Kiwifruit
Model Description
This report covers kiwifruit orchards in the major growing areas of New Zealand. The model budget represents a property in the Bay of Plenty, an area that produces 80% of New Zealand's kiwifruit crop.
The text reflects all districts from the Bay of Plenty northwards, with a brief specific comment on other districts. Financial data relates to the year ending 31 March.
Kiwifruit revenue spans two financial years, with the residual payment for each crop occurring in the following financial year. For example, final payments on the crop harvested in May 1999 occur in the 2000/01 year.
Table 1: The Model in Summary 1999/2000 |
|||
| Effective area (ha) | 1998/99 | 1999/2000 | 2000/01f |
| Existing Hayward (ZESPRITMGREEN) | 5.0 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
| New Variety (ZESPRITMGOLD) | 0.0 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
| Total | 5.0 |
5.0 |
5.0 |
Key Points
- Kiwifruit growers continue to be in good heart due to good returns and profit levels underpinned by successful marketing and a favourable exchange rate.
- Growers will receive $6.66/tray in cash payments for their 1999 crop, which is $1.11/tray (20%) more than their 1998 crop, and $2.39/tray (56%) more than their 1997 crop.
- A net trading profit before tax of $75,500 was achieved by the model orchard for the 1999/2000 year and the forecast for 2000/01 is a further increase to $92,600, due mainly to higher production.
- Growers are excited about the high production levels and market appeal of the new gold fleshed variety, but expect lower price premiums due to the challenge of marketing a more than ten-fold production increase in 2000.
- On 1 April 2000, the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board was corporatised as ZESPRI Group Ltd (ZGL) with grower shareholding. The essence of the 'single-desk' marketing structure has been retained.
Physical Factors
Northland
In Northland the 2000 crop yields increased to normal levels following the poor 1999 harvest. The fruit size is small due to poor pollination, as rain fell over much of the pollination period. Harvest has been delayed to help improve fruit size. This is in contrast to recent years, when the Northland crop was targeted for early harvest. The crops of gold kiwifruit in Northland have produced high yields and good fruit size this year, helped by their earlier flowering time. Small additional areas of gold fruit are being planted, about 20 ha in total.
Auckland
Auckland has also had a small fruit size year due to the poor weather at pollination time in November 1999. Crop loads were relatively heavy and the season was one of low sunshine hours, which has not helped to size the fruit. Early harvest was significant for Auckland orchards. This has helped to spread the pressure on packhouses despite the hassles of packing smaller sized fruit. As in Northland, the gold fruit had some very good yields, although some orchards were affected by frost. Auckland growers are very concerned about the effect of the varroa bee mite as they are in the main area of infected hives. There could be difficulties with pollination of their next crop if hive movement restrictions are in force.
Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty has experienced a mixed season for growing the 2000 kiwifruit crop. For the green variety, crop potential was encouraging in spring due to high flower numbers following good winter chilling and bud break. From then on, the growing season was less favourable with two significant frosts in spring, very wet weather over the critical pollination period and cool, cloudy weather through the prime fruit growth months in summer. These conditions caused crop losses, lower fruit numbers, poor fruit shape and small size. Warm weather and plenty of rain in late autumn helped to improve the fruit size.
The spring frosts occurred a couple of weeks apart in late September and early October when the kiwifruit flower buds were developing. About two million trays of the 2000 crop were lost as a result. Insurance cover provided growers with some financial compensation for frost damage above 10% crop losses.
Weather during pollination was extremely wet, with 10 consecutive days of rain while bees were in the orchard during November. The exception was in Opotiki where there were some fine days when bees were able to work well. The result of the wet weather has been flower loss to bud rot infection, and poor pollination which has meant the fruit shape is square or lopsided and the fruit size is small. The wet weather also favoured fungus disease development but many growers were able to apply fungicide sprays which helped contain the damage.
The combination of the frost, wet pollination period and a cool, cloudy summer meant that fruit size was poor, and the percentage of fruit not of sufficient quality for sale was higher than usual. Many growers thinned most of this fruit because it was not good enough to be saleable as Class II product. Fruit growth in the last six to eight weeks before harvest was good due to relatively mild weather conditions, and this helped recover a little of the fruit size.
The gold fleshed variety had a very good crop result, mainly due to the longer growing season and the earlier time of pollination. It flowered about three weeks earlier than the main green variety, and pollination conditions were ideal. The gold variety has generally been planted in warmer areas or with frost protection, but some orchards were frosted. The season was also less windy than usual which has helped reduce blemishes on this fruit, which has a more tender skin than green kiwifruit.
The yields for the gold variety are very variable based on the age of the vines and site. Some growers have reported very high yields of 14,000 export trays per canopy hectare or more, much higher than is usually achieved for green kiwifruit. The total 2000 gold crop will increase by more than ten times the 1999 crop because of the maturing vine age combined with a very good result from this growing season.
Harvest is not yet complete at the time of compiling this report, but it appears the yield of green kiwifruit will be up slightly on 1999 yields for mature orchards in the region. Results are polarised, with the orchards that had the most depressed 1999 crop having a larger percentage increase. The model orchard converted half a hectare of its area to the ZESPRITGOLD variety by grafting existing vines after harvest in 1998. This has meant these vines produced no crop in 1999, but will produce a first crop in 2000.
The model orchard is forecast to produce a 2000 crop of 4,600 trays/ha from the gold variety and 6,800 trays/ha from the green variety, giving a total of 2,300 and 30,600 trays of each variety respectively.
Gisborne
Gisborne has had a very good growing season for kiwifruit production. As a result, yields are up around 12% to 6,500 trays/ha. The regional crop will be up on the pre-harvest estimate of around 1.5 million trays. The KiwiStart early harvest programme took around 200,000 trays from the Gisborne district. The area of kiwifruit grown in Gisborne is stable at around 230 ha. One 20ÿha orchard of the new gold variety was planted in winter 1999, but there are no other significant developments planned.
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay experienced good weather over pollination resulting in high fruit numbers. However, fruit growth was not as good over the summer and fruit size was initially expected to be small. Good late season fruit growth has helped to increase the fruit size to around the national average of 36. Production has increased this year to around 6,300 trays/ha.
All Hawke's Bay fruit is now packed in the Bay of Plenty. The lower cost of packing in the Bay of Plenty and various incentives offered to growers, offsets the cost of transport to the region. There was no problem with labour for the kiwifruit harvest and weather conditions were also fine.
Lower North Island
In the lower North Island, Wanganui and Horowhenua, the crop volume for 2000 is significantly higher than the 1999 crop, because of a better growing season. The spring was warm and the summer weather has also been favourable. However, fruit size was small, probably due to the relatively high yields, and the district being cooler relative to more northern growing regions. Plantings in the area are static and most growers have other revenue.
Nelson
Nelson had an average growing season for the May 2000 kiwifruit crop. The main feature was the poor pollination caused by very high rainfall in November. This also led to significant levels of flower loss due to bud rot infection. Cool January temperatures slowed fruit growth but a warm April helped to compensate for this. Nelson district yields are down slightly from their record 1999 levels. Average yields are estimated at 5,200 trays/ha, 17% down on 1999. A small area of new planting is planned for the winter of 2000. This will mainly be the traditional green Hayward variety, but includes a small area of the gold variety.
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