Avoscene New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Journal
September 2016
Silver success for avocado loving Bay Olympian See page 49
Inside this issue: Celebrating Luuka Jones' Olympic success How do low temperatures affect fruit set of Hass? Flower thinning - opinions within the industry Doing business with China - tricks of the trade Avoscene September 2016
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Avoscene September 2016
NZ Avocado Office
Contents
PO Box 13267 Tauranga 3141 New Zealand Level 5, Harrington House
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On the Orchard
Newsroom
32 Harington Street Tauranga 3110 Ph: 07 571 6147 or
View from the Chair
4
Industry news
17
Growing the business
6
New faces
21
Going global
8
Industry matters
22
@NZ_Avocado
Outside the box
9
Recommended reading 23
Spring time hustle Flowering is the most important time of the year
NZ Avocado
The New Zealand Market 13
Avocado news from the world
Irrigation requirements for avocado 28
0800 AVOCADO (0800 286 2236) www.nzavocado.co.nz
NZ Avocado
@nz_avocado
Regional roundup
24
14
Ashby Whitehead NZAGA & AIC Chair Ph 07 573 6680 m. 027 283 2192 alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz Dave Flett m. 027 555 4420 dave.flett@yahoo.co.nz John Cotterell Ph 07 549 3395 m. 0274 513 138 jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz
27
How do low temperatures effect fruit set of Hass? 32
Directors Bay of Plenty/Rest of New Zealand
Pest and disease watch: Brown root rot 26
Markets
Reports
New Zealand promotions 31
Top young grower enjoys challenge
Tips for having a bee friendly environment
35
How do my sprays work? 36
Doping business with China - tricks of the trade
42
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 At Large
44 Nourish
Flower thinning opinions within the industry
45
What can we learn from Australia?
46
Recipe
Celebrating Luuka Jones Olympic success 49
Out and About
Case study: Hellers orchard
51
Out and about
Te Hono Bootcamp
52
Avocentric Secret is the climate
54
57
58
Tony Ponder NZAGA Vice Chair Ph 07 552 4223 m. 0274 733 712 tony@flaxmillavocado.co.nz Linda Flegg Ph 07 549 1047 m. 021 458 782 linda@kauripak.co.nz
Cover Shot: Luuka Jones, Olympic canoe slalom silver medalist.
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, Marketing Associate
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
It is great to be able to celebrate the industry’s impressive growth and see the collaborations and plans being put into practice for our biggest season yet.
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or the first time in the history of the industry we recently enjoyed three successful “meet the candidates” meetings in Te Puke, Whangarei and Katikati. It was a fantastic opportunity for growers to meet and get to know the NZAGA executive electoral candidates. Congratulations to all seven candidates for putting their hands up to become a Representative of the NZAGA Executive Committee, and a Director of the AIC Ltd Board. It’s not easy putting your hand up and I’m sure none of the candidates relished having to stand in front of their fellow growers to talk about themselves, but they did, and I thank them all for that. I congratulate our successfully elected candidates - Linda Flegg will be our new At Large Representative and Roger Barber and John Dawson will be your Mid North Representatives. I hope those not elected this time decide to try again in the future – it is really important we have
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succession planning for the governance roles of our industry. It was also good to see a great turn-out of growers for the meetings, to hear from the candidates and to mingle with other growers. That interaction across our growing community is really important, and I’m sure every attendee went home knowing something more about how to grow avocados. Governance is a very important aspect of our industry. Our industry value has risen very impressively and as our industry grows, it becomes more important to have a helicopter view of how it grows. The Board no longer manages the day-to-day activity of the industry, as Jen and the team have that well in hand, but we need to ensure strategies are in place and being implemented, that risk is being assessed and reviewed, and that future opportunities are being assessed. The Institute of Directors took the Board through an evaluation process a couple of years ago, and
Comment
demonstrated how important that helicopter view is. We have a five year plan which we update each year – and the CEO must present an annual business plan each year that moves us towards our five year plan goals. The Board must then make sure they receive updates and reports demonstrating the annual plan being delivered, within the budget. After strong returns from the last few years, growers are re-investing in their orchards and we hear more good stories about more pruning, more re-developments and more innovation on orchards. Orchards are changing hands too – well, there seem to be very few orchards around as they have already been snaffled up. Prospects look good for the 2016-17 season and it is encouraging to see the crop flows come in from exporters showing volumes going into markets outside Australia. Encouraging exporters to develop Asian markets remains a Board focus, as these markets may well be our primary markets in years to come. Asia Fruit Logistica will be attended by six exporters this year, and NZ Avocado will have a presence on the New
Zealand pavilion at the show. It is a great opportunity for exporters to meet their customers and to make sure they are up-to-date with information about the markets. NZ Avocado staff continue to build their understanding of Asian markets and had thought they might have access to China by the time of this year’s show in September. We haven’t heard anything yet, but thankfully, haven’t had any bad news about our access application either, so I can only report that it is progressing. I see the research side of the industry working well under Marisa’s leadership. Plant & Food Research provide excellent support across a number of projects, our own Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) ones as well as Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) ones, and we get good support through their core funding as well. Thank you to the growers who attended the NZ Avocado forum, the NZAGA and AIC Annual General Meeting and the dinner. We hope it was an interesting and informative day for you. The team has also organised a Grower Forum in Whangarei on 27 September with a field day in Whangarei the day before and a field day in the Far North the day after. We look forward to your support of these industry events.
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Growing the business By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado
jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz
It’s a busy time of year for the NZ Avocado team with exciting research results being delivered, promotional activity ramping up and exports beginning. It’s great to be moving in a positive direction as we head into our biggest season yet.
Jen Scoular with Nadia Lim and Claire Turnbull at the NZ Avocado season launch in August.
Roll on spring; I’m bored with this wet and windy weather. I recently signed off an AvoConnect reminding growers not to sell windfall avocados, and after three growers’ meetings to meet the NZAGA Executive electorial candidates, I’ve heard a number of you worried about the amount of windfalls you have on the ground. A tough time to have to watch value hit the ground, or see the impact the next morning. Growers also suffered more losses this season from stolen fruit – a story which made its way around the world and back. Newsrooms from Scotland to Japan, from Canada to London picked up the story about the hike in demand for avocados in New Zealand, causing a black market for stolen avocados. We did ensure we added our own messages as well – reiterating the amazing health and versatility attributes of avocados and letting the world know that yes, we are
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the ninth largest avocado exporter in the world, and our avocados are the best! In August, we launched our biggest avocado season yet with a celebratory five-course degustation brunch. Special influencers and friends of avocado joined us at Ostro Restaurant in Britomart, Auckland for a flying menu incorporating beautiful, and equally tasty, avocado dishes. It was a fantastic event and a great opportunity to share key information about the season ahead, about avocado health and uses and also to showcase avocado in tasty ways. We had guest speaker Claire Turnbull, a well-known Kiwi nutritionist and writer for the Healthy Food Guide magazine, share her expertise about the wonderful health attributes of avocado. I congratulate all of the candidates in the recent elections and thank them for putting their hand up to govern our industry.
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Governance is incredibly important. We need a strong Board to debate and review strategy and risk, financials and the future. For those not successful this year, I hope you keep your hand in the ring – we need to know there are growers keen to be involved and willing to take the time out of your other lives to govern our industry. It’s also a terrific way to understand the wider industry, and to help lead this industry into a profitable future. I enjoyed the three grower meetings we held in Te Puke, Whangarei and Katikati and thank-you to the growers who came along to meet and hear from each candidate. I had a truly inspiring week in July at the Te Hono Bootcamp at Stanford University, surrounded by 50 others, equally passionate about improving the capacity and value of the New Zealand primary industry. The week needed its own report in AvoScene, so you’ll find that on page 52. Crop estimate two was recently consolidated by Jay Bent, with the support from new entrant Tyler Keenleyside. Tyler joined in July replacing Michael Gray as Industry Analyst. You will find Tyler on the end of the phone when you call about registrations, AvoGreen or weekly monitoring. We introduce Tyler properly on page 21. The crop estimate confirms our first estimate of 7.6m trays - our biggest ever. I see huge amounts of planning going on right across the industry and encourage that –
we need to plan for success, and getting the detail right is very important. Glenys is right in the midst of that planning for the industry systems to manage the big crop, Bevan is planning hard with New Zealand marketers, and we are working closely with exporters to undertake promotions and market development for the large volumes. The contestable fund is currently being decided on, with your grower promotions funding up to 50% of individual exporter programmes. Ask your exporter about the applications they have made through the contestable fund. There is some great innovation and new ideas being used to market and sell your avocados across the markets. We are working with Tim and his team at King St on the new TV commercial. We’ve got an exciting addition to the commercial this year and hopefully by the time you read this we might have introduced him to you. With new messaging, new consumer demands and new technology each year we ensure we are agile in how we look to invest your funds in our marketing campaigns. A busy and exciting time for us all. On your orchard I trust you are on-board in undertaking best practise to help deliver more, wonderful, premium avocados for the industry to market, at value to eager consumers.
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Going global By Andrew Darling, Managing Director, Global Fresh Ltd/Just Avocados Ltd andrew@globalfresh.co.nz
As the export season begins, there is great optimism and excitement across the industry as we head into our biggest season yet.
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oesn’t time fly! It seems only yesterday that we were wrapping up the 2015-16 season and as I start to put my fingers to the keyboard to write the first edition of the Going Global article for the new season, the first container of New Zealand fruit destined for Australia has already set sail. With an estimated 5.4 million export trays, this season is set to be our biggest to date! There is optimism across marketers, and rightly so, with the forecast low supply out of Western Australia which will create a gap in the market for New Zealand fruit. This has driven strong engagement from retailers who are looking for supply security, especially from late November onwards. While this appears to bode well, some caution is required with the 4.4 million trays we have destined for Australia. We need to manage this volume carefully, especially with what could prove to be a potentially tricky September to November window. Harvest planning and adhering to the flow plan will be critical throughout this period. As an industry we should endeavour to keep sufficient volumes available from December onwards. As a group of exporters we will need to react, work cohesively and communicate pressure points to ensure we achieve maximum value.
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With 16% of our crop destined for export markets outside of Australia, all market access from a phytosanitary viewpoint is paramount. Japan will once again be our largest export market (outside of Australia) and trading conditions there are looking more positive than previous seasons with an attractive outlook for foreign exchange. Thailand and Korea are also important markets, with double the amount of volume destined for these markets against last season’s volumes. There has been considerable promotion undertaken in both these markets last season, this should underpin significant category growth. Fruit size could be an issue this season with the larger size profile, especially when it comes to our export markets outside of Australia. All exporters trading in these markets have been working endlessly to transition programmes where possible to large fruit size profile. As an industry we should be excited about the season ahead, the large crop estimate provides a perfect opportunity to maintain and develop further the fantastic category growth New Zealand avocados have achieved over the last five years.
Outside the box Comment
Tom Clark, NZ Avocado Packers Forum
tom@fnpack.co.nz
With no “burning issues” in the packing world at the moment, I decided to base this issue’s Outside the Box article on the following question - “Are growers interested in what happens to their fruit once it gets to the packhouse?”
There is a popular perception among some growers that
the packer is the person in the middle who rides the gravy train. We are scrooges who put some fruit in a box, clip the ticket and quickly send it on its way before checking our presumably soaring bank balances with beady eyes and a mischievous grin.
On its most basic level this theory seems plausible. However, there are many steps between fruit receivals and “clipping the ticket”, as it were, that require much care and attention to detail – not to mention cost! It is my hope that this article will highlight for you some of the many steps and pitfalls that happen along the way.
Let’s start from the beginning when the fruit first arrives at the packhouse: On arrival the bins are unloaded by the truck driver and stacked by picking lot/date.
Traceability begins at the orchard and is maintained all the way through the line to the final point of sale overseas.
Harvest documentation is checked by the bin feed operator and the bins counted.
Paperwork matches the number of bins received.
Each bin is weighed and tipped at the bin feed.
Weight records of your fruit are important in tray reconciliation.
The fruit is singulated and moves through the waterblaster treatment. Every export-registered avocado packhouse in New Zealand must run with a commissioned waterblaster.
The waterblaster is continuously monitored by the operator and all of this is documented and audited. *
Inline post-harvest treatment where the fruit is typically brushed and treated with a sterilant to help prevent post-harvest rots.
The application and amounts of these products are closely monitored and recorded.
Air drying with some form of fan drying unit. (*Waterblaster treatment was introduced specifically to treat light brown apple moth for the US market. However, waterblasters have also become a valuable tool for the removal of leafroller, pollen and other passenger pests in general.)
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The fruit is graded by hand (or eye as is the case) to the specified export and local market grades.
Industry grade standards are set and can be found along with of the other requirements, in the “Packer Responsibilities� section of the NZ Avocado Quality Manual.
The fruit is again singulated and goes over the sizer machine where each fruit is weighed and allocated to the appropriate count size.
Today most sizers are computer controlled but even so the fruit weights require regular monitoring and checking by the Quality Control staff (QCs).
The fruit is labelled either at this stage by inline labellers or after packing using in-tray labelling machines.
Each marketer has their own brand requirements on the fruit.
The fruit is packed by hand into trays on fibre moulded pocket packs.
The fruit must be neatly arranged so as to present nicely in the tray.
The completed trays are stacked onto a pallet.
Specified configurations of heights and angle are required.
The grower lot is checked by the QCs, who must examine a minimum of 600 fruit per grower lot.
The QCs check that the fruit is within the grade specifications of AIC and the exporter.
The trays are labelled and pallets tallied, entered and signed off by the tally clerk/phytosanitary security verifier. Pallet cards are generated.
The fruit, packaging and labelling is checked.The QCs are also looking for pests as per our phytosanitary security systems.
The completed pallet is either strapped or wrapped to secure it during storage and transit. Each finished pallet leaving the packing area is recorded and taken to the cool rooms. Initially the pallets are force cooled.
Pulp temperature must be taken down to 6oC or below within 24 hours. Even if packhouses have electronic monitoring, they are required to monitor and record manual temperature checks to ensure that cool chain is being maintained.
The pallets are transferred to static coolstorage for holding.
Daily phytosanitary checks are completed.
For Australia, each consignment lot is put up for a preclearance inspection. Booking the inspector is done through AsureQualty.
Offshore preclearance inspectors from Australia come to the facility at least once a week to inspect 600 fruit per consignment. They are specifically looking for pests.
If the lot passes, the fruit is cleared for loadout and the containers/trucks can be ordered by the exporter. If the lot fails, it must be segregated for fumigation and then re-inspected before clearance.
Fumigation requirements are specified. The plan here is to not fail preclearance.
It’s loadout time! The pallets on the consignment are selected and marshalled for loading.
Continual checks of pallets against load out documentation is made.
Each consignment is monitored by temperature recorders (usually two per container).
Several pallets are checked for temperature at loadout and this is recorded.
Each pallet is pulled out of the coolstore and loaded onto the container one at a time.
The procedure is tightly controlled with phytosanitary security checklists, declarations of conformity for the various markets, etc. There is a lot of paperwork involved.
All loadout paperwork is sent to the logistics partners and marketers in preparation for the release of the product through customs and to its final destination.
These freight forwarders and logisticians have their own stories to tell!
Rinse and Repeat
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Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, the list above has been heavily simplified and that’s only part of the fun. Before you even begin picking your crop, we are checking that the fruit is cleared for harvest. One of the most important jobs is the verification of each electronic spray diary to ensure the fruit is beyond the withholding period for the likely markets your fruit may be headed. For markets other than Australia, it is likely that a preharvest residue test is required. Prior to the NZ Avocado blanket maturity clearances, Eurofins (formerly AgFirst BOP) independently collect and test a dry matter sample to ensure your fruit is over the 24% threshold for export. Once all of these criteria are met, we can clear you to pick. Failure to complete these steps will result in a major noncompliance for us, or worse, could lead to a residue situation and product withdrawals/recalls. I shudder to think and so should you. NZ Avocado requires that we are audited within the first couple of days of the beginning of export. The auditors don’t miss a beat and so if your paperwork is not on file, we will almost certainly be issued with a non-compliance. We receive weekly packing instructions from our exporters that show the brands/pack types/labels that we will be packing into. This is usually wishful thinking that can devolve to daily or even hourly packing instructions depending on the whims of the marketers who are scrambling to keep their customers happy, or logisticians attempting to make sense of shipping schedules. It is similar for local marketers too, but they are usually not in different time zones, so can be a bit more straightforward. All export packsheds are Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) approved organisations and have some form of accredited food safety programme which is audited at least annually. This is not us trying to make money out of compliance; it is us doing what needs to be done in order to get your fruit over the line. Most countries/customers will not even consider fruit that does not have phytosanitary and food safety assurance. I believe that it’s better to be good at compliance and to have robust systems in place than to have a poor attitude and try to be sneaky. We are lucky in this industry to have auditors who have a lot of experience within the horticulture sector and understand the processes in place. Kudos to NZ Avocado and AsureQuality for their excellent teamwork.
Adaptability is a must for packers. Changing packing instructions, market requirements, a dry matter result fail, inclement weather affecting picking, market withholding periods, poor harvesting performance, inaccurate crop estimates and many other factors all contribute to the challenges of a day. The weekly packing targets need to be met regardless of any issues and so there is a bit of tight rope walking and a lot of juggling involved. Luckily, it turns out that the circus can be fun. Every day is different and that makes the job exciting. Different packing lines come with the opportunity to work with growers from all walks of life and their interesting stories. I know quite a few packers in the industry and all take pride in producing a quality product that looks great in the tray. Just as you growers are passionate about the quality of your fruit, so are we! Most packers will welcome a visit from growers to watch your fruit going through the facility. I believe that this is a worthwhile exercise because you can see first-hand what the graders are seeing.You can ask the QCs what they think of your line.You can hear the roar of the waterblaster, check on your fruit size, or find out what the issues are with your reject grade fruit. It’s a beautiful thing. I am hoping that this article has achieved three things: 1. It has helped to clarify what happens to your fruit when it hits the packshed and outlined some of the steps along the way. 2. It has explained that we are passionate about maximising grower returns through good processes ensuring positive outturns in the marketplace. 3.Yes, packers are the piggy-in-the-middle clipping the ticket, but we earn it!
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The New Zealand Market Comment
Regan Booth, Sales and Marketing, Primor Produce
regan@primor.co.nz
The New Zealand market saw impressively high values last season and consumer demand continued to increase. Coming into our biggest season yet it is important to maintain momentum and continue to effectively market the amazing New Zealand avocado to avocado-loving consumers.
Regan Booth monitoring Primor ripening rooms.
After the soaring highs of last season, the realities of a
large crop now looms. I’m sure I speak for a few when I say whilst we are heading into what looks like the largest crop we have ever seen, there is an element of confidence. The start of this season could have been extremely challenging, with some being tempted to capitalise on a high market with immature fruit. However, whilst the issues of the past have not been completely forgotten, both major retailers are now requiring independent test results before accepting new season fruit. Far from perfect, but certainly a big step in the right direction. Looking ahead we need to capitalise on what we have learned from last season. Who would have thought that we could retail fruit over $4 and still struggle to meet demand? It’s clear that the New Zealand consumer has matured and the humble avocado has moved on from obscurity and become an increasing staple in many New Zealand households. Customers crave clean, ripened fruit they can rely on – price is becoming secondary in the decision to purchase. Supermarket retail has latched onto this and avocados are now one of the most important money earners in the produce department. This is good news for growers, as it pushes avocados further into the retail promotional strategy.
Regular promotions are key to driving sales and keeping value. Speaking from one side of the retail fence, the promotional calendar for avocados this season is a busy one to say the least. We won’t be ‘taking our foot off the gas’- the leaner we can make the market floor by feeding supermarket retailers, the better value for all. Offering ripened fruit at retail is something we know increases both spend and value. Producing a piece of ripened fruit that provides a good eating experience is a mix of both art and science. Some New Zealand marketers have been ripening fruit for retail for over 10 years and there are state of the art ripening rooms now in use in New Zealand. The most advanced facilities monitor air and pulp temperature, ethylene, C02 and relative humidity. They are computer controlled and have 24hr alarmed monitoring system that alerts ripeners if anything moves outside of acceptable levels. However, even with all this advanced technology, it’s far from fully automatic. Fruit still needs the watchful eye of experienced ripeners to ensure it has the best chance of performing and selling well at retail. The domestic market has made huge progress in recent times, particularly last season. Our challenge now is to keep the momentum, build on what we have learned and ultimately sell more of this fantastic fruit for even greater value.
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Regional Roundup Ian Fulton - Far North
ian.fulton@clear.net.nz
07/08/16
After a very warm autumn, winter has arrived with persistent strong westerlies associated with fronts that seem to be coming through every couple of days. Temperatures have mostly been milder than usual, though a severe frost occurred in early July with temperatures to -4oC recorded in localised areas. Over the last two years the Far North has seen a significant increase in businesses entering the avocado industry. These are mostly medium to large, early stage green field developments. The land these developments are occurring on is mostly marginal dairy or beef farms, and once developed will provide significant employment opportunities and a major boost to the Far North economy. Northland Regional Council is currently processing a large number of resource consents to take water, mostly for these new developments, though also for a number of existing orchards that
Tony Ponder - At Large
do not have a resource consent. Growers in areas where irrigation is required are reminded that an appropriate resource consent is an essential licence to operate. As my term being the NZAGA & AIC Executive Representative for the Far North comes to an end, I would like to reiterate the one area of orchard business that I believe growers are most exposed, namely the need to meet health and safety obligations. Under the new Health & Safety at Work Act, employers have a responsibility to actively engage with staff on health and safety. The best way to demonstrate such engagement is occurring in periodic short meetings with staff ('toolbox meetings') where health and safety on the orchard is discussed. Staff should be empowered to make good decisions, if they think anything is unsafe they must stop and seek guidance before proceeding.
tony@flaxmillavocado.co.nz
14/08/16
Governance separates ownership from control and is to do with stewardship of an entity. One only has to review our recently published Annual Report to appreciate how fast our boat is going, and the depth of change across our industry, to appreciate the role and importance of attracting competent Directors for our future growth and viability. Much is happening at the Board table, across the industry and with management. It is important that we continue to attract capable members who are willing to give of their time to provide strategic leadership and plan our voyage as we continue to accelerate our industry transformation. It was indeed very positive that we had multiple nominations across the regions and a contestable election. By the time you read this article the voting will have been completed and your new Directors appointed - thank you to all who stood and I 14
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personally welcome the opportunity to build functional relationships with our new Board. The timing and potential value of the AVEC (Avocado Exporters Council) market insights tour to China in early September was not lost on me when reflecting on the kiwifruit industry challenges - after having exports temporarily suspended after AQSIQ, the central China authority, issued a market access risk notification requiring agreement on a new protocol. Our avocado industry is not a single point of entry, and unlike Zespri there is no sole exporter so such market access issues pose a challenge to all exporters and the wider industry. Joint collaborative learning across the China access pathway, and the engagement with New Zealand government agency personnel, can only improve the depth of understanding and responsibility in terms of managing this important strategic market.
David French – Rest of New Zealand
famille@ps.gen.nz
05/08/16
A couple of months ago we had a field day at a local South Auckland orchard and one of the topics we discussed was irrigation. There appeared to be a feeling in the group that many of us are over-irrigating our orchards in the summer, and that this was contributing to phytopthora. I like to apply plenty of water in summer when it is dry, so I have been pondering whether or not I have been over-doing it. I also talked to Ashby Whitehead about Te Puke conditions and found that our regions are quite different. For the last three years I have been recording my daily rainfall and totaling it by month - see the table below for the results (in mm). As you can see, we get more rain in winter than in summer (no surprises there), but what stands out is how wet it was in January and February this year compared to the previous two years. When I am irrigating in the dry months, I aim to put on about 25-30mm per week – this is more or less the rainfall we got in January and February this year. The interesting thing is that most growers in our area are reporting good fruit size and tree health at the moment, which I think is largely due to the good rainfall we got at the start of the year. This is also the time when
JAN
FEB
MAR APR
2014 1073
75
13
21
2015 1239
10
35
2016 779
112
100
fruit is growing at its fastest rate, so not a good time to be starved of water. I am convinced that we are not over-irrigating in the summer, but “under-draining” in the winter. In winter we get the most rain, but of course this is the time of year when our trees use the least water. If our drainage is insufficient, soil and trees become waterlogged, phytopthora flourishes and root health declines, and then when we get to the hot, dry summer months, trees which have had their roots compromised in the winter will struggle to size fruit and can be “over-irrigated” because their root systems are poor from “underdrainage”. Trees in well-drained soil will flourish with good irrigation in the summer. Conclusion: Get rid of surplus water in the winter and put it back on in summer. This is my last regional roundup, as my term as a NZAGA & AIC Executive Representative is up. I have enjoyed being a Representative, have learnt a lot about our industry and hopefully made a useful contribution. I would like to wish my fellow Board members and Jen and her team good luck as you steer our industry into the future.
MAY
JUNE
JULY AUG
122
77
185
110
84
136
179
109
164
50
73
80
158
206
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
75
155
83
82
75
234
82
53
128
25
TOTAL
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Industry News New Zealand Avocados back on the menu soon
Newsroom
Source: Instagram
New Zealand restaurants and cafes are being encouraged to follow global health and food trends with the inclusion of avocados on their menu, as a way of attracting more customers through the door. There is good news for café owners and restaurateurs in that over the next month avocado supply will build with a forecast record crop this season, which will ensure plenty of avocados are available for everyone to enjoy this spring and summer. Jen Scoular, Chief Executive of NZ Avocado, says avocados are trending everywhere and by July there will be plenty available to be included in café and restaurant menus. “Avocados have become a versatile and innovative ingredient on breakfast, lunch and dinner menus worldwide. Diners love to see the healthy avocado being used in different ways – and what makes New Zealand avocados even better is that all fresh avocados sold in New Zealand are grown in New Zealand.” Avocado sushi, smoothies, avocado fries, hummus, pasta sauce and salad dressings are all trending, while classic combinations such as smashed avocado on toast, with eggs, in salads and sandwiches are reaching new culinary heights. Mikey Newlands, Executive Chef of Bracu Restaurant in Auckland, loves using avocado in his dishes. “As they are super nutritious, using New Zealand avocados in cooking is a great way to add vitamins and minerals to dishes. Many of my customers say that dishes that utilise avocado are clean, light and easy to eat and something they could eat everyday rather than leaving them feeling heavy or overfed.” Avocados and Mexican food are strongly linked and there has been a visible rise in the popularity of Mexican restaurants in New Zealand, including franchises Mad Mex and Mexicali Fresh. Mad Mex New Zealand Group Managing Director, James Tucker, says that on average they use around a tonne of fresh avocados weekly. “Our amigos love our freshly prepared guacamole that is made from real avocados every single day and proves to be a
Avocado roses are the latest avocado trend taking over social media sites.
very popular extra on our menu.” “Avocado makes for a very healthy, nutritious and authentic add-on to any of our menu items. Whether added to burritos, tacos or as a side served with tortilla chips, guacamole is a key component to Mexican cuisine and is served all year round.” New Zealanders are obsessed with this delicious healthy fruit, following a world-wide foodie trend to enjoy avocados at any time of the day or night and international chefs are now going to great lengths to showcase this super fruit on their latest menus, using their expert knife skills to prepare delicate ‘avocado roses’ and ‘shaved avocado ribbons.’ These visually-stunning tricks are re-inventing the way diners can eat avocado on toast or enjoy avocado as a salad, sandwich or pizza topping. Die-hard avocado lovers are always looking for inventive new ways to enjoy their favourite fruit, and almost all cuisines can now incorporate avocados into their menus in one form or another. Sweet avocado dishes are also growing in popularity including brownies, cheesecake, ice-cream, chocolate mud cakes and a range of other desserts and baked goods.
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Newsroom
Source: Instagram
One of the reasons avocados have become so immensely popular is their amazing health benefits. Diners know that choosing an avocado dish off the menu is a guilt-free way of treating themselves to a delicious meal. Avocados are packed full of healthy monounsaturated fats which are great for cardiovascular health and help keep you fuller for longer. They are also low in sugar and sodium, are a good source of dietary fibre, and contain vital nutrients such as vitamin B6, folate, niacin, vitamin E, vitamin C and potassium. Consumer research conducted late last year showed 90,000 more New Zealand households bought avocados last season (2014-15) compared with the year before and avocados produced record-breaking domestic sales of $41 million during the 2015-16 season. “More people are savouring avocados every season and in our increasingly health-conscious society, that trend is only going to continue,” says Jen.
Beautifully presented shaved avocado on toast on Instagram.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what new avocadoinspired ideas New Zealand’s food service industry can serve up this year to ‘wow’ their customers and take things to another level.”
Together we’re all growing
Call 07 573 0085 for more information
www.trevelyan.co.nz
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Bay of Plenty growing couples reign supreme at Avoco awards
Newsroom
Two Western Bay of Plenty avocado growing couples have showcased their wealth of experience by claiming Avoco’s top awards at the 2016 growers’ conference. Kauri Point orchardists Brian and Jan Robinson clinched Avoco’s Grower of the Year award at the annual event in Auckland in June. The couple, who have a 4ha block of mature Hass avocados, produced a two-year average of 21.7 tonnes per hectare. Nominated for the award by their packhouse Kauripak, they also took home the Team Avocado Grower of the Year trophy. David and Kay Wallace from Omokoroa, who pack with Apata, took home the Primor Grower of the Year trophy for their efforts producing just over 17 tonnes per hectare over the same two-year period. A significant change to this year’s awards saw entrants no longer judged on their immediate past season’s production. Instead packhouses were asked to submit nominations based on growers’ average total tonnes per hectare, export percentage and fruit size profile for the past two seasons. “We’re absolutely thrilled,” says Jan. “We have been in the industry for 33 years so it was really neat, and we were rapt to get the top award.” Purchasing their rural property north of Katikati in 1984, the couple have about 310 Hass trees of varying ages and have carved out an innovative success story. They were one of the first orchardists to adopt aerial
AVOCO’s Grower of the Year winners Brian and Jan Robinson with AVOCO directors Alistair Young and John Carroll at the 1920s-themed prizegiving and conference dinner. Photo Supplied
spraying, while also supporting many tried and tested practices associated with feeding their trees and protecting them from phytophthora. What the Wallace’s 0.8ha block lacks in size is made up for by their in-depth knowledge of their 53 Hass avocado trees. “Management is probably easier on a smaller orchard because I know each of the trees individually,” says David. “I talk to each of them and I can see what they want. If they are hungry, I’ll feed them and so on.” The couple purchased the orchard nine years ago and undertake most jobs themselves, including picking and pruning.
2016 Annual Report released The NZAGA and AIC Annual Report for 2016 is now available and was sent to all PPIN holders with AGM documents in July. The report includes industry and project highlights, avocado production and export statistics and a summary of financial statements for the year ending 30 April 2016. All industry stakeholders are encouraged to keep up to date on industry developments through these reports and other industry updates.You can find a full set of accounts for the year on the industry website: About > Funding > Financial Reports.
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Bay of Plenty field day wrap-ups
Newsroom
Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz
There was a fantastic turn out of growers at the Kauripak field day.
NZ Avocado held three field days in the Bay of Plenty at the end of June. Across these three days many growers braved the winter weather to come and hear about NZ Avocado’s research, as well as practical demonstrations, orchard walks and plenty of discussion. The first field day was held at Pat and Dawn Torr’s orchard and was run in conjunction with DMS and Just Avocados Ltd. Jen Scoular began with an industry update and was followed by NZ Avocado’s Market Manager Bevan Jelley and Rick Hannay from Zeafruit who provided an outline of the promotions that have been behind growing the domestic market to the record value we reached in the 2015-16 season. Phillip West, NZ Avocado’s research officer, talked about water use in avocado trees, soil structure and some of the exciting research coming out of the MBIE funded Avocados for Export irrigation project. Kyra Ratcliffe from GROlogic also talked us through soil microbial and bacterial activity and general soil health. Following this, field day attendees enjoyed a great lunch put on by the team at DMS, where discussions from the mornings activities continued. The second field day, run in conjunction with Seeka, was relocated indoors as torrential rain belted the Bay of Plenty. Luckily, Seeka provided their tearoom for the indoor field day and many growers still came out despite the lack of avocado trees. Marisa Till, NZ Avocado’s research manager, presented some of the highlights of the research being done through the Primary Growth Partnership Programme, NZ Avocado’s Go Global and the MBIE Avocados for Export programme. Danni van der Heijden, NZ Avocado’s
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research associate presented findings from the temperature research being done through the MBIE programme, and led discussion about the movement of cold air through an orchard and how this can be impacted by shelterbelts. Lynnaire Avers, Seeka’s avocado category manager, ran through an exercise on crop estimation with the growers in attendance. The third field day was held on Louise Dinmore and Peter Woods orchard in conjunction with Kauripak and Avoco. We chanced the weather and stayed with the orchard, although five minutes before the field day was due to start the skies opened. Hugh Moore, Kauripak’s managing director, led a discussion as we walked through the orchard about ‘spring start up’, outlining what growers need to be thinking about to get trees ready for the spring flush. With umbrellas a plenty, everyone wandered through the orchard and Phillip demonstrated how to take a root sample for phosphonate testing. We then escaped indoors to one of Kauripak’s sheds where Hugh continued to discuss essential parts of spring management, Phillip discussed the irrigation research and Alistair Young, Avoco director, gave a quick market update to growers about the coming season. A barbecue and some very welcome mulled wine followed. Although the weather was not on our side, the field days provided a great forum for lively discussions and informative demonstrations with many growers attending all three days. Please visit the NZ Avocado website if you would like a copy of the handout and key messages from these field days.
New faces Tyler Keenleyside
Tyler grew up in Te Puke and attended Te Puke High School and completed an information systems degree at Massey University in Palmerston North before working for five years at Toyota New Zealand’s head office in the same city. She began as a systems analyst and moved to managing the company’s used vehicle operations before being tempted back to the Bay of Plenty by a job in the avocado industry. In July she took up the position of Industry Analyst with NZ Avocado.
“I’m excited to be back in the Bay of Plenty and especially working in the avocado industry which is in an exciting growth phase.
Newsroom
Numbers fascinate Tyler Keenleyside. She loves delving into facts and figures and extracting the information they reveal – so much so it’s become her career.
Industry Analyst, NZ Avocado
“Avocados are such an excellent fruit and so popular world-wide that it’s great to be involved in the industry at this time.” Tyler’s role involves analysing data about virtually every aspect of the industry from on-orchard production to export volumes.
to $280 million by 2023.
The data she analyses supports the monitoring of the industry’s progress towards its Primary Growth Partnership programme, ‘Go Global’ goals which aims to triple productivity and quadruple returns
As well as enjoying the challenges of her new role, Tyler is looking forward to summer in the Bay of Plenty, enjoying the outdoors and beaches and also has plans to buy or build a new home.
Tyler Keenleyside.
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Industry matters Sustainable farming fund – Mating disruption as a management tool for leafrollers in Avocados Newsroom
A three-year project looking at the development of mating disruption technology for use to control leafrollers in avocado orchards has been funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Farming Fund. A proof of concept trial was performed in 2014-15, and whilst this trial provided encouraging results it indicated the need for a mating disruption blend optimised for all leafroller species that can cause damage within avocado orchards. Nicola Mauchline, a scientist with Plant & Food Research in Te Puke, will lead this project and work with scientists from Plant & Food Research in Hawke’s Bay and Lincoln University. Other collaborators include Etec Crop Solutions
Ltd, Fruitfed, NZ Avocado staff and a number of growers. The project commenced on 1 July 2016 and aims to deliver a mating disruption blend for use against leafrollers in avocado orchards to support the sector’s goal of reducing agrichemical residues. New best practice guidelines for implementing mating disruption will be developed which promises to increase the role of biological control in our avocado orchards. Progress and updates will be communicated through field days and regular Avoscene articles. Growers will be able to assess the potential costs and benefits associated to employing this technology by using a calculator developed during this project.
Bumblebee Project Hawke's Bay Today, Hawke's Bay by Patrick O'Sullivan 29 Jul 2016
A project with local application in the Hawkes Bay that a company has invested in was a bumblebee research project with artificial nest boxes. This project is cofunded by the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), Zespri, NZ Avocado and Summerfruit NZ, in association with an $8.2 million Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment investment.
Bay's horticulture, and this research programme was cross-sector as it aimed to deliver new pollination systems applicable in multiple settings.
Photo: Brian Cutting, Plant & Food Research
Heinz Wattie's managing director, Mike Pretty reported bumblebee colonies were critical to the health of Hawke's
"Improved pollination rate means better yields, and benefits for our growers, as well as our business," he said.
"We are already beginning to see the benefits on one of the supplier farms, Mike and Julie Russell, who grow the famous Black Doris plums."
Calendar of events NZAGA & AIC Board meetings
Whangarei Grower Forum
• 6 October
27 September – Toll Stadium,
• 24 November
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Whangarei
Field Days
Taste of Auckland
26 September - Whangarei 28 September - Far North
17-20 November, Western Springs, Auckland
See the NZ Avocado website for more details
tasteofauckland.co.nz
Recommended reading By Phillip West, R&D Officer, New Zealand Avocado
phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz
High carb diet with a side of boron important for New Zealand avocado flower “success”
Flowers that successfully set fruit had higher levels of carbohydrate than those that didn’t in both New Zealand and Spain. Successful New Zealand flowers also had significantly higher levels of boron than their unsuccessful counterparts. The correlation with boron wasn’t carried through to
Spanish flowers however, with no significant difference between successful and unsuccessful flowers. Both the successful and unsuccessful Spanish flowers had higher boron levels than New Zealand flowers though, presenting the question of how much is enough?
Newsroom
We all see the multitude of flowers avocado trees produce with growers often lamenting, “if only a few more of them set fruit”. So what does it take to go from flower to fruit? Fruit set is influenced by a range of factors including flower timing and temperature, the presence and effectiveness of pollinators, pollen viability and likely additional factors that we are yet to discover. Even when the time is taken to pollinate flowers by hand, the success rate is lower than 5%; so what determines whether a flower is capable of setting fruit or not? Researchers from Plant & Food Research and the Spanish National Research Council have looked at the carbohydrate and boron resources of flowers from both New Zealand and Spain and found some interesting results. They present their findings in the paper, “Carbohydrate and boron content of styles of ‘Hass’ avocado (Persea Americana Mill.) flowers at anthesis can affect final fruit set”, which can be found by searching the title on Google.
This paper highlights the importance of ensuring your trees are “set up” for spring which is discussed in more detail in the article on page 27. Some points to keep in mind are: - A balanced crop load with a healthy canopy will ensure carbohydrate reserves build to adequate levels through winter to support flowering and fruit set. - A good fertiliser programme will ensure the tree has critical nutrients, such as boron, that are important during the flowering and the fruit set period. Adequate fertiliser is also vital to maintaining a robust and functional canopy, critical for tree performance. - Maintain a healthy root system is just as important as a healthy canopy. Maintain a good layer of mulch, manage soil moisture and control of phytophthora will all help keep your roots in the best condition possible.
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 November: Leaf drop, pages 9-10 • October to December: Spring flush, pages 11-15 • September: Roots, pages 28-29 • September: Canopy density, pages 30-31 Once your trees have been assessed you will be ready to consider the suggested intervention strategies.
At the bottom of each section in this guide there are a number of factors to consider to optimise your orchard management.You will need to determine which is the best option for your own situation – if in doubt, seek specialist advice. Download the Reading Your Trees workbook from the industry website under Resources > and select Orchard Management Guidelines from the drop down box. This workbook complements the Reading Your Trees guide and allows you to record your assessments.
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Avocado news from the world Partners host China avocado conference
Newsroom
Chinese importer Lantao International and major global avocado grower-packer-shipper Mission Produce launched the China Avocado Congress last week. Held in Guangzhou on 28 July, the conference brought together more than 200 wholesalers, distributors, retailers and other industry stakeholders to discuss market development for avocados in China. China’s avocado imports have begun to take off in the past few years, and Lantao has been playing a pioneering role to develop the trade together with Mission Produce. In the 12 months to May 2016, China’s import volumes surged to reach almost 20,000 tonnes, 157 per cent up on the previous year. Mexico remained by far the leading supplier, with more than 70 per cent of sendings, Chile made up 28 per cent while there were early trial shipments from Peru. Lantao president John Wang spoke at the event, providing a review of the development of avocado imports over the past four years. “We invest great importance in the experience of every avocado consumer, and this is why we decided to host this congress,” he explained. “We hope to provide professional knowledge to consumers on how to pick, store and eat avocados.” Wang added that China’s first avocado ripening facility will be completed in Shanghai in September, with a goal to provide ready-to-eat avocados to the majority of Chinese consumers. Educating consumers on how to eat avocados will also be a key focus for Lantao in the future, he added. Mission Produce’s director of global grower relations Keith
Barnard, director of global operations Ben Barnard, and Tommy Padilla, Asia sales manager, all spoke at the China Avocado Congress, covering various subjects including production, picking, packing, transportation. They discussed the Lantao-Mission Produce partnership in China and their market development strategy in depth. Padilla told Asiafruit that the Mexican crop would have a smaller size curve for the 2016/17 season. “Fruit looks to be peaking on counts 30 and 35 instead of the 24s (5.6kg pack) we mainly had last year,” he said. “That’s after we spent a lot of time and effort to persuade the market to accept larger fruit. But the Chinese market has traditionally preferred 60s and 70s, so it should actually work out well for us.” Padilla confirmed that the Chinese market for Hass avocados had really taken off in the last three or four years, but cautioned that shippers needed to be careful not to oversupply the market. “It’s early in the new season and only around 20 to 25 container loads are being shipped weekly,” he told Asiafruit. “The market can probably handle between 30 to 35 loads per week and continue to be stable. “Last season, there was too much fruit getting shipped sometimes because lots of new importers with no experience handling avocados jumped in on the deal. That made for a wide range of (market) prices at times.” Source: http://www.fruitnet.com/asiafruit/article/169495/lantao-and-missionhost-china-avocado-conference
Avocado volume smaller, demand larger than last year again The avocado market remains sky-high. “We are out of green avocados, and there is a shortage. They cannot touch the ground, and we can only barely fulfil our programmes. Prices are increasing to 13 euros for green avocados, and the market for Hass avocados is also good,” says Ate Kalsbeek of Dutch sales office Halls. He also predicts a good market for the coming weeks. “Total volumes are not larger than last year, and consumption has been growing faster than production for a number of years already, which explains the tight market to a large extent.” “Especially demand for ready-to-eat show an increase, because we are purely focusing on constantly delivering quality. We will not make concessions to this. We will receive avocados from South Africa until the beginning of October.
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Furthermore, we have supply from Peru, but that is not excessively high. The first arrivals from Tanzania and Kenya are on their way. Until November we expect weekly arrivals from our Kenyan partner Kakuzi, the largest cultivator in all of Africa who supplies constant quality.” “The market is also not being flooded with mangoes,” Kalsbeek continues. “Supply mostly comes from the Dominican Republic and Senegal, or it is flown in from Brazil. We are waiting for the first arrivals from Senegal from our good shipping agents. Demand for mangoes is also good. Prices are strongly dependent on quality, but good mangoes are being sold for 8 euros.” Source: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/160827/Avocado-volume-smaller,demand-larger-than-last-year-again
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Pest & disease watch: Brown root rot Brad Siebert, Biosecurity and Programme Manager, NZ Avocado
brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz
Surviving in warm environments as close as Australia, Brown root rot can be difficult to manage and can rapidly kill entire trees. Here is a guide on what to look for and how to control it. What is brown root rot?
Brown root rot (Phellinus noxius) is a soil-borne fungal disease that is not present in New Zealand but is widespread in regions of Asia, Africa, Oceania (including Australia), Central America and the Caribbean. The fungus has a very broad host range, is difficult to control and can result in the death of multiple trees within an orchard. On the Orchard
As the fungus does not survive or spread at low temperatures, the disease is most prevalent in the warmer sub tropical and tropical regions of New South Wales and Queensland Australia, making orchards in the far north of New Zealand most at risk if this pathogen was ever to be found in our growing regions. What should I look for?
The name ‘Brown root rot’ refers to the brown to black mycelial crust formed by the fungus on the surface of infected roots. The most characteristic symptoms of this disease are seen at the base of the trunk where mycelial ‘stocking’ can be seen extending from the ground which looks like a dark coloured fungal sheath girdling the lower trunk, however this is not always present. This infection stocking may be bordered with a white margin during active fungal growth which turns dark brown with seasonal changes or as the disease progresses. In most cases the whole canopy will suddenly wilt and die within just a few weeks. Leaves and fruit suddenly wilt and turn brown yet may remain attached to the tree for many weeks. Brown root rot can cause a rapid decline in trees of all ages yet foliage symptoms may take longer to develop in mature trees. By the time fungal stocking symptoms are seen around the trees base a rapid collapse of the tree may follow due to a girdling of the vascular system and widespread impacts to the trees roots and lower conductive tissues. When roots are able to be inspected these can appear encrusted with soil held together by the brown mycelium of the fungus. Other root rots, like Verticillium wilt, can have similar canopy symptoms yet these will often be confined to a single branch or section of the tree. However, in Brown root rot the entire canopy will be uniformly affected which could also be confused with waterlogging or severe frost damage. 26
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Entire canopy can wilt and die within a few days. Photo: Elizabeth Dann, QAAFI
Characteristic fungal stocking moving up the trunk. Photo: Elizabeth Dann, QAAFI
How is it spread and controlled?
The fungus usually spreads via root to root contact and through healthy roots coming into contact with infested woody material in soil. In some environments the fungus has the potential to spread through airborne spores when fungal fruiting bodies are present although this appears rare in avocado where fruiting bodies are seldom seen. Infected soil and plant debris could be easily spread within and between orchards through contaminated machinery/tools and infected wood movement. With the ability for the fungus to survive for many years within wood debris in the soil, infected wood should not be chipped and used as mulch but isolated and burnt. When an infected tree is discovered the apparently healthy tree on either side of it should be removed as it is likely to be already infected in order to prevent them infecting the trees next to them. Root barriers are recommended around affected areas to prevent roots from healthy trees coming into to contact with contaminated root material. When attempting to replant affected areas the soil must be thoroughly worked and any tree wood or roots from infected trees must be removed and then the site fallowed to allow any remaining material to completely break down. Who can I call?
Any unusual plant symptoms or plant pests you have noticed on your orchard can reported in confidence to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) on 0800 80 99 66 info@mpi. govt.nz or by contacting NZ avocado 07 571 6147.
Spring time hustle - Flowering is the most important time of the year! Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz
Spring time comes with a flourish of activity, particularly in an avocado orchard. By preparing your trees well and ensuring they are adequately resourced throughout spring, your orchard will be primed to maximise the potential of the new season crop.
flush is important to encourage consistent cropping. Many orchards are hanging a bumper crop now so have the potential be heading into an ‘off’ year in 2017, however, if your trees have a particularly heavy flower load this spring you may want to consider flower thinning. Flower thinning aims to reduce the drain on the tree’s resources of heavy flowering and the resulting fruit set and also helps to encourage shoot growth for next season’s flowering wood.
It is important the trees are well prepared for the spring flush, flowering, and the initial fruit growth period. Growers should prepare their trees with a disciplined fertiliser regime, sufficient to sustain the current crop, grow the new crop and feed the vegetative flush. Boron is an important fertiliser consideration around flowering. To maximise fruit set from the flowers, it is essential that boron levels are adequate during flowering time. Application rates and timing are exceptionally important for optimal results and avoiding toxicity issues – seek advice from your consultant or agrichemical supplier about how much boron should be applied, the best time to apply it and the best way to apply it. Calcium is another important consideration at this time of year; it is particularly important for fruit quality. Research from the University of California, Riverside has shown that avocado fruit acquire the majority of their calcium in the initial stages of growth, therefore it is essential it is available during this initial growth stage. Adequate soil moisture is another important consideration during flowering; flowers have no ability to regulate their transpiration, so an avocado tree’s water use will increase during flowering. Researchers at the University of Waikato have estimated this increase in water use to be around 15%. This extra water use may not require irrigation rates to be increased as New Zealand can be prone to having wet springs, and NIWA is reporting this spring is likely to have either average
On the Orchard
Maintaining a balance between flowers and vegetative
or above average rainfall. Monitoring soil moisture and using that to guide your irrigation strategy will allow you to maintain optimal moisture levels. This is the best way to ensure that the trees have enough water without becoming waterlogged. Look out for Avoconnect to see our water use charts – these may help you decide if you are irrigating sufficiently. Frost protection – if you have it, keep it going! Flowers are extremely sensitive to frost, and low temperatures in spring can severely impact fruit set and the following year’s crop. After coming out of a heavy cropping year for most, maximising the potential of this coming crop is exceedingly important. So, where possible growers should protect this spring’s flowers from frost. Remember to consider bees and other pollinators, as they play a crucial role in pollination. Don’t spray during the day, especially when the flowers are open, and try and choose “bee friendly” sprays where possible. Contact your bee keeper early to confirm their availability. With the increase in the value of honey production some beekeepers are moving away from pollination services. If you are dealing with a new beekeeper, make sure the quality of their service is up to your standard. Talk to them about their hives and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Keep up the walks through your orchard and keep an eye out for pests; the earlier you find them and deal with them, the better chance at minimising their damage. Consider withholding periods and MRLs when applying sprays, especially if you are planning to harvest soon. With harvest starting many growers will be getting contract pickers, pruners and others to come on to their orchards. With the new health and safety legislation introduced in April 2016, we recommend visiting the WorkSafe New Zealand website and making sure you understand what your responsibilities are.
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Irrigation requirements for avocado Mike Clearwater and Teruko Kaneko, School of Science, University of Waikato
m.clearwater@waikato.ac.nz
On the Orchard
Preliminary research shows insufficient water can hit growers in the pocket despite Bay of Plenty soils likely providing a good soil moisture buffer through spring. Read more about this research below.
Fig. 1 Rainout shelters installed around young flowering avocado trees in the orchard in Katikati, Bay of Plenty.
How often does water stress affect fruit set and fruit growth?
Is it true that irrigation is an important factor in achieving good fruit quality and productivity of avocado? What happens if avocado trees are not irrigated and become waterstressed over the flowering period or during early fruit development? Many growers believe that water use by avocado trees increases dramatically over the flowering period, and are therefore more prone to water stress. Trees that are flowering heavily often appear stressed, with flagging and yellowing of leaves, but it is not clear whether these symptoms are actually caused by water stress. In 1988, Tony Whiley measured the transpiration rate of individual Fuerte flowers in a laboratory in Queensland and predicted that flowers added around 13% to transpiration during flowering. Several years ago we used sap flow probes
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and other techniques to measure the actual amount of water used by Hass flowers on trees at Plant & Food Research in Te Puke. It was found that heavy flowering added about 15% to total water use – remarkably close to Tony’s earlier prediction. This increase is significant, but is probably not enough to accelerate the onset of water stress at a time of year in New Zealand orchards when soil moisture levels are usually quite high. However, the yields of many crops are very sensitive to water stress at flowering, so it is still reasonable to ask whether avocado flowers are susceptible to even mild water stress in spring. The rainout experiment
Over the last two seasons the water requirements of avocado trees have been investigated in two orchards near Katikati, Bay of Plenty, by a team from Plant & Food Research, NZ Avocado and the University of Waikato. In
Fig. 3 Examples of flower observations. Large numbers of flowers were monitored for retention as fruitlets (a), for over 100 days after first opening in the female phase. The daily timing of female flower opening (b) was monitored on selected days by periodically counting the number of open flowers through the day. On the Orchard
Fig. 2 Soil water tension at three depths (0-30 cm, 31-60, and 61-90 cm) beneath watered and non-watered trees inYear 1 (a, b), andYear 2 (c, d), estimated from volumetric soil moisture measurements. Soil moisture fluctuated beneath the watered trees in response to precipitation and irrigation. Red arrows indicate the period of the rainout treatment in both seasons.
the July issue of Avoscene we presented the results of a year’s worth of monthly tree water use measurements. In this article we describe the results of related experiments where the goal was to deliberately cause water stress and examine its effect on flowering and early fruit growth. ‘Rainout’ shelters are experimental covers used to prevent rainfall reaching plants in the field. In field crops these are often moveable and only cover the crop during rainfall events. In a tree crop like avocado this is not practical, so our rainout shelters were semi-permanent covers (4.2 x 4.9 m) installed over the root zone underneath three year old trees (Fig. 1). From October 2014 to April 2015, the ‘watered’ plants (no rainout shelters) were well irrigated and fertilised while the ‘non-watered’ plants received no irrigation, precipitation, or fertilisers. The initial plan was to cause water stress over flowering, with no difference in fertiliser application. However, because the treatment had little effect on flowering, we kept the shelters in place through the summer, affecting both water supply and fertiliser application to the non-watered plants. The experiment was then repeated at a second orchard from October 2015 to April 2016.
Fig. 4 Fruit growth in weight (g) of the watered and non-watered treatments in years 1 (a) and 2 (b). Fruit weight was estimated from calliper measurements of fruit dimensions, calibrated against samples of harvested fruit.
Year 1
During the rainout treatment, the soil water content and tension under the non-watered trees gradually declined over time (Fig. 2a,b). When we marked and followed the fate of 2897 open female flowers through the flowering seasons, we saw no difference between the treatments in the proportion of flowers that were retained to become fruitlets (Fig. 3a). There were also no effects on the daily pattern of female flower opening (Fig. 3b), even though opening is a turgor driven process and so might be affected by tree water status. However, a clear difference between the two treatments appeared after the period of initial fruit-set. When the rainout shelters were left in place they caused a strong reduction in fruit growth (Fig. 4). Fruit growth was slower in the non-watered treatment compared to the watered, from as soon as we began non-destructively monitoring fruit size using callipers in January. When the shelters were removed in late May and soil moisture levels returned to normal under the non-watered trees, there was no compensatory increase in fruit growth. Interestingly, while the treatments affected fruit growth,
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they had no effect on the immature fruit drop that normally occurs in January and February (Fig. 5).
On the Orchard
Overall the rainout treatments did not have strong visible effects on tree health. The shelters do not exclude all rainwater, and we suspect the trees were accessing water from deeper soil layers and near the edges of the shelters. Water potential measurements (not-shown) suggest they were experiencing only mild levels of water stress. We present soil water tensions in Figure 2 because many growers rely on tensiometers for making irrigation decisions. Our tensions were estimated from volumetric measurements of water content obtained using TDR soil moisture probes (which are better suited to continuous monitoring). The estimation of tensions depends on assumptions about soil properties. While the range of tension values shown in Figure 2 should be interpreted with caution, they suggest that it took some time in spring (October and November) for the upper soil layers to dry out under the shelters, and the lower soil layers were always quite wet. Despite the lack of obvious drought symptoms, leaf nutrient tests confirmed a reduction in leaf nutrient content in the non-watered trees. A severe frost affected the orchard in July 2015, two months after the rainout treatments had been removed. Even though the treatments had ended, the rate of fruit loss caused by the frost was higher in the non-watered trees than in the watered trees (Fig. 5). We suspect this effect was caused by the reduced shoot growth and lower leaf nutrient content of the treated trees, making them more vulnerable to frost events and significant fruit loss before harvest. The fruit from the two treatments were harvested in early November 2015. Across all trees fruit drop and fruit size were correlated with crop load, which varied randomly between trees. Trees with more fruit had higher rates of pre-harvest fruit drop and smaller fruit. After accounting for the effects of crop load, we estimated that the rainout treatment increased total pre-harvest fruit loss by 35% and reduced fruit size by 11%. The total reduction in fruit yield caused by the non-watered treatment was approximately 40%. Year 2
The experiment was repeated in the 2015-16 summer, although we moved to a different orchard because of
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Fig. 5. Fruit retention rates, after initial fruit set, of the watered and non-watered treatments in years 1 (a) and 2 (b).
the effects of the frost on flowering in the first orchard. Rainfall in summer 2015-16 was above normal in Bay of Plenty, and soil water content under the rainout shelters did not decline dramatically (Fig. 2c,d). Even though we trenched around the trees and laid plastic to prevent lateral water movement, we were unable to completely exclude rainwater. Therefore, during the rainout treatment, the non-watered plants did not show any signs of water stress, and we did not observe treatment effects on flowering and fruit growth (Fig. 4b, 5b). Summary
Avocado is known to be susceptible to water deficit during flowering and fruit development. The results of two years of observation suggest that water stress in spring that is severe enough to affect flowering does not often occur in soils like those in Katikati, Bay of Plenty, because of frequent rainfall and high levels of available soil water at the beginning of the flowering period. Tree nutrition and water availability, particularly in the upper soil layers, should be monitored carefully during flowering, but excessive irrigation should be avoided. However, fruit growth is highly sensitive to even mild water stress from the small fruitlet stage onwards. In addition, nutrient deficits are often associated with water stress because soil moisture affects nutrient availability and transport. Good irrigation and fertiliser programs are essential to achieve optimal yields and minimise the impact of other stresses, such as cold winter temperatures. Acknowledgements We thank John Schnackenberg and Andrew and Maria Watchorn for generously allowing us to use their orchards for these experiments.
HARVESTING, LEASING AND MANAGEMENT OPTIONS TO SUIT YOU
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How do low temperatures effect fruit set of Hass? Nick Gould, Nicky Haisman, Teruko Kaneko, Bill Snelgar from Plant & Food Research Danni van der Heijden, Research Associate, NZ Avocado danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz
On the Orchard
In 2014, Plant & Food Research and NZ Avocado embarked on a project looking into the effect of temperature during flowering on the development and viability of the ovule. We take a look at some of the key findings from this research so far.
Figure 1: Potted trees were placed in a temperature controlled glasshouse throughout flowering.
After two years of research we found: • Exposure to temperatures of 4oC or lower increased ovule abortion in mature flower buds. The ovule is the part of the flower bud that produces the fruit. • However, immature flower buds (<2.7mm diameter) were not damaged by such low temperature events. • Ovule abortion may be common in commercial orchards. In one orchard up to 89% of ovules showed signs of damage when they were open as a female flower. • Flowers opening earlier in the flowering period showed much less ovule damage than flowers that opened very late in the flowering period. This may be one of the reasons why early flowers are more likely to set fruit. The ‘Hass’ avocado (Persea americana Mill. Hass) can produce up to a one million flowers per tree, but, the rate of final fruit set is generally very low (<0.1%). The reasons for such poor set are still not well understood. Since avocado evolved in tropical and subtropical areas it is
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possible that in New Zealand conditions, cold temperatures could negatively influence floral development contributing to the low fruit set. Healthy ovules are essential for fruit to set; ovule abortion means that flower will not set fruit. We have developed a method to look at healthy ovules through detecting presence of callose in the ovary. Our work, started in spring 2014, is looking at the effect of temperature during flowering on the development and viability of the ovule. Three experiments were carried out to define how low temperature effects ovule viability: 1. Potted trees
During flowering potted trees were placed in a temperature controlled glasshouse and maintained at 11oC min and 25oC max. Around mid-bloom one group of trees were placed in a coolstore at 2oC for four hours and a second group at 5oC for four hours, then returned to the glasshouse. Ovaries were sampled from all trees throughout the flowering period.
Cooling potted avocado trees to 2oC significantly reduced the number of healthy ovules when sampled four days after the cooling treatment. However, ovules sampled later on were not damaged. We think this means that the flowers that are about to open are most susceptible to chilling damage. Reducing the temperature to 5oC had no effect on ovule damage compared to the control. There was a general reduction over time in the percentage of healthy ovules in the control trees.
Controlled temperature chambers were placed around four flowering branches for one night during full bloom. The chambers allowed the temperature to be reduced to 4oC for four hours during that night. Four control branches were maintained at ambient temperature (min 8oC). The chambers were removed the following morning. Four days after treatment ovules were sampled from a range of buds.
On the Orchard
2. Controlling temperature in an orchard
Figure 2:The percentage of healthy ovules from open female flowers buds declined during spring. Flower buds were collected from potted trees grown in the glasshouse
Figure 3 shows the differences in healthy ovules post treatment of buds at different stages. Stages A-D relate to the development stage of the bud at the time of sampling A = immature â&#x2030;¤2.7mm diameter, B = developed pre-opening as a female, C = open as female, D = recently opened as a female. P values show significance level for comparisons between each treatment at each stage of bud development. Using cooling chambers to chill buds for four hours showed that reducing the temperature to 4oC significantly reduced the percentage of healthy buds, but only among those buds in the more mature development phases (stages B to D). In contrast there was no significant effect on the immature buds (â&#x2030;¤2.7mm diameter, stage A). 3. Orchard survey
Two populations of avocado trees were selected within a sloping avocado block, one on the ridge and other in the gully. The block consistently showed a difference in minimum temperature through the flowering season between the ridge
Figure 3:Trees with controlled temperature chambers. Percentage of healthy (no callose) ovules from flower buds collected four days after a 4h treatment of 4oC or 8oC. Stages A-D relate to the development stage of the bud at the time of sampling.
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and gully. Ovules were collected and examined for damage on the 29th, 31st October and 3rd November following a cold night on 25th October. Temperatures in the gully were up to 4oC lower than temperatures on the ridge. Female flowers collected from trees in the gully four to nine days after a cold event had significantly fewer healthy ovules than those from trees on the ridge. In the cold area of the gully, up to 89% percent of the ovules were damaged by the time they opened as a female compared with 60-65% from the ridge. Summary On the Orchard
It is difficult to define exactly how temperature affects fruit set of avocado because it is difficult to manipulate temperature in a commercial orchard. However, by using a range of experimental techniques we have shown that:
Figure 4: Percentage of healthy ovules collected from flowers open in the female state on three dates following a cold event on 25th Oct. Samples were collected from either the ridge or gully.
flowers opening later in the flowering period were more likely to have ovule damage than those opening at the start of the period.
• A cold period of 2-4oC reduces the viability of female flowers that open shortly after the cold treatment.
• It is possible that in commercial orchards only a small number of the flowers open on any day are fertile. For instance on one sampling day only 11% of flowers sampled were capable of setting fruit.
• In contrast, immature buds (≤2.7mm diameter) were not damaged by the cold treatment. • Even when temperatures were always kept above 11oC,
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Tips for having a bee friendly environment The trees are pushing buds towards flowering, a critical time for the industry and also a time when bees are at their most active in our orchards. When it comes to achieving a bee friendly environment in your orchard, there are important rules to follow.
On the Orchard
Sprays
Bees are threatened when chemicals are applied under the wrong conditions, so growers need to be careful when spraying their crops. There are some simple rules when considering agricultural sprays and irrigation and this is as applicable to lifestyle block orchards as it is to commercial orchards: • When applying chemicals, read the label carefully and follow the instructions. • A chemical may be said to be "bee friendly", but do not take the risk. Often, the "sticking agent" mixed with the chemical can be more dangerous to bees than the active product. • If the crop is flowering and bees are flying and working the crop, leave spraying until dusk and before dawn. This is generally better than the day itself, with less wind and less spray drift. • When applying an insecticide make sure the application is done within the recommended time frame before beehives are introduced into the orchard. • Grass must be mown prior to application – thus removing as many flowers as possible from the orchard. • When an organic or fungicidal product application is required during flowering, spray at times when bees are not foraging – before 8am and after 5pm and if possible use a low fan speed.
• Check Willow shelters are not in flower before spraying – if they are, look at using an alternative product. • Cover water sources bees are likely to visit • Ensure any spraying contractor is fully briefed on your requirements. Deliberately flaunting these guidelines is a prosecutable offence and the prospects of a beekeeper accepting a contract to pollinate your crops in the future will be greatly diminished. • Keep in contact with neighbours, especially when different varieties or crops are involved and pollination may coincide with insecticide applications. Irrigation
Irrigation water is a major threat to bee life. Bees cannot live in a cold-wet environment and will rapidly chill and die before returning to the hive. • Use common sense and irrigate in the evening and not during the day when bees are flying. This has the advantage of greater water retention for pasture and crops. • If you want hives in a crop, ensure an irrigator cannot drift across and wet the hives. For more details on creating a bee-friendly environment go to: www.nba.org.nz
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How do my sprays work? Brad Siebert, Biosecurity and Programme Manager, NZ Avocado brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager, NZ Avocado glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz
On the Orchard
Understanding how your sprays work to target and eradicate avocado pests will help you make more informed pest management decisions.
Casually monitoring your orchard lets you know if any
Reports
plant pests are present but regular monitoring using a consistent and structured approach gives you that further insight into how abundant each pest is. With the increasing costs of applying a spray and the more selective chemistry now on offer, having information on pest types and their abundance is essential when you have to weigh up whether a spray is justified. Once AvoGreen monitoring thresholds are met, the choice of which spray to use depends on a range of factors including the pests you are targeting and which product(s) is effective. Of equal importance is considering the risk of residues at harvest and the chemicals wider impact on the environment and to beneficial organisms in your orchard â&#x20AC;&#x201C; such as bees. Most pesticides will need full regulatory approval as they have direct toxic modes of action against a target pest. Other pest control methods like mating disruption technologies using pheromones are considered bio-pesticides and have less rules around their use on the orchard. This article is not to restate the importance of using only the
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products that are registered for avocados, or the approved application rates, as all growers can make these decisions from what is listed on the label. What is below, is a summary of the main groups of chemicals registered for avocados and their â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;modes of actionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; - i.e. how they reach and kill the pest. Very rarely will one spray product kill all pests of concern, so having more information helps you decide which chemicals are best for your situation. Pesticides have different modes of action to kill a pest. Some, like growth inhibitors, will target a particular life stage to affect moulting and are therefore only effective against immature insects rather than adults. This is why Prodigy is targeted for leafroller caterpillars. Other products may be more effective against more specific stages of growth. For example, Bt works best against the smaller immature leafroller caterpillars. With pests that are more seasonal in occurrence, such as greenhouse thrips (GHT) or 6-spotted mite (6SM), knowing whether populations are likely to increase or not also helps with decisions around when you might spray. If numbers of GHT are decreasing, a second spray may not be needed
and the suggested interval range of 10-21 days between two thrips sprays should be adjusted to be shorter under warm conditions when pest numbers may increase rapidly or longer with the cooler weather as autumn progresses. The examples above highlight that those wanting to most effectively control pests need to know not just what is present but also the abundance and a general understanding of the pest life-cycle.
there are high populations of adults, a knockdown miticide is recommended. Midgut targets (stomach poisons) These chemicals are often lepidopteran(moth)-specific toxins which disrupt the functioning of the insects midgut membranes or attack other midgut functions. Often resulting in paralysis and subsequent death of the insect.
The different chemical groups and their modes of actions vary. Organophosphates often have an immediate knockdown affect, whereas the newer chemistries such as Pesticide Modes of Action are often grouped into five broad categories based on the physiological functions they affect in Prodigy generally take longer to cause death. Therefore, even when the insect has received a lethal dose, the delay in the organism. These include: mortalityof means any subsequent monitoring should be done • Nerve &How Muscle targets does the pest get dosed? (Mode transfer to pest) a number of days after treatment. • Growth regulators a lethal dose after crawling • MidgutMany targetsinsecticides rely on pests picking upHow does the pest get dosed? over deposits (secondary contact) or by ingestion. In practice, contact Mode of transfer to pest • Respiratory targets insecticides and protectant fungicides must be applied with good • Unknown or Non-Specific Many insecticides rely on pests coverage in order to ensure contact with the target organism. Fungicides How does the pest ge picking upmust a lethal dose after crawling such as copper, which only have protectant action, similarly be well Across these groups, thereHow are many target sitespest or biological does the get dosed? (Mode(secondary of transfer over deposits contact)to pest) the surface of the ability plant, in order to prevent infection by Many insecticides rely on p processes thatdistributed are known toonimpact on an organism’s or by ingestion. In practice, contact diseases. to survive orfungal reproduce and it is insecticides these processes that Many rely onare pests picking up a lethal dose after crawling over deposits (secondary co insecticides and protectant fungicides commonly targeted by pesticide developers. This knowledge insecticides over deposits (secondary contact) must or bybeingestion. In practice, contact applied with good coverage in order to ensure and protectan Two ismain ways of dosing insect with an contact insecticide isbethrough contact or systemic actions. of mode of action important when considering resistance insecticides andanprotectant fungicides must applied with Fungicides good coverage in order to ensure with the target organism. such as copper, coverage in orderchemistry. to ensure contact with the target organism. Fungicides such as copper, which only h management and developing more targeted which only have protectant action, must similarly be well such as copper, which Covered below are the three modes of action that only are have protectant action, must similarly be well distributed on the surface o distributed on the surface of the plant, in order to prevent distributed on thepesticides surface in to prevent infection relevant to the chemicals currently registered for use onof the Contact are plant, toxic toorder insects they comebyintofungal directdiseases. contact infection by fungalonce diseases. fungal diseases. avocados in New Zealand. with either the foliar spray or their residues. Pyrethrum products are an Two main ways an insect with an insecticide isways example where they have a short life of indosing the environment, are not taken upof dosing an Two main Two main ways of dosing an insect with an insecticide is through contact or systemic actions. Nerve and muscle targets through contact or systemic actions. by the plant, so must make direct contact with the pest to be effective. Most current insecticides act on nerve and muscle targets. Contact pesticides are toxic to These are generally fast acting by having inhibitory effects Contact pesticides are toxic to insects oncedirect they come into direct contact Contact p insects once they come into to neurotransmitters. These neurotoxic chemicals impact Systemic pesticides are those where is either soluble enough inorwater that it canarebean with eith with eitherthe the chemical foliar spray their Pyrethrum products contact with or theresidues. foliar spray critical life functions to cause paralysis, feeding examplearound where they havethe a short life tissues. in the environment, are not takenofup example absorbed by arapid plant and moved within plants The systemic action spray residues. Pyrethrum products cessation andpesticides death. by the plant, so must make directinsects contact with the pest to be effective. by the pla allows for very effective control sucking areof an example where theyand have a cryptic pests that are unlikely to come short in direct contact with aare not life in the environment, Growth regulators pesticide spray if they were to burrow into the plant. Thismake taken up by the plant, so must Systemic pesticides are those where the chemical is soluble enough in water that it can be Insect growth‘translocation’ regulators are very yet generally Systemic pesticides are thos of effective insecticides where foliardirect pesticides are the absorbed contact with pest to be effective. absorbed by a plant and moved around within the plants tissues. The systemic action of slower acting.into Thesethe work either by mimicking key growth absorbed by a plant and m plant and are redistributed beforecontrol being of ingested be and pesticides allows for very effective sucking can insects hormones orrestricted directly affecting cuticle formation or other This Systemic pesticides are those pesticides allows for very e to more localised absorption. is termed trans-laminar cryptic pests that are unlikely to come in direct contact with a essential growth processes. Often these chemicals will where the chemical is soluble enough cryptic pests that are unli action and pesticide is seen inspray products like were Paramite which has if they to burrow intothe theability plant.to This inhibit insecttravel moulting, some can kill eggs directly and in the in water that it can be absorbed by a pesticide spray if they w short‘translocation’ distances through the surface of leaves into the tissues. of insecticides where foliar pesticides are absorbed case of Paramite it will even sterilise adults so eggs laid wont plant and moved around within the ‘translocation’ of insecticide into the plant and are redistributed before being ingested can be hatch. Although most in this group have good translaminar plants tissues. The systemic action of restricted to more localised absorption. This is termed trans-laminar into the plant and are redi activity they are weak on adults (such as seen mites), soproducts where like Paramite pesticides which allows for very effective action and is in has the ability to restricted to more localised Resistance management travel short distances through the surface of leaves into the tissues. action and is seen in produc travelportion short distances throug Repeated application of agrichemicals that act in the same way allows the resistant of Modes of action
On the Orchard
the population to increase and the resistance traits then become established throughout the Avoscene September 2016 Resistance management population. Maintaining insect susceptibility to a pesticide depends on the rotation of
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control of sucking insects and cryptic pests that are unlikely to come in direct contact with a pesticide spray if they were to burrow into the plant. This ‘translocation’ of insecticides where foliar pesticides are absorbed into the plant and are redistributed before being ingested can be restricted to more localised absorption. This is termed trans-laminar action and is seen in products like Paramite which has the ability to travel short distances through the surface of leaves.
On the Orchard
In addition, some agrichemicals will also reach the pest in dual ways. For example, Attack works as a contact and ingested poison and also as a ‘fumigant’ as it is active in a vapour phase. This means pests can get dosed by coming into very close proximity to spray residues where the vapour enter the pest via their respiration system and causes death by poisoning.
Resistance management
Repeated application of agrichemicals that act in the same way allows the resistant portion of the population to increase and the resistance traits then become established throughout the population. Maintaining insect susceptibility to a pesticide depends on the rotation of insecticides which have different Modes of Action to continually eliminate any resistant individuals. The industry is currently working alongside other horticulture sectors to identify a suitable range of compounds from across the different Mode of Action groups and also investigate where bio-pesticides can contribute to a more sustainable resistance management programme.
The following table brings a lot of this information together to show the mode of action across all chemicals registered for use on avocado and the way in which they reach and interact with target pests. Active ingredient Permethrin Pirimiphos-methyl Chlorpyrifos Maldison / malathion D iaz inon Carbaryl Tau-fluvalinate Pyrethrum Spinetoram Spinosad Thiacloprid E toxaz ole Tebufenoz ide Methoxyfenoz ide
Trade name(s) Attack L orsban, Chlorfos, Pychlorex, Pyrinex, Rampage, Toppel
D ew, D iaz ol, D iaz inon Sevin Flo, Carbryl Mavrik Pyganic, K ey Pyrethrum Sparta Success N aturalyte, E ntrust N aturalyte Calypso, Alpasso, Topstar, Commend Paramite Mimic, Comic, Prolan, Approve, Islandz ide Prodigy, Talent
Mineral O ils
D -C-Tron Plus, E xcel
Silicon dioxide
Insecta-K ill
B lue Shield, K ocide, Champ, L iq uicop, Mantissa, N ordox, Tri-B ase B lue Abamax, Avid, Apostle, Invert, V erdex, Abamectin V antal Milbemectin Mit-é -Mec E mamectin benz oate Proclaim, V itis, Announce
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Mode of transfer to pest
O rganophosphates
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE ) inhibitors (N erve action)
Carbamates Pyrethroids, Pyrethrins
Sodium channel modulators (N erve action) Contact and ingestion
Spinosyns
N icotinic acetylcholine receptor (N erve action)
N eonicotinoids E toxaz ole D iacylhydraz ines
O rganic insecticide
G rowth inhibitors (G rowth regulation) Ingestion
E cdysone receptor agonists (G rowth regulation) Interfering with metabolic and respiratory processes (nonspecific actions)
Contact
D amaging the protective waxy layer of an insects body (Mechanical/ abrasive action)
fungicide/ bactericide
Multisite - denature proteins thereby destroying enz ymes critical for cell functions
Avermectins, Milbemycins
Chlorine channel inhibitors (N erve and muscle action)
Contact and Ingestion
Chlorantraniliprole
Altacor
D iamides
B acillus thuringiensis (B t)
D ipel, B io-B it, D elfin, B actur, B ioCrystal
insecticidal proteins of B t
Avoscene September 2016
Mode of Action and Primary Site of Action Sodium channel modulators (N erve action)
Contact, ingestion and fumigant/ vapour
Malathion, Maldison, Fyfanon
Copper
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Chemical class Pyrethroids, Pyrethrins
Ingestion
Ryanodine receptor modulators (N erve and muscle action) Microbial disruptors of insect midgut membranes (destroys the larval gut)
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Avoscene September 2016
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New Zealand Market Promotions Bevan Jelley, Market Manager, NZ Avocado bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz
With a 1.9 million tray crop forecast for the New Zealand market, a strong promotions programme will be essential to support New Zealand marketers and retailers in driving consumer demand for avocados this season.
Behind the scenes filming of the NZ Avocado television commercials. Markets
Our 2016-17 promotions plan incorporates core activity
that we learned was successful in reaching and engaging large numbers of New Zealand consumers in our last big volume season. Primary Growth Partnership resource is enabling us to continue with this proven activity, to evolve it to make it more effective and to undertake additional activity to engage more New Zealand consumers, with more compelling reasons to buy amazing New Zealand avocados. The avocado has risen to superstar status in New Zealand over the past five years. It is revered as a superfood and has made its way into every trendy diet of the moment. With the rise in influence of social media, the avocado has become a celebrity in its own right and we aim to bring it’s personality to life in our upcoming promotion activity.
Television commercials – target 2 million consumers
We are currently developing new New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime commercials to be used in New Zealand for the coming season. Ads are scheduled to air nationwide on TV One, TV2 and TV3 and online on TVNZ OnDemand throughout the season. We are evolving our commercials to make avocado the central hero of the ad, an animated avocado character will
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Our avocado character.
help portray this. In store sampling – target 40,000 consumers
Planning is underway for 280 avocado sampling sessions to take place across New World, Pak ’n Save and Countdown stores nationwide between September and February. Thirty special sampling sessions will incorporate the use of a camera app and link to a competition on the NZ Avocado Facebook page. Online advertising – target 100,000 consumers
In previous seasons print advertising has been used to support NZ Avocado television commercials. We have moved towards online advertising as it gives us the ability to target our core audience groups more costeffectively than print, and online campaign reach is highly measureable. We will know exactly how many consumers are reached, what kind of consumers they are, and how they have engaged with the content provided. Season Launch - Auckland, Wednesday 17th August
We celebrated our biggest season yet with a season launch event at Ostro Brasserie & Bar in Britomart, Auckland. This event was a great opportunity to connect and reconnect with our Friends of Avocado – influential New Zealanders
who love avocado, love to talk about avocado and have a significant number of foodie, health or wellness followers. The event was a fantastic platform for us to share key information about the season ahead, about avocado health and uses and also to showcase avocado in tasty ways. All of the food was beautifully presented, enticing the audience to share the creations on their social media channels. Their posts coupled with a media release that was sent out in conjunction with the end of the event resulted in a hugely positive response across social media and media publications. The New Zealand Herald and Stuff picked up our release and Paul Henry discussed avocados on his weekday morning show. The NZ Avocado Facebook page likes increased by 218 and our followers on Instagram increased by 87. See Out and About on page 62 for more images from this event.
Taste of Auckland.
Events
Markets
We will attend Taste of Auckland again this year to promote the amazing avocado and connect with avocado-loving consumers. At this event we will create and hand out delicious avocado samples and share key messages around ripening, storing and preparing avocados. Contestable fund for NZ market
The facebook banner introducing our"diehard avocado lover" competition.
Social media
The support of New Zealands major supermarkets will be crucial in the coming season. We need their help with avocados to ensure produce staff are equipped with the knowledge to manage the best possible quality to their shoppers and to allow avocados to stand out in their stores.
In celebration of the season launch, NZ Avocado ran a Facebook competition. We asked followers to enter a photo or video of them being a “diehard avocado lover” – the best photo or video won a season supply of avocados (a tray of avocados per month for six months). This competition ran for two weeks prior to our in-person season launch on August 17.
The contestable promotions fund is a key tool in helping connect the NZ Avocado promotions programme to the promotions programme of the major supermarkets.
We will continue to utilise all of our social media channels throughout the season – sharing avocado recipes and tips, as well as running various competitions across them too.
Activities have been approved for New Zealand market contestable funding that have great potential to improve consumer avocado education, improve avocado quality in stores, and significantly raise visibility of avocados through supermarket led promotion in-stores, on radio, on TV and online.
Nadia Lim's facebook post about the season launch.
Through activity undertaken by New Zealand marketer suppliers that is underpinned by the New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime promotions theme, the visibility and importance of avocados within the supermarket environment is raised.
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Doing business with China – tricks of the trade By Johnathan Chen, James & Wells
johnathanc@jaws.co.nz
Johnathan Chen from James & Wells was invited to give his view on some of the factors exporters and the industry should be looking out for as we progress our negotiation to get phytosanitary approval to export New Zealand avocados to China, and continue our progress in understanding how we might market our avocados once approval is gained.
Markets
Avocados in a Chinese supermarket.
In today’s world, New Zealand businesses are likely to be either doing business in China, or considering the possibility.
Right now there are significant opportunities to trade in both directions. Doing business with China holds lucrative promise, but it’s also beset with pitfalls. In this article I want to outline how New Zealand businesses – and business people personally – should approach the prospect of trading with China, and avoid the pitfalls. The first point of embarkation is to understand that there isn’t one China – except in a political sense. Culturally, the nation known as China comprises 1.3 billion people with a range of languages, cultures and religions that shatters the crude stereotypes that have persisted for years. Many “doing-business-in-China” seminars pitch a “one-size-fitsall” approach to the task, which is doomed to fail. If you don’t fully understand the culture and the mentality of the business people across the table from you, you are wise to simply admit it. But better still, you should make the effort to understand the culture of your Chinese counterparts. To start to do so, you must ask yourself three questions: • Where am I doing business?
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Johnathan Chen, James & Wells.
• Who am I dealing with? • What is their background? In respect of question one – you may have identified the region you want to trade in. But there are many different “China”s – not just the cultural and political differences between the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. There are significant differences between mainland cultures – north, east, west and south; it’s about mindset, politics, geography, socio-economic structures, religion, and education. The norm in one area may be quite foreign in another.You need to understand the lay of the particular land you are targeting. My best advice: if you identify a region to work with, go there and absorb the culture – or hire someone to work with you who understands the subtleties of the area. Clarify who you are dealing with. Is it government officials, professionals, general manufacturers or merchants? They all operate in a slightly – or radically – different way, with a different take on the rules of the game (and adherence to them). Understand their way of operating and adjust your moves accordingly. Why is their background important? The gentleman across the table may be a survivor of China’s Revolution and
civil war – he’s navigated a quite treacherous economic and political landscape and will be a seasoned and tough negotiator. Or he may be the product of China’s “one-child” policy, and the scion of a wealthy family, whose outlook on doing business will be quite different to the survivor. There’s also a tendency to see Chinese business people as unsophisticated. It’s a communist state after all, and we know how plodding and inefficient they are, right? Wrong. The man in the chair opposite has probably had a Western education (with solid English) and a lengthy history of working with Western firms; if he hasn’t, the assistant at his side, you can bet, will have. They’re comfortable in English and dealing with Westerners. Kiwi businesses may have experience of dealing with wealthy migrants in New Zealand, and the temptation is to think the man in the suit in China is the same. Don’t be fooled; he’s not.
• Make sure all discussions are confidential and know when the moment is right to talk non-disclosure agreements. • Know your value proposition: What makes your product or idea attractive? What’s its competitive edge? Is there a steady revenue stream? • Know the rules: Are there any governing laws which might hinder the investment or the project? • Don’t rush; the Chinese like to get to know their
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Fortunately, Chinese authorities are focusing on improvements to the Intellectual Property environment and combating corruption, efforts which, in time, may reduce or eliminate the risk. But getting good IP advice around your dealings in China makes sound business sense.
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In respect of that final point, recent events have shown this is a growing trap – failure to properly secure your IP. Businesses – New Zealand ones included – have been stung recently by “trade mark trolls”, unscrupulous individuals who register (in China) trade marks for foreign goods being made in China for export, then block the goods from leaving China on the grounds they infringe the Chinese trade mark registration. At huge expense and inconvenience to the manufacturer.
Markets
A word on investing. It’s no secret that China is flush with investment money and investors looking to put their money into worthwhile ventures. But this is also an area where the untutored can trip up. Some simple advice:
business partners before cementing the relationship. Build the relationship and share information. • Read between the lines; in particular, know when “yes” really means “yes”. • Listen to what your investor is interested in – and have a proposition for each scenario. • Know and prepare your exit strategy. • Know the bottom line of what you are willing to give up (share percentage) and how much you need – not want. • Document discussions - not necessarily in a formal agreement, but in writing so that both sides know where things were left at the last conversation. • Don’t assume that the other side understood exactly what you meant. • Record your IP and register it where you can.
To book advertising space in the next issue of Avoscene please contact Suzy King at SunMedia Ltd. Booking deadline for the next issue is October 7th, 2016. Contact Suzy on 021 769 831 email suzy@thesun.co.nz
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Top young grower enjoys challenge By Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia
elaine@thesun.co.nz
Bay of Plenty’s Young Grower of the Year, Chris Clement now knows more about avocado orcharding, thanks to the tasks set by NZ Avocado for the regional final in July.
Chris Clement - the winner of the Bay of Plenty Young Grower of the Year competition.
“The avocado challenge was a good one which gave me an insight into how growers go about assessing and managing their trees. While an avocado tree is very different from a kiwifruit vine, basic agronomic principles apply to the management of both and what the tasks we were set showed was the importance of being able to follow a process to achieve an outcome,” says Chris. It was Danni van der Heijden, NZ Avocado research associate, who set the avocado challenge for the six finalists in the BOP competition and she’s impressed at how they performed. “None of the entrants have a back ground in avocados but they all did well,” says Danni who used trees growing at Mills Reef where the event was held, to test their knowledge.
Reports
After winning the regional title Chris (29) went on to finish second overall in the national Young Grower of the Year competition held Pukekohe in mid-July. Andrew Hutchinson from AS Wilcox & Sons in Pukekohe won first place and third place went to Jack Gilchrist, a fruit grower from Roxburgh. Chris, who is in charge of new technology at Apata’s Mends Lane kiwifruit postharvest facility, says the experience of taking part the regional and national events has been rewarding. “I’d encourage anyone to give it a go.You learn something new and it’s good to challenge yourself.” The national contest, against four other regional winners was a step up again and also offered further opportunities for personal development. “Two weeks before the competition HortNZ took us to Auckland where we did a personal development course which included working out our personality types and how we relate to other people and also help with improving our public speaking skills.” 44
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Chris, who has a Bachelor of Science majoring in horticultural science from Massey University, joined the kiwifruit industry in 2008 and just two years later the vine disease Psa-V was found in lucrative Hort16A gold vines. It went on to rapidly spread throughout the Bay of Plenty and eventually all North Island growing regions. “We were going into orchards and cutting out infected vines with chainsaws, which wasn’t very pleasant,” says Chris, who adds the experience didn’t put him off a career in the kiwifruit industry. In 2012 Chris joined Kiwifruit Vine Health, the organisation set up to help the industry’s recovery and in his role contributed to the development of advisory and best practice Psa-V management systems. After two-and-a-half years with KVH he returned to postharvest, this time with Apata Group last year. Horticulture NZ chief executive Mike Chapman says the regional and national competitions develop skills and foster leadership. “Today’s competitors are a great example of young people who are passionate about the industry’s future and their role in it. “The future growth of our industry is dependent on our ability to attract young growers like Chris, who are highly skilled and enthusiastic.” Apata Grow general manager Sonia Whiteman says Chris is a deserving winner. “He is a young man with a lot of maturity. He’s very structured and thoughtful and committed to what he does. “In his role at our Mends Lane facility Chris is responsible for an automatic box filling machine, which is a highly sophisticated piece of equipment and he has really taken ownership of this.”
Flower Thinning - opinions within the industry Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz
Flower thinning can be an effective tool to balance crop load, however cutting off flowers is something many growers may not want to do when there is still uncertainty about the fruit set for the coming season. We have invited people who have used flower thinning as a management tool to share their opinion of flower thinning.
What people in the industry say:
“Limb pruning and flower pruning go together. Around May in the ‘off’ year when the tree isn't carrying much fruit, I'll limb prune heavily to shape the tree. This helps to reduce the tree's ability to flower heavily. I'll then go back in September and flower prune 30 to 50 per cent of the new flower growth. In mid October I'll review the tree again and sometimes I'll remove more flower growth if it still looks heavy. The tree is in its 'on' year now and because of the lack of flower it can't over-crop and it becomes more balanced for the next year.” Frank Baggenstos, Grower “We have used light flower thinning for the last few years, mainly targeting areas of trees that are under pressure from over-flowering at the floral bud break in September. This is
“I am a firm believer in flower pruning as one of the tools growers have available to manage the load on the trees and ameliorate the potential for biennial bearing. Because so much of what we do in the orchard is affecting next year’s crop, we need to react quickly to what we are seeing in the orchard. Thus in a very heavy flowering year I definitely advocate flower pruning and I think the earlier we can act, the better the results. Flowering is such a sink on the trees’ limited resources that the sooner it can be done, the better. When flower pruning we cut wood that is 20 to 30 millimetre in diameter. We cut 25 to 30 per cent of the flowers. If a grower looks back at a flower pruned tree and they are appalled at what they have done to their beloved tree, they have probably done a good job. In our experience flower pruning results in a good fruit set in the year of intervention and a return flowering.” Stephen Wade, Lynwood Avocado Nursery Limited.
Avoscene September 2016
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“Trees can lose their balance for many reasons, leading to irregular bearing. Pruning is the main tool we have to help our trees recover their balance. Flower pruning can help significantly to balance avocado trees, but only if it happens within an overall strategy that considers all aspects of the cropping system that are relevant to tree balance.” Dr AlvaroVidiella, Technical Director Riversun Nursery Limited.
probably only five per cent of the flowers on heavy flowering trees. We do this to help balance trees as I believe fruit load is probably the most damaging contributor to biennial bearing. Our main prune in the autumn has the biggest effect on flower numbers, that is when our main structural prune is done every year.” Matthew Heller, Grower
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What can we learn from Australia? By Danni van der Heijden, Research Associate, NZ Avocado Danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz
To better understand the avocado research being undertaken in Australia, we made a visit to get first-hand knowledge. It was a very informative visit that will influence new potential collaborations between our industries.
Figure 1: Canopies maintained in hedgerows at Simpson Farms in Bundaberg, Australia.
Figure 2: Height-pruning using a Bobcat at Simpson Farms in Bundaberg, Australia.
Marisa Till, Phillip West and I made a recent trip to
Australia visiting researchers working on topics covering biotechnology to modelling to high intensity plantings and visited growers in their orchards and industry professionals (See table 1). We visited one of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest orchards â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Simpson Farms â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in Bundaberg, and two smaller orchards near Brisbane. Simpson Farms comprises of 760 ha of avocados spread across three properties. They have their own packshed with 1.4 -1.5 million tray capacity from Simpson Farms and from other growers. They have their own avocado processing facility and composting plant. The bulk of their orchard is Hass, and they also grow Shepherd (about 15% of their orchard), Wurtz and Reed. Simpson farms are continually looking to improve their orchards and are involved in a wide range of internal and external research projects.
Figure 3: High density trees supported by trellises in a small-tree high-density trial at the Bundaberg Research Station, Australia.
cut and hold large branches, allowing them to be lowered safely to the ground (Figure 2). A mulcher follows behind the bobcat. Another machine then passes through the rows and mechanically hedge prunes the sides of the trees. The result is rows of trees with flat tops and flat, sloped sides. In Australia, they believe that having trees in hedgerows simplifies management, especially in large orchards. High Density Plantings
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High density plantings are being used to enable higher yields, especially initial yields, and simpler farm management practices which together create higher profits. A trial at Bundaberg Research Station is investigating whether small tree high-density plantings can be maintained in avocados (Figure 3). The three treatments are; low density industry standard 9m x 4m, medium density single-leader pruned 6m x 3m and high density 4.5m x 2m which are supported by trellises. The research is in year two and although the Hedgerows results are just starting to come through for yield, there Maintaining canopies in a hedgerow makes them accessible was visible difference in the young trees supported by trellis and allows rows to be treated as management units rather than individual trees. The majority of the Australian orchards which were already about 5m high compared to the low intensity plantings that were about 3m high. Our host, Helen are planted in hedgerows and the industry standard spacing is 10m x 5m (Figure 1). At Simpson Farms, they have spaced Hoffman, speculated that because of the support of the trellis less energy is required for building structural integrity. some new plantings at 9m x 4m and are also trialling with Simpson Farms are also trialling a higher density than the trees at 7m x 3m. Smaller orchards prune in a similar way industry standard (7m x 3m) in their orchard, however they to orchards in New Zealand, however the scale of Simpson are not sure about their ability to maintain higher densities as Farms requires heavy-duty pruning equipment. To heightprune, they use an excavator with large pruning shears which trees produce around 1.5m of growth in spring alone.
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Researchers/industry professionals Neena Mitter (Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland) and her team; Madeleine Gleeson, Chris O’Brien, Jayeni Hiti Bandaralage, Alice Hayward & Muhammad Umair Ahsan.
Figure 4:Turning compost at Simpson Farms in Bundaberg, Australia.
Figure 5: Danni, Marisa and Jayeni in a culture room filled with micro-propagation experiments at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Area of expertise
Current Projects
Biotechnology
Micro-RNA roles in juvenile-mature phase changes. Micro-RNA involvement in adventitious rooting. Cryopreservation of somatic embryos for avocado germplasm. Micropropagation of avocado.
Daryl Joyce & Noel Ainsworth (University of Queensland)
Postharvest & extension
Mechanical damage and physiological disorders of Avocado fruit.
Jenny Margretts
Business Development & Client Liaison. CEO Avocados Australia
Market development and logistics.
John Tyas
Avocados Australia facilitate a comprehensive range of projects to meet industry needs. Extension of research to growers via regional study groups.
Simon Newitt
Extension Officer
Kris Gordon Chad Simpson
Director Agronomist
Research & Development at Simpson Farms.
Helen Hofman
Horticulturist
Small tree high density and rootstock trials at Bundaberg Research Station.
Inigo Auzmendi
Modelling
Modelling avocado tree growth.
Liz Dann
Plant pathologist
Assessment of rootstocks for resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi. Epidemiology of brown root rot disease of avocados. Branch-dieback caused by fungi. Evaluation of soil amendments for improved soil and plant health and soilborne disease suppression.
Table 1: Australian researchers visited, their project areas and the projects they are currently working on.
Soil health
Biotechnology research
Biotechnology work is being undertaken in Australia which might one day lead to significant advances in areas of avocado growing from propagation to DNA sequencing. Neena Mitter, a biotechnology professor at the University of Queensland, and her four students showed us the avocado projects they are working on. Their projects are investigating: • Molecular control of phase changes from juvenile to mature status. Grafted trees flower earlier than seedling trees and they are looking into the genes and microRNAs involved. • Adventitious rooting in clonal production. Etiolation
Reports
Soil health is an important part of a growing system, and one which is often forgotten. During our visit many of the Australian researchers stressed the importance of good soil health in maintaining healthy root systems and trees. The orchards we visited were aware of the importance of soil health and were actively using practices to try and improve it. All of the orchards were mulched regularly and the managers believed this had a large impact on their orchard. At Simpson Farms, they also make their own compost using materials from an avocado processing facility, prunings, filter press which is a by product of sugar cane processing, cane mulch and other materials which become available to them (Figure 4). They believe that although the results of the composting may not be visible immediately, it has significant long-term benefits for their trees.
and auxins are necessary for clonal production and they are gaining an understanding of the genes and microRNAs involved. • Cryopreservation. Mitter's team are developing a method for the preservation of varieties in sterile cryogenic storage. This is an alternative to field repositories which are difficult to maintain,costly and prone to diseases and natural disasters. This project aims to create a more efficient way of saving varieties. • Micropropagation – propagation using tissue culture instead of starting from a seed. The team have developed a new method of tissue culture that they believe shows promise for the industry. The method has very high through-put potential and requires minimal starting material and less resources. • DNA Sequencing. Mitter's team are sequencing the CV. Velvick genome. This will become public knowledge in the next year and will act as a good base for future genetic research. Summary
We met with researchers across a wide range of fields, who were excited to share their knowledge and collaborate with us. We learnt a lot about the research being undertaken and gained good knowledge of different methods being used to produce high yielding avocados in Australia. We intend to keep well connected with the researchers going forward and hope to continue sharing with them and learning from them.
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LUUKA JONES DELIVERS! SO WILL WE! FOCUSED & DETERMINED TO GET THE BEST RESULTS PROUD SPONSORS OF LUUKA JONES 2016 OLYMPIC CANOE SLALOM SILVER MEDALIST Call us on (07) 549 3027 www.justavocados.co.nz
POWERED BY
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Celebrating Luuka Jones' Olympic success It's an exciting time for avocado-loving Luuka Jones, who is celebrating her success, after being awarded a silver medal for her fantastic efforts in her canoe slalom race at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Luuka Jones and Nick Honeyman on the Bay of Plenty film set of Best of NZ with Nick Honeyman.
Over the past 12 months leading up to the 2016
Rio Olympics, Just Avocados Ltd has been a proud sponsor and strong supporter of canoe slalom Silver medallist Luuka Jones.
During the season when Luuka was home in New Zealand training, a tray of ripened avocados would be dutifully delivered each week to Luuka’s home-base for consumption. Born and raised in Tauranga, Luuka is a huge fan of avocados and the nutrient dense fruit is a vital part of her diet. “Excellent nutrition is a huge part of being an elite athlete and an area I am really passionate about. I love avocados because they contain so many vital nutrients, are delicious and can be eaten anytime with any meal.” says Luuka. When Just Avocados was looking to undertake some community minded initiatives that would lift the profile of the nutritious fruit as well as the “avo-centric” company, Luuka emerged as the perfect candidate. Being young, sporty, very health conscious and importantly
aspiring to do great things representing New Zealand in her chosen sport, Luuka “ticked all the boxes”. Managing Director Andrew Darling comments, “Supporting Luuka with a modest sponsorship package including a suitably painted up sporty VW vehicle and of course endless supplies of “training fuel” was a great project for the team at Just Avocados to be involved with and learn from. Luuka is a great example of what can be achieved when you set your mind – and body to it”.
Reports
To see all Luuka’s hard work, determination and training bear fruit by way of the silver medal in her third Olympics, provided a real thrill not only for the team at Just Avocados but also for the wider avocado community.
Luuka with Just Avocados Managing Director Andrew Darling and Marketing Director Steve Trickett.
“Looking forward, the company will be continuing its partnership with Luuka and exploring ways to build on the momentum of her success to lever greater awareness and demand for the “superfood” that avocados are starting to be recognized as” added Andrew. NZ Avocado also recognize the appeal of wonderfully healthy and successful elite sportswoman as ambassadors for our amazing avocado. Luuka featured in the Bay of Plenty filmed episode of Best of New Zealand with Nick Honeyman. In this episode Luuka takes Nick out kayaking on the Tauranga waterfront and then joins Nick on Lars and Sarah Sorenson's avocado orchard to sample the delicious avocado dishes Nick creates. This particular episode aired on TV One in July and aired earlier in the year on the Asian Food Channel and D-Life in Japan. Avoscene September 2016
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Case Study: Hellers Orchard Danni van der Heijden, Research Associate, NZ Avocado danielle.vanderheijden@nzavocado.co.nz
We know that growers like to learn about other growers and learn from other growers about how they might achieve better production from their avocados. We are collecting such case studies and will report on them in Avoscene and publish them on our website. These will include technical and management information about orchards as well as some detail about the growers.
Helen and Matthew Heller.
GIS map of the Hellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s orchard.
The Heller orchard is a high-performing orchard in which the owners, Matthew and Helen Heller, do a lot of the orchard work themselves.
Pruning for a crop every year
Matthew and Helen prune their orchard themselves.They believe that pruning their trees in order to balance crop loads allows them to consistently produce good crops. As well as a structural prune every March-April, they have been pruning to balance since 2008/2009.They prune off flowering branches on trees where there are excess flowers and thin excess fruit after fruit-set, particularly exposed fruit and excess fruit on sick trees.
The Hellers replaced all of the sprinkler-heads with smaller ones that the system was designed for, improving the spread of water applied.They believe that these actions have significantly improved the health of the trees, especially at the bottom of the slope. Soil moisture monitoring showed a difference between two locations during 2015, with the bottom of the orchard being wetter.This could have been due to a number of reasons, including the lower part of the slope containing soil with a higher proportion of clay, resulting in the roots potentially not being as efficient at utilising the water due to a compromised root system, or because the soil was receiving too much water. It is thought that the irrigation system on the orchard is not pressure-compensated and the trees further down the slope may be receiving more water.
Soil moisture monitoring
Since confirming this, the Hellers have been cutting back on the amount of water applied when irrigating.This, and the fact that they did not need to irrigate much during summer 2015-16 when there was sufficient rainfall, likely resulted in the decrease in difference in soil moisture between the top and bottom of the orchard from September 2015.
When the Hellers first purchased the orchard, there was a frost protection system in place which watered the avocados during cold nights.The trees, especially lower down the slope of the orchard, were not very healthy. After the first winter, they realised that the trees were probably being overwatered
The full case study will be available on our website soon - keep an eye out for an Avoconnect letting you know when they are available.The full case studies include details about fertiliser regimes, irrigation protocols, pollination strategies and much more.
Avoscene September 2016
Reports
Their orchard produces relatively consistently and the Hellers believe that pruning helps them to have a crop every year. Although Heller orchard is a high-performing orchard, some trees at the bottom of the slope of Hellersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; orchard do not appear as healthy and have not been performing as well as trees higher up the slope (the Hellers estimate that they produce only about 30% of their potential production). Through observations and the collection of further data on the orchard, temperature and soil moisture were determined as factors which may be contributing to the difference between trees located on different heights of the slope.
and they removed this system.The irrigation sprinkler-heads were also large for the amount of pressure produced, which meant that water applied was not spread well and caused localised over-watering.
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Te Hono Bootcamp Jen Scoular, CEO, NZ Avocado jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz
There were great facilities for the lectures at Standford University.
I was very honoured to receive an invitation to join the
2016 Te Hono Bootcamp at Stanford University in July, and very grateful to the Board for supporting my participation.
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To Hono means to connect in Maori. The Te Hono movement is about unlocking the power of New Zealand’s primary sector, helping to drive the success of the New Zealand primary industry and make Aotearoa, New Zealand, a place where our children and their children want to live, work and thrive. Five years ago a team instigated the first week-long programme for New Zealand primary sector leaders at Stanford Executive Business School. I was lucky to be one of 50 invited to attend the 2016 bootcamp. We queried the name of bootcamp – but after the week we found that the compulsory 6am warm-up session before a bootcamp or run, the heavy schedule of lectures, and the high expectation of the ambitious, busy, demanding participants, we decided it was aptly named. I was pleased to have upped my running prior to the trip – and proud to have made it up to “the dish” – a 9km run up to the top of the hill and back.
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Lectures were stimulating, inspiring, challenging and informative. We switched between Stanford professors and guest speakers, with a couple of sessions from our own participants. Each participant was interesting, with similar desire to unleash the value within New Zealand primary industry but constrained by similar challenges of capability, technology, distance or scale. Each of us asking: what’s the answer, can others here help us find that answer, or help us along the way? We started the bootcamp learning to accept failure with a simple game in which we celebrated our stuff-ups with a loud “hurrah”. Seventy per cent of start-ups in Silicon Valley fail – to be innovative you need to push the boundaries in thought, action and behaviour. Not only is it okay to have a product or technology that doesn’t meet the demanding needs of the industry or consumer, it’s fine to work for a start-up that fails. By the time you do that a few times, apparently you have amazing expertise at knowing what not to do. We learnt about ourselves, how the brain works, how to ensure your brain operated at capacity when required,
understanding a little of the chemistry that caused stress versus comfort, or energy versus boredom. Relegating emails to a low energy period of the day was a concept we all agreed sounded right; how many of us will resist arriving at work and opening emails? “Twalking” – multi-tasking to get your exercise in while catching up on phone calls was another tip from the professors. Design thinking was a new concept for me, with early learnings being to “prototype” or test an idea early on, and not to expect perfection in new ideas but to let early ideas develop better because feedback is sought earlier. Provided the feedback was constructive. We had a session where I was one of four participants at the front of the room and we were only allowed to add positive ideas to those shared by colleagues. Try that, it feels good.
We talked through quite a few case studies on disruption. Uber disrupting the taxi industry, Teslar disrupting the car industry, Amazon disrupting the book industry. We talked about progress from the industrial age to the technology age. What does that mean for us, for our business, for New Zealand? We heard from the chef at Blue Aprons who started delivering restaurant style meals to his mates four years ago, and now delivers eight million meals a month, using New Zealand beef as a high quality ingredient. We heard from New Zealander Tim Brown, co-founder of Allbirds, marketing the “most comfortable shoes in the world”, made from New Zealand merino wool. I look down at my happy
feet, clad in my pair as I write this! We heard the amazing success story of another Kiwi who transformed a $5 billion sports drink company then went on to do the same with a fitness company. And loved that she delivered her fantastic story in that very Kiwi way – humble, honest, personal. Looking around the room during lectures I was very aware that one of the major opportunities was this amazing group of people around me. We are all passionate and ambitious about primary industries in New Zealand. I knew 10 of the 50 participants before, but had very little interaction on a work front with more than two of them. I have re-thought what we call collaboration – or acknowledge we can do much broader collaboration here in New Zealand. There are so many companies exporting to the same markets we export to, using similar beautiful imagery of our wonderful country. How might their products work with ours, how might we share supply chains or market intelligence.Yes, I arrived at Stanford with a whole load of questions and I’ve returned with ten times as many.
Reports
Design thinking encouraged us to ask “how might we” and the exercise to work through was that in groups of six or seven we were each given a concept to present in some way. Ours was “how might we monetarise the reputation risk in the age of hyper transparency?”Yes, we too spent the first couple of hours trying to agree on what that meant. Coming together as a group of ambitious individuals resulted in quite some debate – add to that a constraint of time and resource to put a package together to present back to the group and stress and then negotiation became part of the process to develop and implement a plan. The innovation and creativity shown across all groups was terrific. Interestingly, before we did this we had been asked for a show of hands, how many of us rated ourselves as creative – and very few hands were raised.Yet, going through a design thinking process, creativity and innovation had to be called on – to great effect.
The final dinner - with Carol Ward from Zespri and Steve Saunders from GroPlus.
At the end of a week of amazing camaraderie we were asked to come up and make commitments to action, for ourselves, for our company and for New Zealand. Lots of commitment to sharing ideas, knowledge and actions, solid commitment to invest in better understanding of our Maori heritage, some specific commitments to joined-up activities across sectors in export markets. I will certainly share my learnings across my team, I will change how I’m thinking about industry growth and I will endeavour to ensure that as an industry we get more value out of our CEO because her capacity, her networks and her aspiration to drive value have been bumped right up!
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Avocentric - Secret is the climate By Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia
elaine@thesun.co.nz
After a career as a hunting guide for wealthy American tourists, being an avocado orchardist may seem a little tame but Mike Allan couldn’t be happier.
“I love orcharding and the lifestyle here in the North. I wouldn’t change it for anything,” says Mike, who bought his 6.9ha Hukatere Road orchard near Kaitaia eight years ago. Reports
His occupation may have changed dramatically but Mike hasn’t completely given up as a hunter-gatherer. “I live just minutes from fishing on 90 Mile Beach in one direction, or big game fishing from Houhora in the other. It’s wonderful.” Mike’s career paths have been interestingly diverse. He grew up at Omokoroa near Tauranga and later went dairy farming south of Te Puke at Paengaroa. “Some of the farm was quite steep and was deer fenced so I built up a herd of Sambar deer.” Mike also developed a love of hunting, so when, after 23 years his marriage broke up, he decided to become a professional hunting guide.
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year and it was a great life.” It was also physically demanding and as he approached 60, Mike turned his attention to finding his next career. “My father was an orchardist and we had a few avocado trees at Paengaroa. The industry appeared to have a good future, if you could grow the fruit consistently year on year.” Much as he liked the Bay of Plenty, Mike’s research led him to the conclusion that Northland, and the Hukatere Road area in particular, was the only place where avocado trees would produce a consistent commercial crop. The orchard he bought is among the oldest in the district with trees ranging in age from two years to 32.
Good future
“I think I am about the fifth owner. The orchard consistently produces 14,000 to 18,000 trays per hectare and that’s even with older trees being removed and young trees yet to come into production.
“I was based at Rotorua and used to have 30 to 40 clients a
“I don’t do anything particularly special. The only secret
Avoscene September 2016
Orchard Performance Graph
Mike Allan: 2 0 0 9 -1 0 to 2 0 1 2 -1 3 Mike Allan: 2 0 1 0 -1 1 to 2 0 1 3 -1 4 Mike Allan: 2 0 1 1 -1 2 to 2 0 1 4 -1 5
is the climate. I don’t care what the experts say. I believe climate and the right temperature at flowering are crucial to consistent bearing.” Ocean influence
“All the orchards in Hukatere Road produce good crops each year. We are on a narrow peninsula with temperatures which are up to three degrees higher that Katiaia itself, influenced by the oceans.” Avocado trees, says Mike, are subtropical and need warm temperatures and rainfall. He does look after his trees and is impressed by their performance. “They are clever trees; we push them pretty hard and the orchard can produce up to 80 tonnes annually.”
“For anyone who buys an avocado orchard, their second purchase should be a good quality chainsaw. I prune these trees pretty hard, especially if they have phytophthora. If they don’t bounce back, they get removed.”
“Last season we changed exporter and for the first time strip-picked the orchard in October-November. We achieved a 72 to 73 per cent pack-out rate which wasn’t bad. We’ll strip-pick again this season.” The orchard pickers, the majority who return year on year, are known as the “geriatrics” as most are, in Mike’s words “in their senior years”. “They love coming here and we also have a few younger overseas visitors as pickers too.” Picking all the fruit early gave Mike the chance to do a heavy flower prune. “It doesn’t seem to have made much difference – I’ve still got a big crop. Goodness knows what it would have been if I hadn’t flower pruned.”
Reports
Some of the oldest trees are still producing well but those which aren’t are removed.
Strip pick
Life as an avocado grower in the Far North is, says Mike, good – in fact very good. And it got even better in March when, after 14 years as a bachelor, Mike married Maricar. “Maricar loves Northland, the orchard and avocados. I’m a happy man.”
The trees are injected for phytophthora and a fertiliser is regularly applied by a small spreader. “We have just introduced fertigation using the manually operated irrigation system.” Twenty bee hives are brought in each spring and Mike flower prunes in an effort to control fruit numbers. Up until last season the fruit has been harvested in two picks, one in October and one in January.
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Recipe
Avocado Thai Beef Salad
By Sachie Nomura
Preparation and Cooking time: 20 minutes + overnight for marination Serves 2. This avocado Thai beef salad is perfect for lunch or dinner and adding avocado will give a beautiful creaminess to the salad.You don’t have to marinate the beef overnight but the longer you marinate, the better the flavour is. If you can’t find green papaya, you can substitute with green beans or mango. Ingredients: 300g beef sirloin steak (3cm thickness) For marination: 2 small cloves (3g) garlic, grated 1 Tbsp abc sweet soy sauce Kecap Manis 1/2 tsp fish sauce 1/2 pinch white pepper
For salad: 1/4 lettuce 1/2 green papaya, shredded 1/2 medium carrot, shredded 6 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters 1 telegraph cucumber, peeled into ribbons 1 avocado, cut in chunks Coriander leaves Mint leaves
For dressing: 1 clove garlic, grated 1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 2 Tbsp brown sugar 2 Tbsp fish sauce 2 Tbsp lime juice Garnish: Roasted peanuts, crushed Deep Fried shallots Chopped chilli
Avoscene September 2016
Nourish
Method: 1. Put all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add beef and marinate overnight. 2. Mix all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. 3. Place a frying pan on medium high heat and cook the beef for 3 minutes on each side. Rest it for 6 minutes on a plate. 4. Once rested, slice the beef thinly. 5. To assemble the salad, mix the lettuce, green papaya, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, mint leaves, coriander and beef in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss together. 6. Serve the salad in bowls and garnish with roasted peanuts, deep fried shallots and chilli. Don’t forget to drizzle the dressing from the bowl, and enjoy!
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Out & About
Out and about
Attendees of the NZ Avocado season launch enjoying tasting avocado dishes while hearing about the nutritional benefits of the amazing avocado.
Ladies who launch - Edwina Aitchison (NZ Avocado), NikiWalsh (Village PR), Nadia Lim, Niki Bezzant (Healthy Food Guide), Jen Scoular (NZ Avocado), Bridgette Tapsell (Village PR), Claire Turnbull (Nutritionist), Jodi Senior (NZ Avocado), and Bree McGavin (Village PR) at the NZ Avocado season launch event.
Brad Seibert and Jen Scoular with Grant Stockley (Countdown) at the HortNZ conference in August.
The NZ Avocado and Seeka field day was relocated indoors due to bad weather, however there was a great turnout with good discussions and information shared.
Chef Peter Blakeway with the Briggs family - Carl, Miaki, Nina and Hana on the film set of New Zealand on a plate.
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Bevan Jelley with members of the New Zealand market group at their August meeting.
APAN ON
PACIFIC I LAND
ON TAIWAN
ALAY IA
IN APORE T AILAND AU TRALIA
YOUR CROP WILL TRAVEL FAR AND WIDE
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IT’S COMING. WE’RE READY.
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Avoscene September 2016