Cooper Coolpak is this year picking its biggest crop of kiwifruit ever, Noel Cooper says.
The family-owned business has 47ha of kiwifruit growing at four places in and near Wanganui and Mangamahu.
On Thursday the fuzzy brown fruit were rolling in by the binload, then through a production line in their hundreds and thousands, with staff sorting out the seconds and packing the best fruit in boxes. In the office, a machine was spewing out labels which will pinpoint the exact orchard where each box of fruit was picked.
The crop has thrilled Mr Cooper, because last year two of his large orchards were found to have the Psa bacteria which can kill vines.
He said an extra spray programme to combat the bacteria had cost $35,000 this year. It has been done across all the Cooper orchards, as a preventive measure, and he hasn't lost a single vine.
The big crop this year is down to a warmer spring without the series of frosts that kill off buds emerging on the vines. The Coopers only had to use windmills to prevent frost settling once last spring, and that was at Mangamahu.
The size of the fruit was a little disappointing, and Mr Cooper said the extra copper sprays may have inhibited vine growth.
Picking started on May 8, and is likely to carry on until the middle of June - or longer if it's held up by wet weather.
There are 50 pickers out on good days, and another 66 staff packing, labelling, storing and transporting. The packhouse has two shifts, a day one and an evening one that runs from 8.30pm to midnight.
The Coopers employ about 35 people right through the year, with others starting and stopping as needed for picking, packing, budding and pruning. All the seasonal staff were employed casually.
"That's not entirely satisfactory for them, because they don't have continuity, but some of them like it," Mr Cooper said.
Many worked at Affco and Tasman Tanning or in shearing gangs, and the winter kiwifruit season helped fill a gap when those industries were quiet.
Most of the staff were Maori, and many came back year after year.
"It's a little bit addictive. It's a pretty happy whanau really."
The kiwifruit will be marketed by Zespri, and sent worldwide.