Avoscene September 2010

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

SEPTEMBER 2010

Inside this Issue l l l l

Final words from CEO Survey results Quality Standards Pruning

Directors Bay of Plenty Jack Crozier Ph/Fax 07 548 1744 jcrozier@xtra.co.nz Ashby Whitehead Ph 07 573 6680 alwhitehead@xtra.co.nz Far North Ian Broadhurst Ph 09 406 7308 m. 021 395 906 bernian.avos@xtra.co.nz Mid North Mike Eagles Ph 09 434 7271 m.eagles@xtra.co.nz At Large Roger Barber (Vice Chairman AGA) Ph/Fax 09 435 0785 barbers@ihug.co.nz Kim Crocker Ph 07 548 1090 kim_crocker@orcon.net.nz John Schnackenberg (Chairman AGA/AIC) Ph 07 549 0717 jschnack@ihug.co.nz Tony Ponder Ph 07 572 3019 tony@southernproduce.co.nz Rest of NZ David French Ph 09 238 3359 or 0274 375 315 famille@ps.gen.nz Export Directors John Carroll, Andrew Darling. Chief Executive Officer Alan Thorn Ph 021 343 576 alanthorn@nzavocado.co.nz

Contents Chairman’s Comment Business Strategy 4 7 17 22 26 28 33 39 41 Avogreen Avocentric Growers’ Survey Results Promotions Regional Roundups Industry News Pruning Field Day

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Chairman’s Comment John Schnackenberg AGA Chairman

Much to consider There are three things I wish to comment on: • Local market – volume and quality • Grower survey and strategy • AGM and elections Local market – volume and quality Growers – we can be our own worst enemies at times aided and abetted by enthusiastic marketers! Unfortunately the culprits are probably not reading this column, but if you know who may have played a part, have a conversation with them, as grower to grower and grower to marketer you have the best chance of fixing these two problems, the AIC/ AGA can only highlight it. Volume In early July, in a strong market, a call went out for fruit and fruit aplenty arrived. Surprise, surprise, market decline – possibly a drop of a third in value within a week of knowledge of volume being available. It has taken several weeks for this problem to fix itself with more stable volume deliveries matched against demand. Growers, if you get a whisper of an opportunity, consider carefully if there is not a shout happening, and the consequences if that be the case. Is your packer/marketer combination actually proposing to handle more than the share they normally have? Do you understand at any point in time what volume of fruit the market is capable of handling at what price? Does your marketer understand that and have they discussed with you what their plan is and how they can place the fruit without affecting the market? Were the results as promised? If not, have you had a satisfactory explanation from your marketer? The AIC has just launched its fruit volume management system – AvoMarket – which is based on the same platform as the Australian industry’s Infocado inventory management 4

system. Packers and marketers are supplying information to it and we are now able to identify weekly dispatch to market, sales volumes and consequently, inventory in the domestic market. This information is available to those who supply the data and is an effort to create transparency for all market participants thus facilitating an orderly market. This system will take a while to bed in and currently is supported by most of the organisations (packers/marketers) supplying the local market. Check your preferred combination are involved and encourage them to participate if they are not. Hopefully AvoMarket will aid an informed market place and see the end of the problem identified above – something that has been typical of every early season. Quality A grower recently wrote to me enclosing a photograph of fruit purchased at a local supermarket but apparently representative of fruit the grower had also seen the day before at a competitor. The photograph shows a modest sized fruit heavily scarred and two ‘nuts’ the size of kiwifruit. I am appalled that a grower harvested this fruit for retail consumption. I am appalled that a packer packed it for the local market. I am appalled that a handler handled it and offered it for retail sale. I am appalled that a produce manager bought it. I am appalled that flagship store quality systems allow this to happen. And I have written to the stores telling them so. Now growers, you need to get the message. This is TAG3 fruit at best or reject fruit! One of the most frequent complaints the AIC gets is quality of fruit in the market place. Poor quality can be a result of two things; inherent quality at harvest, or supply chain issues and / or age, sometimes a combination of all.

Whichever, we cannot be proud of a poor purchase experience encountered by a consumer, not matter what we got paid for the fruit. Kim Crocker (our newly elected At Large Grower Rep.) on his website (avocadogrowers.org.nz) makes the case for sending all TAG3 or poorer fruit to processing (oil or wherever). At times of high volume available to the local market, this argument will even extend to small and large size TAG2 fruit. Kim’s math? Assume 75,000 trays available to local market which can only absorb 25,000 trays (per week) at value. If all the volume reaches the market, value may only be $5 per tray, or a total market value of $375,000. If however we only put forward 25,000 trays the market may pay $20 per tray and say $2.75 per tray for process. This generates a total market value of $637,500 – 70% more return as a result of orderly restraint. Of course there are other benefits of faster throughput in the supply chain meaning consumers are likely to get much better eating quality fruit. Unfortunately in the local market this is difficult if not impossible to manage. The Commerce Act currently forbids market control mechanisms. However major retail chain quality systems when operating set high standards. AvoMarket is designed to assist inventory management and there will be times, growers, when you all need to stand shoulder to shoulder and tell your marketers to remove certain grades of fruit from the local market. I’m with Kim – TAG3 should never be acceptable for local market. Export is different - where we are able to avail ourselves of grade/quality tools through the Horticulture Export Authority Act (HEA) and our EMS. Flip Kim’s thinking around and ask yourself if there is strong rationale for not sending Class II fruit to a high value

export market, no matter how apparently insignificant the intended volume? Maybe the marketer involved in the local market ‘volume’ scenario above will argue his volume was small. But look at the value consequences that impact all! The market is the market and everybody knows what is happening in a market, particularly the buyers! Steady hands on the tiller, please! Grower survey and strategy At our most recent board meeting (Thursday August 26) we were presented with the first cut of the grower survey conducted in February/March this year. Thanks you to all growers who have participated – your contribution in sum is wonderful: 471 growers of 1541 (approximately 30%) have contributed. Congratulations to Ross Mutton (Far North) who won the draw for accommodation, food and beverage at a quality Auckland venue courtesy of United Travel! Note again, this information is the first cut, but it was considered so interesting and anticipated that the board approved its immediate release. Copies were available to growers at the AGM the following day and are also available on the website. Some gems: • 90% of us are aged over 45 years, 23% over 66. (Is 66 the new 50?) • 40% have been in the industry more than 10 years, 25% up to 5 years • Not surprisingly 70% of growers are in the BOP, 6% Far North, 17% mid North • Nearly 50% of us had no or insignificant agriculture or horticulture experience before entering the industry • 30% spend less than 5 hours per week working on avocado business, another 26% between 5 and 10 hours per week • 55% have purchased orchards for lifestyle reasons ... continued 5

By AIC CEO Alan Thorn Chairman’s Comment ... continued And we have a substantial irregular bearing problem, particularly in the Bay of Plenty. Is there a connection? The board is convening a special meeting in mid October to consider a more detailed analysis of this survey and particularly to confirm if any tweaking of the Vision and Strategy might be required. Such deeper review will hopefully dispel my mischievous comment above! AGM Preceding the AGM on the Thursday evening, around 50 growers plus AIC staff attended a dinner at which we recognised the contribution of Alistair Young to the industry and presented him with the 6th Avocado Award. Our AGM was held at Mills Reef in Tauranga on Friday August 27 with about 70 growers attending. The three remits around commodity levy proposed by the AGA Executive were supported by strong majorities. It is particularly pleasing that growers support the need for generic domestic and export promotion funding and the shift in sourcing the funding from the EMS to commodity levy, where growers can exercise annual review. Also it was pleasing that the proposal to support a 3% levy on process grade fruit was strongly supported. The grower initiated remit (M Pease/B James) that the AGA executive members meet twice a year with growers was supported after some diverse discussion. After some discussion the remit re: amalgamating smaller blocks (N Ewart/M Pease) was defeated. The primary reason was probably the doubt that notwithstanding the best will of AIC to support this proposal, MAF, who would need to be convinced (food safety and bio-security issues), are most unlikely to be able to support it. The Executive elections this year have seen strong contention for the BOP representative position and the At Large positions. Congratulations to sitting Grower Representative Ashby Whitehead on reclaiming the one BOP seat (lost two years ago to Peter Farmer). David French has retained his Rest of NZ position, Roger Barber has retained his At Large seat and we have a new representative, Kim Crocker, who is assuming the other At Large seat. A very warm welcome to you Kim! A big thankyou too to John Cotterell, Matt Leamy and Leigh Neilson who also took the time to stand as both BOP and At Large candidates and Arthur Marsh who stood as an At Large candidate but were unsuccessful. It is sad to farewell Jack Crozier after 12 years service and Peter Farmer after two years. Thanks you both for your much valued contributions. Presentations were made to them both (and their wives) at the pre AGM Dinner.

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Final words

This will be my last opportunity to write an Avoscene column as your CEO, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support during my time in the industry and also to share with you some of my thoughts and observations on the state of the industry and the future opportunities, as I see them.

Untapped potential During my time as CEO the industry has increased production from 11,000 to >21,000 tonnes and grown values from $43 million to more than $84 million, and there is no reason to doubt that this growth pattern will continue. The New Zealand avocado industry has completed the transition from cottageindustry roots into the global marketplace player. Worldwide, avocado production is increasing rapidly, yet market returns have remained relatively stable and demand for avocado and consumption has grown at a daunting pace, despite the recent global financial woes. What this does tell us is that consumers worldwide recognise the value of the avocado and are prepared to pay for the product in preference to other options. This can only be a good signal for the future of the avocado industry, showing the extent of the untapped potential. However my word of caution would be to all participants in the industry to continue to strive to deliver a consistent quality product every time to the consumer to maintain their loyalty. Above all we must remember no consumer equals no sale. Dichotomy of growers The recently completed grower survey [thank you to all those that took the time to send in your responses] produced some startling facts: 90% of orchards are owner operated but surprisingly only 6% of orchardists derive 100% of their income from avocado production and only 20%

have some form of horticultural training. In terms of investment 30% of growers indicated that they spend less than five hours a week working on the orchard, which coincides with the 53% that report that their main reason for being involved in the industry is for lifestyle. Clearly, the avocado industry has a dichotomy of interests, namely those that are reliant and those that are independent of the returns from their production. This raises challenges for the industry in how it services its members, as both small and large producers can sit in either camp. Bringing all parties together and moving the industry forward in a cohesive manner continues to be a strategic challenge for the industry leadership. Innovation As a nation, we have a reputation for being great implementers of knowledge and none more so than those involved in the avocado industry. As I have travelled the growing regions I have never ceased to be amazed by the innovation and skills that growers bring to solving production issues. In 2000, the AIC established a quality assurance programme, obtained external funding and developed its science capability, which has meant it is now well positioned to take advantage of new technologies or overcome challenges as they arise. During my tenure the implementation of mandatory systems such as the electronic spray diary and AvoGreenŽ have given the potential to deliver security to our markets, something that other avocado producers envy New Zealand for. The global avocado industry is recognised for its ability to share market volume and price information. This has allowed development of an informed market place, with no surprises, and aids market stability and returns. The level of collaboration and cooperation extends to suppliers to markets in Australia (Infocado) Europe (AMAPWG) and the USA (HAB) and this season we have initiated a local market system – AvoMarket which is a voluntary system designed to disseminate sales volume information to all market participants on the basis of contribution entitles access. That all the significant market participants have been willing to contribute is testament

to the maturity that exists within our market place. Structural stability Industry adoption of both the Commodity Levy and HEA legislation to enable a solid foundation for the industry was insightful and continues to serve the industry well. The financial security and controlled regulation that this legislation affords the industry has provided the necessary stability for industry development. One of my first tasks in 2006 was to guide the renewal of the Commodity Levy and in 2012 you will be considering its continuation. I encourage you to consider the weight of benefits that have accrued to the industry when you exercise your democratic rights. Many of you may not be aware that the AIC is the envy of many of our peer horticultural product groups, for the way we have been able to utilise the EMS to provide stability for the industry. While it might seem that growers are being asked to meet ever-increasing levels of compliance and standards driven from the market and government, the industry would be at a much greater disadvantage if it did not have the ability to benefit from the scale of economy working cohesively brings. Imposing regulation is an important function of the AIC and it is never an easy decision. By implementing what at times might feel like hard decisions it is important to remember that in every decision the AIC is working towards the big picture, the strategic goal and always focused on growers’ best interests first. In the future, the disciplines learned and the ability to develop, implement and fund industry wide initiatives will be important success factors. Growing futures In 2005, the AIC embarked on a joint venture to import a wide range of new avocado varieties and rootstocks. Designed to ensure New Zealand growers gained access to new and improved plant material from overseas, the undertaking is now bearing fruit, particularly in the area of clonal rootstocks which offer real opportunities in regard to Phytophthora tolerance and uniformity in the continued...

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By AIC CEO Alan Thorn

Final words ...continued

continued

orchard. New Zealand imported Duke 6 and Duke 7 around 20 years ago, the same time as the South African industry which have now successfully capitalised on this superior rootstock with the development of Latas, Dusa, Bountry and several untested rootstocks to the extent that >90% of the South African industry is clonal rootstock based. They have grasped the understanding that clonal rootstocks represent the future of the avocado industry and New Zealand growers should in my opinion be fast followers in this development as it offers a clear pathway to growing the future of the industry. Promote, promote, promote Horticultural crops typically have their price dictated by supply and demand. Globally, avocados have so far been able to maintain price stability and even price increases in spite of increased volumes thanks to effective consumer awareness campaigns on their nutritional value. It has been a highlight of my time in the industry to gain grower support for investment in promotion of our product in the Australian market and to oversee a fundamental change in the relationships between the Australian and New Zealand avocado industries. The relationship with Avocados Australia through our Memorandum of Understanding has enabled our industry to both access a suite of exceptional collateral (at a considerable saving to New Zealand growers) and to mount a meaningful campaign by carrying only placement costs, when our fruit is in the market, facilitated through the efforts of AIC communications officer Midge Munro. The market returns of last season can in some measure be attributed to the commitment and investment in Australian promotion, in collaboration with the Australians. The support of growers for the remit to increase our Commodity Levy by 20 cents per export tray to be used exclusively for promotion, at the 2010 AGM, is a huge step forward and finally places growers in 8

control of this important activity, that can now be tailored to best effect in domestic, Australian or other emerging markets to support marketers efforts. Reflecting on the establishment of first the grower body (NZ Avocado Promotions Assn.) it was recognised by the early pioneers of the industry that promotion was needed to establish the category and market their fruit and now the industry has come full circle to support promotion equally alongside the production and quality investments. In the future growers would be wise to maintain focus on investments in both promotion and quality as they will be the keys to acceptable market returns. Market development The most challenging period of my time with the industry has been those we have faced from biosecurity related, market access issues. We have successfully kept the door open to Australia and the USA as we removed two significant avocado pests Sphaceloma persea and ASBVd from our pest list. An earlier investment in research to develop water blasting technology paid dividends by being able to implement a treatment process at the packhouse which satisfied the US Department of Agriculture requirements for assurance against the inadvertent export of Light Brown Apple Moth egg rafts or larvae. Without the close working relationship with Peter Johnston at MAF BNZ and the skills of AIC technical manager Dr Henry Pak and his science team it would have been nigh on impossible to achieve these outcomes, which were critical to maintenance of market access to two key markets, and the future growth potential of the industry. Being able to demonstrate we are serious about phytosanitary assurances to Biosecurity Australia and the USDA has gained the New Zealand industry a high reputation. The flip side of these successes has been less delivery of other planned science projects primarily due to the diversion of resources at our disposal. The AIC’s commitment to working with the regulatory authorities for the benefit of the industry has allowed the AIC to

punch well above its weight. As production increases and secure access to multiple markets is required the complexity of phytosanitary and food safety issues will undoubtedly increase. In the future, our customers will be more demanding and the industry will need to tighten up frameworks and compliance parameters to meet their demands. Can I encourage you all to work closely with your exporters, to think very carefully about the chemistry you use in your orchards and the markets you are planning to consign your fruit to so as to ensure that as an industry we maintain this hard won credibility. Diversify Eventually, of course, with increasing production, surplus fruit will become an issue. The New Zealand local market is restricted as we are not massive avocado consumers and indeed it is unlikely that domestic consumption will ever be able to account for that fruit that does not meet export standards, and at a value which provides a viable return to Growers. New Zealand pioneered “pre-ripened” fruit (typically by treating avocados with ethylene for a short time before shipping to retail outlets). The process sharply reduces both the time it takes for fruit to reach full ripeness and helps manage the variability between ripening profiles providing a more consistent product for consumers. That through our exporters we can successfully manage this process, thousands of kilometres from our orchards, yet fail to deliver it reliably in our own country is a golden opportunity going begging in my opinion. In 1999, big-picture thinkers created one value-added product in New Zealand – cold-pressed avocado oil, which was sold at a premium price point, the oil has been praised by chefs and nutritionists because it is high in mono-unsaturated fats and vitamin E and has a versatile range of uses. Value-added products lift the bar for the industry. This is where ultra high-pressure technology comes in as well and I wish this new venture every success. The diversion of lower grade fruit from the domestic fresh fruit market will have the effect of improving returns, while the returns from

Strategy Development of a strategy for the industry incorporating the big-picture view, considering the perspectives of all industry participants and placing it in a global framework has been a major focus of my efforts. Clearly, production growth will come in the very near future and having a plan in place and market opportunities available will be crucial. Strategy is about anticipating the future and positioning to benefit in a proactive manner. The avocado industry will need to make significant investments in the Educate short term to ensure its success. New Zealand growers have Investing now will aid future access to a series of information Volume success; the alternative is not an about growing avocados from option. • Six Pruning field days held in growing regions featuring the Growers Manual, to Grower I encourage all growers to Dr John Leonardi (AAL) Guides and Tech Sheets which maintain strong representation • Sublicense signed for commercial release of Bounty have been specifically developed and participation with industry rootstock for New Zealand conditions governance. Think about what • CEO and Roger Barber (Vice Chair) attended Merensky - not to mention the global you can do to enhance and Tech Forum in South Africa resources found in print and develop the industry future, and • Horticultural Information Portal project near to on the internet. These sources act on it. It is your industry and completion of information give a good livelihood therefore vibrant grower Value guide to the basics of orchard participation and a clear voice or • AvoGreen Monitor training close to complete management systems for New mandate is a critical success factor. • AvoMarket local market reporting system up and running Zealand conditions and growers Keeping your industry focused on • Quality Manual 2010 -2011 online would be well advised to take growers and under grower control • 2010 - 2011 Australian promotion plan close to another look at their manuals and will be vital. finalisation rediscover the basics of nutrition, • AIC participating in pilot programme for Food Safety shelter and irrigation. This advice Farewell programme verification has been compiled by recognised You have demonstrated that you • Food Bill has had first reading in Parliament - impacts on experts in each field and the role can work together in times of crisis food produced for domestic consumption these parameters play in successful so I encourage you to continue to Leadership production is clearly outlined. work closely in times of success. Our investment in development • AGA Annual General Meeting held You have established a reputation of an exciting new web based • AIC hosted ERMA representatives as a well-managed, pragmatic, information tool is about to be • AIC participating with other industry groups in GIA proactive and strategically driven released to the industry, which I workshops industry and it has been my encourage you to support. pleasure to have been associated Remember that new research in with your successes over that last California, Australia or South Africa may not reinstated technology transfer program being four and a half years. necessarily apply in New Zealand because of headed up by Paul Brookbanks. I encourage To the AIC staff, thank you for your the different edaphic environment we work all growers to get involved in the regional sterling efforts on behalf of the industry, with, so it is all about observing and learning technical sessions that Paul is planning and keep up the good work and build on the what we can from the experience of growers to engage in a local discussion group – the great team spirit that you have developed. overseas and (applying some No. 8 wire dairy industry have utilised this discussion I wish the industry all the very best for mentality) adapting, modifying and testing forum concept to great advantage and there a successful and prosperous future, and the thesis in New Zealand. is no reason why the avocado industry rest assured I will be keenly interested in If we observe any successful horticultural cannot repeat these successes. observing your pathway to future success. value-added processed products will lift the overall industry value, provide growers with a further outlet for their fruit and grow the perceptions of consumers positively for avocado. Additionally, it will demonstrate to potential investors that the avocado industry has a stable economic base. Of course all these value added opportunities can only be successful if growers understand the destination of their fruit and are disciplined in exercising control over its supply to export, domestic and processing markets. industry they will have tree management systems in place that are robust and don’t just work by chance, yet traditionally New Zealand growers have let their trees grow without pruning intervention. Some innovators have intervened with successful results and the AIC has recently had the generous services of Dr John Leonardi from AAL who has run a series of workshops on tree canopy management as part of our

Recent Highlights of AIC activity

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Exporters’ Comment

John Carroll AVEC Chairman

Export season fast approaching It is expected the first exports will leave New Zealand during September, with most fruit in the season ahead destined for Australia.

The latest export volume estimate is sitting at 1.9 million trays, some way up on earlier predictions at 1.5 to 1.6. Clearly, there is an expectation that a number of factors will aid pack-outs versus what we have faced in recent seasons, but packing in the early weeks will give us a more accurate handle on that. It is important that we absorb that information quickly, and as exporters make the appropriate decisions on how we should be flowing fruit into our markets. Another factor we must acknowledge is the very real possibility we are in line for a large fruitset in the months ahead. That will impact some grower thinking about harvest preferences with the current crop, yet we must remember markets can bite us if we push too much too soon, thereby creating peaks and troughs. At the same time, we will all watch with interest to see how the unusually large amount of autumn set fruit develops, and whether that will become viable. If it does, it will likely impact on the late domestic market, and perhaps encourage less normal season Hass being kept for the period April to June. That in itself would mean more volume exported this summer, providing fruit size and quality is up to the task. The recent continual rainfall will mean it is important growers keep up to date with fungicide applications, and we hope this inclement period doesn’t provide us any surprises on the fruit quality front. Even though the bulk of our fruit is going to our neighbour, Australia, if product is not well protected, any issues become obvious. In terms of market, and accepting there will be some sales into Asian markets, the focus again heavily becomes Australia. The values we might expect from Australia look positive, albeit simply not what the spot market delivered last January. As a recall, last January saw the strongest Australian market I have seen in more than 20 years. And why? Essentially, while New Zealand by and large stuck to a consistent programme, Australian supply in January fell away completely; they ran out of fruit, and the fact they were going to had not been well communicated until right before Xmas. Then, just as North Queensland began a new season harvest of Shepards in mid January, they entered cyclone season that affected their supply for weeks. So NZ effectively had the market to ourselves, when we had not expected to. This coming season is rather different, with Western Australia anticipating their largest ever crop, peaking from November to February. Their timing mirrors ours, and competes head-on with us. Equally, our quality and presentation will need to stand good scrutiny when lined up against WA. Nevertheless, remembering the NZ volume going into Australia will be slightly down, we still expect a good market. As a final note, it is timely to wish all in our industry a successful season, and we all watch with keen interest what our trees are about to deliver, not least the next fruitset. For if that set reaches its potential, we are about to climb several rungs on the ladder and become a much bigger industry. As international marketers, that will be a terrific challenge, and our industry surely needs it.

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Make sure you book your advertising space for the next issue of Avoscene due out in December. Contact Daphne at Sun Media on 07 578 0030 or email daphne@thesun.co.nz. Booking deadline is November 15th, 2010.

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By organic avocado grower Matt Leamy

What was the question?

Dr Christine Jones spoke during the Farming for a Climate of Change presentation in Katikati and had answers that led to more questions. Photo by Matt Leamy.

How important are mycorrhizae in protecting avocado from phytophthora?

Which species of mycorrhizae are there in our avocado orchards? Which species of mycorrhizae are more effective at disease protection and nutrient assimilation? What is the potential in an avocado system for soil nitrogen supply by azotobacter bacteria and other microbes that can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere? How can an avocado manager generate the soil environment that allows the nitrogen fixing microbes to reach their potential? From Dr Philip Callahan’s work we understand that insects can differentiate healthy plants from unhealthy ones by detecting differences in infra red frequencies emitted by them. Is there the potential to build an insect trap that controls flying insects with no pesticides? Could a tool be made that can detect these changes allowing orchard managers to read their trees in ways never thought of before? It is well known that six spotted mite in avocado can have very localised effects within an orchard. If they can drift from one tree to the next in the lightest of breezes it is probably not the absence of the pest that would explain this variability,

more likely it is the trees that are heavily affected are a food source they can survive and thrive on but the neighbouring trees are not. Is this plant induced resistance? How can an orchard manager stimulate that? There are bacteria, fungi, nematodes and protozoa that suppress or predate on phytophthora, how does the orchard manager create the soil conditions that allow this hidden workforce to do its job? Dr Elaine Ingham tells us that all plants are exuding carbohydrates into the soil, potentially up to one third of all the sugars produced by the plant. Much of this is feeding microbes that have a beneficial relationship with the plant. This means that all plants are adjusting the soil environment to be more favourable for themselves. Different sward plants will therefore have different influences on the soil microbial life, some will be more beneficial to the tree and some less so. How could an orchardist manage the sward so that it will be more favourable to tree growth? Humus is known to significantly increase soil water holding capacity, nutrient holding capacity, reduce leaching, create compaction resistant soils, create erosion resistant soils, bind toxins and stimulate soil microbial life. The Australian Soil Accreditation Scheme research trials add to this that increased soil carbon levels are

accompanied by improved plant resistance to frosts, low soil moisture, insects and disease. How do different avocado management systems affect the formation or break down of humus? Dr Christine Jones spoke recently to growers about the liquid carbon pathway that builds soil humus directly from carbohydrates exuded by the plant, through the microbial associations and out into the soil. She states this is likely a more significant way to build soil carbon than the breakdown of bulky organic matter from the recycling of dead plant material. Avocado systems are often thought of as high soil carbon systems. Are root/fungus associations commonly degraded by some management practices used in avocado? Would that significantly compromise the potential for humus manufacture? Dr Jones tells us that mycorrhizae growing on grass roots can link up physically with mycorrhizae growing on tree roots and share carbohydrate resources. What does this mean for how sward plants effect the growth of avocados? It has been demonstrated that roundup can induce micro nutrient deficiencies. It has also been shown to stimulate a number of plant pathogens including phytophthora spp. (ref. Don M Huber, Emeritus professor, Purdue University). What is the significance of that in avocado systems?

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• • • •

By AIC communications officer Midge Munro

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Strategy and scie Approximately 70 growers attended the 2010 AGM, which was preceded by a Strategy and Science Update presented by AIC CEO, Alan Thorn and technical manager, Henry Pak. “We are going to survey those orchards that have consistently high yields and those that are at the bottom end and find out what the good and bad practices are.” New varieties may also have a positive bearing on the issue of yield. The AIC has brought in six new rootstocks and four new scions which will be trialled. On a recent trip to South Africa, Alan Thorn visited an orchard of Carmen avocado trees on Dusa rootstock. “They were 18 months old, planted at three by three spacing, pruned to 2.2 metres and producing ten tonnes per hectare!” Westfalia in South Africa have seen a 20 per cent increase in productivity through the use of Dusa Rootstock. AIC technical manager Henry Pak elaborated on these activities and spoke of the science goals underpinning the strategy - sustainability, reliability and profitability. R&D projects being undertaken by the AIC are all related to growers achieving a better outcome, consumers being presented with excellent fruit and the industry being able to anticipate threats and maximise opportunities. A project on reading your trees is close to dissemination and is aimed at giving growers information to be able to recognise problems with their trees and make informed decisions about the necessary actions or inputs. Another project aimed at giving growers information to make good decisions is the introduction of the internet-based Hort Information Portal (HIP). Due to go live in October, the Hort Information Portal uses cutting-edge technology to bring together a wide range of avocado information.

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Strategy and Science Update The Industry Strategy is supported by three pillars: Volume, Value and Leadership - a framework that has been set by the Board to set the industry’s direction for going forward. “We need to think about the realism of being there [at 12 million trays] in the next five years and setting the wheels in motion or we won’t get there,” explained Alan Thorn. The AIC has placed focus on communicating knowledge to growers. “There is so much information out there that this organisation has produced, we need to sift out the gems and get them into a format for practical everyday use.” Alan explained that the employment of an outreach coordinator (Paul Brookbanks) is the first step to achieving greater technology transfer to growers. The AIC is also making a commitment to running regular fields days - the first of which (held late August/early September) have been focussed on canopy management. Achieving consistently high yields is another issue vital to the Vision.

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“We must recognise the very real possibility of 12 million trays by 2015. The Board has been focussed over the last 24 months on developing strategies to help produce and sell these trays at the best value for growers so the industry is sustainable,” NZAGA chairman John Schnackenberg at the 2010 NZAGA AGM, Mills Reef Winery, Tauranga August 27, 2010.

nce key topics at 2010 AGM Growers will be able to access the HIP through the NZ Avocado website and search for information on a variety of avocado production topics. The AIC is also continuing to look at economic and environmentally sustainable production systems that produce fruit that is safe for the consumer. “Sustainable production is the way the world is going and rolling out AvoGreen for the coming season is part of this.” “It is about future-proofing the industry by introducing practices that allow our fruit to go anywhere.” It is recognised by the AIC that a key constraint to sustainability is the use of copper. The AIC has been trialling alternatives to this. “There are a couple of promising compounds and we are working with the companies to pursue registration for use in New Zealand avocado orchards.” One of the most prominent issues affecting the industry is biennial bearing. This issue is being tackled by 40 of the world’s top scientists who are going to meet in San Francisco to collaborate on what is underpinning biennial bearing and develop an international project to bring together the knowledge on this subject. Research being undertaken on the subject by the AIC include pruning (structural and flower) and working with Plant & Food Research to study the role the starch cycle plays. Remit Session Following an audit of the voting results from the AGA AGM the following are the final results: Remit 1: That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the export market be set at 37.5c per 5.5kg tray for the period 1 May 2011 to 30 April 2012. Moved by J. Schnackenberg Seconded by J. Crozier Results of Ballot Remit 1 FOR – 657 AGAINST – 27 Remit 2: That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the domestic market be set at 3% for the period 1 May 2011 to 30 April 2012. Moved by J. Schnackenberg Seconded by J. Crozier Results of Ballot Remit 2 FOR – 663 AGAINST – 20 Remit 3: That the levy rate for processed avocado fruit sold be set at 3% for the period 1 May 201 to 30 April 2012. Moved by J. Schnackenberg Seconded by J. Crozier Results of Ballot Remit 3 FOR – 533 AGAINST – 143 Remit 4: That in the interest of improving communication and promoting discussion between growers and growers representatives, AIC district meetings will be held twice a year. The AIC will appoint a grower representative to facilitate these meetings. Moved by M. Pease Seconded by B.James Results of Ballot Remit 4 FOR – 461 AGAINST – 205 Remit 5: That the AIC produce a protocol whereby a number of smaller avocado blocks can be dealt with as one in terms of compliance. Moved by N. Ewart Seconded by M. Pease Results of Ballot Remit 5 FOR – 241 AGAINST – 428 New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association Commodity Levy Rates 2011-2012. Below are the commodity levy rates as approved by resolution at the AGM of the NZAGA on August 27: 1. That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the export market be set at 37.5c per 5.5kg tray for the period 1 May 2011 to 30 April 2012. 2. That the levy rate for avocado fruit sold into the domestic market be set at 3% for the period 1 May 2011 to 30 April 2012. 3. That the levy rate for processed avocado fruit sold be set at 3% for the period 1 May 201 to 30 April 2012. AGA Election Results Thank you to those that stood for election to the two available AGA Representative positions. Results: • Ashby Whitehead elected to position of Bay of Plenty AGA Representative • Kim Crocker elected to position of At Large AGA Representative • Roger Barber elected to position of At Large Representative. • David French elected unopposed to position of Rest of NZ AGA Representative.

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By Dr David Steven, IPM Research Ltd

More on monitoring: What about counting the good guys?

Some monitors make a point of noting down any insect or mite that they chance upon while carrying out pest monitoring and recognise as a predator or parasite; that is a bio-control agent or beneficial.

Their enthusiasm is commendable. However recording these beneficials is not a required part of AvoGreen because this is not information that we can currently use in any way to help decide whether or not a spray really is warranted. In fact we don’t know what actually are the key beneficials, the ones having the most impact, and so helping limit populations of the main pests of avocados in New Zealand. Some of the beneficials I’ve seen recorded, while clearly predators of some insect or other, may not even regularly feed on the pests that attack avocado crops. The little brown Tasmanian lacewing is a case in point. I have heard this insect, Micromus tasmaniae a native to both New Zealand and Australia, talked of as a predator of six-spotted mite (6SM). While it might just possibly eat the occasional 6SM, the Tasmanian lacewing is primarily a predator of aphids. For aphids this insect is a significant predator, but we have no problem with aphids on avocados. There is only one way that general observations of beneficials could be used currently, and that is to show whether the orchard concerned has been blitzed by too many broad-spectrum sprays, or provides a healthier environment. Although this is of some interest and could provide a “feel-good” factor for a grower, it is not the prime purpose of monitoring – which is to determine the levels of pests present. For these reasons, although recording beneficials while carrying out pest monitoring is allowed, it is not advocated. Leafrollers - shoot versus fruit monitoring Feedback from monitor training indicates that this topic is still causing some confusion. It is best to use fruit sites unless there are simply not enough touching fruit available. Shoot sites were only ever introduced as an alternative to cope with situations when touching fruit could not be found, either: • because the fruit were too small to have reached touching stage, or • when the crop was very light or all out of reach. There are a number of reasons for taking this stance:

continued...

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More on monitoring: What about counting the good guys? ...continued

1. Fruit samples can be used to monitor both leafrollers and greenhouse thrips (GHT) at the same time. Leaf samples on avocado trees cannot be used to effectively monitor GHT because they have such a strong preference for feeding on fruit rather than leaves - considerable crop damage would be caused before the thrips were found on leaves. 2. The fruit is actually what we sell and we know from other crops that the numbers of leafroller caterpillars found on leaves does not always reflect what is happening on fruit. For example on kiwifruit the black-lyre leafroller is principally found on fruit, rather than leaves, which is one reason why fruit samples are used when leafroller monitoring on kiwifruit. This species of leafroller is one of those found on avocados. 3. We have less information about the leafrollers attacking avocados, but the same species occur on avocados as on kiwifruit. AvoGreen monitoring began after KiwiGreen had been established and so from the beginning has used fruit samples. This means that there now is considerable experience that fruit monitoring on avocados does work, but very little evidence regarding shoot sites. 4. The main leafroller on avocados is the brown-headed leafroller Ctenopseustis obliquana and this species is attracted to new growth. This means it should be (and is) readily found in the fresh shoots of

the growth flush that avocado trees often show in the time before fruitlets touch. However at other times, we cannot be sure that shoot samples are adequate. Similarly, we are less certain for the other species of leafroller. Although shoot sampling may be satisfactory as a short-term, stop gap measure (especially when crop loads are light), more data is needed before it could be endorsed as a routine alternative. 5. Most importantly, a comparison of the two techniques (fruit and shoot sampling) undertaken during trial work has shown surprisingly different results on different occasions, casting further doubt as to how well the shoot sample does represent what is happening to the fruit (see Table 1). Note that the sampling in these trials was not identical to that in normal AvoGreen monitoring, chiefly in being much more intensive with more samples per tree. This difference would not affect the conclusions reached. In the first of these comparisons, sampling shoots over-estimated the level of caterpillar infestation of fruit by a factor of 2, while in the second case shoot sampling underestimated the level on fruit by a factor of 3. This is a huge difference between the two trials. It also had no obvious explanation. So use shoot sampling for leafrollers only as a temporary measure when you have to because not enough fruit sites can be found. NB: During the current revision of AvoGreen practices, the option when fruit sites are limited of taking supplementary fruit sites from a tree adjacent to the

designated sample tree was inadvertently dropped. This oversight will be corrected by the time this article is published. Orchard A Date 3.1.06 7.2.06 1.3.06 15.3.06 Shoots No infested 5 8 16 5 % 0.42 0.67 1.33 0.42 Fruit No infested -* 0 3 0 % 0 0.63 0

Orchard B Shoots Fruit Date 2.4.07 No infested % No infested % Unsprayed 10 3.42 9 10.07 Sprayed 1 .14 2 0.33 * fruitlets not touching Orchard A involved 1200 shoots & 480 fruit pairs each time; Orchard B a total of 1500 shoots & 750 fruit pairs

Doing more than the minimum amount of monitoring The sampling proscribed in the AvoGreen Manual, in terms of the number of sample trees, samples per tree and the best practice schedule, is minimal. You can always do more, as a bigger sample will give a more accurate estimate of the pest levels actually present. An Owner-Operator has a tremendous advantage in this regard because their monitoring does not include the cost of travelling to the orchard in the first place. Of the aspects which determine the amount of monitoring, the number of samples per tree should be left as it is at 5 fruit sites (leafrollers and thrips) or 10 leaves (six-spotted mite) per tree. Opinions differ as to whether it is better to increase the

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number of sample trees inspected in a monitoring round or to do more rounds. I’d bet both ways – depending on the circumstances. Most often I’d say to do more sample trees per round, particularly when first starting out as a monitor. This is because more trees would cover a greater variability in pest incidence across the orchard, and this aspect may not be fully appreciated on starting monitoring. Taking more samples does mean that the results have to be calculated differently to how it is laid out in the Recording Sheet available from the website. However, even if it meant having to set up an extra set of randomly selected marked trees, it would be worthwhile to put this in place at the start. Then if your regular or “first picked” sample comes up clean when you think one or other pest is likely to be there (e.g. if they were present at this time last year, or they are common on other orchards), you can quickly carry on into the extra trees. However, if you suspect that a problem pest may be about to decline in numbers any way, such as GHT at the end of autumn, or 6SM near Christmas, the better option once a low level of pest is detected would be to not spray but to monitor again after only a short time Happy bug hunting!!!!

Dr David Steven, IPM Research Ltd PO Box 36-012, Auckland 0748 AvoPest: 0508 286 7378 dsteven@ipmresearch.co.nz Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author

What makes a predator or parasite key?

Many pests are under attack by a wide range of bio-control agents. For example the list below shows insects and mites reported to attack six-spotted mite (6SM) in California.

Predators of six-spotted mite in California Some names may have been revised Type Amblyseius (=Typhlodromalus) limonicus Euseius hibisci Euseius mesembrinus Galendromus helveolus Typhlodromus conspicuous Typhlodromus finlandicus Typhlodromus longipilus Typhlodromus occidentalis Typhlodromus rickeri Typhlodromus similis Stethorus picipes Stethorus utilis Oligota oviformis Scolothrips sexmaculatus Chrysopa californica Orius tristicolor Anthrocnodax occidentalis Coniopteryx angustus Conwentzia nigrans Parasemidalis flaviceps predator mite predator mite predator mite predator mite predator mite predator mite predator mite predator mite predator mite lady bird beetle lady bird beetle staphylinid beetle predatory thrips green lacewing pirate bug Cecidomyid fly predator dusky wing predatory fly dusky wing predatory fly dusky wing predatory fly predator mite

Only very few of these species will actually be effective in keeping populations of 6SM from rapidly expanding and reaching damaging levels. Most will feed on 6SM but not to the extent that the numbers of 6SM are significantly affected. Others may be effective under some environmental conditions, but not all. The generalists, those that feed on a wide range of other hosts, can sometimes help keep numbers of pests low when the conditions do not favour survival of the pest. Other predators will be attracted by big numbers of the pest, and so will only play a role once a pest outbreak has already occurred. This type of predator can be conspicuous without necessarily having an important impact. The most effective biocontrol agents increase in number as the pest increases, only more rapidly, so that they can often prevent a potential outbreak from occurring. For pest mites, generally one or two predator mite species (often from the family Phytoseidae) turn out to be key in keeping pest numbers down, while the Stethorus predator beetles come in once populations are high. It can take considerable research to sort out all the interactions.

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By AIC quality coordinator Juan Rosales

AvoGreen® update

Implementation of the AvoGreen programme is now well underway. Accreditation of AIC accredited AvoGreen Trainers has been completed and training of Owner-operators has commenced in most regions.

Four training sessions for those interested in becoming AIC accredited AvoGreen Trainers were completed in June and July. From these sessions, 10 Trainers were selected and to date they have delivered fifteen courses to AvoGreen Owner-operators and monitors in Bay of Plenty, Auckland, Whangarei and Far North regions. The courses delivered to Owner-Operators by the accredited AvoGreen Trainers include a power point presentation on the Basic Training Module, which incorporates sections on IPM, AvoGreen and avocado pest monitoring. As part of the training, a handson field session is to be completed after completion of the Basic Training Module and these are to be organised by the Trainers and completed later in the year when pests are more readily available. Twelve more courses are to be delivered in September and October including some of the remote areas such as Coromandel and Opotiki. To date approximately 200 Owner-Operators have already completed the Basic Training Module and approximately 100 more, including commercial monitors are already registered to attend one of the coming courses. Each attendee has been asked to complete a feedback evaluation form on the course content and delivery. Feedback from attendees has been largely positive and at the completion of the course they have a clear understanding of what is required to implement their AvoGreen sampling plan. More information on AvoGreen is available on www.nzavocado.co.nz The next step after attending the course is to sign off the OwnerOperator AvoGreen agreements with the AIC. This agreement is currently being prepared and will be sent out in September. This agreement basically outlines the term and conditions on the use of the AvoGreen programme. Be aware that fruit intended for export in 2011-2012 season is set this spring and needs to be AvoGreen compliant from November 1, 2010 in order to be export compliant for the following season. You need to have your orchard AvoGreen monitored either by becoming a trained Owner-Operator or by contracting the services of an accredited AvoGreen monitor.

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By Dr David Steven, IPM Research Ltd

The way that you do it Avogreen becoming a compulsory requirement for export signals the dawn of a new era for the New Zealand avocado industry. Photo by David Steven.

“It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it” So goes the catchy little jingle accompanying a current New World TV commercial. It actually encapsulates a very important message; one that is all the more apt in being associated with a supermarket chain, since the supermarkets are more and more the ones setting the standards for fresh fruit and vegetables. The underlying message is that how you achieve something can be just as important as actually producing to a certain standard. It applies to the avocado industry at a range of levels. At the top – the strategic or planning level – this is the message underpinning the move to AvoGreen. It is no longer enough just to meet set quality criteria that can be measured on the fruit, these criteria have to be achieved in the right way, and the industry has to be able to demonstrate this to the satisfaction of its customers. The definition of quality has expanded to include these invisible attributes. Inside all this is a shift of focus from producing fruit and expecting it to sell

well, to determining what the market wants and putting in place a system that not only meets current expectations but also positions the industry to be able to readily match future demands. Given our increasing dependence on exports and the cost structure in New Zealand compared to the traditional countries producing avocados, we have to target the best paying markets that we can service. These are the most demanding At a very basic level in the avocado industry, the message “to do things right” has to be borne in mind every time a spray is applied. At this level the message becomes an intertwined series: • Is the spray necessary? • Am I using the best product? • Will the application achieve maximum impact? The focus of AvoGreen is on the first of these points, with also some emphasis on improved application, since this latter is both critical and topical. The recent Sustainable Farming Fund project on spray application showed that good gains in application effectiveness can be made, and without achieving this the IPM (Integrated Pest Management) goal of minimal sprays is not possible.

This places AvoGreen as a very basic IPM system. It is a jump forward for our industry the end point must depend on the market. We are making good progress, but so are our competitors. As market expectations grow and as customers become more demanding, AvoGreen will have to adapt and improve to maintain any competitive advantage. However this should be achievable with small changes rather than the current big jump. The adoption of AvoGreen by the total export avocado industry is a major advance. There are bound to be some problems that arise simply because the extent of change is unprecedented. However, in spite of any such potential problems, the combined industry is showing a commitment to achieving this goal that augers well for its future. Dr David Steven IPM Research Ltd PO Box 36-012 Auckland 0748 AvoPest: 0508 286 7378 dsteven@ipmresearch.co.nz Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author 21

By Natasha Mitchell

Exporting expert supports Alistair Young says ‘juggling’ avocados to meet the demands of export markets is a key part of Southern Produce’s business.

When it comes to securing a successful future for the New Zealand avocado industry, Tauranga’s Alistair Young believes it is essential growers, packhouses, politicians and exporters work together.

Alistair was awarded the Avocado Award in September in recognition of his more than 18 years service on the New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Association as an executive representative. He has also played a role as an exporter representative on the Avocado Industry Council Board. Best known as a founder of exporter Team Horticulture/Team Avocado and the Team Avocado Trust, created 16 years ago, his involvement in the horticulture industry began much earlier. Alistair moved from his hometown of New Plymouth to Katikati in the late 1970s. “My first job was for Hugh and Dorothy Moore. That’s when I discovered I had an interest in horticulture,” says Alistair. At the time the Moores were growing kiwifruit, avocados and onions. Alistair completed a horticultural cadetship in the early 1980s and worked on several Bay of Plenty kiwifruit, avocado and persimmon orchards, culminating in an orchard management role in Katikati. He then returned to New Plymouth to develop an avocado property, but liked the Bay of Plenty too much and returned in about 1985. He has lived there ever since. Not longer after his return he got a job in Fruit Fed’s kiwifruit export division and ended up based in Belgium working in marketing and logistics. “I enjoyed the interaction with customers.” With the establishment of single desk kiwifruit marketing in 1987, Alistair was drafted onto the Kiwifruit Marketing Board. “It wasn’t my scene though, so I went and created my first business, HarvestPak, in partnership with Dave Goodman, Talbot Munroe and David Church.” By this stage Alistair also had his own avocado orchard at Apata. “I decided to give it a go as an independent exporter, with a couple of mates from Australia. Then I came up with the concept of the Team Avocado Trust (originally the HarvestPak Trust) and went and saw Mr Moore.” At the time grower and exporter relationships were under pressure as exporters in the nashi and

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team approach venison industries had collapsed, taking growers’ money with them. The trust concept seemed an ideal solution, as the plan was all funds would be paid directly into a trust account from overseas, providing transparency and accountability for growers who would sit alongside exporters on the trust board. It was the early 1990s and avocado growers were experiencing poor returns on the wholesale market in Australia. A meeting of 35 Far North and Bay of Plenty growers was held at Waiwera in 1994. “We discussed the need to lift our game as the New Zealand industry wasn’t going anywhere in wholesale. We decided we needed to aim for retail. “That’s when Team Avocado was born, based on the concept of growers, packers and marketers working together, hence the name ‘Team’. “It was a little too successful. We took a marketing proposal to Australia to do a pre-ripening programme for one or two sites and we ended up being asked to do the whole lot. “It was very hard to get enough fruit at the beginning. Consumption went up by 600 per cent, so their estimate and what they actually required was much higher. We ended up having to fly product to keep up and keep fruit on shelves.” Alistair credits the concept of delivering pre-ripened avocados to retail outlets to Queenslander Roger Palmer. “We took it to a new level though and took on all of Woolworths supermarkets.” Today Team Horticulture/Team Avocado, which recently merged with Southern Produce, serves more than 360 growers and also provides a pre-ripening programme to supermarkets in Australia. “Eighty to eighty five per cent of the fruit we export goes direct into retail in Australia. We see ourselves as retail specialists and with that comes the discipline of performance. “It’s very easy to fire a wholesale container into a market and make a few bucks. Providing seven-days-a-week delivery of pre-ripened fruit to distribution chains all over Australia requires a lot of work. “At times it’s been a pressure cooker. We’re dealing with 50,000 trays a week at times – that’s a lot of avocados. And we’re still short of fruit – we’ve planned for the big crop but the predictions haven’t happened yet. Luckily we work with some amazing people, including our ripeners: Murray Brothers in Brisbane, Fresh Produce group in Sydney, and initially David Hayford Hobbs in Melbourne (more recently Valley Fresh).” He says the industry’s biggest challenge is providing enough fruit to sustain every market opportunity. “The industry tends to go from one year of really good market advancement to a year of apologising because we can’t supply the demand we’re creating. “Our competitors don’t live here in New Zealand, they live in South America. If we create an opportunity we can’t maintain, we open the door for others to walk in. We’ve got to get a more even annual supply.” Alistair believes his greatest achievement is to get so many individual packers, growers and ripeners; all from different political backgrounds and with different ambitions; to deliver successfully – and still be talking to each other at the end of each season. “At times Team Avocado has some lively debate, which we encourage. “We’ve achieved what we set out to do – to get premium markets for avocados.” Along the way the business has picked up Bay of Plenty Exporter of the Year twice, in 1997 and 2004. He is also proud of being involved with the joint marketing initiative AVANZA, which sees exporters working together with the aim of building new markets in America and Japan. The group recently received a $400,000 grant from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Alistair is excited about opening up new markets in China and India. Despite all this focus on teamwork, he is concerned the New Zealand avocado industry is becoming factionalised. “The exporters used to work very closely with growers; under Ron Bailey it was a particularly tight unit; and I believe they still should (work closely) because it requires growers and exporters to make the industry successful. Keeping each other at arms length is a disservice to the industry. I challenge the current leaders, and those that criticise, to pull the industry back together and keep it tight.” He is supportive of new exporters entering the market. “It lifts the level of competition and makes everyone else better at what they’re doing.” Alistair is aware some growers believe exporters are only out to make money for themselves, at the expense of growers. “People keep looking for demons that aren’t there. Generally exporters I know work bloody hard for their growers and are very passionate about the health and financial security of their suppliers.” Never one to run from a fight, he would welcome a public forum where growers could air their concerns rather than “sniping in the background”. Alistair acknowledges the great leadership of Ron Bailey, Hugh Moore and John Schackenberg but reminds industry politicians to stay focussed on grower profitability. “Don’t make rules just to protect the lowest common denominator. You need to make a coherent, supportive industry that allows us to function. “Costs for packhouses and growers have gone up and income levels have not. Compliance costs that do not create financial value for growers. “I’m going to keep a close eye on the politics – I can still poke at things from the outside.” Having finished his involvement at board level, Alistair plans to focus on his role as Southern Produce’s marketing director. He also jointly owns 17 hectare Tarlena Orchard at Kauri Point with his cousins, Sam, Edwina, James and Carmen Dunlop, and remains as passionate as ever about maintaining a grower’s interest in the avocado industry. “I still do picking from time to time to remind myself how difficult it is. I’d like to see our orchard set fruit every year, not every second.” Alistair would like to thank his family for all their support, especially as he spends almost a third of the year travelling, whether overseas or around New Zealand. His parting shot? “Remember ultimately the consumer is the boss; they decide the success of New Zealand avocados.”

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By Natasha Mitchell

Keeping track AvoMarket, a new initiative to collect and report information about the volume of avocados in New Zealand’s local market, aims to allow better management and marketing decisions and improve market stability.

The AvoMarket system is modelled on Avocados Australia’s Infocado system, a web-based system that enables packhouses and wholesalers throughout Australia to contribute weekly data on how much fruit they have dispatched and sold into each market the previous week. AAL has been running this system since 2005. Avocados Australia CEO Antony Allen says when it comes to ensuring better price stability, managing supply is just as important as strengthening demand for avocados. “Where flow of product onto the market is not consistent, prices tend to see-saw,” says Antony. “Consumers want consistency in the prices they pay for avocados. Fluctuations in price tend to dampen consumption and this decrease in demand adversely impacts prices. Once prices drop due to a period of oversupply, it takes time for the market to recover. So, it’s a vicious cycle.” He says the Infocado system has provided members of the industry with a valuable tool to help individual businesses make better marketing decisions on a weekly basis. At an industry level it has provided the information necessary for planning effective marketing and promotions strategies. “The biggest challenge in making such a system work is in securing the commitment from members of the industry to contributing data consistently and as accurately as possible.” The Avocado Industry Council contracted Graeme Forsythe & Associates Pty Ltd, the developer of Infocado, to create a module for the New Zealand industry. Under AvoMarket, local marketers and packhouses will on a weekly basis enter packing, receivals and sales data for avocados in the NZ market. The data is then automatically collated and reported back to AvoMarket contributors, giving them a picture of how fruit has flowed in the previous week and what stock is still on hand. The system will give closing stock at the marketers’ end and a stock at packhouses. AvoMarket is a voluntary system that complements the NZ industry’s existing on-line reporting systems for export packers and marketers. AIC CEO Alan Thorn believes the system is essential to ensure better grower returns from the local market, where there is currently no legislation or mechanism for controlling the supply chain. He says in the past the local market has been subject

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24

of local market fruit to price fluctuations because members of the supply chain did not how much fruit is passing through the market. “If the market gets flooded, it becomes destabilised and prices fall, which is not good for growers,” says Alan. “It’s also not good for consumers because if you get a lot of stock, you start to get quality issues and people get a bad eating experience.” He hopes AvoMarket will help packhouses and marketers “smooth the flow of fruit” on the local market, as similar systems in the USA and Australia have. Twelve marketers are already using the system. Reporting began in the first week of August to allow for any ‘teething problems’ to be ironed out before the busiest part of the 2010/11 season. Already the AIC is aware of variances between packhouse and marketers’ reconciliation for packed and received amounts of fruit, which means there are gaps in the packed data where a packhouse packing for the local market is not part of the packhouse monitoring report. AIC communications officer Midge Munro is keen to hear from anyone who would like to be part of this report or the AvoMarket community. What the industry thinks Freshmax division manager Sue Carter says introducing AvoMarket is a great way for the AIC to show its support for the New Zealand avocado industry’s supply chain. “The domestic industry operates without legislation (unlike the export industry). This is the third really good move for the industry in recent years. The first two were around quality, which has really improved through maturity monitoring and grade standards. Now we will also have better information,” says Sue. She believes having better information will enable a better quality product to be delivered to consumers and bring more value back to growers. Freshmax supplies avocados to Progressive Enterprises and is also involved in the wholesale market in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. “This information will be really useful for wholesale too.” Vision Fresh director Darren Soutar believes AvoMarket will provide transparency in the local market as the supply chain and growers will have full knowledge of what happens to fruit. It will also make the local market a more appealing option for growers, especially those with small fruit volumes. “In the past fruit was sometimes dumped on the local market and that affects the whole market,” says Darren. A sudden increase in supply with unchanged demand will lead to falling prices. “The theory behind AvoMarket is good and it should certainly benefit growers. They spend the money to grow the avocados and they should be getting the best return they can.” Vision Fresh markets avocados from the Western Bay of Plenty and Coromandel to customers from Whangarei to Christchurch, including fruit and vegetable stores, supermarkets and wholesalers. The future of AvoMarket “The vision for the system is that the community is in control of where it goes and what data it will collect and share in the future. The AIC’s role is to facilitate the creation and running of the system to ensure data is in on time and complete. The participants will decide how it is developed from here.” In Australia Infocado has been developed to include the ability to forecast data about what packhouses intend to dispatch in the next month (by week) and also provide long-term forecasts for the next 15 months. There is also a wholesaler module where wholesalers enter data about how much product has come into the wholesale markets, what has been sold that week and how much fruit is on hand at the end of the week. To supplement the data pertaining to fruit volume, the industry also collects weekly retail prices to provide the data necessary to report on the relationship between price and production. Antony says the information from Infocado forecast modules assists the industry to determine the best time to schedule industry marketing and promotions activities and, from a commercial point of view, also allows individual supply chains to look at specials and promotions. There is also a plantings database for collecting orchard information by block to assist in long-term forecasting for the industry. On board with industry data The more complete industry data is, the better the marketing decisions that can be made from it. The AIC encourages those organisations packing or supplying fruit for the domestic market to register interest in contributing to either the packed volumes report or AvoMarket (local market sales to retail). Becoming a contributor of data entitles organisations to receive access to the weekly industry packed volumes report and AvoMarket reports. Phone AIC communications officer Midge Munro for more information, 0800 286 2236.

The global scene There are two other main global data collection systems for the avocado industry: AvoHQ in America and Avocado Marketing and Promotion Working Group (AMAPWG)’s global information sharing system. AvoHQ is an avocado marketing intranet administered by US Hass Avocado Board that allows packers and producers from five member nations to exchange crop and marketing information with the aim of achieving orderly flow of avocados into the US market. AMAPWG is an international group of 12 avocado producing countries. The system collects weekly information on avocado shipments into EU markets to ensure consistent supply into the market at any point of time. The group formed in 1999 in response to a lack of market intelligence about volumes of fruit entering the European market, which was leading to periods of over and under supply resulting in significant price fluctuations. AMAPWG has led to improved supply chain efficiency, increased profitability and the ability to deliver better quality avocados to consumers.

25

By AIC communications officer Midge Munro

Early results from the NZ Thank you to the 471 growers (30% of all growers) who took the time to respond to the 2010 Grower Survey.

The information provided has given the AIC a picture of where our industry is placed at the moment and how that relates to the vision the industry has for the future and the strategies the AIC is currently putting in place to achieve it. Congratulations to Ross Mutton from Kaitaia who won the accommodation package kindly provided by United Travel. The results presented here are the first cut, looking at each question in isolation from the other questions in the survey. Further analysis will be carried out to see how demographics affect the answers given in the rest of the survey or how people with certain attitudes about one question answer another. This second stage of the analysis will be focused on those issues that are most important in terms of the industry vision and results from this may cause current strategies to be altered. Look out for the final results in a future issue of Avoscene. Below is a selection from the data collected. To view the full set of data go to http://www.nzavocado.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/349 and log in or you can request a copy from the AIC office, phone 0800 286 2236.

Q1. What age range do you fit into <35, 35-45, 46-55, 56-65, 66+

Q4. What % of your household income is derived from Avocado prodcution?

10%, 60%, 20%, 70%, 30%, 80%, 40%, 90%, 50% 100%

Q6. How many trees do you have planted? <1500 >1500

Q9. How many hours a week do you spend working on your Avocado business?

0, <5, 5-10, 10-20, 10-20, 30+

0% 9% 23% 27% 41%

1% 3% 4% 6% 3% 6% 6% 12% 18% 41%

3% 7% 12% 19% 26% 12% 28%

93%

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27.2% 14.5% 11.3% 10.7% 9.5%

52.6% 41.0% 7.3% 5.2% 2.5% 2.5% 1.6% 1.4% 0.7% 0.7% 0.7% 0.5% 0.5% 2.9% 0.5%

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Q15. Rank the reliability of the information you receive from the AIC? 3% 0% 1 Always reliable

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United Travel at the Mount is delighted to support the Avocado Industry Council We have the best prices possible, the most experienced and qualified staff who always aim to exceed your expectations. For all your travel requirements, think United Travel at the Mount.

Congratulations to Ross Mutton who was the winner of the United Travel Quadrant Hotel Prize in the 2010 NZ Avocado Growers Survey!

For the love of avocados

United Travel at the Mount 365 Maunganui Road, Mount Maunganui (07) 575 3068 mount@xtra.co.nz UT0427

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27

By AIC communications officer Midge Munro

What your 20c per tray with tomato and Chicken quesadillas Serves: 4 s Preparation Time: 8 minute s Cooking Time: 15 minute

avocado

avo an rec addiet ipes y of to a var

n to a plate through. Transfer chicke s to cool. and set aside for 15 minute strips and thin Shred the chicken into the tomato Add bowl. large a in place n mixture and and cheddar to the chicke Preheat oven to Ingredients: stir until well combined. m non-stick • 1 (about 200g) single fillet 120°C. Lightly spray a mediu to grease. spray skinned chicken breast frying pan with olive oil pan on • 1 tablespoon olive oil Place 1 tortilla in the frying one-quarter es, with • 8 small roma tomato medium-high heat. Top and spread cut into small slices of the chicken mixture , sprinkle ly • 4 tablespoons coarse evenly over half the tortilla avocado. Fold grated cheddar with one-quarter of the to grease a semi-circle • Vegetable oil spray, the tortilla over to form or until golden • 4 round (20 cm-diameter) and cook for 2 minutes cook for a further flour tortillas underneath. Turn and and heated small slices • ½ avocado, cut into 1-2 minutes or until golden tray. baking through. Transfer to a in preheated Cover with foil and place with the Preparation: to keep warm. Repeat frying oven ick non-st large a in chicken mixture, Heat the oil remaining tortillas and heat. Add the pan between pan over medium-high reheating and greasing for 4 minutes bite size pieces. chicken breast and cook batches. Cut tortillas into and cooked brown until or side on each

Australian consumers don’t eat Australian Avocados or New Zealand Avocados - they simply eat avocados.

The Australia promotion campaign undertaken Summer 2009/2010 by the AIC through a partnership with Horticulture Australia and Australian Avocados has allowed the industry to build on the momentum created by the Australian ‘Add an Avo’ branded marketing (launched in 2007) and deliver a message that is part of a wider promotional campaign being run throughout the year. This benefits our marketers as there is consistent and constant exposure of consumers to a single avocado consumption driving message. Summer (‘09/’10) activity and results The 2009/10 campaign took the ‘Add an Avo’ slogan and added a summer twist to it – ‘Add an Avo this Summer’. The imagery chosen was a barbecue flipper (existing material) plus two new shapes were created – a prawn and a sun umbrella. The shapes chosen and new shapes created were related to healthy summer eating, entertaining and relaxing using easy avocado recipes.

rg.au ado.o .avoc www com navo. adda

For more easy recipe ideas www.avocado.org.au visit addanavo.com

add an avo to summer bb qs STeak SandwICH wITH aVoCado and TomaTo reLISH Serves: 4 Preparation Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 10 mins Ingredients: 8 slices wholemeal country bread (thick cut) 4 x 120 steaks (lean tender rump or sirloin) Salt and pepper 2 onions (sliced) 2 tbsp Vegetable oil 2 avocados 4 tbsp Tomato chutney Butter or margarine Preparation: Heat oil in a fry pan, add onion and cook until soft, then remove from pan and set aside. Place fry pan back onto the heat, season steaks and cook to your liking. Cut avocados in half, remove seed and skin, then cut flesh into slices. Lay out four slices of bread and top with steak, onion, avocado, tomato chutney and remaining slices of bread. Spread butter over the top of the bread, turn over and place buttered side onto a sandwich grill, spread butter onto the remaining side, close the grill and cook until golden. Cut sandwich diagonally in half and serve.

For more easy recipe ide as, visit addanavo.com

AVO008

28

paid for last season Magazines Advertising and recipes were placed in top women’s magazines Delicious, a d d a n avo e at u r e advertising f

everyday perfection With their deliciously nutty flavour and creamy texture, the versatile avocados span dinner menu from breakfast to and are an essential favourite list. for everyone’s shopping fritters with + sweet corn crispy bacon avoc a d o a n d

advertisements served to them whenever they use the News Digital websites. Total spend on Digital advertising was AUD26,000. Digital activity received 1.7million impressions and had a Click Through Rate (CTR) of 0.07% (Australian industry Average = 0.08%). Digital - Consumer Website The Australian consumer website addanavo.com received some adjustments over the summer period. The interactive recipe finder on the website was themed with a summer design to reflect the theme of the magazine and web advertising. This recipe finder included links to Summer recipes and was the most popular content item during the campaign. Summer recipes were selected from the existing Australian Avocados recipes and placed in a ‘Summer Recipes’ category. Out of the top 10 viewed recipes over the period - 7 were from the ‘Summer Recipes’ collection. ‘Summer Occasions’ pages were developed to help give ideas on when to eat an avocado. The categories were Packed Lunches, Easy Family Dinners, Kids Meals, After School Snacks, Outdoor Entertaining and Weekend Breakfasts (listed in order of most page views). Three RIPE e-Newsletters were sent during the period to approx 8500 consumers subscribed to the consumer

2010/2011 activity This year the Add an Avo brand has evolved and the vision for avocados to become a mother’s indispensible ally has lead to the push for everyday consumption - thus Add an Avo has become Add an Avo Every Day. This new marketing

flour, 2 eggs, Place 1 cup (150g) self-raising (80ml) milk, salt 20g melted butter, ¹⁄³ cup whisk to combine. and pepper in a bowl and and 3 sliced Add 400g sweet corn kernels of vegetable green onions. Place 2 tablespoons Add ¼ cup heat. oil in a frying pan over medium a time to the pan and (60ml) of the mixture at minutes each side cook, in batches, for 1–2 Set aside and keep or until cooked through. bacon in the pan until warm. Cook 8 rashers of wedges into avocados 2 golden and crisp. Cut bacon, baby spinach and serve with fritters, Serves 4. leaves and lemon wedges.

idea g o o d

ADveRTiSing PROMOTiOn

Easy with avocado

simple s when there are so many avocado for special occasion ideas. There’s no need to save with some of these easy serve it every day. Start and delicious ways to

h d chicken wit + char-grille d Place ¼ cup (60ml) avoc a d o sa l a

breakfast: sweet corn

fritters with avocado

and crispy bacon

white wine vinegar, olive oil, 2 tablespoons 1 tablespoon chopped 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, in a bowl and whisk chives, salt and pepper a char-grill pan to combine. Set aside. Heat Place 2 chicken or barbecue over high heat. each of olive oil breast fillets, 1 tablespoon pepper in a bowl and and lemon juice, salt and barbecue chicken for toss to coat. Char-grill or until cooked through. 5 minutes each side or arrange on plates Quarter 2 avocados and and the sliced chicken. with 2 cups watercress and top with shaved Drizzle with the dressing 4. parmesan to serve. Serves

7

ways wiTh avocado

do o n w ith avoc a + crispy salm a Place ¼ cup (60ml) and lime sals

chicken with avocado

lunch: char-grilled salad

with avocado and lime

dinner: crispy salmon salsa

1 chopped red olive oil, 2 chopped avocados, ¼ cup coriander onion, 1 chopped red chilli, lime juice in a bowl leaves and 1 tablespoon mix to combine. with salt and pepper and pan over high heat. Heat a non-stick frying (skin on) with fillets salmon 225g x Brush 4 salt. Pan-fry, skinolive oil and sprinkle with each side, or until side first, for 4–5 minutes with salsa. Serves 4. cooked through. Serve

w w. a d da n av cipes, visit w y avoc a d o r e for more eas

o.com

are Rich in vitamins, avocados fats and a useful source of “good” also high in antioxidants. They’re and salt. fibre and low in sugar ideas visit For more easy recipe www.addanavo.com January 2010

Donna Hay, Super Food Ideas, Australian Good Taste and Women’s Day. These ran in various issues from early November through to Early February. Added value was gained from these placements through free-of-charge editorial. The summer advertising was also placed in a Taste recipe lift-out which came with two issues of each of these newspapers in November: The Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun. A total of AUD155,000 was spent on Magazine advertising during this period. The total audience delivery was 56% of all female grocery buyers aged 25-45 which means our advertising reached 1.51 million people in our target audience. Digital - Advertising Online advertising was used to extend reach into the target audience and to drive people to the consumer website (www. addanavo.com). This activity comprised of sponsorship of the ‘Spring’ and ‘Summer’ recipe collections on the Taste. com.au website site, distribution of an avocado themed Electronic Direct Mailer to subscribers of newsletters from Taste. com.au, advertising on the Taste.com.au homepage and targeted advertising on the News Digital suite of websites - targeted web advertising means that visitors to News Digital websites have information about their browsing history stored. Users categorised as being interested in certain topics (health, recipes) then have related

88 Good Taste

Australian Good Taste advertorial.

Serves 4

Avocado-topped rissoles with corn and tomato salad

This easy weeknight dinner uses avocado in two ways a satisfying flavour sensatio for n the whole family will love

twice as nice 1cm cubes. Place avocado cubes, salad leaves, tomato, cucumber and corn in a bowl. Whisk vinegar, 1 tablespoon oil and remaining chives in jug. Add to avocado mixture. Toss to combine.

2 Meanwhile, cut half the avocado into 1 Combine mince, carrot, chutney and ¼ cup chives in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Using clean hands, shape mixture into four 2cm-thick rissoles. Place on a plate. Refrigerate, covered, for 30 minutes.

halved, sliced 125g can corn kernels, drained 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar 1½ tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons grated tasty cheese

400g beef mince 1 small carrot, peeled, grated ¼ cup tomato chutney ¹⁄ ³ cup finely chopped fresh chives 1 medium avocado, halved, peeled, stone removed 80g mixed salad leaves 125g cherry tomatoes, quartered ½ small Lebanese cucumber,

slice remaining avocado lengthways. Top each rissole with avocado slices. Sprinkle with cheese. Grill for 1 minute or until cheese has melted. Serve rissoles with corn and tomato salad.

a baking tray with foil. Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add rissoles. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes each side or until cooked through. 4 Transfer rissoles to prepared tray. Thinly

3 Preheat grill on medium-high heat. Line

Packed with nutrients, avoc ados are the taste of summer, ideal for salads, sandwiches, salsas and m ore. Go to www.addanavo.com for in formation and recipes.. You could use chicken mince instead of beef. You could mix 1 cup cooled cooked short pasta through the salad.

Avocado-topped rissoles with corn and tomato salad

Super Food Ideas advertorial.

website. This newsletter featured links to Summer Recipes. The total spend on this website development activity was AUD20,000.

slogan accompanies an updated format of advertising. There has been a move away from presenting advertisements with one recipe using multiple ingredients and steps, to the presentation of a number of simple ideas such as adding avocado to mashed potato, cutting it into pasta or simply spreading on a cracker with VEGEMITE®. These clever ideas show consumers that using an avocado does not require one to follow a recipe every time in order to make something that tastes good. Consumers can be inventive, add to a multitude of dishes and because it is so simple to use it can be used everyday! For the coming season the Initial budget for the AIC spend on AU promotion has been set at AUD170,000 - lower than last year as reflected by the smaller crop. A new activity proposed for the coming season’s promotion schedule is sampling. Avocado tasting stands will be set up at selected events in Australia where consumers can try an avocado, receive information about it and also give valuable feedback about the experience. Other proposed activity is magazine placement and some online activity similar to that used last season. See the December issue of Avoscene for the final promotion schedule.

29

services creativeservices bycreative producedby produced

Donna Hay advertorial.

Bruschetta with avocado & smoked salmon bread Toast slices of sourdough side of the until golden. Spread one with slices bread with ricotta. Top slices of of smoked salmon and salt and avocado. Season with dill sprigs. pepper. Top with fresh Bacon & avocado baguette Cut a baguette in half. , sliced Top with cooked bacon avocado, sliced tomato . and iceberg lettuce leaves . Drizzle over mayonnaise Avocado & pasta salad Toss cooked, drained . pasta with Italian dressing tomato, Add chopped semi-dried shredded chopped avocado and coat. roast chicken. Toss to Spicy avocado pizzas with base pizza a Spread crumbled mild salsa. Sprinkle with . Bake until feta and chopped ham of avocado. crisp. Top with slices Avocado & crab canapés , Combine mashed avocado of mayonnaise and a pinch among cayenne pepper. Divide with drained canapé cups and top canned crabmeat. Fish with avocado salsa Combine drained canned avocado, corn kernels, chopped and finely chopped tomato Serve with chopped fresh basil. fillets barbecued white fish spice mix. seasoned with Cajun Avocado tacos Fill warmed taco shells . with heated refried beans , sour Top with sliced avocado chillies. cream and sliced jalapeno

and relish the rich buttery

the flesh Peel your avocado, slice flavour.

Easy to serve

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Copper shield “critical” — industry leader Kaikati avocado industry icon Hugh Moore is emphasising the importance of copper protection on avocados throughout the growing season. “It’s critical,” he says. A minimum of 8 applications of copper fungicide throughout the season is typically recommended although Hugh says more are likely to be needed. “Research has shown 10 copper sprays are needed, with 11 being the best, but we say: whatever’s feasible.” The northern part of New Zealand differs from most parts of the world where avocados are grown in that it is more humid — and wetter — than other places. It’s a perfect environment for pathogenic fungi that cause postharvest body and stem rots. Anthracnose is the most important fungal disease in avocados. It settles on the fruit “… like a microscopic limpet and sticks a little tube down into the vulnerable flesh of the fruit,” says Hugh. One of the avocado’s most remarkable properties is that as long as it remains on the tree, the fruit keeps itself free of fungal disease. This creates the issue that, to the grower, the crop appears not to need attention. The key to this self-protection is a group of compounds in the fruit called anti-fungal dienes. They attack the invasive anthracnose tubes and render them dormant. The dienes remain active so long as the fruit stays on the tree — and an avocado can hang there for over 12 months without ripening. But once the fruit is picked the dienes —and thus the fruit’s ability to protect itself — start to dissipate. In three weeks they’re gone. “… which is why rots always appear on avocados about 30 days on. That’s why we apply copper. When the fungal spores settle on the fruit, the copper Kaikati avocado industry icon Hugh Moore

kills them at the point of contact.” Nor is it just the current season’s crop that needs protecting. New-season fruit can set on the trees while the maturing fruit is still hanging there. The new fruit-set happens in November, when typically nowadays 20–30 percent of the old crop is still on the tree. “There are two seasons crops to protect.” Usually, the copper application recommendation is approximately monthly, but it can be tightened up in wet weather periods.

“It’s all about having new cover after heavy rain, or when you’ve got a storm coming through. The cover wears off. Like everything it breaks down in ultra-violet light and adverse weather, and the more extreme the environment, the more often you have to put it on.” A copper shield is not a guarantee of post-harvest rot prevention, though. “It limits the rot potential. It doesn’t stop it 100 percent because there’s a lot of other things that can make an avocado rot — not getting it into

the cool chain quickly, breaking the cool chain, damaging the fruit by mishandling and hot temperatures at picking. “Spraying the fruit with copper will make it more robust. It’s all about having robust fruit to meet the conditions, particularly if it goes into a market that’s a bit distressed and it’s not sold quickly enough. “A lot of fruit that goes into Australia now is taking up to 30 days from picking to get into the handling systems.”

30 DPNZ0008_265x395_v4.indd 1

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Get better protection and a greener footprint, with less applied copper DuPont™ Kocide® Opti™ fungicide applies less elemental copper for the same level of disease control — it is better for soils, and has less impact on the environment. Copper fungicides have long been used to inhibit fungal spore germination and mycelial growth. However, copper loading in the soil is a global concern with areas in Europe restricted to a fixed amount of copper per hectare per year. Kocide® Opti™ has helped address the soil loading issue by producing more copper ions which form a protective barrier on the leaf and prevents infection. The effectiveness of a copper fungicide should be assessed not on its metallic copper content alone but the amount of copper ions it produces. Copper ions are what provide the disease protection. Kocide ® Opti™ produces more copper ions per gram of material. The key is a unique patented formulation that maximises the sustained release of copper ions from the copper particles in the formulation. Avocado growers using Kocide ® Opti™ apply less elemental copper with every spray, resulting in less copper build-up in their soils. As the table here shows, in a fivehectare avocado orchard where a grower is applying 2000 litres per hectare of fungicide mixed at the highest recommended rate, other fungicides will deposit between 1.7 and 3.7 times more copper per application than the DuPont product. While the table shows the amount of copper applied in one application, the industry recommendation is 8 applications per season. Kocide® Opti™ has a medium particle size of between one and two microns, maximising target adhesion and rainfastness — very small or very large particles can be easily dislodged from the leaf which can have a serious impact on the effectiveness of the product. The patented DuPont manufacturing process not only produces more even particle sizes but also introduces a co-formulant, also patented, which binds smaller particles together to form copper complexes. These amalgamations of small particles act like a one to two-micron particle resulting in a second source of copper ions for disease control. Kocide® Opti™ is formulated for hasslefree spraying. It mixes well and suspends easily in the tank, dispersing rapidly and staying in suspension longer. It also mixes readily with insecticides, other fungicides and foliar fertilisers and will easily pass through 100 and 200 mesh filters. The dry-flowable granules flow like a liquid — there is no sticking or clumping as there sometimes is with wettable powders.

On a 5 ha Orchard spraying at 2000 L / ha Rate g / 100 L Elemental copper % 50.0% 75.0% 37.5% 9.3% 30.0%

g Cu / 100 L

Kg of elemental copper per application using the highest registered rate

Reduction in applied elemental copper per application using Kocide® Opti™

Low Blue Shield* Nordox* 75 WG Champ* DF Liqicuop* 150 55 107 500 70

High 200 70 140 500 90

Low 75.00 41.25 40.13 46.40 21.00

High 100.00 52.50 52.50 46.40 27.00

Kg 10.00 5.25 5.25 4.64 2.70

Kg 7.3 2.6 2.6 1.9 0.0

Kocide® Opti™ * Non DuPont trademark

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Regional Roundups Bay of Plenty By Ashby Whitehead Thankyou to all growers who took the time to vote in the recent AGA Elections - especially those who voted for me. I hope that I can serve you well during the next three years. By the time you read this some of you will have finished picking and some will still, like me, be waiting to start. It is at this stage that our fruit is at its most vulnerable to thieves. The last two years has seen our orchard targeted so we now have a few devices that may deter the would-be thieves. Our orchard has no road frontage but has two entrance ways and on these we have now fitted two motion cameras which have a chime that rings in the house. It also has a remote that can be carried around. We have also fitted two surveillance cameras to a pole with a red flashing light that is on a light sensor that turns on at dusk and turns off at dawn. I think the most cost-effective is a trip string that sets off a 12 volt car alarm, which is set up in a position that you would go past to get into the avos. After putting all the effort into growing fruit for a year it is not very enjoyable having it stolen just before harvest. If you would like to know any more about these cheap but effective devices, don’t hesitate to give me a call. All the best for the export season. At Large By Kim Crocker I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the growers who voted in the recent AGA elections and especially those who voted for me. My experience as a grower to date has stretched my abilities. When we made the decision to enter the industry I thought my biggest problem would be learning enough about horticulture to keep my trees producing – and alive! How wrong I was. It is true we had what appears to be the normal BOP avocado grower problems with biennial production, but that wasn’t our biggest challenge. Our biggest challenge is reflected in the AIC vision… achieve12 million trays... worth $250 million. The return to growers (OGR) from this is expected to be in the region of $125 million. So where does the other $125million go? We were very happy with our production figures in our early years but by the time cheques started arriving, those higher in the supply chain appeared to have helped themselves; we were sent what was left. For us to continue in the industry something had to change. We couldn’t afford permanent staff on our orchards so we were doing all work except spraying and picking ourselves. On top of this we had to start looking at ways of generating a profit. I’m not talking about wages, return on investment, capital gain etc., I only mean a liveable income. Make no mistake, avocados are a very profitable business but profitability for growers is a different story. Growers now not only have the on orchard details to look after, they also have to look after or at least take an interest in the off orchard details, and to do this they must take control of their industry. There are many parts of the avocado industry gravy train we, as growers, need to concentrate on but for a start I think there are three we should give priority to, and they are :1. Start work on a local market grading strategy. 2. Analysis of packing costs. 3. Analysis of exporting costs. My background in IT has given me the belief that discussing a problem will lead to a solution. Mid North By Mike Eagles From early August our avocado trees looked as though they were preparing for the spring. The dry matter maturity levels arrived very early in the Mid North and growers have been picking to take advantage of the good early season prices. Tree health looks good in most orchards and fruit appears to be clean and sizing up quite well. Many growers (including me) appear to be confused with the number of GAP systems being offered (EUROGAP, NZGAP, and GLOBALGAP and others). It is a mind-boggling situation to get your head around before having to worry about which one to use, which is appropriate for avocado growers and which is best. Without the help of a couple of friends I would have sunk without trace, and I still have to be audited. I think I will be okay but who knows. Along with the cost of being audited there is also the extra cost of everything that is needed to make your business compliant. I would estimate that I have spent more than $1500 of my hard earned cash to make sure that I am compliant and all the paperwork is correct. I can see eventually it is going to be forced on us all, but there must be a better way of doing it. It is important to note that the board could not impose an Industry GAP Solution as some exporters already had solutions in place for their customers. I would be interested in the opinions of any avocado growers on this issue. Please contact me via email m.eagles@xtra.co.nz By Ian Broadhurst Far North Winter has been reasonably kind in the Far North so far with a few light frosts and no real weather events to cause any issues. From the orchards I have visited my general impression is that trees are looking great considering the time of the year and most trees are advancing well towards flowering. If conditions continue with no weather events to cause issue, I would predict the flowering to be heavy. This coupled with a favourable spring should see the trees of the Far North look to set a decent crop for 2011. Fruit maturity appears to be well 33

Regional Roundups continued advanced this year with many orchards at this time achieving dry matter levels in the high 20s. Fruit appears to generally very clean with most growers managing their spray programmes well. Local market picking began two months ago with the fruit being well received. Quality was good while prices have remained overall steady. Discipline amongst the Far North growers and their associated marketers needs to be commended in terms of fruit flow into a potentially fragile market place. Other growers outside the region would do well to consider the example set by Far North growers in terms of flowing fruit to maximise the return as part of a long term strategy. With a generally mild winter to date the Six Spotted Mite populations in the Far North are giving growers issues in terms of options for control. Those orchards that rely on helicopter spraying have fewer options compared to those that utilise high volume spray systems. It is interesting to note that many chemical companies are trialling new chemistry in terms of mite control, especially through the winter period. We look forward to the day when we can purchase a cost-effective and efficient way of managing SSM. Without a doubt the control of this pest is one of our biggest single costs maybe this should be the focus of our R&D technical staff. With food safety compliance a reality now amongst growers who are export-focused, I must congratulate the pack sheds and marketers that support the Far North growers in the way they have made this potentially complex issue into a well organised and relatively seamless role out - well done! Good luck for the up-and-coming export season; I hope nature and exchange rates are all in our favour. David French Would it be possible for a New Zealand grower to “discover” a superior rootstock for NZ conditions and propagate it? Yes, I think so. We have all heard stories about people who have a particular tree that exhibits unusual yet desirable characteristics. Why not take some budwood from that tree, graft it to some Zutano seedlings, sell it and make a fortune? Answer, because it’s not quite that simple. The variations you are seeing are caused mostly by the rootstock (usually a Zutano seedling, not the Hass budwood). This is why people use clonal rootstocks e.g. Dusa, because they are a carbon copy or clone of their parent. So if we find a tree in our orchard which appears to be displaying desirable characteristics and wanted to copy it we would have to clone it. I think it would work like this: 1 - Take some budwood from the tree and graft it onto rootstocks (to copy the top). 2 - Cut the tree off below the graft and then take cuttings off the rootstock regrowth. 3 - A nursery could then be contracted to make clonal copies of this rootstock (say 5-10 copies). 4 - Take budwood from the tree you created in step 1 and graft it onto your clonal rootstock. You should now have 5 or 10 copies of your original “desirable” tree. 5 - Plant these out and observe what happens. If they were all as good as the original, you maybe onto a winner. Before you could convince others to buy, there would probably be other steps to take, however it would be worth it if we could find a rootstock that was superior in our NZ conditions. Happy hunting.

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Keeping track of the numbers

The Avocado Industry Council’s new accountant, Karin Zijp, is excited about her new role and looking forward to learning more about the avocado industry.

Karin was born and bred in Namibia and moved to Cape Town, South Africa, to study when she was 19. Here she met her husband, Robert, whose parents immigrated to South Africa from Holland. In South Africa Karin worked for the large retail company Mr Pice as an internal auditor and for a steel company as a financial manager. The couple later moved to New Zealand, which Karin says has been an exciting and sometimes challenging experience. “After 11 years in New Zealand, we can finally say it’s home and that we are All Black supporters and proud of it!” Since moving to this country Karin has spent years as an accountant for Ticketek NZ, followed by a role at Sun Sprout Ltd, which grows salads and sprouts. “There I learned a little bit about the horticulture environment in New Zealand for the next three years, which may help me now in my current role.” She then became group accountant for Blacktop Construction Ltd, which was made up of a group of eight companies. Her last job in Auckland was as finance and administration manager for an IT company called Systems Advisory Services Ltd (SASit). When Karin’s husband was offered a position with Orica in Tauranga they decided to move and have been living in the city since the end of January this year. “We are very happy in Tauranga and enjoying the sunny BOP more by the day. “I am very excited about my role as accountant with Avocado Industry Council and hope to get to know you all very soon.” Karin and Robert have a nine year old son, Ross, who Karin describes as ‘the love of our lives’.

Meeting growers on their orchards is an important part of the job for AIC outreach coordinator Paul Brookbanks. Photo by Bruce Barnard.

By Natasha Mitchell

Getting the science out to growers Paul Brookbanks has returned to work for the Avocado Industry Council as outreach coordinator; ensuring growers are kept in touch with the latest scientific information and research.

Paul previously worked for the AIC from 2001-2004, working on a number of projects relating to the commercialisation and implementation of the Avogreen Integrated Pest Management System, including research work and training orchard managers. For the last few years he was been head of the Westlake Boys’ High School horticulture department, teaching horticulture and science to Year 11-13 students. Paul is currently contracted to the AIC to work three days a week and while the new role is still being developed, the first projects he will be leading involves setting up regular field days and discussion groups throughout New Zealand’s main avocado growing areas to enable better transfer of information from AIC’s science team to growers. The plan is to use these field days to look at the phenological events that take place in avocado trees each year and let growers know about best practice techniques for crop and orchard management (such as irrigation, pruning or nutrition) in advance of when they have to put the techniques into use on their orchard, so they are better prepared. “It gives people the opportunity to adopt these practices when the time comes,” says Paul. “It’s about combining practical and scientific to reach best practice. Our aim is to increase production, decrease biennial bearing and increase export pack-outs.” The first field days, in which Paul introduced Avocados Australia’s Dr John Leonardi looking at pruning techniques, were held in late August/ early September. “I’m planning to visit packhouses and can help with their discussion groups or can help growers to establish their own groups.” Part of Paul’s role is also looking at what the science team knows, how upto-date that information is, and how can it be better communicated to avocado orchardists. In an extension of this, he will be working with other horticulture industry representatives on a project to develop a Horticultural Information Portal and database which would make up-to-date information available to growers more easily. Paul has been involved in the horticulture industry for 30 years and graduated from Lincoln University with a horticultural science degree in the early 1980s. He was employed by Fruit Fed for many years, working as a branch manager and technical advisor. It was also while working there that he became in involved in pest management. He also has a passion for macro photography. When not working for the AIC, Paul is a sales technical representative for a horticulture company based in Auckland Paul is married and has two teenage daughters. In his spare time he enjoys being involved in a wine club, surfing, mountain biking, reading and swimming. He and his wife also run a church group called Tribe, for teenagers.

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By AIC quality coordinator Juan Rosales

Quality Standards proposal The Quality Standards Committee met on March 23, April 13 and May 12 to finalise their proposal for consideration by the Recognised Product Group.

The Quality Standards committee considered the submissions made to the committee by packers and growers. Grade failures Four packhouses were issued with major non-compliances for grade this season. All of these packhouses had an installed waterblaster, three of which had been commissioned. Previous audit findings had suggested a benefit of waterblasting in terms of compliance with grade. Waterblasting was found to reduce the level of surface deposits and pollen in particular. However waterblasting alone cannot be a surrogate for stringent QC measures. The issue of waterblasters was further discussed under the heading AQIS pre-clearance failures. Pick to Pack timeline A submission received from the Packers Forum requested a change to the requirement for product which was outside the 48-hour pick to pack timeline which was to be segregated from compliant product. The background to this request was the difficulties segregation imposes in terms of the number of pallet cards required to complete a shipment. It was also queried as to whether handlers were availing themselves of the opportunity to manage this problem created by segregating the product. An analysis of pick to pack dispensations indicated that adherence to the timelines is primarily a problem in large ‘on’ years. The rationale for requiring this procedure related to requests from the market for the product to be segregated as it had different ripening characteristics. Research also indicates a detrimental 36

impact on fruit quality. It was suggested that a mechanism be explored to allow alternatives to physical segregation of non-compliant product such as through electronic inventory management systems. MOTION: That a dispensation to the requirement for physical segregation of fruit exceeding the pick to pack timelines may be applied for subject to: 1. Fruit destined for the Australian retail program only. 2. Must demonstrate an agreed mechanism between the exporter and the handler for tracking inventory in market and handling accordingly subject to the approval of the Technical Manager. 3. Any further conditions that may be deemed necessary. AQIS pre-clearance The AQIS pre-clearance failure rate from the past season was assessed to determine the impact of waterblasters on the failure rate. Overall there was a marked reduction in the percentage of failures relative to comparable volumes in previous seasons. This suggests that waterblasters have been beneficial in reducing the failure rate. However the proportion of failures due to contaminant pests has increased. Waterblasting cannot reduce contamination which occurs after packing. The difference in failure rate between packers with and without waterblasters was assessed and the difference in waterblaster type investigated. A key concern is that waterblasters are not operated at the same conditions at which they were commissioned for the duration of the season. A common practice is to increase the throughput over and above the specification which is detrimental to the efficacy of pest removal. The issue was also raised of growers insisting on packing fruit that was deemed by the packer to be at high risk of failure. Such behaviour jeopardises continued access to the preclearance programme for the whole of the industry and needs to be discouraged.

MOTION: That if a waterblaster is being used for markets other than the USA that it is run to the non-USA specifications and monitored according to the USA protocol. MOTION: That if the waterblaster is not being used for fruit destined for markets other than the USA then the affected growers are to be notified. Recommendations: • That a pre-harvest monitoring round within seven days of harvest be a requirement of AvoGreen and a consideration be given to multiple harvests for the 2011/2012 season. That the AIC: • Follow up with packers that have made multiple failures to gain an understanding of the factors contributing to this. • Should communicate through AvoTechno, Issues surrounding the pre-clearance programme. • Investigate the possibility of implementing a QC training module to assist packers to meet their MAF requirements. • That awareness of contaminant failures become part of pre-season training and modules. Sharing of residue testing data A request was made to minimise overall compliance costs to the industry by sharing the AIC generated residue tests with exporters to help them meet their quota of residue testing required by their customers. It was agreed that the AIC would share this information with the exporters on request. MOTION: That the AIC post a monthly report onto the industry website of the PPINs that were sampled for residue testing in the past month. Grade standards consistency An example was provided of a crop that was split across two different packers, giving two different pack-out results.

for the 2010/2011 season Concerns were raised that this indicated an inconsistency in application of grade standards. Several legitimate reasons were cited as to how this could occur including: packing to a higher standard for different customer requirements, packing for wholesale vs retail. The industry specifically addresses this issue through its audit programme including training of the auditors at the start of each season to achieve a common interpretation of the standards, swapping auditors between regions, spot grade audits and retrospective audits on packed product. Recommendation: That the AsureQuality report to the AIC (identifiers removed) be made available to the Quality Standards committee prior to the first meeting of each year. Early season fruit maturity Information obtained from the AgFirst maturity clearance programme in the 2009/2010 season was used to investigate the relationship between fruit size and maturity. There was a weak relationship between fruit size and dry matter content but this accounted for less than 5% of the variation in the data. The relationship between seed coat maturity and dry matter content was investigated and in general terms, the trends for seed coat maturity tracked changes in dry matter content with the possible exception of smaller fruit in August. The nature of the relationships was not strong but did indicate that there may be potential benefit in tracking seed coat maturity to alert exporters to any potential issues. Recommendation: That the AIC implement monitoring of seed coat maturity this season if feasible. Spray adjuvants In the past there have been issues with persistence of several chemicals leading to higher residues than anticipated, although below allowable MRL. The impact of adjuvants particularly stickers on chemical persistence has not been determined. It was considered desirable to record this information in the spray diary to facilitate an analysis of the residue data. Recommendation: That it becomes a requirement within the spray diary that spray adjuvants be recorded where these have been used. Maturity clearance In line with the previous seasons recommendations by the Quality Standards committee, a change from a verification process to an independent maturity clearance to pick process was adopted and incorporated into the 2010/2011 EMS: Clause 4.2.3.17 A clearance to pick must be obtained from the independent verifier approved by the AIC.” All other requirements remain the same. Reed maturity standard A significant volume of Reed fruit is to be exported this year requiring a Reed export maturity standard to be set. Preliminary work by the AIC indicates that Reed may need a shorter storage time and a higher storage temperature than Hass. Dry matter content of 23% is reached in December. King Avocado provided an initial report on the storage and eating characteristics of Reed avocado. They also submitted that under Australian growing conditions Reed has acceptable quality at 21%. The AIC is obligated to protect the wider interests of the industry including New Zealand’s reputation as a premium supplier, it was therefore deemed appropriate that a conservative approach be adopted until such time as data was available to support any change. Recommendation: The AIC to conduct further research on storage temperatures and fruit age in respect of Reed. MOTION: That minimum dry matter content for Reed be set at 23% for the 2010/2011 season subject. This may be reviewed subject to further relevant information being provided to the Technical Manager. Fruit colouration at harvest A submission was received in support of a greater tolerance for maturity coloured fruit as it was felt that this did not impact on ripe fruit quality. The AIC presented results of a trial undertaken to determine the impact of fruit colouration at harvest on ripe fruit quality. The results clearly indicated the ripe fruit quality was compromised if fruit were coloured at harvest. Recommendation: Further research is required to substantiate these results. In the interim there should be no change to the tolerance for maturity related colouration of fruit. Packer Executive Forum submission Notification of Dispensations It was felt that it was not always appropriate to require the CEO to action all dispensations personally and the request was made that this be delegated to the appropriate personnel. Recommendation: That where appropriate, the AIC nominate alternative personnel to the CEO to action routine dispensations such as pick to pack timelines. Australia container shipping It was requested that consideration be given to implementing a loading timeframe other than a shipping one. Recommendation: That the wording in the Quality Manual in relation to the timelines for Australia be amended to as follows: 2.3.2 Australia Container Shipping • Either 9 days to container loading, and/ or; 11 days to scheduled sailing up to 31 December • Either 7 days to container loading, and/ or; 9 days to scheduled sailing between the 1 January and the 31 January • Either 5 days to container loading, and/or; 7 days to scheduled sailing from 1 February.

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Gypsum (Calcium Sulphate) applications are a well known and effective way of improving soil structure to facilitate early root development in the early years of establishment when freshly contoured soils are exposed to erosion in order to overcome topographical irregularities.

Gypsum provides readily available calcium nutrient in pH neutral form and improves the structure of clay soils.

Gypsum (Calcium Sulphate) applications are a well known and effective way of improving soil structure to facilitate early root development in the early years of establishment when freshly contoured soils are exposed to erosion in order to overcome topographical irregularities.

Gypsum provides readily available calcium nutrient in pH neutral form and improves the structure of clay soils.

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Industry News Election results Many thanks to the candidates who were involved in the recent AGA Executive Election to elect one Bay of Plenty representative and one At Large Representative. The counting process has been completed and the following people have been elected to the available positions: Ashby Whitehead - Bay of Plenty Representative, Kim Crocker - At Large Representative , David French Rest of NZ Representative and Roger Barber - At Large Representative. We look forward to Ashby, David and Roger’s continued contribution and engagement in the industry and welcome Kim to the AGA Board. Note: the owner of each avocado orchard has one Ordinary vote per PPIN, plus a Levy or production vote based on one vote per 1000 trays of fruit. Growers - are you connected? Don’t miss out on important updates and industry information; make sure you register your email address with the AIC to receive AvoConnect - the NZ Avocado Industry e-newsletter. Call 0800 286 2236 or email sherylwilson@nzavocado. co.nz to register. Important note: To avoid AvoConnect being blocked or ending up in your junk email folder, make sure you add info@nzavocado.co.nz to your email’s “Safe Sender List”. AIC outreach coordinator appointed The AIC is delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Brookbanks to the position of outreach coordinator. Paul will be providing technical resource material to grower discussion groups from the AIC and other sources on current scientific information. Paul can be contacted on phone 021 994 097 or email paulbrookbanks@nzavocado.co.nz AvoGreen® Training If you are planning to be an AvoGreen Monitor or have registered your interest to be an AvoGreen Owner-Operator and have not received your training yet, please contact the AIC to register for a session in your area, phone 0800 286 2236, email avogreen@nzavocado.co.nz. AIC accountant appointed The AIC welcomes Karin Zijp to the role of AIC accountant. If you have any account enquiries please contact Karin on phone 07 571 6147 or email karinzijp@ nzavocado.co.nz Annual Report available online A copy of the 2010 NZAGA & AIC Annual Report can be viewed at http:// www.nzavocado.co.nz/index.php/ pi_pageid/304 AvoGreen® information Go to http://www.nzavocado.co.nz/ index.php/pi_pageid/208 for all documents and information relating to AvoGreen. Register for 2010-2011 Export Season online now Online Export Registration for 2010-2011 season is available at www. nzavocado.co.nz. If you are unable to register online and wish to register manually, please contact Sheryl at the AIC office and a paper form will be posted to you. Please note that a $20 administration fee will be added for registrations processed manually. If you do not know your export registration login details please contact the AIC, phone 0800 286 2236. Registration prices: Growers $264.37. New Growers (PPIN registered after 1 July 2010) $151.87. VII World Avocado Congress 2011, Cairns, Australia, 4-9 September Held only every four years, this World Congress presents a great opportunity to see an avocado growing country while learning the latest techniques for growing, finding out all about avocado marketing and how the economy and climate change are going to impact on our industry. To keep updated with the VII World Avocado Congress programs, registrations and other activities, please sign up to the congress’ email update at www. worldavocadocongress2011.com Fresh Direct/JP Exports welcomes Graham Teal Graham has joined Fresh Direct/JP Exports as Bay of Plenty supply manager. He will be meeting with existing growers and looking for new growers of avocados. With Graham’s expertise, he will be there to help growers and answer questions relating to both domestic and export markets. Graham can be contacted by phoning 021 276 6081 or email gteal@ freshdirect.co.nz 2010-2011 AIC Quality Manual online now Go to http://www.nzavocado.co.nz/ index.php/pi_pageid/309 and log into the website to view the 2010-2011 AIC Quality Manual.

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By AIC laboratory manager Toni Elmsly

Flower pruning survey results Flower pruning has been used by growers in the Far North to achieve consistently high yields for at least 10 years and selectively in the Bay of Plenty for five, but for most Bay growers, this technique is new.

Over the past season the AIC surveyed BOP growers that flower pruned in spring 2008. We were particularly interested in gauging success as a tree management tool. The surveyed growers had pruned and non-pruned areas within their orchards. This allowed us to evaluate the effect on encouraging a return crop. The survey was conducted during April and May, once the newly set fruit was clearly visible and it was easy to trace clusters of fruit back to cuts made in September 2008. There was considerable orchard to orchard variability. Some were very successful in setting a crop in spring 2009 on the wood initiated from the September 2008 cut. Other orchards showed no significant difference in terms of crop load between the flower pruned and non flower pruned areas. Overall, there were mixed results and further assessments are needed around crop estimations, particularly for capturing the return crop from flower pruning as a percentage of the previous year’s crop. With this year potentially being another “on” year we intend to follow up with another survey. It was evident there is a range of approaches to timing and severity of cuts and this may explain the variability in results. Where a poor result was obtained from flower pruning this was generally the result of not taking off enough material (in terms of quantity and diameter of branch cut) and/or completing the pruning too late. Flower pruning in the BOP needs to be completed early as the growing season is narrower than in the Far North so there is less opportunity for the spring flush to harden off sufficiently and become fruitful. From our observations those orchards that completed flower pruning by the first week in September were more successful than those that completed it later. The diameter of most effective cut measured 40-60mm, as seen in the photos. Where orchardists had taken off smaller diameter cuts the result was minimal. This raises the question whether these cuts should be labelled flower pruning as one would assume a cut of this diameter should be classed as maintenance pruning. As maintenance pruning is normally carried out earlier (February–March) it also has the potential to remove a percentage of flower buds and therefore reduce the need to flower prune in early September. Flower pruning should then only be carried out on trees still showing signs of heavy flowering. It has become apparent many growers are trialling different pruning strategies. We met with growers, contractors, consultants and researchers that responded to the survey to discuss the following objective; “To agree on a process towards defining appropriate pruning strategies that will deliver consistent export fruit quality, high yields and reduce harvest costs”. The concept of a grower co-operative pruning trial received positive feedback. Many meeting participants volunteered their orchards and details of regional trials are being organised. We are also have input from Avocados Australia’s Dr John Leonardi. John recently spent four weeks with the AIC and will be assisting in the design and set up of the pruning trials to be run during the next five years.

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Te Puke orchardist Ashby Whitehead demonstrates pruning techniques during a pruning field day in September.

By AIC outreach coordinator Paul Brookbanks

First field days outstanding success A series of six field days organised by the AIC were held in the Bay of Plenty, South Auckland, Mid and Far North during late August/ early September.

Hydraladas, and spray penetration. Different pruning strategies were discussed where trees varied in age. The centre leader approach was suggested on smaller trees that could be manipulated, whereas larger trees were more constrained, though there were cases where some older trees had excess internal limbs removed, especially crossover limbs. This opened up the internal space. Dr John Leonardi had a very practical approach to pruning that meant growers could immediately apply to their own situation. John’s main points were: 1. Why prune? • To maintain yield • Improve fruit quality and pack-outs 2. Controlling tree size to: • Maintain orchard access • Reduce harvesting costs • Improve spray penetration and coverage 3. Pruning is done to improve light penetration: • As light is required for flowering and fruiting • To avoid large unproductive areas. 4. Train young trees: • Tip pruning to encourage side shoots and complexity • Minimal pruning to ensure strong central leader • Remove or cut back side branches to maintain strong central leader. John also advised growers to start pruning early to avoid having to remove trees later. He suggests pruning the north eastern face of trees first to allow light penetration. This will also result in a lower risk of sunburn on newly exposed branches.

Paul Brookbanks.

Dr. John Leonardi.

The topic was pruning with a guest speaker from Australian Avocados Ltd, Dr John Leonardi, and the response was quite astounding! There were close to 500 growers in total, which was very encouraging. Highlights to the events were the practical demonstrations where growers could witness the immediate improvement in light interception, reduction in height, in some trees, and the access for pickers, elevating work platforms such as

Grower comments on the field days included “Excellent speaker [John Leonardi], easy to understand and spoke at our level, very practical”, “really good information that we could understand”, “when’s the next round of field days?” and “Reinforced what we are already doing and has given us confidence to continue”. The next round of field days will be about November and we will keep you posted on the topic(s). Pruning big trees is a big management issue but there are other pressing issues that need to be tackled. What better place to do it than a field day! See you at the next round. Happy picking!

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