Hort News 23 October 2018

HORTNEWS OCTOBER 2018

The secret behind success – Page 6

WWW.RURALNEWS.CO.NZ

ISSUE 1

Kiwifruit is king!

Peter Burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

A UNIVERSAL trend by consumers to live better and healthier lives is driving the demand for New Zealand kiwifruit.

Zespri chief executive Don Mathieson says kiwifruit fits perfectly into that scenario, causing strong demand in all its markets.

Mathieson says sales growth has

been strong again this year: 150 million trays, up from about 120 million trays last year.

A lot of that is driven by the Sungold variety, and there is good growth also in Zespri green.

“Looking long term, we see that trend continuing with consumers wanting great products, great food items that are filled with nutrition,” Mathieson told Hort News.

“Kiwifruit is a real king in that space with all the vitamins and fibre and the nutritional elements it has versus other fruits. Based on that trend we see strong demand.”

He says their target group of consumers tend to be very health conscious, which is not region-specific but tends to be across the board. Zespri is getting good growth in both green and gold in Asia, with China going very

well.

“It’s going well in Japan and they are once again our number-one market in Asia this year. We are also seeing great growth in Korea and have seen the duties start to gradually come down.

“We used to pay 45% duty on our exports to Korea, but with NZ’s free trade agreement with them the duties have started to come off and we have been able to offer our kiwifruit to conRURAL NEWS GROUP

Jack Frost never sleeps Cromwell orchardist Simon Webb pictured at sunrise after a sleepless night of frost-fighting.

Overhead sprinklers are a common method of preventing frost damage as water on buds releases a little warmth into the buds as it freezes, then protects them from the worst of the cold air.

– See more page 7

sumers at a more attractive price and that has helped drive demand.

“At the same time, Taiwan is doing well and is now our number-one consumption market per capita in the world.”

European consumers have always been strong supporters of Zespri green, but Mathieson says consumers there are now starting to be attracted to Sungold. He believes this is because Sungold has a slightly sweeter taste and is easy to eat.

“France is going well and continues to be a high growth market for us. In the last couple of years, it has been a real performer in the European region.

And we are also seeing good growth in all our major markets in Spain, the Benelux region, Germany and Italy.”

YOUR HORT NEWS! Welcome to the first issue of Hort News.

Rural News Group is proud to launch this new national publication to serve the fastgrowing horticultural sector.

Hort News is a one-stop read for all horticulture sectors, covering industry news, management, markets, technology, machinery, opinion and more.

Distributed with Rural News in key horticulture regions, Hort News will be the only independent publication covering the entire horticultural industry.

We hope you enjoy it.

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2 HORTNEWS

OCTOBER 2018

Hort sector’s contribution valued Food and Fibre Futures investment scheme with an annual $40 million budget to help farmers add value to their products and retain the benefits here in NZ. We’re progressing a national organics standard because most coun-

Damien O’Connor

GROWING AND sharing New Zealand’s prosperity more fairly is a central plank in the coalition Government’s plan.

That means working in partnership with our primary producers to ensure a resilient and profitable primary sector.

In short, we are moving from volume to value.

The strength and importance of our primary sectors to the NZ economy was highlighted in the latest gross domestic product figures.

The economy grew 1% in the June quarter, driven by the primary sector – up 4.2%. Good prices for dairy products and horti-

sive economic development. New market access to China for our avocados was a huge milestone in January. We are one of only four countries with access to that market.

Thank you to a sector that helps grow the prosperity of all NZers. We

will continue to push for greater market access for your top-quality products, protect your soils, and work with you to help grow a productive and sustainable horticulture sector.

• Damien O’Connor is Minister of Agriculture

Agricultural Minister Damien O’Connor says the Government will work to help grow a productive and sustainable horticultural sector.

use to high-value crops such as avocados.

Smaller players cherries and blueberries are

The primary sector sometimes misses out on the accolades it deserves for its massive contribution to our economic and social wellbeing. cultural produce, such as kiwifruit, are behind that growth.

The primary sector sometimes misses out on the accolades it deserves for its massive contribution to our economic and social wellbeing. I want to thank you for the hard work you put in. Your families, communities, regions and the country see the benefit of it.

Horticulture exports recently reached $5.4 billion, making up 16% of our agri exports. There have been reports of conversion from pastoral land

tries have one and we’re disadvantaged by having several uncoordinated methods of proof.

Against a global backdrop of rising protectionism we are championing free trade with our Trade For All agenda to support sustainable and inclu-

also punching above their weight. Wine, apples, pears and vegetables are growing too, highlighting opportunities in a range of climates and land types.

All this is achieved on about 110,000 hectares of precious soil that the coalition Government has taken steps to protect.

I’ve seen first-hand the encroachment of urban sprawl on the high-quality soils in Pukekohe, south of Auckland. Officials are working to develop a national policy statement for high class soils. We

must look at soil health and protection comprehensively.

On biosecurity we are not ostriches; we are strengthening the system because our flora and fauna and unique way of life depend upon it.

In our first Budget we put $9.3 million into strengthening our offshore facilities. Stronger import controls were imposed on used car and machinery imports to protect us against the brown marmorated stink bug, and the Environmental Protection Authority approved of using the samurai wasp in the event of a stink buy incursion.

Meanwhile we hope the Biosecurity 2025 movement ‘Ko Tatou’ (‘This is us’) will build a team of all 4.7 million New Zealanders.

As Darwin said, those who collaborate and innovate prevail. To underline this ambition, I recently launched the Sustainable

Zespri chief executive Dan Mathieson

EXCITING TIMES FOR KIWIFRUIT Peter Burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

DEAN MATHIESON says this is an exciting time for the kiwifruit industry.

Zespri is working with the industry to facilitate good quality growth.

With 14,000ha of kiwifruit, the industry – right across the supply chain – must collaborate more than ever if it is to match supply

to demand.

“We are licensing our Sungold out at 700ha a year, in Bay of Plenty and the regions,” Mathieson says.

“We are seeing great growth for Sungold up north in Whangarei and Kerikeri and further down the East Coast – as well in Gisborne, Napier and even in Nelson.

“Sungold grows better than Zespri green in more locations, which means we are getting a wider regional spread.”

However, the big challenge facing the kiwifruit industry is finding enough quality labour. A survey by the University of Waikato forecast that, based on the growth of the industry, 29,000 more people would be required.

Mathieson says encouraging people to make a career in the industry is a challenge and the industry is looking for support from the Government and others to get the staff needed.

It’s the perfect time to be in horticulture – and we know you need qualified, capable people ready to grow.

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HORTNEWS

OCTOBER 2018

No longer a quarter-acre paradise Peter Burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

EVERY QUARTER- or eighth-acre of high-class land sold for housing or building is one more piece of land excluded from commercial vegetable growing.

That’s the view of John Seymour, the head of Horticulture New Zealand’s fresh vegetable section, who sees this aspect of urban sprawl as a huge challenge for his sector.

“There is an argument that says you just move somewhere else. But you can’t, because the crops are grown on class-one soil and there are very few places you can transfer that production to or if you do you get increased transport and freight costs,” Seymour told Hort News.

“A lot of people appreciate the problem, but for others in urban Auckland this is not an issue as long as there are

Urban sprawl is seen as a huge challenge to the vegetable growing sector in NZ.

Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Pukekohe and Northland (serving the Auckland market). Seymour points out that the closer commercial growing is to cities, the fresher and less expensive are the vegetables.

Then there’s the weather – outside growers’ control be it floods or drought, as is access to water -- becoming more complicated due to the RMA. “Compliance costs increase every year and growers can’t directly pass these on. You can’t go to retailers and say, ‘well my costs have gone up because of compliance and we want 10% more’. This takes some growers out of the market because they can’t afford the compliance costs.

In the long term the assumption is that we will always be able to import; and that assumption is because there will always be countries that can export to us.

“I think people understand the logic that if the weather creates a shortage then prices will go up because more people are demanding the product. If there is only so much product on the floor to buy, retailers know that creates demand and some retailers are prepared to pay more than others because that’s the free market and consequently that flows on to the consumer.”

Seymour believes NZ has a strong fresh vegetable sector with a great product range by global standards. He says for 95% of the time all the products are available in supermarkets.

One encouraging trend he sees is strong demand from many consumers for fresh vegetables because they are healthy, and consumption of these products is growing.

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Seymour believes these people will say if you can’t grow it locally just import it from overseas. But there is a risk in doing this, he says.

“They don’t have the same regulations on food safety, etc.

“In the long term the assumption is that we will always be able to import; and that assumption is because there will always be countries that can export to us.

“But it’s possible, in the long term, those products won’t be available.

For example, if China decides to feed its nation internally and stop exporting then suddenly you don’t have any supply.”

He says that from the consumer’s point of view it’s important to have commercial growing areas near cities, e.g. Christchurch, Nelson, Horowhenua (servicing Wellington and Manawatu),

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4 HORTNEWS

OCTOBER 2018

Maori berry venture has big plans Pam Tipa pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

A MAORI-owned and operated berryfruit company, Miro, aims to return $170 million annual income in eight years to its blueberry growers using state-of-the-art systems.

Its orchards are on Maori land NZwide.

It is also looks to have 500ha of productive Maori land planted in berries within that time and to create at least 5000 jobs, all based on a Zespri-type model.

Director and founders Steve Saunders says the Miro approach arose from investigating what a horticulture strategy would look like for Maori.

“That was an end-to-end value chain -- from growing right through to the market, including genetics, marketing and all the other elements of the value chain,” he told Hort News.

“As we move beyond the settlement processes we have a lot of underutilised productive Maori land, and as land trusts we end up leasing land to maize or cropping, for example, due to the complexities of multi-ownership.

“When you look at the NZ berryfruit industry, it’s small -- 600-700ha -- fragmented, and has older varieties

and a range of challenges.

“So there is opportunity to scale berries to an international market that is growing year-on-year. There is good opportunity to form some of this underutilised land and get better value and create better jobs for our people; 5000 people is a lot of people.

“Some of it would be creating permanent fulltime jobs and some of it more jobs, like any in horticulture. But if you look at the workforce, Maori have the biggest population of young people coming into the workforce.

“Also a lot of whanau want to create opportunities on their land and keep the people on their land.

“As part of that we have had support from Ministry of Social Development to provide programmes for training these people.

“Again the opportunity is for horticulture to be inclusive for Maori nationally. Berries are grown in the Far North, Otago and on both coasts, so there’s a really good opportunity for national inclusion.”

The second part of the initiative is to work together to create the scale required – in infrastructure, breeding programmes and securing some of the value in the intellectual property (IP), he says. The IP for new berry varieties

will be owned by Maori via a joint venture between Miro and Plant and Food Research.

To date, 27 Maori entities have so far invested in that opportunity, including individuals, asset holders, land trusts and incorporated societies from the South Island to the Far North.

“From all the key growing regions we have seen Maori entities invest.

“Formerly there was very low-value return to the landowners. This [new enterprise] is taking land that hasn’t created a lot of value for the landowners and converting that into a better value proposition.

“A lot of those land uses, like cropping or grazing, don’t really create jobs for the people.”

Saunders says they won’t go out and develop 800ha tomorrow; over 10 years they might develop 50ha a year over the next 10 years.

“That is building the brand, building the market and the variety; it is not going crazy and then not selling it all. So it is a well-thought-out managed plan of growth. The ambition and desire is to create a 500ha Maori berry growing operation.

“We are also not necessarily talking blueberries either; we are looking at other opportunities -- raspberries,

Steve Saunders says Miro aims to return $170 million annual income in eight years to its blueberry growers using state-of-the-art systems such as these tunnel houses.

blackberries and other rubus varieties. But blueberries are the first focus so it is exciting.”

Saunders says the Miro plan also ticks the boxes for regional development. It will provide good opportunity in the “surge” regions – those the Government has targeted as needing accelerated development.

They have growing tunnels going up already in Waikato, Gisborne region, eastern Bay of Plenty and Northland.

This year they will have 15-18 ha in the

ground, moving up to 50-60ha next year and growing from there.

“It has to be well planned, from ordering plants to all the tunnels, the land, doing the water; we are definitely underway. We have a team, a good board, two independent directors and five investment directors and we have done the joint venture with Plant and Food Research.

“Miro and Plant and Food co-own the plant breeding programme and cofund it.”

Blueberries normally crop commercially in the second year.

“There are reasonable infrastructure costs but they produce a lot faster than kiwifruit or apple trees. You can get harvesting and cash flowing a bit faster.”

They have the Plant and Food breeding programme but they have also been working with BerryCo to grow some of the best Australian genetics.

“A variety called Eureka is one of the best varieties on the market globally so we are starting with well-proven varieties then will bring some of our own varieties through the programme.

“With BerryCo the focus will be initially the Australian and NZ market and then building up volume supply into Asia.”

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HORTNEWS

OCTOBER 2018

Moving horticulture from products to brands Pam Tipa pamelat@ruralnews.co.nz

A HUGE shift has occurred in the marketing sophistication of the horticulture industry, says Plant & Food Research chief executive David Hughes.

“You’ve moved away from the point where you are exporting product and a country of origin; you are not just selling apples any longer. You are selling a Jazz or another brand of apple,” Hughes told Hort News. “There is a sophisticated marketing programme behind it and sophisticated quality standards. Consumers

have high expectations about what they are buying and they are certainly not comparing how many dollars per kilo is in this big bag.

“They may even be buying them as a single one-off item. We saw very expensive, single Envy apples in the Chinese produce shops. You bought a single apple and you chose it quite specifically for the brand of apple.

“It is a high-engagement purchase with not insignificant sums of money for a single item. It is similar to people thinking about which bottle of wine to buy -- choosing a particular brand because

“People are starting to think about primary produce in the same context; that is pretty exciting.” you like the experience and you like the brand because it matches what you want.

“People are starting to think about primary produce in the same context; that is pretty exciting. It matches the increasing engagement with food particularly in western countries. If you look at YouTube it is full of cat videos, but if you look at Instagram it is full of food photos.

“People are think-

ing hard about what they are eating, not just in a negative context of ‘will it make me fat?’ but in a genuinely interesting dialogue about what they are eating, where it has come from, where is the origin, or the culinary style they are engaging with: ‘what does it say about my values and my belief in my food choices?’

For Plant & Food Research that calls for “a whole of pile of sophisticated science”. Achieving

Plant & Research chief executive David Hughes says a major shift has occurred in the market sophistication of the horticulture industry.

a very high quality product that matches people’s values can present significant scientific and technical challenges.

Low residue is an example, he says.

“It takes a lot of sophistication to grow high quality produce that looks great, tastes great, lasts when it crosses the ocean, does all those things and yet do that with a very low input.

“That is a tremendous amount of value-add, and

it is not from secondary manufacturing but from sophisticated production of primary products.”

Hughes says he is hugely optimistic about the potential of the horticulture industry to keep growing its value-add and scale of exports. Plant & Food Research has been growing at about 8% per year for the last four years and will probably have to keep growing to meet the demands of the sector.

“Science is becoming

a big team game. Once you gave Nobel prizes to individuals, but increasingly in science you give prizes to teams of people.

A good example of that was the PM’s science prize awarded to Plant & Food Research for [kiwifruit disease] Psa work.

We had 100 people on that citation and that was a harsh cut-off. That is an enormously big team tackling a very complex question needing answers in great urgency.”

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OCTOBER 2018

Good juice from apples the secret behind company’s success Peter Burke peterb@ruralnews.co.nz

ROSS BEATON and Sally Gallagher have a simple and compelling business objective: making apple juice great again, or as they say, making the apple the hero.

Their company The Apple Press in Hawke’s Bay takes what many see as the by-product of the apple industry – apples

not good-looking enough to export or sell but otherwise perfectly good – and turning these into a high-quality juice.

Ross Beaton has always worked in the pip fruit industry, successfully owning and running orchards. But like many entrepreneurs he wanted to try something different. He saw most apples not sold as fruit being bundled together for juice

“To me it seemed crazy to be spending a lot of money growing apples, yet thousands of tonnes were being virtually wasted by turning them into low grade apple juice.”

The Apple Press’s Ross Beaton and Sally Gallagher say they have a simple business objective: making apple juice great again!

concentrate for a base for other juices.

He saw a need for a paradigm shift – a new way of thinking.

“To me it seemed crazy to be spending a lot of money growing apples, yet thousands of tonnes were being virtually wasted by turning them into low grade apple juice,” he told Hort News.

“So I started this project asking ‘how could we turn that volume of high-quality product into something in a different form and sell it globally?’ I had a couple of ideas, and went around looking at this and that, and during my travels I went to the food industry network in Auckland

TAKING ON THE WORLD! BEFORE COMMITTING to the venture, Beaton and Gallagher did a lot of market research in the US and China that helped them in positioning and promoting the product.

They found that in the US the country of origin was not a major factor, whereas in China – which has had many food scares – it was.

“Overall, they wanted it to be from a trusted and reliable source, as natural as possible with no preservatives, and they didn’t want a long ingredients declaration; rather they want a short list and they want it to be from very high-quality raw materials,” Gallagher explains.

“The quality raw material piece sounds trite, but it is the key to our whole success. The

rationale is that we take the apple from the tree and look after it all the way to when we press and bottle it, then all the way to the market.”

Beaton says for a long time apple juice has been a lowquality product consisting of concentrated apple juice with tap water added. He and Gallagher have moved away from this to focus instead on an apple juice beverage from a single apple variety such as JAZZ, Braeburn and Royal Gala.

“It’s making the apple the hero. Scientists have developed great apple varieties we are doing out bit to showcase the quality of NZ apples,” he says.

The new juices are selling in supermarkets NZ-wide

and they are seeking export markets.

They acknowledge not everyone likes pure apple juice, so they offer blends such as apple and pear and apple and feijoa. But again the emphasis is on high-quality juice.

While their core target market is the 20 - 40 age group, they say people of all ages seem drawn to their product.

They’ve had their challenges: getting investors on board was no easy task but they have persevered and their dream is coming true by the day.

“At The Apple Press we are making a world-class product and we want to share that with the world,” Beaton says.

and asked if they could help me.”

They answered ‘yes’ and put him in touch with food technologist Sally Gallagher in Napier and together they looked into the project. A key parameter was to go all out on the project, not just tinker with it.

“We wanted to use technology, use scale and go global using the smartest technology and the world’s best ingredients to develop the markets where we had sold apples in the past,” Beaton says.

Sally Gallagher looked at the product options, e.g. baby food, service powders, extracts, but they finally decided a beverage was the best option. Then came finding technology to match

“We wanted to use technology, use scale and go global using the smartest technology and the world’s best ingredients to develop the markets where we had sold apples in the past.” their objectives.

“There is a lot of cool technology you can use but it doesn’t give you shelf life, so we decided we needed to achieve a fresh tasting product with an extended chilled shelf life and that’s the technology we brought in here to Hawke’s Bay.” Their technology allows the juice to be packed in a sterile environment -- the key to extending the life of the

product. It also requires no preservatives to get the extended chilled shelf-life and no sugar is added. “Normally chilled juice has a shelf life of about 60 days. We get nine months.”

Gallagher says the value proposition is clean, traceable product.

They source tonnes of apples locally and these are traceable back to the exact orchard they came from.

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HORTNEWS

OCTOBER 2018

7

New apricot’s a ‘shot in the arm’ Nigel Malthus

THE NEW Zealand apricot industry is hoping for a shot in the arm from new varieties soon to enter production.

A new grower co-op, at this stage just a subcommittee of the Summerfruit NZ Board, is being set up to manage the release, marketing and licensing of the new varieties. Developed with Plant and Food Research, they are now simply called NZsummer2, NZsummer3 and NZsummer4.

Brand names for the fruit and a trading name for the co-op have yet to be decided.

The interim board chairman, Alexandra orchardist Nigel Hinton, says the apricot industry has been in decline for several years with many trees cut down and little replanting done.

“Some of the varieties coming out of the apricot breeding programme show excellent characteristics and I am confident the commercialisation of some of these varieties will revitalise the apricot industry,” Hinton told Hort News.

Summerfruit NZ chair Tim Jones says the breeding is a big investment but it is finally producing “really exciting” new varieties after 20 years’ work.

He says the apricot trade has suffered for years from “moderate”

Summerfruit NZ chairman and general manager of the 45 South cherry orchards, Tim Jones, still likes to get his hands dirty and can’t resist doing a little spring bud pruning while showing Hort News around an orchard at Lowburn. RURAL NEWS GROUP

“Some of the varieties coming out of the apricot breeding programme show excellent characteristics and I am confident the commercialisation of some of these varieties will revitalise the apricot industry.” crops. The main export market is Australia, where NZ apricots are for sale at the same time as domestic fruit, and consumers face strong pressure to “buy Aussie”.

Jones said the new varieties include some later-ripening fruit.

later one I’m also planting as well, so I’ve got one in December

“Instead of being picked in January they’ll be picked late January into February and that then has a window all of its own.”

Simon Webb, whose family has run the Webs Fruit orchard business at Cromwell since 1914, is planting two of the new cultivars – one early and one late-ripening.

“There’s a particular early one that I very much like so we’re planting a bit of that,” he told Rural News. “There’s a

and one in February.

“I believe they’re superior to the current apricots. Their flavours are

very good and they handle a lot better too.

People will get a better eating experience out of

KEEPING JACK FROST AT BAY HORT NEWS caught up with Webb at sunrise on a frosty spring morning, when he’d been up all night protecting his orchards from frost damage.

He uses wind machines and overhead water sprinklers which protect buds from damage because water releases heat into the buds as it freezes, then the solid ice isolates them from the colder air.

“My wind machines turn on automatically, but I still go out and check they’re running at the right revs per minute and that there are no leaks. It works most of the time but it’s nice to be there and ensure that things are going as they should be,” Webb says.

Frosts can hit Central Otago right through to November and even into December.

“It looks like we’ve got a really good apricot crop on our trees at the moment,” Webb said.

“It’s a bit early to tell with the peaches, nectarines and apples yet, but it looks like we’ve got good pollination in our peaches and nectarines. So it looks like it should be a good crop.”

them. I’m quite looking forward to seeing them and what comes out of them.”

Webb has trialled several potential cultivars for the past six or seven seasons and is pleased that his favourites are among the three chosen for commercial release.

Webbs Fruit runs on a 32ha home block and another 30ha leased, growing peaches, nectarines, apricots and apples.

The company exports, supplies NZ supermarkets and sells direct to the public at roadside stalls and via online courier orders.

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+ gst

.00

Super BirdXpeller Pro

package with custom sounds for crops

.00 $1,340+ gst

Simply the best...

ORIZZONTI MULCHERS

Pyrotechnics Package

The fun way to scare birds with banger & screamer cartridges!

BEST RESULT - finest mulch BEST VALUE - quality that lasts BEST FINISH - from shape to paint BEST DESIGN - uses 30% less power BEST LIFE - double skinned heavy duty

ALL FOR JUST

59,900 +GST

$

0

$399.0 + gst

FEATURES: Low seat height. 85hp, 4.4 Litre, 4 cylinder Perkins engine.

Genuine Italian designed & built with over 120 years of horticultural experience + much more...

Distributed by

Contact us for more information and your nearest dealer. p: +64 7 573 8132 www.agtek.co.nz Pricing is for 2.0M H/Duty Power mulcher & Landini Rex DT90GB (Other packages available).

All pricing is GST exclusive & applies to cash no trade basis. Only two ex-demo units available at this offer.

view more online: www.maintracgroup.com phone: 0800 654 320

8 HORTNEWS

OCTOBER 2018

Tractors for all seasons Mark Daniel markd@ruralnews.co. nz

THE LATEST 5G series from John Deere takes the tried-and-tested route: a wide range of formats for all horticultural and viticulture scenarios.

The 5GF is designed for orchards or vineyards with wide row spacing.

The 5GN, being narrower, suits row widths of 185cm. Both units have cabins 120cm wide inside, with good access and comfort.

Models 5GL are the low-profile solution for narrow spaces with a minimum width of 103cm, while the 5GV is the ‘skinny minnie’ designed for 160cm row widths and offering a cabin of 100cm.

Three power ratings -100, 85 and 75hp -- all use 4-cylinder engines. The two larger models run a

JD’s 5G series provides a wide range of formats for all horticultural and viticulture scenarios.

4.5L engine and a 3.2L in the 75hp unit, all sourced from industry specialists FPT and meeting Tier 3A emission regulations. All the engines have Bosch mechanical injection with 500-hour service intervals.

A viscous coupled fan cools in all conditions, and a three-piece engine

hood allows easy access for servicing.

Fuel tanks hold up to 73L, and exhausts are horizontal on the ROPS unit and vertical on cabbed machines.

Further choice is offered in the options of 2WD or 4WD, both available in open-station or cab variants with 120cm

or 100cm widths.

A high-efficiency drive-line acknowledges that this type of machine typically spends 50% of its time working at PTO applications. In the case of the 100hp unit, a creditable 82hp is available at the shaft, with options to specify 540/1000, 540/540E or ground

speed.

Hydraulic systems offer a standard lift capacity of 2590kg. But in the case of the 5GF and 5GN units, it can be optioned with external lift cylinders to lift 3100 kg.

Standard control is mechanical, with draught control achieved with top-link sensing. Hydrau-

HORTNEWS Introducing Hort News, a new national publication serving the needs of our booming horticulture sector.

Distributed with the leading national farming publication Rural News, Hort News will be delivered to all key horticulture regions nationwide.

It is the complete solution for readers and advertisers, covering every aspect of the wider horticulture industry – news, agribusiness, management, markets, machinery and technology.

lic flows of up to 122.5L/ min via three hydraulic pumps can be achieved with the 75hp and 85hp machines, while the 100hp tractor offers flows to 107L/min.

Dependent on final specification, the tractors can be offered with electro-hydraulic control of the remote valves,

with flow adjustment on up to four valves and timed flow available on valves no 1 and 2. Further options include electrohydraulic linkage control and hydraulic lateral stabilisation.

A steering angle of 55 degrees gives turning radii ranging from 3410 to 3650mm dependent on model and axle spacings, which is also aided by automated control of the 4WD and diff-locks at speeds of over 14km/h.

Selection of 4WD and diff-locks is activated electro-hydraulically, while auto-engagement of the 4WD system to help retardation is also achieved when locked brake pedals are depressed.

A wide range of accessories include front links and PTO, specialised cabin filtration and a range of ballast packages.

HORTNEWy fSor export ISSUE 1

LNEWS.CO.NZ WWW.RURA

Kiwifruit read 23, 2018 OCTOBER

ht holes. ht seed- straig ely drilled at least iful nice straig ‘Debbie’ has precis four and got beaut during its three20 million holes lings.” that problem life.

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“It plants six millio trough is not straig cuttings are ch projThe resear ally. a ed -- all manu Duke outlin digging year ed into holes and ed a robotic taken off and dropp ect that design ely drill the holes. in a year or so.” machine to precis ol- harvested made by a spiked a lot of techn The holes are “There are a spiked enable us to build wheel or manually using the ogy changes that uter comp dig a trough, but ly using board. The spikes if the machinery quick grow correctly seedlings do not aided design.” ht. g machine -straig diggin not ic is The robot d trough ch projr’ -- is pulled behin outlined a resear Digge the Duke ie ‘Debb out ic digging computer works designed a robot a tractor and the ers ect that drill the holes. hole. Using encod ne to precisely olhow to drill the drills machi a lot of techn ensures the rig “There are and sensors it e us to build changes that enabl over straight holes. at least ogy brown fox jumps using computer drilled ly ely quick precis lazy dog.The quick The quick brown machinery ‘Debbie’ has jumps over the dog. g its three-four quick brown fox brown fox jumps over the lazy over the lazy dog.The .” durin holes design n aided the lazy dog.The 20 millio ine -fox jumps over lazy dog.The quick dog.The quick brown fox jumps digging mach jumps over the The quick brown lazy The robotic d year life. to quick brown fox jumps over the dog.. is pulled behin no longer have the lazy dog.The lazy dog.The quick brown fox brown fox jumps over the lazy ie the Digger’ -‘Debb The workers out the so quick works hole, computer fox jumps over lazy dog.The seedling in the jumps over the a tractor and the straighten the encoders quick brown fox the hole. Using two at a time. ; how to drill they can plant the rig drills ved productivity rs it ensures “They got impro holes and senso ed them in the they just dropp

Pam Tipa .co.nz pamelat@ruralnews

R ES COVEAN VEHICLRD GET FAWRM KS HA ER TH THAT TROR YOUR ACTOR. r. good and prope ows, s your tractors, les policy cover ns. Broken wind FMG’s Farm Vehic broken windscree no excess to pay. don’t just cover , For instance, we covered too – with farm vehicles need sun roofs are all ing cover your work headlamps and hard of 0800 366 466. like the kind call us now on If that sounds still, r bette t us. Or ask around abou country. the good of the We’re here for

FMG0355RNT

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