Horticultural innovation core business

Steve Saunders had one thing on his mind - he wanted to create a cluster of innovative companies that epitomised excellence in horticulture and food processing.
His dream became a reality last week when the Newnham Park Horticulture Innovation Centre in Te Puna was opened by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise chairman Jon Mayson.
After three years of planning, the centre in Newnham Rd is now home to the Plus Group of Companies, marketer Southern Produce, pure vanilla producer Reunion Food and Kiwifruitz, which have all featured in the Bay of Plenty Export Awards. Nearly all of them are adding value to their products.
"I'm happy," said Mr Saunders, who owns Plus Group. "It was a progression of accommodating successful businesses on one site.
"They are in growth mode and this gave me the confidence of bringing the plans, and vision, forward."
Mr Mayson told the guests and staff at the opening that the centre was practical and inspirational.
"We have so many companies operating below the radar and I am meeting incredible people doing amazing things in New Zealand."
He said the innovation centre represented the future for New Zealand. "Commodity trading is the backbone of the New Zealand economy and what we need is high-value, niche companies catering for the increasingly wealthy middle class in Asia.
"New Zealanders are really good at looking at entrepreneurial opportunities and they aren't so good commercialising them and taking them offshore.
"Our organisation (NZTE) is focusing heavily on those making a greater economic impact in New Zealand."
Mr Saunders and long-time exporter Rob Jeffrey, who owned the one-hectare site, formed a partnership Newnham Park four years ago. The property had a packhouse for kiwifruit, avocados and citrus fruit, coolstores and a Lockwood home in front.
The partnership has spent $1.7 million during the past two years building a new kiwifruit processing factory and renovating the packhouse into a modern, two-level suite of offices for Reunion Food, trading as Heilala Vanilla, and Southern Produce. The other company offices are in prefab buildings nearby.
Heilala Vanilla, which exports to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and United States, has also taken over Kiwifruitz's previous processing plant, and Team Avocado, which merged with Southern Produce in April, has moved from the Lockwood home to the new offices.
Southern Produce moved from Mount Maunganui and the house at Newnham Park was removed to make way for a spacious car park.
There is plenty of activity at the horticulture centre. The Plus Group has wide interests in the kiwifruit industry through orchard management (GroPlus), pollination (PollenPlus) and soil and plant testing (BioSoil & Crop).
It also has RoboticsPlus which is trialling a robotic kiwifruit picker in the orchards. On a four-wheel-drive platform with four picking arms, the GPS-guided robot picks fruit along the rows of vines.
When the bin is full, the robot delivers it to the dump area and collects a new one.
Kiwfruitz, owned by the Jeffrey family, takes reject kiwifruit and turns them into tasty purees for fruit juices, salad dressings, ice cream and yoghurt.
The puree is blast frozen and 95 per cent is exported to Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, US, Britain, Germany and Australia.
Kiwifruitz, established in 2000, has had a 50 per cent increase in sales this year and will be looking for growth of 25-30 per cent next year.
Kiwifruitz also has a subsidiary Kiwicoolz which provides cool storage for fruit and vegetables and dairy products at the Newnham Rd site.
Southern Produce, which employs 16 people, sources kiwifruit and avocados, and sells them to Australia and the US.
Team Avocado brand founder Alistair Young focuses on the Woolworths business in Australia.
Southern Produce has a trade partner, A.J. Trucco, based in New York, and sells kiwifruit on the United States east coast in a collaborative marketing arrangement.