Issues and Trends
The trend to bigger holdings or smaller growers seeking alliances with large packhouses continues.
Strong, well-organised relationships between packhouses and marketers are becoming more common with programmed fruit volumes.
There is an urgent need for better cultivars to take advantage of known export market opportunities. There is also a need for accelerating plantings of cultivars that are already suitable, including cherries and apricots in Central Otago and white fleshed peaches and nectarines.
The rate of planting in the Hawke's Bay has slowed for the first time this winter due to the perceived problems in establishing export markets from this district.
Hawke's Bay continues to supply the bulk of its crop to the New Zealand domestic market. However, with increased plantings over the last few years, and poor demand on the local market, Hawke's Bay growers are now seriously considering export opportunities. To do this successfully growers are embarking on an integrated approach with packers and marketers.
Plantings of summerfruit in Australia are very significant, driven by the perceived demand in Australia and Asia. The volume of Australian summerfruit is closing the door to market opportunities for New Zealand exporters, particularly for fruit out of Hawke's Bay, as its season tends to clash with the main Australian production areas. Being later, Central Otago is still able to fill a niche market. Australian plantings are also encouraged by the tax regime there that allows development expenditure to be costed in one year compared to New Zealand, where it must be capitalised and depreciated.
The Taiwanese market has become much harder to supply due to a tightening up of Minimum Residue Levels (MRLs) and lower tolerance for quarantine pests. Hawke's Bay growers were frustrated in their attempts to supply this market due to a zero tolerance for thrips and the inability to use carbaryl close to harvest due to the MRL set in Taiwan. If this situation does not change, the Taiwanese market will virtually close to Hawke's Bay supply.
The "SummerGreen" programme, introduced by Summerfruit New Zealand Inc. (SNZI), has been well received by growers and is regarded as a success. The summerfruit industry will continue to move down this path. It is hoped insect growth regulators will be registered for summerfruit soon, and this will lead to the elimination of organo phosphates in the spray programme. The "SummerGreen" programme has lead to cost savings for the grower and minimal residues on the fruit.
New Zealand supermarkets are pushing for all their suppliers to become registered under an industry approved quality assurance programme. SNZI are supporting the quality assurance programme set up by VegFed. It is likely this will become the industry standard for fresh produce suppliers in New Zealand. However, growers are concerned at the $500/year cost of registering.
Growers are concerned about the effectiveness of our border inspection staff levels and facilities. The varroa mite, several snakes and moth problems of last year, have shaken growers' confidence in the system. The arrival in the United States from Europe of the Plum Pox disease is a sobering example of just how very real the dangers faced by the horticultural industry are.
Growers are concerned at changes to ACC being indicated by government when the current system is working well.
The cost of supplying similar information, especially on staff, to allied government agencies continues to be a burden. Some growers wonder why the information cannot be accessed directly from one department to another.
Most fruit growing areas had staff shortages this season, and it is anticipated that the problem is only going to get worse.
The industry would like to work through employment issues with the Government and attempt to make the seasonal employment of people, especially those on a benefit, a simple and straightforward task.
In spite of considerable effort, export of fruit to western states of Australia remains blocked on the basis these areas are brown rot free. The industry has information that brown rot has been in those areas for the last three years and yet New Zealand is still denied access. Growers feel the Government should take up this matter under the banner of CER and endeavour to resolve the access issue.
| © MAF 2000 |  |
|
| MAFnet Help | Important Disclaimer |
Contact for Enquiries
Farm Monitoring Programme Manager
Monitoring and Evaluation
MAF Policy
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0623
Fax: +64 4 894 0741
Contact this person
