, replace some of the butter in your recipe for the equivalent amount of mashed avocado instead. It’s a healthy and creamy addition that will result in soft, moist cakes, muffins and other baked goods. Try making avocado brownies, avocado muffins, or avocado chocolate cake.Your kids won’t be able to resist!

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And it’s well worth the effort. The protein, fibre and hearthealthy monounsaturated fat contained in avocados help create stable energy levels. The oleic acid found in avocados helps tell your brain that your stomach is full, while the fibre and good fats take longer to digest so you don’t feel hungry as often – this also means kids are less likely to reach for sugary foods.

Paleo mum blogger Claire Deeks of Dom's Kitchen often includes avocados in her son Dom's lunch box. Credit: @doms_kitchen on instagram

This amazing superfood delivers a host of other health benefits including boosting your immune system, promoting healthy vision, aiding healthy digestion and building strong muscles.

So when you’re packing school lunch boxes this term, remember you’re feeding more than just kids’ tummies.

Give them food that is going to fuel their minds and benefit their bodies at the same time.

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Katikati Avocado Expo – 5 February

Exhibitor Registrations are Now Open!

This is a great opportunity to showcase any Avocado related Business or Products

Outdoor 6m x 6m Site $35.00 Outdoor 6m x 10m Site $45.00 Sunday 5th February 2017

In conjunction with the Katikati A&P Show For your registration info pack

Contact Dawn on 07 5495955 or katiavoexpo@gmail.com

Last year’s Avocado Expo held in conjunction with the Katikati A&P Show was a resounding success. Avocado enthusiasts in the region are well into their planning for the next one and expect next year’s to be even better.

Be sure to lock the 5th of February into your calendar and head to the Katikati A&P Show for a fun family day out. Positive feedback from those involved last year indicates that space will be sought after and we hope to attract more exciting exhibits to showcase our wonderful and dynamic industry. Avocados are the new culinary rock star, and there will be avocado delights to be tasted in our new food area. Katikati is one of New Zealand’s key production areas and we are keen to promote ourselves as the avocado capital of New Zealand.

Avoco and Avanza are sponsoring the marquee, which provides a prime viewing area for the woodchopping, which will again be a feature of the expo. There will be plenty of activities for the children run by the local art group. For site booking details, please see our advert at left.

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Avoco hits the water in partnership with Waihi Beach Volunteer Coastguard Avoco’s commitment to the community continues to break new ground, this time as a proud new partner of the Waihi Beach Volunteer Coastguard.

Avoco has teamed up with the Western Bay of Plenty coastguard unit agreeing to an ongoing partnership, pledging an annual sponsorship contribution of $20,000 for three years.

This will go towards Coastguard’s yearly operational costs of $110,000 as well as the running costs of a new rescue vessel to be named ‘Avoco Rescue’, to hit the water heading into the busy summer months.

Avoco Rescue will replace ‘Search Two’. Launched in 2003, 5.5m long Search Two has since clocked up more than 1000 hours on the water.

The new $197,000 vessel is a 5.8m Naiad designed RHIB (rigid hull inflatable boat) powered by twin 115hp Yamaha outboards.

Avoco director Alistair Young says teaming up with the Coastguard was a natural fit for Avoco given its unwavering commitment to the community.

fantastic efforts.”

Waihi Beach Volunteer Coastguard spokesperson Jim Pooley says the new rescue boat will enhance Coastguards’ overall capabilities in keeping a community – which swells from 2700 permanent residents to an estimated 25,000-30,000 during summer – safe on the water.

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of this community and every dollar counts when it comes to helping support these

Avoco Rescue is expected to be operational by the end of the year.

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“We are proud to be backing Waihi Beach Volunteer Coastguard and the amazing efforts they contribute to keep the community safe, usually through countless hours of voluntary service, on and off the water.

“It is very exciting for us. The addition of Avoco Rescue means we have the capability to cover two completely different areas with Gallagher Rescue overseeing the Bowentown Bar, one of the most notorious in New Zealand, and Avoco Rescue the channels and shallow areas of the Northern Tauranga Harbour.”

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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Avocado news from the world Chile to have ‘first serious’ avocado season in China The head of a major Chilean avocado exporter says the industry will put ‘all its efforts’ into conducting successful promotions the Chinese market this season.

The South American country gained access to China in 2014, but that year only managed to ship one container. The following year around 5,300 metric tons (MT) were shipped, but a representative of Santa Cruz said promotions were almost nonexistent.

“This will be the first real promotional campaign in China,” general manager Javier Fuchslocher said.

“The first promotional activity that Chile did in China was during the last season, but it was very small, just in some points of sale and we couldn’t really evaluate the results, since it wasn’t a big campaign.

“What it really did was the support the first arrivals of fruit at the points of sale, which always helps the consumer.”

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Fuchslocher said a key part of the promotional campaign would involve an educational element to teach Chinese consumers about how to eat an avocado.

“I think that Chinese consumers still don’t understand the different levels of avocado ripeness, in fact in China they served me firm avocados in restaurants,” he said.

Fuchslocher said there were some companies that were trying to work with mature avocados, but added the cold chain system in the country often made it difficult.

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“So it may not matter where the avocados originate from, or the promotions carried out, as China still does not have the infrastructure necessary to offer properly ripened avocados,” he said.

The representative also said this was effectively the industry’s ‘first serious’ campaign in China, given the improved pest controls and the greater knowledge of how the Chinese market operates.

“That’s why in this season we have a much more structured promotional campaign, which will be much stronger at the point of sale, and which will also involve digital media and advise in the distribution channels – something that is fundamental for the supermarkets in China,” he said.

“I think that with this extra support we’ll be able to further penetrate the avocado market in China in terms of knowledge of the product, which is our biggest challenge.”

Pagoda and Vanguard are two supermarkets the representative mentioned that will carry out promotions for Chilean avocados this season.

Santa Cruz shipped 20 containers to China when the season began in August, and Fuchslocher believes total industry exports to the Asian country will be 5-8% higher year-onyear.

Source: http://www.freshfruitportal.com/ news/2016/09/20/chile-to-have-first-seriousavocado-season-in-china/

Hass Avocado Board launches strategic plan, adopts new vision The Hass Avocado Board is setting its sights on a new fiveyear strategic plan to fuel industry prosperity and focus on a vision of catapulting the Hass avocado to America’s number one consumed fruit.

The Hass Avocado Board mapped out a game plan focusing on six priorities. In the new plan, building demand, nutrition research and affairs, supply and demand data collection and quality continue to be priorities, along with two new focus areas: sustainability and industry engagement.

“Through the process, we scrutinized mounds of intelligence drawn from HAB’s first industry-wide issues forum, including a supply chain survey, a series of one-on-one interviews and a planning meeting including influential avocado players from around the world,” Chris Henry, HAB chairman, said in a press release.

“We all agreed that HAB’s mission is to support global avocado industry stakeholders in our collective efforts toward market expansion in the U.S., and the priorities are the best way for the organization to support the mission and achieve the vision,” Henry said.

The new HAB sustainability priority is designed to help the industry focus on balancing three Ps — a healthy public, planet and profitable avocado stakeholder. Near term, this means assessing sustainability concerns of customers, consumers and the industry as well as determining where the industry stands today.

Pointing to HAB’s final priority — industry engagement — Escobedo said HAB will continue to engage and encourage growers, exporters, handlers, importers and industry associations from all countries that supply the U.S. to rally behind the new vision and the board’s strategic plan.

“Our strategic plan recognizes the momentum we have created in the last five years and provides focus for the next five years of prosperity,” said Escobedo. “We couldn’t be more motivated and excited about the future of our industry.”

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Executive Director Emiliano Escobedo said the team took planning to a new level with the creation of a social purpose for avocados and with the development of the new strategic priorities.

“Articulating a purpose allowed us to keep focus on our end consumer and the greater social value,” said Escobedo.

“Together, the board rallied behind a purpose of improving lives through a unique, flavorful eating experience and health benefits.”

Source: http://www.producenews.com/the-produce-news-todays-headlines/19747-hass-avocado-board-launches-strategic-planadopts-new-vision

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AVOQUIP

POLE TO POLE EXPORTS LTD fresh produce marketing specialists

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Recipe Avocado Bliss Balls Perfect for school lunches, morning or afternoon snacks, these avocado bliss balls will go down a treat with kids.

As well as being delicious and healthy, these bliss balls are diabetic-friendly, gluten and dairy free making them perfect for everyone to enjoy. This recipe makes 50 small balls so halve the recipe if you would like less, or the bliss balls will keep for a week in the fridge.

Ingredients:

Method:

1 ripe avocado

Toast almonds and pulse to meal consistency.

Grate the rind of two lemons.

Mash the ripe avocado and add one teaspoon of lemon juice together until smooth.

Pulse the dates, prunes, desiccated coconut and lemon rind together.

Add the mixtures together and roll into small balls.

Then coat each ball with toasted coconut threads and enjoy!

12 Medjool dates 1 cup of almonds (toasted) 1 cup of desiccated coconut 2 lemons (juice and rind) 1 cup pitted prunes 1 cup coconut thread (toasted)

Nourish

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Out and about Torpedo 7 Spring Challenge

NZ Avocado's Jodi Senior (Communications Associate), Bevan Jelley (Market Manager) and Phillip West (Research Officer) presented an overview of the New Zealand avocado industry to Year 2 Level 4 Horticultural students at the Bay of Plenty Polytech in September.

Exporters active in the Thailand market utilised the opportunity of all being together at AsiaFruit Logistica for a discussion on the market.

Out & About

Our avocado bliss balls were a great hit at the Torpedo 7 Spring Challenge a women's adventure race held around Lake Tarawera in early October.The women biked, rafted and ran their way through a three hour, six hour or nine hour race.

Bevan Jelley, NZ Avocado Market Manager and Jodi Senior, Communications Associate were on hand to give the 504 competitors refreshing avocado bliss balls as they crossed the finish line.

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NZ Avocado's eye-catching display at AsiaFruit Logistica.

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IT AIN’T EASY GETTING TO MARKET Its tough, and sometimes the obstacles that need to be overcome can seem almost overwhelming. When those challenges and demands arise, you need your Pack House to step up and muscle your fruit through the hoops, and into the market. Apata is without doubt the country’s strongest and most respected Pack House, and the true market champion every Avocado grower needs.

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