Avoscene November 2017

Avoscene New Zealand Avocado Growers’ Journal

November 2017

Quest for a family retreat leads to new venture Avocentric, pg. 30

Inside this issue: NZ Avocado recognises deserving Industry Service award recipient Getting ready for China NZ Avocado Biosecurity Strategy 2017–22 On-orchard best practice for postharvest rot control Avoscene November 2017

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Hey you!

Yes, you. I’m talking to you.

We’ve been working hard for you. For your crop. For the industry. Like us, AVOCO growers are experiencing the benefits of collaboration. AVOCO’s focus is producing results – improved orchard health, knowledge growth and solid orchard gate returns you can rely on.

Talk to one of their team today and discover what all the buzz is about.

www.avoco.co.nz

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Avoscene November 2017

AV0917

Nothing flashy. Just good old-fashioned teamwork.

NZ Avocado

Contents

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

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Reports

Markets

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

View from the Chair

4

Going Global

Growing the business

6

Export Market Promotions 17

@NZ_Avocado

Regional Roundup

8

NZ Avocado

Nursery Update

12

Outside the box

14

www.nzavocado.co.nz

NZ Avocado

@nz_avocado

16

The New Zealand Market 19 New Zealand Market Promotions

21

New faces

22

Industry Service Award 25 Grower Forums

26

Field Days

28

Avocentric - Lars & Sarah Sorenson

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NZAGA Grower Reps & AIC Directors At Large Tony Ponder NZAGA & AIC Chair Ph 07 552 4223 m. 0274 733 712 tony@flaxmillavocado.co.nz Linda Flegg NZAGA Vice Chair Ph 07 549 1047 m. 021 458 782 linda@kauripak.co.nz Bay of Plenty/Rest of New Zealand Dave Flett m. 027 555 4420 dave.flett@yahoo.co.nz John Cotterell Ph 07 549 3395 m. 0274 513 138 jccotterell@actrix.gen.nz Maria Watchorn m. 027 548 2992 andaria@xtra.co.nz Mid North Roger Barber Ph 09 435 0785 m. 021 488 124 barbers@ihug.co.nz John Dawson Ph 021 724 900 jd@team.org.nz

On the Orchard

Newsroom

Nourish

China Market Access

34

Industry matters

Biosecurity Strategy

36

Recommended reading 64

Post-harvest Rot Control

38

Why do you need a spray plan?

65

Reminders at this time of year

Industry News

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42

Avocado news from the world

67

WorkSafe 45

63

Recipe 68

Out and About

Team Activity

69

Out and about

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Irrigation 46 Phytopthora 50 Flower and Flush Balance 55 Fruit Set Factors

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Opinion: Shelterbelts

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Far North Alistair Nicholson Ph 021 946 391 anicholson@vulposinvest.com Export Directors Alistair Petrie (Independent Chair) Annmarie Lee Alistair Young Avoscene Advertising & Editorial For editorial contact: Natasha Mitchell, Sun Media Ltd No.1 The Strand, Tauranga Ph: 07 578 0030 Fax: 07 571 1116 email kym@thesun.co.nz For advertising contact: Suzy King at Sun Media Ltd Phone 021 769 831 email suzy@thesun.co.nz Design and production: Kym Johnson, Sun Media Ltd email kym@thesun.co.nz For subscriptions contact: Jay Bent email jay.bent@nzavocado.co.nz

NZ Avocado Staff Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager

Bevan Jelley, Market Manager

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

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

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

Edwina Aitchison, Executive Assistant

Jen Scoular, CEO

Sarah Sorensen, Project Manager

Jodi Senior, Communications Manager

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

sarah.sorensen@nzavocado.co.nz

jodi.senior@nzavocado.co.nz

Brad Siebert Biosecurity & Programme Manager

Marisa Till, Research Manager

Joanne Nunn, Administration Assistant

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

jo.nunn@nzavocado.co.nz

Phillip West, R&D Officer

Melissa van den Heuvel, Graduate

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

Jay Bent, Business Manager

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

melissa@nzavocado.co.nz

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

Logan Whenuaroa, Research Associate logan.whenuaroa@nzavocado.co.nz 027 373 9859 NZ Avocado has made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided in this publication. However, the information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. New Zealand Avocado does not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this publication or documents or other websites linked to. New Zealand Avocado assumes no responsibility for the consequences of use of such information. Your use of information contained in this publication and documents or other websites linked to is at your own risk, and you should seek further advice prior to making decisions based on the information contained herein.

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New Chair for New Zealand Avocado Growers Association Avocado grower and Avocado Growers Association Representative Tony Ponder has been elected as the new NZAGA & AIC Chair.

“It’s an exciting time to be in the New Zealand avocado industry, with an incredible increase in industry value and the positive collaboration throughout the industry”, says Ponder.

Tony has succeeded Ashby Whitehead who stepped down as Chair at the Annual General Meeting in August. Ashby served as Chair since 2013 and as a Representative on the NZAGA Executive and AIC Ltd Board since 2006.

“I acknowledge the leadership provided by the previous Chair, Ashby Whitehead, which has resulted in tremendous progress and positioned the industry well for future growth.”

Tony has been one of the eight grower-elected directors on the NZAGA & AIC Board since 2005.

Tony and his wife Nicky have an 11 hectare avocado orchard investment in the Coromandel district, and more recently have purchased a 26-hectare property in Tauranga with existing avocado, berry and kiwifruit.

Tony also has commercial kiwifruit interests acting as an independent director for a large family based avocado & kiwifruit orchard and packing company in the Bay of Plenty.

Tony’s day to day responsibilities include Director & Chief Executive Officer of avocado, berry and kiwifruit exporter Southern Produce Limited. In this role, Tony is involved in the strategic oversight of the groups export and domestic business including the Avoco/Avanza joint venture with Primor Produce and Team Avocado. Tony is a director of several related collaborations and joint venture entities associated with avocado trading and investment.

“The New Zealand avocado industry is experiencing a period of impressive growth – a huge part of that being due to the work being undertaken to achieve Primary Growth Partnership Go Global goal of quadrupling sales and trebling productivity by 2023”, says Ponder.

Tony Ponder

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NZAGA Grower Representative Linda Flegg has been elected as the Vice Chair of the NZAGA. Linda was elected to the Board in 2016 and is an At Large grower representative. Linda is an avocado grower on the Kauri Point peninsula in Bay of Plenty and has been in and around avocados her whole life. Linda, along with her family, run their avocado and kiwifruit orchard businesses in Katikati.

Linda Flegg

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Growing the business

By Jen Scoular, CEO, New Zealand Avocado

jen.scoular@nzavocado.co.nz

As we enter the busiest part of the New Zealand avocado season and China access progresses it is more important than ever to ensure that we, collectively, are providing consumers with only premium quality avocados.

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nother export season is upon us, and sadly so is the rain.

I don’t recall a wetter winter in my time in Tauranga. We all know the impact wet weather can have on our fruit, so right upfront I will give my lecture about quality. Glenys met with the Rot Working Group at the end of September to share the information Glenys, Sarah, Brad and Marisa have collated about how we can mitigate rots and ensure only premium quality avocados reach our consumers. The cross industry working group concluded that an integrated approach is required, and is highly recommending the following: • Fungicide application - Apply copper every four weeks with a minimum of 10 applications per year.

• Orchard hygiene - Remove potential inoculum sources to minimise the inoculum load on orchard.

• Tree health - Maintain optimal fruit quality through optimal tree health.

• Harvest management - Avoid harvesting if more than 5mm of rain has fallen in the last 24 hours to reduce the risk of lenticel damage.

• Fruit rot history - Access library tray data for a comparison of your fruit quality against industry trends from season to season.

You’ll see much more detail in Sarah’s report on page 38.

We were very lucky to have sunshine at two of the three recent field days. It is grand that growers are happy to host a bunch of us on their orchard and have their orchard “inspected” by curious and observant others. We all learn so much and we all enjoy getting out in an orchard – and the chatter between growers is always lovely to be part of.

The research on flower pruning to mitigate swings in yield is suggesting it’s a very good thing to be doing, though not many hands went up when Marisa asked growers at the field day who was actively flower pruning. Have another read of Phillip’s research report on page 55.

There is very positive news coming out of the Ministry for Primary Industries (our ministry) negotiations with AQSIQ (China’s ministry) about access for avocados to China. There is now agreement on the terms of the protocol, and we look forward to it being formally signed in November. There are

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Jen as she crossed the finish line for her 10km race as part of the Tauranga International Marathon.

still more steps after that but real progress is being made.

We will attend the China International Fruit and Vege Fair in Beijing 3-5 November, and report back after that.

I had a wonderful evening recently with 100 Japanese in New Zealand as a party of the top distributors in Japan of beauty products made with New Zealand avocado oil. The group couldn’t have been more interested in our industry, in avocados, and were a delight to share our story with. Judging by the way they interacted with each other and the energy they had to dance between courses, they will share our amazing avocado story very well on their return to Japan.

Across the Asian markets our digital campaigns have started and we’re pretty excited about some of the collateral, the videos and photos being generated by our agencies. Bevan

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updates you on some of this activity on page 17.

Closer to home, we love the My Food Bag promotions for October – a huge billboard in central Auckland proclaiming that “Daylight saving is back – and look – its brought avocados!”.

I welcome our new Chair Tony Ponder, and Vice Chair Linda Flegg, and look forward to their leadership in our drive for further industry growth. Ashby played a significant role during the past five years as the industry stepped up, and i thank him for his excellent leadership and encouragement over that time.

We mixed and poured many avocado smoothies at the Tauranga marathon earlier on in October. I participated in the quarter marathon – which sounds rather unimpressive, but running 10.5 kilometres is still a great achievement for me – and I came first in my age group. Fuelled by avocado!

It’s a mighty fine message.

My Food Bag billboard in central Auckland

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Regional Roundup Roger Barber & John Dawson – Mid-North region Roger Barber: tudorwoodnz@gmail.com

John Dawson: jd@team.org.nz

9.10.2017 Roger Barber

John Dawson

The start of the export harvest season has been marked

by changeable, overcast, showery conditions, with little opportunity for the ground to dry out after a cold, wet winter.

These conditions are ideal for the development of fruit rots, which thrive in wet and humid conditions. The greater Whangarei district has the highest disease pressure of all of the New Zealand avocado producing areas.Yet it has a history of low use of copper based fungicides, which are still regarded as industry best practice for reducing body rots on the fruit.

NZ Avocado has set up a Working Group to review the issue of fungal rots on avocado fruit. The first priority was a debriefing exercise into the factors contributing to the high incidence of fungal rots in the 2016-17 season. In a high volume fruit year, the pressure is on to complete the export harvest in the season. This reduces the ability to limit picking following periods of heavy rain. The turgid state of fruit makes the lenticels prone to damage during harvest, providing an easy site of entry for fungal infection. Other physical damage from climatic events such as wind also

exposes the fruit to infection. Fruit handling during picking and packing, including water quality during water-blasting, further exposed fruit to fungal infection.

In the absence of alternative fungicides permissable in the avocado spray programme, copper based fungicides remain the best option to reduce fungal inoculum levels in the orchard and protect the fruit from fungal attack. The high incidence of fruit rots last season has refocused on the

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urgency for copper alternatives to be cleared for use on avocados.

Orchard hygiene and nutrition are also important in limiting potential sources of inoculum and promoting good tree health. Pruning to open the tree canopy and improve air movement, and removing deadwood on which the fungi proliferate, all contribute to lowering the incidence of rots.

Harvest management is also important, and industry best practice not to harvest if more than 5mm of rain falls within the previous 24 hours is still emphasised. Fruit bins should be placed in the shade and covered to protect the fruit.

These before and after images graphically demonstrate the benefits of a disciplined pruning regime to benefit both tree health in general and rot minimisation in particular.

We encourage all growers in the Mid and Far North to adopt best practice for rot management. Meanwhile the industry is constantly scanning for updates of information and products that are applicable to rot management in avocados and are compatible with our market access requirements.

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Regional Roundup Linda Flegg – At Large linda@kauripak.co.nz

1.10.2017 Linda Flegg

Well I am certainly sick of this rain - Bay of Plenty

rainfall is at a record level and we have already had our annual quota in just nine months! This has been our fourth wettest year since 1962 and 1998 respectively.

The only good thing about being in a short season is we have plenty of time to get our fruit picked around the showers. The ground conditions are terrible, which makes harvesting slow and more dangerous.

The crops are picking really clean and fruit size is good, averaging around 23. For growers that have managed to slot into the export season to date we are looking at a respectable export average of 86%. The four predominate rejects are wind rub, leafroller damage, misshapen and ridging - in that order. If you have any concerns about lenticel damage when picking after rain, remember you can do a “roll” test to assess the turgidity of your fruit. It’s amazing how it can change over the space of a couple of hours. I have been involved in the Rot Working Group meetings recently and am really pleased with the resources that are being prepared for grower education. There has been a huge amount of time and effort put into compiling past research and deciding on best practice going forward. Watch this space!

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We are seeing a lot of mite pressure out in the orchards at present and with certain chemicals having longer withholding periods, growers need to make their choices very carefully. The different chemicals work in different ways, with some controlling adults and some killing eggs, so if you are unsure please check with your packer before finalising your chemical choice.

Recently I attended a meeting held to discuss GRASP Global Gap Risk Assessment on Social Practices. With many of you supplying retail direct customers this will become important in the future as growers will have to become Global Gap compliant. Don’t panic, it will be very similar to the current food safety programmes.

Contractors will be required to meet the GRASP standards as part of their Global Gap audits and the areas of focus are: worker representation, complaint handling, self-declaration on human rights, access to national labour regulations, contracts compliant with national laws, fair and regular wages, no child labour, regulated working hours, self-organisation and collective bargaining. Due to the nature of our industry, we use a lot of contractors to get our on-orchard tasks done. I can hear you all groaning from here but sadly compliance requirements are only going to increase.

apply gypsum now

improve soil structure, drainage & reduce compaction of in row traffic “I have observed the benefits of annual Gypsum applications over many years in a range of soil types and I will continue to recommend Gypsum in fertiliser programmes for Avocados” Lindsay Heard, Brenmark Horticultural Consultants Gypsum improves Soil Structure by adding calcium which is needed to flocculate clays in acid and alkaline soil.

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

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

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

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

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

Gypsum Multiplies the Value of Other Inputs including fertilizers.

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

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

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

For further information call 0800 100 442 or visit www.gypsum.co.nz

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Nursery Update Brad Siebert, Biosecurity and Programme Manager, NZ Avocado

brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

The three nurseries currently propagating under the industry’s High Health Scheme; Riversun Nursery, Lynwood Avocado nursery and Trevelyan nursery all attended the recent NZ Avocado grower forums and field days in Whangarei and Tauranga. These events provided a great opportunity to exchange nursery updates with growers and industry representatives and reinforced the importance of the connections nurseries have with industry research and regional developments.

Avocado breeding programmes on show at Anderson Horticulture, NSW, Australia.

Securing the future

These nurseries are investing significant amounts into protecting the future of the avocado industry through their commitment to ASBVd research and testing under the High Health Scheme while also maintaining traceability of the sources and destinations of all planting material. This benefits both biosecurity and true-to-type outcomes for growers and has flow on benefits right through to maintaining market access by delivering assurances of pest freedom.

Unlocking the New Zealand border

The Import Health Standard (IHS) and associated Risk Management Programme (RMP) for avocado nursery stock is under development by MPI and industry, and will be completed in 2018. This will allow new propagation material to again be imported into New Zealand and, through discussions with overseas breeding programmes, there are a number of new rootstock varieties that are showing promise offshore. There is ongoing debate regarding what level of quarantine facility will be required during the 12 months of post entry quarantine and with the limited number of facilities already booked until 2021,

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the industry will need to start planning alongside the Avocado Nursery Association to facilitate the import of these novel cultivars.

Engagement with Australia

During September, NZ Avocado visited one of Australia's biggest avocado nurseries to learn of new clonal propagation techniques being developed by the University of Queensland and trialled in Australian nurseries. The visit also provided a chance to see how the industry manages their Avocado Nursery Voluntary Accreditation Scheme’s (ANVAS) which, like our own High Health Scheme, aims to ensure growers have access to high quality planting material from accredited nurseries.

Other avocado nursery related research underway in Australia through the University of Queensland is listed below. NZ Avocado will continue to maintain a relationship with these research groups in Australia to promote a collaborative approach towards research initiatives and biosecurity preparedness. • Improving clonal avocado propagation - meristem seedless clonal propagation

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Avocado breeding programmes on show at Anderson Horticulture, NSW, Australia.

• Understanding the molecular mechanism of rooting MicroRNAs-master regulators & auxin response factors • Understanding Juvenility and Phase change in relation to flowering • Disease resistance - Deeper insights into phytophthora interaction with susceptible and tolerant cultivars

• Avocado genomics - sequencing cultivars and accessing the Hass genome from Mexico to form an international consortium with Mexico, US, NZ and Israel • Cryopreservation of germplasm - somatic embryos and shoot tips.

POLE TO POLE EXPORTS LTD fresh produce marketing specialists www.poletopole.co.nz

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Outside the box Hugh Moore, NZ Packers Forum

Here we go again with one of our yo-yo years, an off-year after an on-year. An incredibly difficult time for our growers, packers, marketers and the marketplace.

We have had worse, but a 50% drop in anyone’s turnover is difficult to manage and takes us all close to the edge.

From a packer’s perspective, the challenge is not just profitability with such a huge drop in turnover - it is taxing on most of our casual staff when we can only offer them work for two or three days a week when many of them require five or more days to put food on the table and pay their bills.

For some of our packhouse staff this reduction in days of work can be accommodated, especially if they are the semiretired, but for those that have families and are not on the pension it must create great difficulty.

The other great difficulty is the harvesting staff that we need to maintain in this growing industry from one year to another. It is hard to find other jobs that they can do on these short weekly runs and the risk is we can lose these skilled pickers to other industries.

The reduction in crop is far worse in the Bay of Plenty than the other regions.

My thoughts have always been that the majority of the orchards are not irrigated which is a major contributor to this cycle, and when we have a wetter summer the following season the reduction is less.

NZ Avocado has been running field days and publishing information in Avoscene on irrigation, so let us hope our growers are receptive to the idea that the Bay of Plenty also needs to irrigate as other regions do because of their soil types.

The other issue last season that affected packers was the level of post-harvest rots in the marketplace last season.

The same poor in-market out-turns have been seen in the past when we were sending fruit to the USA in 1999 to 2002, at a time when 50% of our export volumes were shipped there.

The rot problems were reduced and solved by a campaign to spray a minimum of eight coppers per year. This also

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includes the winter periods, to reduce the inoculum levels in the orchards and by having a copper cover on the fruit to stop the fungi spores from infecting the fruit surface.

NZ Avocado has produced a best practice guide for growers to encourage them to maintain a copper spraying programme along with other on-orchard best practice to help to reduce this rot problem.

As packers, we have the ability to promote the use of copper sprays along with other orchard best practices.

To help solve this major problem we have our client service people meeting and leading growers throughout the season. Let’s all hope that everyone grabs the ball and plays the game to help solve this problem.

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International research has demonstrated seaweed extracts contain major and minor nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, cytokinins, auxin and abscisic acid-like growth promoting substances, reported to stimulate the growth and yield of plants, develop tolerance to environment stress, and increase nutrient uptake from soil.

The beneficial effect of seaweed extract application is said to result from many components working synergistically at different concentrations. Extracts derived from seaweeds are also biodegradable, non-toxic, non-polluting and non-hazardous to humans, animals and birds.

Seasol is already a long established category leader in the nursery and garden sector; commercial fruit and vegetable growers are now seeing its potential in their industries.

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*Scientifically structured preliminary trial in Shepard avocados, Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. Results on file: Following seven monthly applications at 10 L/ha, Seasol treated avocado trees, yielded > 50% more fruit by weight, and > 40% more dollars gross return per hectare, compared with the untreated Control.

Avoscene NZ FP_180x260.indd 1

16/8/17 6:52 pm

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Going Global Alistair Petrie, AVEC Chair al.petrie66@gmail.com

One of the frustrating aspects of international trade in horticultural products is the time it takes to work your way through the various bureaucracies both on-shore and off-shore to land on an outcome that meets true biosecurity needs, and is workable from a commercial point of view.

An example of this has been the recent discussions with

Markets

Offshore Pre-shipment Inspection, OPI. The Australia Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) advised the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) earlier this year it would be reducing the number of OPI inspectors from 27 to 18 for this season, and numbers are likely to reduce further to eight for 2018-19. MPI indicated it is important that as many consignments of avocados as possible use Compliance Based Inspection Scheme (CBIS) in 2017-18 so the system is thoroughly tested.

The original indication was that there would be a positive side to the change, and that avocados under the CBIS (inspected on arrival in Australia) would be exposed to a system where if an importer has had five consignments of avocados successfully passed at the border, from that point only one in four consignments will be inspected (unless one of those fails, in which case there will need to be another five consecutive pest-free inspections before the importer is returned to the lower rate).

This on the face of it would be good reward for growers/ exporters who did a good job and sent clean fruit.

Whilst it is early days, the reality appears to be somewhat different. Firstly, most consignments (with a few exceptions) are arriving in Australia, particularly Brisbane, and are failing inspections for pests and subsequently being fumigated with MBr (Methyl Bromide). This is due to the pest IDs being incomplete and therefore not being able to identify in a timely way if the pest find is actionable or non-actionable.

This doesn’t enable good reporting back to packhouses and growers to rectify the problem.

To make matters worse, we have recently been advised that DAWR appears to have changed what was originally proposed, to an inspection system where importers must initially pass a minimum of 10 consecutive inspections in order to demonstrate sufficient compliance. After an importer has qualified, each subsequent consignment will have a 50% chance of being directed for inspection. This 50% will be automatically and randomly selected. If an importer’s consignment fails inspection then they will return

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to 100% inspection until they requalify for the reduced rate by passing another 10 consecutive inspections.

This is as good as 100% inspection. The commercial and trading implications of these proposed changes are significant and may result in post-arrival delays, extra costs, rejections, treatment and re-export risks, and associated product quality deterioration.

At the time of writing we haven’t had a chance to address this issue with MPI and DAWR, but the key point is quarantine requirements are going to become harder not easier. It is too much to ask the packhouse you supply to be the “cleaner” of your product; they are merely the ambulance at the bottom of the hill. Find growers that have been successful in managing pests and work out how you can replicate or at least improve your own orchard. Exporters need to get as much accurate data from their importers so the packhouses can identify those growers that are following best practice and those that have work to do. The NZ Avocado team needs to continue to engage with MPI to make sure our industry is getting a fair deal.

The season is well underway with strong pricing across most markets. The temptation is to fill the demand now rather than wait to fill the programmes that have been put in place.

I suspect keeping customers happy with allocated volumes as the season progresses is going to be one of the biggest challenges this season.

Export Market Promotions Bevan Jelley, Market Manager, NZ Avocado

bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz

In a season of constrained supply and high demand from our priority export markets, maintaining visibility for avocados from New Zealand is critical to ensure we remain relevant to these markets in our next high volume season.

NZ Avocado promotions activity will focus on supporting

Markets

exporters to demonstrate the value in avocados from New Zealand and our commitment as an industry to supporting long term development of these priority markets. This will be achieved by telling the story of avocados from New Zealand to as many of our target consumers as possible and building an audience of passionate New Zealand avocado fans that understand the benefits of avocados from New Zealand and can help tell our story for us.

Promotion activity will have a digital focus and utilise our local language websites in priority markets in Asia. We will use social media and local influencers in each market to tell the story of ‘Premium Avocados from New Zealand’ to their followers on social media across South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore.

People, Place and Product

In priority Asian markets we tell the story of ‘Premium Avocados from New Zealand’.This story is about the product, place and the people that make our avocados special.

That story starts with the avocados, and we work with chefs in each market to develop a mix of enticing avocado recipes starring an unfamiliar fruit in a familiar style of local cuisine.

In less developed markets, messaging focusses on how to choose a ripe avocado, and prepare and store them.

Our avocados are from New Zealand and this makes them special. They are grown in spectacular landscapes that many around the world would consider a paradise. Our promotion activity will show the beauty of the New Zealand growing environment to consumers and offer them the opportunity to take a piece of our clean, safe paradise home with them in their avocado.

At its core, our story is about our people. New Zealand avocado growers are dedicated, patient and responsible. As New Zealanders we are open, honest, and caring. Growers carefully tend to New Zealand avocados until the perfect time to harvest, and also care about preservation of the land and natural environment that surrounds our orchards so that both the avocados and the surrounding environment can be

enjoyed by future generations.

Four grower story videos were filmed in September. The grower videos will provide insight into the people who grow avocados from New Zealand, the care they take in growing their avocados and the different places in which New Zealand avocados are grown. The videos will be shared with consumers through our social media pages, which now have more than 20,000 followers across our priority markets in Asia.

Promotions underway across Asia

‘Premium Avocados from New Zealand’ promotions campaigns are now underway across our priority markets in Asia, having begun in September in Thailand and South Korea and October in Japan and Singapore.

Season launch events were held in Thailand and Singapore in late September. The purpose of the events was to engage with Thai media and with Thai social media influencers across health, nutrition, sports, beauty and food. The events

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took place at New Zealand themed restaurants, Kai in Bangkok and Moa Tiki in Singapore.

Australian market promotions

With potential changes to market supply dynamics in Australia on the horizon, the AVEC promotions working group agreed in March 2017 that a promotions programme in Australia specific to avocados from New Zealand should be developed.

Exporters and NZ Avocado worked with Sydney-based consumer research agency Fiftyfive5 to gain insights from groups of avocado lovers based in Sydney and Brisbane. The avocado lovers’ key drivers for purchase were explored and a range of potential promotion themes for avocados from New Zealand were tested.

The themes that produced the strongest results were based around the care taken to grow our avocados and the provenance story of our shared corner of the world. The intention of this promotions theme is to be complementary to the Australian Avocados promotions theme, rather than competitive with it. A campaign that leverages these concepts will be implemented in Australia this season via an in-market website and Facebook campaign. The purpose of this is to build a structured set of positive key messages around avocados from New Zealand and an audience of followers that understand them, to support New Zealand’s position in the market moving forward.

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The New Zealand Market Trish Lomas, T&G Global

With export harvesting well underway we are now into the business end of the New Zealand market season.

Supply continues to be difficult to come by - in fact

Markets

we are regularly having two or three days per week where we are struggling to make avocado wholesale market dispatches, such is the scarcity of avocados available in the New Zealand market. This is the first time we have encountered this for avocados as late as October, and the increase in New Zealand market demand coupled with a low supply season is taking the New Zealand market into uncharted territory.

With 351,000 trays packed for fresh consumption in New Zealand as at the end of September, we have seen a similar weekly volume of avocados as in the 2015-16 season packed to date. However, the volumes of avocados being ordered by New Zealand’s major retailers and resulting scarcity of fruit available at wholesale market level show the impacts of the increase in demand in New Zealand, and increase in the importance of avocados from the retailers’ perspective.

The demand increase is a result of a number of factors and the investment being made by avocado suppliers, retailers and NZ Avocado into promotion of avocados in New Zealand is certainly having a positive impact.

Pricing is higher than normal for this time in the season, even for a short volume season, and the expectation across a number of marketers is that it will remain steady at least at current levels for the remainder of the season.

It is good demand for avocados in New Zealand is increasing, it is good New Zealanders are eating more avocados, and it is good many New Zealanders don’t mind paying more for avocados - now that they are beginning to understand the health benefits and wide array of amazing recipes they can create with New Zealand avocados. What would be even better is if we can improve New Zealand market supply in our low volume seasons to match this rapidly increasing demand, and we may begin to see that happen as large new plantings begin to produce their first crops over the next few seasons.

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New Zealand Market Promotions Bevan Jelley, Market Manager, NZ Avocado bevan.jelley@nzavocado.co.nz

The 2017 New Zealand market digital promotions campaign went live in September with a wide range of eye-catching avocado imagery and education videos being release on Facebook and Instagram.

Markets

The 5+ A Day Facebook page.

Competitors and their supporters enjoyed avocado smoothies at the Tauranga International Marathon in October.

Our avocado loving Facebook followers in New Zealand

have responded well to the new images and ideas and significant growth has been experienced in September, with Facebook follower numbers growing from 24,000 to 27,000, and Instagram follower numbers up 43% from 3,000 to 4,300.

New Zealand grown avocados

Recent coverage of avocados in New Zealand media has reinforced the importance of actively communicating the New Zealand grown part of our New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime story to consumers in our own backyard.

In August, a negative article about Mexican avocado growing practices was published which consequently connected environmental impacts and food safety issues of avocado grown in Mexico with avocados eaten in New Zealand. In response to this New Zealand Avocado issued a counter release, explaining that all avocados eaten in New Zealand are in fact grown here.

Development of this theme continues on our social media pages and NZ Avocado engaged three social media influencers in September with high health and wellness followings to run giveaways incorporating the key message that all avocados consumed in New Zealand are grown in New Zealand. These competitions reached 71,671 New Zealanders and had more than 3,350 entries.

5 + a day – produce of the month

For the month of October, avocados will feature as 5+a Day’s produce of the month. 5+a Day has a large social media audience with 37,000 followers on Facebook, as well as strong links into schools and education on healthy eating.

5+a Day will share recipes, tips, and health and nutrition messages about avocados across its social media platforms throughout the month of October. NZ Avocado will work closely with 5+a Day and will provide avocados for an avocado giveaway competition.

Tauranga International Marathon

NZ Avocado helped competitors cross the finish line with avocado smoothies at the Tauranga International Marathon earlier in October. Runners and their supporters relaxed in our seating area while enjoying an avocado and blueberry smoothie after competing in either the Tauranga International Marathon, half marathon, quarter marathon or the 6km run/walk courses.

It was a fantastic event to be a part of with more than 400 avocado smoothie samples handed out to competitors.

Attendees loved the spot prizes we gave away of New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime branded running gear, and were interested in learning more about the benefits of avocados.

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New faces Maria Watchorn

NZAGA BOP Representative and AIC Director

In the 13 years since Maria and Andrew Watchorn bought their first avocado orchard, not only have the couple become award-winning growers, but Maria has now also stepped up to a governance role in the industry.

Maria Watchorn

She has been elected to the New Zealand Avocado Growers Association Board, representing the Bay of Plenty region and it’s a role Maria is enthusiastic about.

Reports

“I have been involved in various aspects of the industry for quite some time, including in the Primary Growth Partnership, Plant & Food Research and University of Waikato trial work on our orchard, so when I was asked to put my name forward for the Board, I thought I’d like to take up the challenge,” says Maria, who with Andrew, came to the industry from careers in banking.

When they bought a run-down orchard in 2004 it had mainly citrus trees along with some avocados. Today Andaria Farms Orchard is a thriving avocado orchard and in 2016 and 2017, it won the NZ Avocado “Grower of the Year Award”. In 2015 the Watchorn’s purchased an additional avocado orchard in Katikati.

Maria acknowledges that her role on the

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Board will be demanding but she’s more than up for it.

“I am someone who thrives on challenges and information, so reading and analysing reports doesn’t bother me. I hope that as both a woman and a grower, I can bring something positive to the Board table.

“From my background in banking I know the amazing work men contribute and that women bring a different perspective to management and can work extremely well together. I believe it is healthy to have a mix around the Board table. It’s all about collaboration.”

Maria and Andrew admit they were novices when they entered the industry but Maria’s Italian family background in growing and a natural affinity with plants led her to innovate in avocado management, including being an early adopter of frost protection and irrigation, fruit and flower thinning and large structural pruning.

Among the many highlights of her orcharding experience has been the opportunity, in 2012, to host the then Governor General Sir Jerry Mataparae at Andaria Farms Orchard and show him the first avocado tree he had ever seen.

Frank Evans

National Sales Manager, JH Leavy & Co

Darling Group and Brisbane Markets based JH Leavy & Co. are pleased to announce the appointment of Frank Evans to the role of National Sales Manager.

Frank has an extensive agribusiness education background along with eight years’ experience in the Australian produce industry across sales, wholesale, foodservice, account management, and data analysis.

Frank Evans

“I enjoy the challenge that comes with working in a fast-paced environment, produce is coming in and out all day, it keeps you on your toes.”

His most recent role was with Eco Farms, one of Australia’s leading certified organic wholesalers, in the produce procurement

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“In this lighter year, we have consolidated our customer base, working with specialists in the category in order to maintain our strong brand.”

“I’m looking forward to the peak of the New Zealand avocado season, it will be an exciting time for me.”

Frank is keen to meet growers and encourages any Just Avocados suppliers who may be heading to Brisbane to contact him for a tour of the Brisbane Markets and the JH Leavy & Co. facility where your avocados are handled.

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Frank’s skills are a good mix for the role and he aims to build on the achievements of last season.

Reports

A focus for Frank at JH Leavy & Co. is national sales of New Zealand avocados from Just Avocados suppliers.

and sales team. He has also held roles with Bidvest Fresh, Woodbine Livestock Trading, and Freshlogic.

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To book advertising space in the next issue of Avoscene please contact Suzy King at SunMedia Ltd. Booking deadline for the next issue is February 2nd, 2018.

Contact Suzy on 021 769 831 email suzy@thesun.co.nz

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NZ Avocado recognises deserving industry service award recipient At the Annual General Meeting on 31 August, NZ Avocado recognised Dr Kerry Everett for her contribution to the New Zealand avocado industry by awarding Kerry the New Zealand Avocado Industry Service Award.

Reports

Former NZAGA & AIC Chair Ashby Whitehead presented Dr Kerry Everett with the New Zealand Avocado Industry Service Award.

Dr Kerry Everett has been working in plant pathology for

over 30 years and has made a significant contribution to the New Zealand avocado industry with the bulk of her work focussed on post-harvest rots of avocados.

Records of publications on work carried out for the avocado industry date back more than 25 years in her role with DSIR. She has stayed committed to plant pathology through the organisational changes from DSIR to Hort Research and currently Plant and Food Research and has a lengthy list of publications relating to avocado research.

She is the “go to” on any questions that arise on fungal diseases in avocados and is a highly regarded point of reference for any industry research.

In 2007 she led a team that confirmed avocado scab was not present in New Zealand, and this facilitated unfettered access to Australia. In October 2011, scientists from the Ministry of Primary Industries used the tools her team had developed to prove that avocado scab was misdiagnosed by USDA in Hawaii,

which allowed continued market access to the USA. “From a research perspective, avocados are a little studied crop, and the diseases are very interesting,” says Kerry.

“I also enjoy working on avocado orchards, working under and amongst the large leaved green trees is very restful.

The other reason I enjoy working on avocado orchards is that the growers are such nice people. I have enjoyed many cups of tea and even home-made biscuits and lunches with avocado growers all over New Zealand, in amongst the hard slog of picking up 2.5 kg avocado boxes from under trees 2-3 at a time and carrying them to the van. I have even had cherry picker lessons, although I am by no means an expert, I can almost get them to go where I want them to. What I strive to do amongst all else is to deliver research that makes a difference.”

NZ Avocado would like to recognise Kerry’s significant and invaluable contribution to our industry.

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Grower Forum Overview Jodi Senior, Communications Manager, NZ Avocado jodi.senior@nzavocado.co.nz Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

Reports

The NZ Avocado annual Grower Forums are a great opportunity for the team to update growers and the industry on technical information, in market activities, industry systems updates as well as share the planned activity going forward.

NZ Avocado saw approximately 70 growers and rural professionals attend theWhangerei Grower Forum, and over 100 attend the Bay of Plenty Growers Forum (pictured).

NZ Avocado hosted Grower Forums in Whangarei and

Tauranga this year, the Whangarei event following our AGM at the end of August. It is very important for us as the industry body to stay relevant, to ensure we invest funds from our growers well, and to provide an opportunity for those levy paying growers to give us feedback on how we deliver to them.The Grower Forum includes workshops on our current research programme, and sought feedback from growers on what they would like us to invest in going forward.

Noted at both forums was an increase in the participation of rural professionals - those working in and with the New Zealand avocado industry. We had a number who had information stands at the forums, and a larger number participating in the audience. Those with information stands had the opportunity to interact with growers during breaks and field any questions growers had about their product or service. Rural professionals are exposed to many growers, and offering specialist advice and seeing the variation of growing systems across our industry, so it is great they are utilising our forums as a way to increase their knowledge.

Jen Scoular, NZ Avocado CEO, presented an industry update which outlined activity undertaken throughout the industry that helped push a record value of almost $200m last season.

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Growers heard from Countdown and Foodstuffs about the promotion and innovation of avocados in their business. It is great to hear that avocados are very valuable to retailers, and they are always looking for new ways to add value to this category.

The research sessions at the Grower Forum saw Dr Kerry Everett from Plant & Food Research deliver a talk about her work developing a ‘rot prediction tool’ for the avocado industry, after she had just received the NZ Avocado “Service to the Industry Award”, making her presentation even more timely.

Marisa Till, NZ Avocado Research Manager, then gave an overview of the current research projects, highlighting how they are delivering value to growers. John Wiessing, a Whangarei grower, spoke about his experience as part of the technical working group. This is a group of scientists, NZ Avocado staff and members of the industry that are tasked with ensuring the research is relevant, on-track and delivers back to growers in a practical way. The final session focussed on getting feedback from growers; the research team facilitated a workshop where growers were able to discuss their priorities and where research could add the most benefit to their orchard management going forward and the

Reports

The NZ Avocado research team facilitated a workshop looking at how research is addressing grower challenges.

best avenues for delivering results back to growers.

Outputs from the workshop included a clear indication that nutrition is a grower priority and a key area for research focus going forward. Other strong messages included the need for sustainable pest and disease management, a continued focus on pruning and expanding that to consider alternative tree architecture. Some additional comments concerned phosphonate injecting and understanding how it is transported through the plant and the timing so pruning strategies do not interfere with effective transport of phosphonate to the roots. Other key highlights included orchard management and its impact on post-harvest fruit

quality and the place for technology in the orchard going forward.

Bevan Jelley, NZ Avocado’s Market Manager, and Mike Swan, Southern Produce, covered off our New Zealand avocado story being shared and the activity being undertaken within the New Zealand market. Alistair Young, Avoco, joined Bevan to talk about the innovation and collaboration story taking place in the export markets.

Thank you to those who attended the Grower Forums – if you have any feedback on these events, please contact Jodi Senior on jodi.senior@nzavocado.co.nz

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NZ Avocado Spring Field Days Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

Reports

We saw a fantastic turnout at the NZ Avocado spring field days throughout September. Field days are a great platform for information sharing and interesting discussions between growers – we hope those of you who joined us found these days interesting and informative.

Rob Jefferis talking about shelter at the field day held at his orchard.

The Northland field days took place on August 30 in the Far North and September 1 in Whangarei.

In the Far North, Valic NZ Ltd (better known as King Avocado), currently one of the avocado industry’s largest producing orchards, hosted growers and industry partners for the morning to discuss irrigation, and how they manage irrigation of their 100 hectares of productive trees across more than 70 blocks. Their orchard manager, Claudia Hermosilla, led a discussion about their orchard approach to irrigation answering many questions from the audience.

Regular soil moisture monitoring and dedicated staff that carried out checks and minor maintenance were key features of their setup.

The Whangarei field day, held at Jeni and Grant Harrington’s orchard, saw a great turnout. Jeni and Grant both spoke about the history of their orchard and the goals they have been working towards since they took it over a few years ago. Jeni and Grant are part of the Whangarei-based Primary Growth Partnership tree decline working group, and have recently had a weather station installed with automated soil moisture monitoring at two sites within the orchard. This is part of the group’s efforts to trial tools that may aid in improving soil moisture management.

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The true potential of the weather station should be realised during summer, however it provided an opportunity to showcase the set-up to growers and discuss how it is going to be used. The soils in the orchard had recently been mapped as part of an electromagnetic survey carried out by Agrioptics, giving a soil variability profile that was then ground-truthed at the field day by digging holes in identified ‘hot spots’ and comparing the soils, clay content, compaction and moisture levels. The technology is more commonly used in agriculture for large variable rate pivot irrigators but is being trialled in avocado orchards in different parts of the country.

The survey results helped facilitate discussion about irrigation decision-making in the region and how this technology might be able to help inform soil moisture management decisions in the future. It was noted that while the high clay content in the area meant soils could retain a lot of water, it was often difficult to rewet soils if they were left to dry too much. The final activity was to take the pages from the ‘Reading Your Trees’ booklet and then growers got into groups to assess how heavy the flowering was around the orchard. Going into an on-year it is a key time to address any over-flowering issues to regulate crop load.

Reports

NZ Avocado Research Manager Marisa Till welcoming everyone to the field day held at Russell and Jean Heys' orchard.

The first of the Bay of Plenty field days, hosted in conjunction with Seeka, was held on what felt like the one sunny day in September. Our host Russell Heys talked about the history of his orchard, his experiences throughout the years of avocado growing and his approach to orchard management. Attendees then had the opportunity to hear an update from Dr David Pattemore, Plant & Food Research, who is the lead scientist on the cross-industry “Bee Minus to Bee Plus and Beyond” project focused on smarter and more sustainable pollination strategies, and Dr Jonathan Dixon spoke about avocado flowering, stages of flowering and the different types of flowers.

The Te Puke field day, hosted in collaboration with Trevelyans, had to be postponed a week due to another day of downpours.

When we did manage to have the field day, host Robert Jefferis shared his experiences in being an avocado grower.

Scientists from Plant & Food Research and Julian Senior from Maintrac Services Ltd were also on hand to talk about the work they had been doing with the ‘tow and blow’ frost fan, the retro fitting of a hydraulic drive and the impacts it has been having on the orchard. Maintrac is developing its own frost fan unit, which is planned to be available for purchase before next winter. Phillip West discussed crop loading, with Robert talking through how he scores the crop load on all his trees every year and the patterns that emerge from that. Phillip also added some of the latest results from the pruning to balance work showing that flower thinning can have an impact on irregular bearing. Finally, Robert and Julian showcased the claw grabber with inbuilt saw that they have built to fit onto the end of a digger for pruning avocado trees.

The final spring field day was held on October 3 on the Imlig’s orchard. Put together by Apata, Lynwood Nursery and NZ Avocado, this was a great day and an opportune time to talk about planting new trees, the different clonal rootstocks that are available and a recap of the flowering and pollination information.

All up, the field days were well attended and grower feedback was very positive. It is great to see such good turnouts at these field days and I would like to thank all of the hosts for providing their time, orchards and experience, and the packhouses and industry partners who join with us to put these days together.

If you have any feedback on any of these events, please contact Marisa Till on 07 571 6147 or email her on marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

Stuart Pascoe from Lynwood Nurseries demonstrating how to plant a new avocado tree at the field day held at Franz and Sandy Imlig's orchard.

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Avocentric – The quest for a family retreat

leads to a whole new venture Elaine Fisher, Journalist, SunMedia

Reports

Many people consider Mount Maunganui to be the quintessential location for a holiday retreat, but for Lars and Sarah Sorensen and their three boys, the perfect getaway is a 1.5 hectare avocado orchard near Katikati.

The sloping contour of the land means the Sorensen orchard is prone to be windy but free of frosts

“We found the orchard almost by accident,” says Lars.

“We live at Mount Maunganui, which is beautiful, but were looking for a holiday home in the country with room for the boys to run and play. Our search criteria brought up the property, which has a two bedroom minor dwelling on it – and as a bonus, 150 mature avocado trees.”

Sarah says the family were searching for somewhere for their boys, Thomas (9), Patrick (6) and William (3) to get away to the countryside to play and explore.

“At the orchard, the boys love climbing the trees, riding their bikes, digging holes and swimming in the river.

The orchard is a great getaway for us, which also earns an income.”

The couple bought the property in 2015 and despite the orchard needing work, income from the first harvest covered the mortgage payments – another important bonus.

Sarah and Lars knew virtually nothing about avocados but quickly realised their orchard had potential to generate

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an income, and set about learning about the trees and the industry.

For Master Mariner Lars, his full-time job is as Port of Tauranga harbour pilot, responsible for bringing ships into and taking them out of the port.

“I work as part of a team of seven, on call 24 hours a day for seven days, then have seven days off.”

It’s during his days off that Lars spends time on the orchard, which is managed by Tony Bradley and Brien James of Aongatete Avocados Ltd. Sarah, who previously worked for PathLab in histology, is now project manager for research into post-harvest rots in avocados with NZ Avocado.

“It’s a six-month contract to research literature about post-harvest rots and work with members of the industry to attempt to identify factors which may be causing the problem,” says Sarah.

“The issue with post-harvest rots was highlighted last season and was due to numerous factors combining to cause ‘the perfect storm’, from heavy rainfall in November to an increase in fungal inoculum on orchard due to a decline in orchard practices.

The research is helping Sarah learn more about the industry, and so benefiting the family’s own avocado orchard.

The orchard’s 15 to 18 year-old trees are planted at 10m x 10m spacings, but had become crowded and very tall.

Reports

“The orchard is in a wind-prone area and fruit was subject to wind rub. In our first harvest the fruit was pretty much evenly divided between 50 per cent export quality and 50 per cent local market. This year it’s looking like 70 per cent export,” says Lars.

He believes that’s largely a reflection of lowering the height of the trees to 4.5 metres, making the fruit less susceptible to wind rub and also permitting better penetration of light and of sprays.

“We think this is the ideal height for this orchard as fruit can be picked by a 5.4m Hydralada, which also reduces picking costs.”

Because of its windy location, Lars and Sarah have their fruit picked as soon as it is mature – which this year was before the end of September.

“We fear the equinox winds and want our fruit off before they arrive.” The orchard’s fruit is packed by Apata for the exporter Avoco.

The boundary has shelter trees but an internal shelter of poplars was removed by the previous owners; probably, Lars thinks, because the trees were a habitat for insect pests. The plan now is to replant with casuarina trees and install some artificial shelter.

The orchard has good soils and a flat to slightly sloping contour which means it is not prone to frost nor standing surface water. It’s also free of any sign of phytophthora.

Sarah and Lars Sorensen, son William (3) and dog Charlie enjoy time on the orchard, away from beach-side Mount Maunganui.

fertiliser recommendation of Ballance products which are applied up to eight times a year.

Out of step with most others in the district, the Sorensen’s orchard has an “on” year when others produce less crop.

“It does mean we get a good price for our fruit but it’s a bit of boom and bust – although prices have become more stable recently. Ideally we’d like to break that cycle and have consistent cropping.”

“We have never had to inject trees. I think that’s also partly due to the fact the trees are strong and healthy.”

Currently the orchard produces around 70 bins but Lars believes it has the potential to do 90 to 100, which would be ideal.

Keeping the trees well fed is also part of the AAL management programme. Brien and Tony make the

Now confident enough to try some of their own experimenting, Lars and Sarah intend to flower prune a

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select few trees this year and photograph them through the season, to see if there are any significant differences in their crop loading.

“I think the structural pruning we have done so far has probably negated the need to flower prune but it will be interesting to see if there are any benefits.”

The flowers in the orchard in September were getting plenty of attention from the bees of the eight hives brought in for pollination.

In the two and half years the couple have been involved in the industry Lars says he’s seen it change and mature.

Reports

“When we first bought the orchard you could ask 10 different growers the same question and get 10 different answers. Now I think we are gaining enough understanding to take on board what we hear and then make the decisions which best suits our orchard.”

So the quest for a family retreat has led to a whole new venture for the young family who are thoroughly enjoying the challenges – the outdoor space – and the great tasting fruit their trees produce.

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OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS TO ADD SIGNIFICANT CAPITAL GAIN VALUE. Presenting a large scale dairy to avocado conversion opportunity in the advancing Tapora horticulture area at less than $30,000 per hectare.

Tapora is fast becoming a horticultural haven located just over an hour north of Auckland.

With its free draining sandy loamy soil type’s, productive dairy farming has historically excelled in this region. However, horticulture in particular avocados is fast becoming the crop of choice. Recently proven large scale aquafer water on the peninsula is allowing a number of horticultural opportunities to be explored within easy reach of the Auckland domestic market and export port. There are three large scale avocado orchard conversions happening nearby right now so this is your opportunity to join the early movers and add significant value.

There is limited suitable land on the peninsula so be quick.

This farm is currently being run as a profitable, successful large scale dairy operation with significant holding income should you convert over time to horticulture. There has been at least 117ha of land identified by an industry expert on this fertile

block as suitable for avocados (report available).

The major features and infrastructure on the property currently comprises of: • 301ha of predominantly flat-toeasy contour fertile land in five titles • Harbour views with private access to beach and fishing grounds plus boat access • 60 bale rotary cowshed, 600 cow yard, adjacent 350 cow feed pad • Excellent support sheds, calfrearing facilities and raceways • Significant stock water infrastructure from a reliable quality bore supply • Four houses including a tidy main three-bedroom home with swimming pool plus three further sound three-bedroom homes • Impressive large scale setup with seven-year annual average production of 240,000 kg/MS from predominantly grass feeding and an absentee owner

PGG Wrightson Real Estate Limited, licensed under the REAA 2008

This property is set up, producing and ready to go, or follow the neighbours and add significant value by converting to avocados or horticulture.

Just over an hour to Auckland, and with the northern motorway under construction this will soon be even quicker.

A full going concern option including cows, equipment and staff are available to ensure this productive unit continues to return while you explore/develop your significant avocado orchard.

For Sale $8,995,000 Plus GST (if any) for all 301ha on five titles, OR $5,950,000 plus GST (If any) for 201ha, two houses, dairy infrastructure and two titles.

Scott Tapp B 09 423 9717 M 021 418 161

www.pggwre.co.nz

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Getting ready for China Brad Siebert, Biosecurity and Programme Manager, NZ Avocado brad.siebert@nzavocado.co.nz

The Ministry for Primary Industries has been negotiating access for avocados from New Zealand with China’s AQSIQ. It is great news that they are now in the closing stages of the process and we hope to have an import protocol allowing New Zealand avocado imports into China signed by both countries by the end of this year. This will require growers and packers to meet a China Official Assurance Programme. Read what gaining China access means for you.

A

On the Orchard

s part of its important work to grow exports, New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) negotiate phytosanitary access for products from New Zealand with our trade partners. As we have reported, MPI has been negotiating access for avocados from New Zealand with China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, AQSIQ, and we hope to have an import protocol allowing New Zealand avocado imports into China signed by both countries by the end of this year.

To meet the terms of the protocol an Official Assurance Programme (OAP) will be agreed between MPI and industry that will introduce pest management and administrative requirements for growers, packers and exporters. The avocado industry does not currently have an OAP for any of our export markets; we rely instead on mandatory industry systems.

Once the protocol has been signed, AQSIQ technical officials will visit New Zealand for a pre-trade systems audit of registered packers and growers to verify the industry’s ability to meet the requirements of the protocol. We hope this will happen in December.

All exports to China will have to meet the OAP requirements and will be audited against those requirements.This will include audit of AvoGreen compliance from the beginning of each growing season being 1 November the year prior to harvest. Growers and packers wanting to be able to export

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to China in the 2018-19 season will need to be proactive, and have taken action before 1 November 2017.

China has identified 12 pests of concern (see below) that must be monitored for in the orchard, inspected for at the packhouse and be subject to the industry’s existing pest mitigation steps, i.e. water blasting, prior to export.

China compliance requirements

Growers intending to export to China in 2018-19 MUST: 1. Be AvoGreen registered and compliant by 1 November 2017 i.e. this year.

2. Register under the China OAP when it is finalised in 2017, and by 30 October in each of the following years.

This will be similar to the Thailand registration process.

3. Comply with the new requirements of the AvoGreen pest monitoring/management system as required by China – this is detailed below.

4. Enter all chemical applications into the industry spray diary ideally on the day sprays were applied but otherwise as soon as possible as regular auditing of grower records will become the norm under the OAP. 5. Maintain good AvoGreen pest monitoring records and have them complete and available for audit.

6. Have AvoGreen supporting documents (i.e. orchard map, sample plan) up to date and available for audit.

China’s pests of concern 1. Black-lyre leafroller (Cnephasia jactatana) 2. Brownheaded leafroller (Ctenopseustis herana)

Leafroller moths

3. Brownheaded leafroller (Ctenopseustis obliquana) 4. Light brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana)

All leafroller species already monitored under current AvoGreen requirements

5. Greenheaded leafroller (Planototrix excessana) 6. Greenheaded leafroller (Planototrix octo) 7. New Zealand flower thrips (Thrips obscuratus)

All thrips species already monitored under AvoGreen requirements

Scale

8. White wax scale (Ceroplastes destructor)

All scale species already monitored for under AvoGreen requirements

Mealy bugs

9. Longtailed mealybug (Pseudococcus longispinus)

Mealy bugs will now require records to be kept when presence is detected

Beetles/weevils

10. Pantomorus cervinus - Fuller's rose weevil

Fuller’s rose weevil will now require records to be kept when presence is detected

Fruit rot pathogens

11. Botryopshaeria lutea 12. Botryopshaeria Parva

New AvoGreen requirements

We are anticipating that the AvoGreen programme will be accepted by China as the industry’s on-orchard pest monitoring and management programme to manage their pests of concern. Many of these pests are already included in the existing AvoGreen programme but monitoring protocols will now also include two additional pests; longtailed mealy bug and Fuller's rose weevil.

Avogreen Operators and Monitors must ensure all 12 pests of concern are included in their monitoring protocols. AvoGreen training, awareness material and pest monitoring templates will be amended by industry to facilitate this.

China expects all export-registered orchards to maintain

On the Orchard

Thrips

Managed outside of Avogreen through industry best practice rot management

a comprehensive pest management programme through strict compliance with Avogreen. For growers this will mean regular monitoring to ensure pest populations are managed early, so that all subsequent pest mitigation steps through the supply chain are only further reducing the presence of pests.

There is a zero tolerance policy in the China protocol meaning orchards and entire packhouses can be excluded from China for a whole season if live pests are found during border inspections.

There are a number of registration and system requirements that post-harvest operators and exporters will be required to do as part of the China official assurance programme. These will be communicated through the packer forum and exporters council.

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NZ AVOCADO BIOSECURITY STRAT Protecting industry growth

Vision: A resilient industry free of new and emerging pests and diseases MISSION

DIRECTION STATEMENTS To secure the future of the New Zealand avocado industry by collaboratively preparing for and effectively responding to new pest incursions.

1

Preventing production losses resulti from new and emerging biosecurity threats

2

Reducing potential quarantine/trade interruptions to industry

3

Targeted communication and univer uptake by industry participants of biosecurity preparedness/vigilance

Key Result Areas

Preparedness

Response

Sustainability

Capability

Awareness

Policy and trade

Pre-emptive measures and international collaborations that ensure risk assessment, pest surveillance, quarantine technology, trade agreements and response planning are ahead of emerging threats and the industry is responsive to changing risk profiles

Reaching across the value chain to identify stakeholder and government expertise, resources and capability to secure a comprehensive and long term approach to industry biosecurity

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Pre-agreed, threat specific and agile response strategies in place to minimise reaction times, costs and trade implications to industry

Driving biosecurity awareness and engagement with all industry players to foster participation, early reporting and a commitment to biosecurity vigilance

long term management o funding arrangements to ongoing impact of pests established

Maintaining industry aw to biosecurity (WTO- SP pathways, to ensure risk biosecurity continuum, p

TEGY 2017-22

ing

e

AGREEMENTS AND PARTNERSHIP ARRANGEMENTS • Signatory to the Government Industry Agreement (GIA) on biosecurity readiness and response • Signatory to the cross-sectoral Fruit Fly and BMSB Operational Agreements • Avocado Sector Operational Agreement in place • Biosecurity Act (response) Levy established for the industry • Member of the Biosecurity Excellence in Port Community’s partnership • Avocado nurseries aligned with the Industry’s High Health (biosecurity surveillance) Scheme • Biosecurity Managers collaboration

4

5

Industry and its resources are prepared to rapidly respond and lead an effective response The industry continues to have improved communication and influence with Government

• Better Border Biosecurity research group (B3) • National Biosecurity Capability Network (NBCN) • MPI’s Emerging Risks program • Working groups of the Biosecurity 2025 strategy

rsal

options and o reduce the that become

ACTIVITIES AHEAD – WORK PROGRAMME Project #1 Industry Biosecurity plan

An evolving document providing a comprehensive stocktake of the industry’s biosecurity arrangements, priorities and approach to risk management.

Project #2 Market access agreements

Working with MPI/PMAC to pre-emptively agree market access conditions and quarantine measures and aligning these under an Official Assurance Programme for fruit fly.

Project #3 Engagement

Research

Targeted, applied research to meet knowledge gaps on host specificity, pathway measures, pest control methods and long term management options

wareness of international trade rules related PS agreement) with a continual review of risk k based mitigation measures are in place along the pre-border – border – post-border

Ensuring industry representation and interface with biosecurity research bodies and maintaining strong relationships with industry representatives in other avocado producing countries.

Project #4 Risk assessment and threat specific research

Pest establishment modelling, host preference studies, agrichemical/biocontrol use and other management options are researched for the industry’s high priority pests.

Project #5 Nursery biosecurity initiatives

Maintaining disease testing and plant material traceability initiatives within the industry’s High Health Scheme Avocado.

Project #6 On-farm biosecurity

Ensuring growers, packers, exporters, rural professionals and agricultural service providers/retailers are provided with up-to-date information on best practice biosecurity risk management and have a clear understanding of pest reporting procedures.

Project #7 Biosecurity within AvoGreen

Connecting AvoGreen pest scouts with priority pest awareness/training and evolving the AvoGreen community into a First Detector Network to promote on orchard observations.

Avoscene November 2017 l 37

On-orchard best practice for post-harvest rot control Sarah Sorensen, Project Manager, NZ Avocado sarah.sorensen@nzavocado.co.nz

Multiple factors have been identified as contributing to the rot issue in the 2016-17 season leading to the fruit being more susceptible to damage. Read more about rots and on-orchard best practice for post-harvest rot control.

Fungi that cause post-harvest rots

There are two kinds of rots (stem-end and body rots) and five different fungi that can cause them.

A comprehensive and integrated approach to controlling post-harvest rot infection on orchard has been developed. As the fungi that infect avocado fruit remain active throughout the year, it is therefore vital to maintain best practice throughout the season.

These practises are complementary and should be applied together on orchard for maximum benefit.

On the Orchard

• Stem-end rots - fungus enters through the cut stem.

• Body rots - fungus enters through the skin of the fruit.

• Fruit are infected from water borne spores in conditions of rain or high humidity, throughout the growing season.

• The source of these spores (inoculum) is found throughout the orchard, including shelterbelts.

Fungal spores are present in the orchard all year and therefore infection of fruit can occur at any stage throughout the season.

On-orchard best practice guidelines for controlling post-harvest rots

Orchard Hygiene

Remove potential inoculum sources to minimise the inoculum load on-orchard.

Fruit rot pathway

The most effective and successful preventative measures for rot control begins on-orchard. There are limited preventative measures during picking or potential postharvest treatments that will stop already infected fruit from expressing rots.

In contrast to other pests on-orchard, rot infection cannot be monitored as fruit rarely show symptoms pre-harvest.

Reducing inoculum, manipulating the environment and improving tree/fruit health are the most effective way to prevent post-harvest rot infection of fruit.

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• Remove mummified fruit, dead wood and dead leaves.

• Trim shelter belts.

• Prune to increase airflow through the orchard.

Copper application

Apply copper every four weeks with a minimum of 10 applications per year to maintain an adequate cover.

• Copper is a protectant fungicide, which must be applied before infection occurs.

• Fungal spores will only be killed if they come into contact with the copper on the leaf or fruit.

• The spray will only be as effective as the coverage you achieve.

Figure 1. Fruit rot pathway

• If a grower follows best practice guidelines, 3.5kgCu/ ha/year will be applied when using KocideOpti® and a 2000L tank.

• New Zealand BioGrow Organic Standards for copper is 3kgCu/ha/year.

• The New Zealand kiwifruit industry has a ‘copper budget’ of 8kgCu/ha/year.

Tree health

Maintain fruit quality through optimal tree health.

Avoid harvesting if more than 5mm of rain has fallen in the last 24 hours to reduce the risk of lenticel damage.

• Wet and turgid fruit are more susceptible to developing post-harvest rots.

• Roll test determines fruit susceptibility to lenticel damage.

Fruit rot history

Access library tray data for a comparison of your fruit quality against industry trends from season to season.

On the Orchard

• Ensure soil and leaf analysis is done to support decisions on nutrition.

• Early research links calcium and fruit quality. Ensure adequate levels of calcium in the early stages of fruit growth (first six weeks).

• Use the natural leaf litter under trees as this will promote slow release of nutrients into the soil and help maintain soil water content necessary for nutrient uptake.

• Ensure you have a healthy root system to maximise the uptake of nutrients.

Harvest management

• The guide to interpreting library tray results is available on the industry website.

• As a rule of thumb if more than 25% of the fruit in your library tray sample have developed ripe rots or stemend rots, then this fruit is likely to be contributing to “quality” problems.

Additional guideline information is available on the NZ Avocado website and in previously published Avoscene articles (Table 1).

Avoscene articles

Issue

Page(s)

Optimising fruit quality through on-orchard best practise

June 2017

54-55

Fruit rots

March 2017

47

How do my sprays work?

September 2016

36-38

What to be thinking about on your orchard – winter woes

July 2016

32-33

The value of library trays

July 2016

41-43

Understanding market rots

April 2016

35-36

Effective spray application in New Zealand avocados

November 2015

40-42

Why do you need a spray plan?

September 2015

31

Interpreting soil tests: Copper (Cu)

March 2015

34-36

Table 1. Avoscene articles for best practise guideline information.

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Decision process

The 2016-17 avocado growing season saw an increase in unsound fruit in the market. The problems appeared to be caused by a combination of post-harvest rot fungi and chilling injury.

In June 2017, a Rot Working Group was established with industry members and facilitated by Sarah Sorensen from NZ Avocado. A review of post-harvest rot research both locally and internationally has been completed and best practice guidelines developed following communication with growers, packers and exporters over their queries and concerns in regards to current practises and postharvest rots.

On the Orchard

The project has been divided into two phases, on-orchard and post-harvest, with the on-orchard phase of the project now complete. Information from this phase of the project is available for growers on the industry website and will be communicated to growers at discussion groups and industry field

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If you are thinking of selling your avo orchard give me a call today.

I am listing new orchards now to launch at the Avo Fest in January 2018.

With over 3,500 spectators in 2017, this is the perfect opportunity to promote your orchard to thousands of potential buyers.

The AVO SPECIALIST is taking local avocado orchards to buyers at the Katikati Avocado Food & Wine Festival

Could this be your property?

Durrelle Green NRG Realty Limited MREINZ licensed agent REAA 2008

durrelle@nrgrealty.co.nz nrgrealty.co.nz 027 949 3725 Avoscene November 2017

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Reminders at this time of year: Consistency requires sacrifice Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

On the Orchard

Ensuring a good amount of early flush on trees is critical for flowering wood next year.

Thinning flowers now will give trees the opportunity to divert some of their energy into pushing flush for next year’s crop.

Phytophthora seen through a microscope.

Growers should have a good indication of the extent

of the spring flush on their trees. Going into an on-year, we are expecting to see a high number of trees flowering excessively with limited flush.

Many growers are apprehensive to prune flowers without knowing how good their fruit set is going to be; at some stage there needs to be sacrifice and whenever structural pruning, fruit pruning or fruit thinning happens, fruit or potential fruit are being removed. Research from NZ Avocado and Plant & Food Research is showing that the earlier flower or fruit thinning occurs, the better the return flower the following spring. Interestingly, and hopefully reassuringly, the results of this research has shown that removal of roughly 40% of flowers resulted in an average drop in production of less than 12% compared with control trees where no flowers where removed.

Return flowering was significantly better in all the flower/fruitlet pruned trees with the best results coming from the earliest pruning. The return harvest will be happening shortly and the results will be made available

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Examples of heavily flowering trees and trees showing signs of stress.

as soon as they are available.

It has been a very wet winter and spring, and trees may be showing signs of the stress from that. This stress could be a result of a damaged or weakened root system. Growers should be monitoring their trees and thinking about phosphonate injecting if any trees appear to be suffering from phytophthora. It is recommended a root test is done to establish phosphonate levels prior to injecting. If levels are sufficient for protection re-injecting may not address the tree health and other practices such as pruning to adjust a root to canopy ratio or improving soil drainage to provide better aeration for the tree roots, may be more beneficial.

A good fertiliser plan is important at this time of the year to ensure the trees are adequately prepared for the requirements of the early stage of fruit growth. For those with irrigation systems, now is a good opportunity to test your system and do any maintenance that may be necessary to ensure you have optimum performance throughout the summer.

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avocados, tamarillos, citrus & kiwifruit 98% Protection down to -2°C (When applied as directed) Provides internal warmth giving an ‘early spring’ effect Adds 2 degrees to all other methods except Urea Effective immediately, gives up to 3 weeks protection ThermoMax is a non-chemical, Bio-Gro certified, ACVM exempt product. It leaves no residues HortResearch tested.

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JOIN THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS Leading technical advice Flexible harvest options

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www.justavocados.co.nz @just_avocados

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Guide on how to be healthy and safe in horticulture Al McCone, WorkSafe Sector Lead for Agriculture, Worksafe

At this time of year, life is getting busy for avocado businesses. Unfortunately, when workplaces get busy, the likelihood of someone being harmed while working increases. Read more about how you can be healthy and safe in horticulture.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 all

businesses have a responsibility to keep workers healthy and safe.

“What this takes is some underlying health and safety planning and management as part of your everyday operation. It’s not just about paperwork, it’s about everyday good business practice,” says Al McCone, WorkSafe Sector Lead for Agriculture.

On the Orchard

“The key is in three simple actions: • identify the risks • work out how to eliminate them (or if they can’t be eliminated, managed) • then make sure everyone in the workplace understands both risks and management.

‘Everyone’ includes contractors. There are specific requirements when other businesses are working on your property - you need to make sure you are aware of each other’s risks and are jointly managing these.

“There are some real basics you need to get right, like making sure machinery and vehicles are fit for purpose and safe to use, or making sure that people are competent to safely do the tasks they are doing.

“In addition, you need to pay real attention to the things that can cause fatalities and serious injuries – for these ‘critical’ risks, you need to work out how to separate the person from the risk.”

WorkSafe New Zealand and Horticulture NZ have published a horticulture-specific guide called Keep Safe, Keep Growing: How to be Healthy and Safe in Horticulture to help you.

• The guide will help you work out:the best way for you to identify, manage and communicate health and safety risks to family and workers • what part other people on farm should play in risk management.

“Health and safety doesn’t just happen. It needs a conscious decision to make a healthy and safe workplace. ” says Al.

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Irrigation Logan Whenuaroa, Research Associate, NZ Avocado logan.whenuaroa@nzavocado.co.nz

In New Zealand, irrigation is a common practice for many avocado growers, even though for most of the year rainfall is sufficient to maintain adequate soil moisture levels. During the warmer and dryer months, irrigation is utilised to replace water lost from the soil through evapotranspiration.

Recent research in the Bay of Plenty has shown that

inadequate soil moisture during fruit development results in a decrease in fruit size, where as too much water can also negatively impact a tree; increasing its susceptibly to Phytophthora cinnamomi root rot impacting yields.

Nutrients can also be lost from the soil profile through leaching and water wastage if irrigation is carried out unnecessarily. Finding the right balance is important and with the growing body of research, there is an increased understanding of the water requirements of avocado trees and how irrigation scheduling can be used to optimise tree health and productivity.

On the Orchard

Until recently there has been little research to quantify exactly how much irrigation is needed and the effect it has, specifically under New Zealand growing conditions.

Through the MBIE irrigation project led by Mike Clearwater and PhD student Teruko Kaneko of Waikato University, work has been done to determine avocado tree water use. A key finding of the project to date has been the crop factor for avocado trees in New Zealand for both young and mature trees.

The avocado tree water use (ETc) was ascertained by measuring sap flow movements. By comparing this

ETc to reference evapotranspiration (ETo), which is the sum of water lost by pasture via evaporation and plant transpiration, we get the crop factor (Kc) for avocado trees (Table 1).

Growers can use Kc as a conversion factor to estimate their trees water use if provided with the reference ETo. ETo is dependent on local weather conditions and is published

by NIWA and other weather services meaning no matter where in the country you grow avocado trees, you can get a good estimate of how much water your trees are using and adjust your irrigation management accordingly.

NZ Avocado have installed weather stations in the Far North, Whangarei, Te Puke and Katikati; these along with NIWA weather stations in Kaitaia, Whangarei and Te Puke generate ETo figures allowing us to estimate avocado tree water use through the equation ETc = ETo x Kc. Through the avoconnect and NZAGA Facebook page, NZ Avocado publishes weekly regional soil moisture updates (Table 2).

These tables can be helpful to check whether your irrigation strategy is roughly aligned with estimated tree water use in your region to maintain optimal soil moisture levels.

However, it is important to remember that the figures in the published tables are estimates only and growers should

Figure 1. How to calculate mm irrigation water delivered per tree.

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Table 1. Monthly cumulative ETo and ETc and Kc for mature and young trees

Figure 2. Plant available water, stress point and readily available water for clay loam soil

How can you use the information?

ETc and rainfall are conveniently measured in the same units of mm which is a measure of the volume of water over a certain area. 1mm is the equivalent of 1L of water applied to 1m2 of soil. An easy way to visualise this is if you poured 1L of water into a metal tray that measured 1m by 1m the water would be 1mm deep. To measure irrigation in terms of mm’s we need to know the volume of water a sprinkler head delivers per hour over what area (Figure 1).

ETc gives you an estimate of how much water is coming out of your orchard through tree use. If you also know how much is going into your orchard, in the form of rain and irrigation, you can quickly get an idea of whether or not you’re irrigating too much or not enough. With some understanding of the soil profile your trees are growing in, you can go a step further and set up a soil water balance that will give you information about how much water your soil can hold and how much is available to the tree. This is important because it lets you know where the “full” point of

Week

NIWA Rainfall (mm)

On the Orchard

your soil is, beyond which you start leaching nutrients and have aeration issues, and where the “empty” point is, beyond which trees become stressed.

use this information in conjunction with their own soil moisture monitoring tools.

Tree performance is optimised when soil moisture remains between field capacity and stress point (Table 3). Both

NIWA Eto Reference (mm)

Calculated ET (mm)

Deficit/Surplus (mm)

Young trees

Young trees

Mature trees

Mature trees

02/01/2017 – 08/01/2017

60.4

26.2

7.90

13.10

52.5

47.3

09/01/2017 – 15/01/2017

0.2

36.5

11.00

18.30

-10.8

-18.1

16/01/2017 – 22/01/2017

31.2

28.9

8.67

14.45

22.53

16.75

23/01/2017 – 29/01/2017

0.6

31

9.30

15.50

-8.7

-14.9

30/01/2017 – 05/02/2017

0.2

33.1

9.93

16.55

-9.73

-16.35

06/02/2017 – 12/02/2017

4.2

27.9

8.37

13.95

-4.17

-9.75

Table 2. BOP estimated avocado water use table for early 2017 published in Avoconnect and on grower Facebook page.

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WATeR (uNAvAIlAble)

Table 1: Typical total available water capacities.

Millimetres per 100 mm of soil depth Class

Down to 300 mm

Below 300 mm

Sand

15

5

Loamy sand

18

11

Sandy loam

23

15

Fine sandy loam

22

15

Silt loam

22

15

Clay loam

18

11

Clay

17.5

11

Peat

20–25

20–25

On the Orchard

Table 3.Typical water holding capacity for various soils – Source: Adapted from NZS5103:1973 source: www.irrigation.co.nz

Saturated SoiL All pores filled with water. Plant roots short of air for oxygen and gas exchange.

dRAINAge WATeR (uNAvAIlAble) Larger macro-pores drain by gravity, air enters soil.

FieLd CapaCity Macro-pores provide air spaces and oxygen.

Micro-pores filled with water held by capillary forces.

Plant roots easily take up water.

ReAdIly AvAIlAble WATeR (RAW)

pLant avaiLabLe Water

on

Understanding soil water terminology

Plants and soil surface evaporation remove soil water from micro-pore reservoir.

need high res

StreSS point (trigger point) Finest pores retain water held by strong capillary forces. Plant roots take up water with increasing difficulty. May wilt during the day, recover at night.

Soil well aerated.

SuRvIvAl WATeR Plants and surface evaporation continue to remove water from smallest micro-pores.

permanent WiLting point Only ‘hygroscopic’ water remains in soil, bound very strongly to the soil particles. Plant roots unable to take up water, plants wilt and do not recover.

Table 4. Common soil moisture terminology – source www.irrigation.co.nz

Available Water Holding Capacity

HygROSCOPIC WATeR (uNAvAIlAble)

Table 1: Typical total available water capacities.

Why – this is a fundamental piece of information needed to design an irrigation system and manage irrigation.

Millimetres per 100 mm of soil depth

To determine AWHC four pieces of information are required;

Down to

Below

mm 300 mm when soil moisture remains between fieldClasscapacity300and field capacity and stress point vary with soil type as1. Athe soil profile split into each horizon.

Sand 15 5 stress point. Unfortunately mother natureLoamy gives us very composition of soil affects how much water a soil can 2. Thehold depth of each horizon. sand 18 11 3. The soil texture of each horizon. few clues about when dry periods and rainfall will arrive, and how easy it is for a plant to utilise that water (Table 4).

Sandy loam 23 15 4. Information on WHC for each texture.

Fine sandy loam 22 15 making soil moisture management challenging.

Despite To obtain the information for 1, 2 and 3. . . find a spade, a ruler and dig a hole!

Silt loam 22 15 A simple soil analysis to find the proportion of sand, silt and this we can make some assumptions to inform irrigation Soil WHC information for 4, can be obtained from regional council websites and Clay loam 18 11 www.irrigationnz.co.nz Research online data base ‘S-Map Online’. Site specific AWHC can be clay using the jar method or field texture test of landcare your top plans. One common approach is as follows, Clay during summer 17.5 11 determined on-site using soil moisture measuring tools such as neutron probes.

30 to 60cm of soil gives an indication of your soilTable type by Peat 20–25 20–25 where rainfall events are less frequent and typically, 1 gives an indication of Available Water Holding Capacity for the various soil classes. depth. Using the top 60cm of a predominantly clay loam Source: Adapted from NZS5103:1973 lighter irrigation is used to more frequently to maintain soil as an example, we can estimate plant available water StoneS soil moisture closer to field capacity giving a better buffer If stones are present, the WHC value should be reduced by the same percentage, (PAW), Stress point (SP) and readily available water (RAW) i.e. if stones make up 30% in of the soil volume, reduce the soilDuring WHC by 30%.Autumn and Spring, when drier conditions.

(Figure 2). there can be significant rain events, soil moisture is held just above the stress point allowing the soil to absorb any From this we can say the top 60cm of soil at field capacity significant rain without leading to run off, during this has 87mm water available of which ~44mm is RAW before period irrigation events are less frequent. soil moisture reaches stress point. Beyond this, the tree has to work increasingly harder for the remaining PAW and We encourage growers to monitor their soil moisture levels. this will start to impact production. Once the soil moisture We hope that by utilising the above information, the latest level drops to a point where there is no PAW, all remaining research findings and the weekly water use tables, irrigation water in the soil to 60cm depth is held too tightly for trees strategies can be maximised to maximise the health and to use. This is the wilt point. Avocado trees do however production of your trees and to ensure we are using water have roots that grow beyond 60cm so despite the top profile efficiently. of soil being at wilt point, a tree might still be able access water from deeper profiles.

1. Kaneko, T. (2016). Water requirements for’Hass’ avocado flowering and Soil texture and water

As mentioned previously tree performance is optimised

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www.irrigationnz.co.nz

fruit development in New Zealand. University of Waikato. Retrieved from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/10521

Spotted anything unusual?

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

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

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Tree health – what to watch for Phillip West, Research Officer, NZ Avocado phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

The wet conditions we’ve been experiencing could impact tree health on your orchard, but how confident are you in diagnosing the exact problem?

There are a range of factors that can negatively impact

tree health at this time of year and it’s important to be able to recognise the sometimes subtle differences in symptoms to ensure the right corrective action is taken.

Flowering places a demand on tree resources, six spotted mite pressure can build at this time of year, soils have been exceptionally wet and as we move into summer, verticillium wilt may become evident. All of these pressures can make a tree look “sick”, but being able to recognise the symptoms of each will help ensure the correct action is taken quickly, minimising the impact on production and reducing the anxiety for the grower.

Leaf yellowing and defoliation around flower panicles On the Orchard

It’s not uncommon to see some leaf yellowing and possibly wilting around flowering panicles in spring (Figure 1) but healthy well balanced trees have a minimal amount. The yellowing is caused by the breakdown and remobilisation of minerals and nutrients from the leaves to other parts of the tree as part of leaf senescence. Nutrient demand can be particularly

Figure 1. Heavy flowering tree showing signs of leaf yellowing and premature defoliation.

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high in heavy flowering seasons or with heavy crop load. An impaired root system can also limit nutrient uptake leading the tree to reallocate the nutrients it already has.

Actions: • Ensure that an adequate fertiliser programme is maintained through the year, including winter, as this will help maintain leaf colour. Foliar nitrogen application through winter and early spring can help maintain leaf colour and has the added benefit of improving frost tolerance.

• Inspect the root system for damage caused by water logging and/or phytophthora infection (see below) as this may limit nutrient uptake. Take any remedial action necessary.

• Consider removing excess flower and/or crop load (usually indicated by a lack of spring vegetative growth) to minimise demand on the tree. If flower and fruitlet pruning is carried out, preferentially target panicles likely to set fruit in exposed areas more prone to sunburn and wind damage.

Figure 2. Defoliated tree with small yellow leaves symptomatic of advanced phytophthora infection.

Phytophthora

Actions: • Assess root health by carefully scraping away the mulch layer to find shallow feeder roots. Healthy new roots will be white or pale yellow in colour (Figure

Figure 3. Healthy feeder roots exposed by carefully scraping away the leaf mulch.

On the Orchard

Phytophthora is a water mould that infects and damages roots. Its spores swim through free water in the soil and hone in on the sugars exuded from roots. Newer rootstocks have an improved level of tolerance but are not completely resistant to infection. Poor soil drainage and warm soil temperatures promote phytophthora infection, so spring is a high-risk period. Phytophthora has a wide host range and its spores are very longed lived in soil, meaning that if you have an avocado tree you can pretty much bet you also have phytophthora. Because phytophthora infects roots, the symptoms of infection are the results of an impaired root system not delivering enough nutrients and water to support the canopy. The result is small yellow leaves with a high rate of leaf abscission and weak new vegetative flush (Figure 2). The onset and progression of phytophthora infection is usually over the course of months and years, which differentiates itself from the quick progression of water logging, and verticillium wilt, which is usually days or weeks. As phytophthora infection progresses, the tree becomes increasingly defoliated. Trees will usually die if action is not taken.

3). Infected roots will have brown/black lesions on otherwise healthy roots (Figure 4). Masses of black dead roots may be more indicative of water logging, insufficient soil moisture or heat damage.

• Minimise the stress on trees as a healthy, well resourced, tree will be more resilient to phytophthora infection.

-- Ensure an adequate fertiliser programme is in place.

-- Ensure trees don’t carry an excessive crop load.

-- Ensure trees have sufficient soil moisture through summer months while minimising periods of excess soil moisture through adequate drainage.

• Maintain a mulch layer up to 10cm thick. Avocado leaf is the ideal mulch but if not enough is available, supplement with chipped avocado wood or aged or composted pine bark. Avoid very thick layers of mulch that may become water logged and reduce aeration of roots. Adequate mulch will: -- Support antagonistic microflora and fauna that will supress phytophthora.

-- Help with nutrient retention in the shallow root zone of avocados.

-- Support good soil structure, helping with aeration and drainage.

-- Help maintain adequate soil moisture in summer while reducing periods of high soil temperature that may damage roots.

Figure 4. Avocado roots with dark lesions indicative of phytophthora infection.

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On the Orchard

• Apply Phosphonate.

-- Phosphonate is a fungicide specific to phytophthora and pithium species -- Time phosphonate application with active root flush. This will ensure the majority of phosphonate is delivered to the roots. Periods of root flush will generally occur following periods of vegetative flush.

Inspect roots under the mulch layer regularly to help confirm when new root growth is occurring.

-- Ensure phosphonate application has been effective by sending a root sample to Hills Laboratories for testing six to eight weeks after phosphonate has been applied.

Levels above 25 mg/kg roots at 75% moisture are generally accepted as having a direct fungicidal affect but higher levels up to a maximum of 150 mg/kg roots at 75% moisture should be targeted to maintain protection over a longer time period.

-- When using injection or pills, ensure application sites are spaced evenly so all sectors of roots receive treatment. Low pressure syringes should be spaced about a hands width apart.

• Apply calcium to the soil in the form of gypsum or lime.

-- Calcium has a mild fungicidal effect against phytophthora and can help improve soil structure.

Figure 5. Waterlogged tree showing signs of severe wilting over the majority of the tree.

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Water logging

Avocado roots require oxygen to function. The oxygen diffusion rate in water is about 10,000 times slower than it is in air so oxygen is rapidly used up in water logged soils, leading to the suffocation of roots. The ironic result of water logging is a halt of the water and nutrient transport to the canopy leading to rapid wilting and dieback (Figures 5 and 6). Wilting will generally be visible over a larger portion of the canopy than what is observed with verticillium wilt. If only a portion of the root system was water logged, wilting may be limited to a segment of the tree. Inspect the soil around and under the tree for signs of water pooling, run-off or excess soil moisture. Grass may be pushed flat if water was running over the top of the soil or the soil may still be very wet when a hole is dug. Prolonged water logging will result in root death, which will ultimately effect the canopy.

Actions: • Ensure adequate drainage prior to expected periods of heavy rain. This may include ensuring existing drains are open and clear or could include the installation of additional drainage.

• If a tree is showing signs of water logging look for options to remove any excess moisture from the soil profile.

• Prune the canopy of the tree back hard to reduce the

Figure 6. Leaves and fruit of a water logged tree showing signs of wilt and shrivel due to lack of water transport to the canopy.

demand on the root system. Hold off pruning any part of the canopy not showing signs of wilt as functional canopy will help support the recovery of the root system.

your orchard to help maintain populations of predatory insects that feed on six spotted mites.

Verticillium wilt

Six spotted mite

Six spotted mites feed on the underside of leaves, sucking out the contents of plant cells.This feeding is preferentially located next to main leaf veins and causes the localised purple discolouration characteristic of six spotted mite damage (Figure 7).This feeding will lead to the leaf being shed with severe defoliation of a tree being possible if an infestation is not treated.There is still a lot that isn’t know about the population dynamics of six spotted mite but numbers can increase quickly in the right conditions. Spring and autumn seem to be periods of highest risk.There are other beneficial mites that populate avocado trees so it’s important to properly identify any mites detected as part of your AvoGreen monitoring.

Figure 7. Underside of an avocado leaf showing purple discolouration around the main veins caused by six spotted mite feeding.

Actions: • Prune off dead wood once dieback has stopped and you can clearly identify where the healthy wood starts.

Pruning will not completely remove the fungus as infection occurs from the soil but it will prevent the inoculum load increasing in the soil.

• Do not use prunings to mulch trees. Prunings should ideally be burned to minimise the chance of the fungus spreading.

• Clean any equipment used with the tree and that may transport soil to other parts of the orchard.

On the Orchard

Actions: • Maintain a rigorous monitoring schedule so any infestation can be detected as early as possible.

• If AvoGreen suggested action levels are reached, warranting a spray, utilise consultants and talk to your packhouse about what spray options you have available that will best fit your planned harvest window.

• Consider using more targeted sprays for other pests on

Verticillium wilt is caused by the soil borne fungus Verticillium dahlia.The fungus infects through the roots before invading the vascular tissue that transports water to the canopy in spring.The tree responds to the infection by producing compounds that block the vascular tissue, restricting the spread of infection but also water flow.The restricted water flow results in the outward symptoms of individual branches or limbs rapidly wilting and dying back (Figure 8). Summer temperatures generally halt the spread of infection and the tree recovers by producing new vascular tissue.

Figure 8.Tree infected with verticillium wilt. Notice only certain limbs are affected while others remain healthy. Normally leaves will remain attached to limbs due to the rapid wilting and dieback.

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How much flower is too much?

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

Flowering is looking heavy for many orchards this year but the key to consistent cropping is to balance flower with new vegetative flush. So, how much flower is too much?

The period of flowering and early fruit set in a heavy

flowering spring is one of the few opportunities where management inputs can have a big influence on the consistency of crop load. Hass avocado is prone to alternate bearing where a light crop season is usually followed by a heavy one and vice versa. Combine this with the weather events we experience in New Zealand that impact fruit set and we can have a very irregular crop unless fruit set is managed well.

So far, the trial has shown that a significant amount of flower can be removed with minimal impact on yield in year one with improvements in fruit size if pruning is carried out early enough. Pruning also significantly improved return flower with a trend showing greater return flower intensity the earlier pruning was carried out. Different trees can support different flower and crop loads and remain “balanced” so how can you recognise if a tree is flowering excessively or not?

The short answer is, if you’re not seeing any spring vegetative flush coming through then it’s likely that the tree is flowering excessively. We are still working to understand the signalling within the tree that determines whether new buds will be floral or not. Despite this, we know that floral buds generally form on wood that is at least one year old that has had enough time to mature and has received a good amount of sunlight.

Early spring growth has more time to mature compared to summer and autumn flush, making it more likely to become floral the following spring. Summer flush from the previous season can also become floral but will generally require another full summer to mature before showing floral development. This means it often takes an extra year for summer flush to become floral compared to spring flush

Early spring vegetative flush can come in two forms. The first is in the form of indeterminate inflorescences, which are inflorescences that have a terminal vegetative shoot (Figure 1). The second is in the form of vegetative buds further back on the branch.Younger trees with high vigour may show more early vegetative bud break or it may occur as a result of pruning encouraging early vegetative bud break.

Pruning can have the dual effect of reducing demand on the tree allowing resources to go into maturing early vegetative growth more quickly as well as encouraging new vegetative bud break near the pruning site.

On the Orchard

Flower and fruit thinning is common place within the apple and kiwifruit industries to optimise fruit size and quality and more and more avocado growers are also recognising the benefits. In the July issue of Avoscene we published an update on the pruning to balance trial looking at the effect that pruning flowers and fruitlets at different times of year had on yields and return flower.

and it is generally more frost prone due to leaves not having enough time to fully develop and “harden off ” before winter.

Early spring growth is most desirable and if your orchard canopy is open enough to get sufficient light onto the new growth then it’s likely you will see floral buds forming and good flowering come spring time.

In a heavy flowering year, you are more likely to see a high proportion of determinate inflorescences, which are all flower and lack any vegetative shoot (Figure 2). Determinate inflorescences are generally better at setting fruit than indeterminate inflorescences, so a balance between the two inflorescences is ideal (Figure 3). Where an excess of determinate flowering is present (Figure 4) consider pruning some off, preferentially targeting panicles likely to set fruit in areas prone to sunburn and other damage. This will encourage new vegetative growth that will hopefully

Figure 1. Indeterminate inflorescence.

Terminal vegetative growth is indicated by arrow.

Figure 2. Determinate inflorescence.

Note the lack of any vegetative shoots.

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be resourced well enough to mature and become your flowering wood for next season. There is no hard and fast rule about where cuts should be made for flower pruning. As a general rule cuts should be made back at least as far as last season’s bud scar, on wood that’s at least 1.5cm thick (Figure 5). This will make the pruning efficient and should prune back to a point that can push a healthy vegetative shoot.

On the Orchard

Many growers that regularly prune to maintain tree structure are finding that their yields become much more

consistent without the need to flower prune. This is likely due to most pruning methods encouraging a range of different ages of wood on the tree at the same time while improving light intensity into the canopy. Any pruning also acts to reduce drop potential for the coming season; just because you can’t see the flowers you are cutting off doesn’t mean they are not there. Flower and fruitlet pruning should be seen as a corrective action rather than an ongoing management practice but is proving to be an invaluable tool to help growers balance crop loads between seasons.

Figure 3.Tree with a good balance of indeterminate and determinate inflorescences. Note the amount of new vegetative growth, which is easily distinguished by its red colouring.

Figure 4.Tree that is flowering excessively. Note the lack of any new vegetative growth to become next year’s flowering wood.

Figure 5. A 5-year old tree that has been flower pruned.

Note the size of prunings on the ground, which gives an indication of where cuts can be made.Target limbs and panicles likely to set fruit in exposed areas prone to sunburn and other forms of damage.

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Avocados for Export - fruit set factors Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

On the Orchard

Fruit set is one of the most important aspects for achieving good, consistent production. There are many important elements to fruit set. Plant & Food Research and NZ Avocado have been working together on the Avocados for Export programme funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This programme has been looking at a range of factors that impact production and consistency. Here are some of the key findings relevant to fruit set.

Male and female flowers.

Frost damaged flowers.

Crop load influences return flowering

The research has demonstrated that complete crop removal has a significant impact on the following flowering.

Removing all fruit from the trees in January produced trees with a high flowering intensity the following spring, whereas the trees with no crop removal had very little flowering the following spring. Complementing this, the Pruning to Balance trial has shown that reducing the crop load through flower pruning increases the return flower; the earlier excessive crop load is addressed, the more influence that has on increasing return flower. Avocado trees have a natural tendency to be biennial bearing and this can be triggered by, or exaggerated through, trees carrying excess crops. On the flip side, trees with very little crop will likely have a high flowering intensity.

Coming out of a low season for many there is a significant amount of flower around at the moment, making this an ideal season for growers to assess the flower and crop load they have and consider pruning some off, if excessive, in order to achieve more consistent cropping.

Early spring vegetative growth is more likely to flower the following year compared to summer flush; this growth can be maximized through the early removal of excess

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Fruitlets.

flower. Removal allows the tree to put more resources into maturing spring vegetative growth quickly and can generate new vegetative bud break. Ensuring trees have a good combination of flower and flush is important for consistency and covered in the article “How much flower is too much?” on page 55 in this issue of Avoscene.

Flowers need adequate resources to set fruit

A research project in both New Zealand and Spain has been following flowers from when they open through to the harvest of the fruit. The results from this work clearly illustrated that the flowers that went on to successfully set fruit had higher total sugar levels than those that didn’t, in both Spain and New Zealand. In New Zealand successful flowers also had significantly higher boron levels than unsuccessful flowers, however this trend was not seen in Spain; this may indicate Boron is a limiting factor in New Zealand conditions.

Maximising male-female flower overlap maximises opportunity for fruit set.

In order for a flower to successfully set fruit, pollination is fundamental. The flowering patterns of avocado trees,

THE BEST MARKETED where each flower will open as a female, close, then open as a male, means there needs to be an overlap of male and female flowers open in order for pollination to occur.

Research in New Zealand conditions has shown that overnight temperatures influence the timing of Hass flowers opening as female during the day. The accepted dogma is that they open as a female in the morning and then as a male the following afternoon, however the research is showing that low overnight temperatures will shift the female opening time later into the morning and potentially into the afternoon and they can remain open all evening.

THE ONLY TRUE GROWER PARTNERSHIP On the Orchard

The latest work from Plant & Food Research has quantified flower overlap during the spring 2016 flowering period in Te Puke. The overlap of Hass female and Hass male flowers opening was 34.5 hours, the overlap between Hass Female flowers and Zutano or Ettinger male flowers being open was 71.5 hours, over twice as long, meaning the time where successful pollination can occur was doubled. As well as the flower timing, abundance of pollinating insects will improve the ability of fruit to set.

Research from the cross industry Bee minus to Bee plus and Beyond project is looking at alternative pollinators, such as bumble bees, flies and beetles and their influence on pollination. Although this work aims to reduce our reliance on honeybees, or at least utilise honeybees more effectively, the consensus remains that they are the most influential pollinators in an avocado orchard and recommendations are shifting to suggest growers bring their hives in earlier than 15% of flowers open.

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Low temperatures in spring can damage flower buds and fruitlets

For a long time anecdotal evidence has been that cold temperatures influence production, especially a harsh frost in spring. Recent research has indicated that flowers two days either side of opening are especially vulnerable to being damaged by temperatures below 4°C. Intensive effort has gone into understanding the effect of temperature on flowers and fruit set. Plant & Food Research has tagged over 45,000 flowers through the course of this study, logging overnight temperatures prior to the flower opening as a female and then following that flower through fruitset all the way to harvest. The results have shown, not surprisingly, that there is a higher fruit set with higher temperatures. Warm days are very important at the start of flowering and an overnight cold snap later on in the flowering period becomes more significant.

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Opinion piece: Shelterbelts Marisa Till, Research Manager, NZ Avocado marisa.till@nzavocado.co.nz

Shelterbelts are a fundamental part of an orchard, not only for the protection of fruit but also for the trees. Shelterbelts do require some thought and investment: artificial vs natural, species of trees, maintenance and management. Here we present some opinions from throughout the industry regarding shelterbelts.

Peter Sneddon - Grower Services Representative, Apata

Robert Jefferis – Grower, Pongakawa

“The ultimate is to plant shelter when you plant your trees but trees fall over, die etc and the artificial shelter is – “hey presto” – instant. The amount it costs is easily paid back in your first storm. It is good for wind and frost protection, and artificial shelter inside your orchard takes up less space meaning more avocado trees.”

Roger Barber - Grower, Whangarei and NZAGA Grower representative

“Shelter is a vitally important component of avocado establishment. The challenge of growing a tropical or subtropical fruit (avocado) in a temperate climate (New Zealand) means additional steps need to be taken to modify the microclimate. This is necessary to build up heat units necessary for adequate oil accumulation in the

On the Orchard

“Shelterbelts are very important in my opinion; wind rub blemish is the single biggest factor in the reject analyses.

Good shelterbelts create microclimates within orchards; ideally, shelters should filter or deflect wind from avocado trees. Optimum height is around 8 to 10 metres for trimming purposes, then it is important to keep the avocado trees at least a metre below the shelter height.Where growers have frost prone areas it is important to keep the first couple of metres bare to allow the cold air to flow out of the orchard.”

fruit, and protect the crop and brittle tree framework from the debilitating effects of cold, and sometimes strong prevailing winds.

Supplementary shelter needs to be installed before tree planting. For natural shelter, this means planting at least two years ahead of the cropping trees. Individual tree shelters further aid early tree establishment. The ideal shelter should have an aperture of 50% to slow and filter the wind. Solid block shelter if too dense will create turbulence and wind dumping effects. Casuarina and Cryptomeria if kept laterally trimmed provide ideal natural shelter and are cheap and effective, although do require regular maintenance. Artificial shelter requires less maintenance and instant protection and gives less competition for light, water, nutrients and pests.

The downside is that they are initially expensive to install.”

Dr David Logan – Scientist, Plant & Food Research

“Shelter species can be hosts of insect pests and act as a source of infestation for the adjacent crop. For example, greenhouse thrips occurs on a wide variety of common shelter species such as Japanese cedar, radiata pine, Leyland cypress and willows. The other pests common on shelter are armoured scale insects (greedy and latania scale) and leafrollers. Both of these types of pests can be common on matsudana willows and on crow’s nest, black or Italian poplars. Growers facing persistent problems with thrips, leafrollers or scale insects may consider seeking advice on whether shelter trees are contributing to their pest pressure.”

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Industry matters Commodity levy & export systems fee for 2017-18 season Commodity levy for avocados sold in New Zealand • 3% of the price at the first point of sale for avocados sold fresh • No levy on avocados processed in New Zealand Commodity levy for export avocados • 35 cents per export tray which includes 20 cents for promotion for avocados exported to be sold as fresh • 15 cents per export tray for avocados exported to be processed

Export systems fee: • 25 cents per tray for exports to Australia • To support the development of new markets, no export systems fee is charged on avocados exported outside Australia • 10 cents per tray equivalent for avocados exported to be processed For further information on levies and fees contact our Business Manager, Jay on jay.bent@nzavocado.co.nz.

Overview of AGM There was a great turn-out at the NZAGA and AIC Annual General Meeting on 31 August in Whangarei. The event was held at Toll Stadium and 70 industry members attended.

Executive motions were reviewed and approved – there were two this year that considered levy rates for avocados sold in both export and the New Zealand market.

This year the AGM preceded the NZ Avocado Grower Forum – for a full report on the Grower Forums go to page 26.

Are you picking over the Christmas/New Year holiday?

Newsroom

If you are intending to pick over the Christmas-New Year holiday period, please ensure your PPIN applications and Export Registrations are submitted to NZ Avocado by Friday 15 December 2017 to allow us time to process these.

The Avocado Problem Solver Field Guide The Avocado Problem Solver Field Guide is available to purchase from the Avoshop section of the NZ Avocado website.This guide has been produced to assist avocado growers and others involved in the avocado

supply chain to identify the wide range of pests, diseases, nutrient deficiencies and toxicities and other disorders that may affect orchards and the quality of fruit reaching the consumer.

NZ Avocado staff contacts over Christmas/New Year The NZ Avocado office will be closed from midday 22 December 2017 and will open again 8 January 2018. Should you have any urgent query during this time, the following staff are available: Jen Scoular 021 741 014 or Glenys Parton 0274 99 70 81. Happy holidays from the team at NZ Avocado!

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Recommended reading

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

phillip.west@nzavocado.co.nz

Honeybees are still the dominant pollinator for avocado but get a helping hand.

This editions recommended reading is an article titled “Insect visitors to avocado flowers in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand” (Read, S.F.J. et al. New Zealand Plant Protection, [S.l.], v. 70, p. 38-44, Aug. 2017). It is available by searching for the title or via the New Zealand Plant Protection journal website.

Observational surveys on four Bay of Plenty avocado orchards identified a range of insects visiting flowers with honeybees still playing the dominate role. While honeybees represented 92.9% of all insects recorded visiting flowers, certain species of beetle and bumble bees were notable with quite large variation in numbers seen during specific orchard visits. On one orchard visit honey bees made up 55.9% of flower visits while the beetle species Zorion

guttigerum made up 38.5%.

This highlights a few things for growers. Primarily, the importance of having good honeybee hives in the orchard to maximise pollination and secondly that other insects also contribute to pollination and should be looked after within the orchard.

We are learning a lot about pollinator species and their behaviour in avocado orchards with much more still to learn. It is important that we keep an open mind and look for any opportunity to better utilise the pollinators we already manage while considering how alternative pollinators may complement the fair weather pollinator that is the honeybee.

Reading your trees Below are the key tree characteristics as set out in your Reading Your Trees Guide to assess at this time of year: • • • •

October to December: Spring flush, pages 11-15 December: Roots, pages 28-29, Canopy density, pages 30-31 December to January: Fruit, pages 24-27 January: Summer flush, pages 16-17

Newsroom

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

Download the Reading Your Trees workbook from the industry website under Orchard Mngt > Reading your trees and select the Reading Your Trees Guide workbook resource at the bottom of the page. This workbook complements the Reading Your Trees Guide and allows you to record your assessments.

Calendar of events

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NZAGA & AIC Board meetings • 23 November

Katikati A&P Show • 3 February 2018

Katikati Avocado Food & Wine Festival • 13 January 2018

Te Puke A&P Show/Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition • 10 February 2018

Avoscene November 2017

Why do you need a spray plan?

Glenys Parton, Industry Systems Manager, NZ Avocado glenys.parton@nzavocado.co.nz

A spray plan needs to be prepared each year and should cover the following: • List your adjoining neighbours and their contact phone numbers.

• Identify sensitive areas (schools) that you will need to treat differently from the rest of the property and the precautions you will take to avoid causing a problem.

• Name any adjoining roads and whether the roads are used by school children.

• List the crops that you will spray, the chemicals that are likely to be used, and how the chemicals will be applied (e.g. helicopter, boom spray, air-blast sprayer).

• List the name, GROWSAFE® certificate number, and contact details of the person who will carry out the spraying activity.

Keeping your community informed

When it comes to sprays, concerns and difficulties can be avoided if neighbours talk to each other. A copy of the spray plan must be given to your neighbor if they ask for it. If your neighbour asks you to let them know when you are going to spray, each Regional Council sets the timing of these requirements, so check with your Reginal Council Air Plans.

This allows your neighbour to take precautions against being exposed to sprays if they wish (e.g. not putting the washing on the line, leave the property while you spray, etc.). It is best if you can give them written notice (keeping a record for your own files) but informing them by phone or in person is also acceptable.

Newsroom

Regional Air Plans state you need a Property Spray Plan when you intend to carry out widespread application of agrichemicals within 50 metres of your property boundary.

You are required to notify your neighbour if he or she asks you to let them know when you are going to spray.

Preparing a spray plan is one of the conditions of permitted widespread application of agrichemicals, set out in the Regional Air Plan for each Regional Council.

An editable Spray Plan template with a model notification form can be found on the website under http://industry. nzavocado.co.nz/resources/4564784/Preparing_your_property_ spray_plan_template.pdf. This document will help you prepare a property spray plan.

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Industry news

NZ Avocado participated in the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition as a challenge facilitator.The competition took place as part of the Te Puke A&P Show in February 2017.

What’s on this summer Newsroom

Katikati Avocado Food and Wine Festival – 13 January 2018

NZ Avocado is excited to be a sponsor of the Katikati Avocado Food & Wine Festival taking place on 13 January 2018. We will have an avocado themed seating area there for attendees to come, sit and relax in the shade.

Te Puke A&P Show – Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower of the Year Competition – 10 February 2018

NZ Avocado will also have a presence at the Te Puke A&P Show as part of the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition. Each year NZ Avocado run a challenge for competitors as part of the competition – last time we asked competitors to efficiently and successfully plant an avocado tree and add shelter. It’s a great event and a fantastic way to raise visibility for the horticulture industry and engage with attendees in a fun and interesting way.

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Katikati AvoExpo – 4 February 2018

Held in conjunction with the Katikati A&P Show, the AvoExpo features exhibitors showcasing all things avocado – even avocado beer! There will be activities for all ages to be entered on the day: Tug of War and Strong Man competitions and the AvoShy for the children. The Axemen will also be back thanks to sponsors Avoco.

There will be lots of information and advice available on the day so come and learn more about growing and eating our favourite fruit.

If you are interested in promoting your avocado business at this event, please send your registration enquires to katiavoexpo@gmail.com or contact Sheryl Palmer on 027 476 3242. All avocado related businesses are encouraged to attend. 6mx6m site $60, 8mx8m site $70, 10m x 12m site $80.

Avocado news from the world Avocados from Mexico unveils new culinary centre Avocados From Mexico (AFM) has unveiled their innovative, multifaceted Culinary Center with a celebratory launch party at their corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas.

Special guests gathered for the debut featuring Avocados from Mexico President, Alvaro Luque, sharing the AFM journey and the center’s purpose, an inside look at AVO University, followed by a delectable VIP tasting by acclaimed culinary talent, Chef Mark Garcia and Chef Kent Rathbun.

The Culinary Center will showcase AFM’s history and culture, which starts from the orchids of Michoacán, Mexico to the tables of Avocado fans across the U.S., while providing premium culinary experiences and cultural immersion to special guests from the foodservice industry and key retail partners. Guests will be able to engage

with the Avocado category and learn how to drive their businesses forward with the help AFM’s expertise.

Through insights and education, the Culinary Center strives to provide leading operators in the food and retail industry with a multitude of enrichment opportunities such as their “AVO University”. This customized module based training will reveal avocado category insights, business case studies with ROI sustainability, fresh vs. processed learnings and proprietary shopper mindset studies and consumers insights.

In addition, registered dieticians will be invited to participate in training modules and receive accreditation.

Source: http://www.perishablenews.com/index. php?article=0063130

I Love Avocados earns heart-check certification This Heart-Check mark is now prominently displayed on all I Love Avocados packaging, merchandizing and marketing materials, and product support including the brand’s website and social media. This designation is important to the I Love Avocados brand, as it continues their commitment to help educate others about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle including a balanced diet. This in turn will help minimize the occurrence of obesity, diabetes and other preventable health issues.

Designed to help consumers make informed choices about the foods they purchase, the American Heart Association Heart-Check Food Certification Program uses the Heart-Check mark to make it easy for consumers to spot heart-healthy foods in the grocery store or when dining out. According to the American Heart Association, over 75% of consumers recognize the Heart-Check symbol and express that they are more likely to purchase foods that feature the certification mark.

"We are honored to receive the American Heart Association certification,” said Mario Pacheco, CEO of West Pak Avocado, the parent company for I Love Avocados. He continued, “Now with the Heart-Check mark association throughout our brand, people can be doubly confident with their choice of heart-healthy avocados.”

Newsroom

West Pak Avocado, the parent company for I love Avocados™, is pleased to announce that the brand has earned the American Heart Association’s (AHA) coveted Heart-Check mark designation, a certification to meet strict dietary criteria for heart-healthy foods. The requirements for certification are based on the sound science of the American Heart Association regarding healthy dietary recommendations including food categories, specific product ingredients and nutrient values.

Source: http://www.freshplaza.com/article/181726/ I-Love-Avocados-earns-heart-check-certification

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Recipe

Beetroot, avocado and quinoa salad

By Nicola Galloway,The Homegrown Kitchen Delicious and healthy beetroot, avocado and quinoa salad recipe. Quick to prepare and great for dinner or lunch the next day.

Nourish

Preparation time: 25mins Serves: 4 Method: Cook quinoa, combine with beetroot, spinach and dressing then toss. Lightly fold in avocado and feta and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.

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Ingredients: 3 medium beetroot bulbs, roasted or precooked, then grated 1 avocado , cubed 1 ½ cups quinoa seeds 2 cups of baby spinach, roughly chopped 200 grams feta Small handful pumpkin seeds Dressing 3 Extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Team Activity Jen Scoular – CEO

“Progressing access to China, developing biosecurity plans and setting up our marketing programmes have been high priorities.”

Edwina Aitchison – Executive Assistant

“The 2017 election process is now completed and growers have returned Tony Ponder as an At Large representative, voted in Maria Watchorn as the new BOP/Rest of NZ representative and Alistair Nicholson is returned as the Far North representative unopposed. The Board have elected their new officers at the October 2017 Board meeting.”

Jay Bent – Business Manager

“As the export season starts to ramp up, we have been working to ensure the accuracy and punctuality of data flow and reporting from orchard to NZ Avocado.”

Bevan Jelley – Market Manager

“NZ Avocado promotions campaigns for the 2017-18 season in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Japan are in full swing.”

Jo Nunn – Administration Assistant

“I have been taking a huge amount of registrations for growers for the field days, Annual General Meeting and Grower Forums – we hope these events were interesting and informative for you.”

Jodi Senior – Communications Manager

“It’s exciting to be involved in the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower of the Year committee for the 2018 event – we see this as a fantastic opportunity to raise the visibility of the horticulture industry as well as a great way to network with other BOP horticulture industries.”

Marisa Till – Research Manager

“Harvest and spring assessments are happening for all our trial orchards, we look forward to getting some results out to you all soon.”

Glenys Parton – Industry Systems Manager

“I have been reviewing AvoGreen and aligning the programme with new market access requirements. AvoGreen has moved from a simple monitoring for justification to spray, to being an integral component for managing phytosanitary requirements of export market access negotiations.”

Brad Siebert – Biosecurity & Programme Manager

“Lots of work across the team on developing the systems approach needed to meet the upcoming Official Assurance Programme for China access. A biosecurity strategy for the industry has now been finalised to sit above the more in-depth Industry Biosecurity Plan.”

Phillip West – Research Officer

“It’s been great participating in the recent Grower Forums and field days as it’s always enjoyable talking to growers, hearing about how their orchards are looking and sharing some of the research going on.”

Logan Whenuaroa – Research Associate

“It’s been a busy time of year with spring harvest and tree assessments for various Primary Growth Partnership projects, as well as updating trial information.”

Sarah Sorensen – Project Manager

“I have been working with the Rot Working Group to establish on-orchard best practices to control post-harvest rots. These guidelines will provide growers an integrated approach to reducing fungal inoculum on-orchard to maintain optimal fruit quality” Melissa van den Heuvel - Graduate

“Ensuring the industry systems are working effectively and efficiently is something I have been working closely with Glenys on. I enjoyed meeting some of you and learning more about the industry at the BOP grower forum and the recent BOP field days.”

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Out & About

Avoscene November 2017

Out and About

Glenys Parton presenting about the New Zealand avocado industry systems to level 4 fruit production students at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in September.

Jen Scoular with grower award winners Maria and Andrew Watchorn - Maria and Andrew were the winners of the highest production award and the top grower of the year award for 2017.

Out & About

Phillip West presenting at the NZ Avocado Far North field day held at Valic orchard.

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The New Zealand Avocado industry communications group after their first meeting.

Left to right: Natalie Bridges and Alison Brown from Blink PR,Trish Treloar from Trevelyans, Midge Munro from Just Avocados, Jodi Senior from NZ Avocado and Rachel Brodie from Trevelyans.

Jen Scoular with grower award winners Rodney and Diane Bell who won the award for most consistent grower for 2017.

JAPAN

PACIFIC ISLANDS

HONG KONG TAIWAN

MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE THAILAND AUSTRALIA

YOUR CROP WILL TRAVEL FAR AND WIDE

programmes

CONTACT US

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Out & About

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