Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Local Focus: Avocado thefts 'skyrocketing' fuelling black market

Bay of Plenty Times
20 Jul, 2018 05:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Avocado thefts spike with one orchardist hit repeatedly. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Avocado growers say thefts are skyrocketing and they are the targets of organised gangs supplying a black market fuelled by high demand for the pricey fruit.

Bay of Plenty orchard owner Dianne Cheshire is feeling "wretched" after losing up to $5000 of crop in a series of repeated "hits" by thieves.

"It stings me to the marrow of my bones. We know these trees as well as we know our children."

She says other orchard owners she knows are suffering anxiety and broken sleep.

Full moon was a "lethally dangerous" time for orchard owners, she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We were hit on full moon on June 22. The whole of the Western Bay was aglow so the thieves could whistle in and out."

Last week Cheshire's daughter and her young grandchildren noticed the light of two cellphones scanning the canopies of the trees in the orchard.

"By the time the police arrived with a dog unit they had made away in a getaway car."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In another incident, Cheshire confronted two carloads of thieves in broad daylight,

"They were all women, with kids with them, all armed with plastic bags busy loading my fruit into them. When I approached one woman said 'careful lady you don't have a heart attack' and I replied, 'if I do at least I am guarding my hard earnings'.

Cheshire believed they were planned attacks.

"They know what they are doing, picking from a 45 degree angle, they identify exit routes and putting fruit in piles to come back to it."

Discover more

Riders protest against proposed bylaw change

26 Jul 11:00 PM

Driving improvements with licensing in Ōpōtiki

26 Jul 08:10 PM

The volume of thefts also convinced her that these were planned hits with a commercial outlet for on-sale.

"Either through retailers who are happy to accept fruit from non-traceable supply lines or Farmers Markets."

A Northland avocado grower said this week thieves have stripped his orchard of up to 70 per cent of the fruit - at a loss of about $100,000 - which was pointless as it is months away from being ready to harvest.

Graeme Burgess, of Kaikohe, said over three weeks the thieves had gone on to his orchard under the cover of darkness and raided a bulk of the 550 trees on his Mid North property.

The 75-year-old said the orchard was his sole source of income and he was going to be in financial difficulty following the theft he estimated to be about $100,000.

New Zealand Avocado chief executive Jen Scoular said the association was aware thefts had been increasing and said there had been some prosecutions.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
New Zealand Avocado chief executive Jen Scoular. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand Avocado chief executive Jen Scoular. Photo / Supplied

As well as warning orchards to be vigilant, lock gates and report suspicious behaviour, the association had distributed 150 laminated posters in the region warning that avocado stealing was a crime.

Scoular urged the public to be wary of black market avocados that were very cheap and had stalks still on indicating that they had been raked from the tree.

"People should be okay to ask a retailer, where did these avocados come from".

She herself had recently spotted 'hot' avocados being sold at a fruteria, and one of her directors was offered cheap avocados when buying sushi.

David Stewart owner of Tauranga's Fresh Market Gate Pa said he always purchased fruit from his known growers but was aware the black market existed

"We get calls offering and I just put the phone down."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Avocados had come down from a high of $5 a month ago to $2 per fruit he said.

"Because growers fed up of thefts have actually picked early."

He didn't expect prices to come down any further. "They are a fruit high in demand."

A police spokesperson said while they were aware avocado thefts were an issue, but they had "netted some good results."

"Fruit thefts cause great distress to the orchardists who rely on their crops for income, which is why we want all the information we can get on suspicious behaviour in rural areas."

The spokesperson said police were continuing to work closely with orchardists and said many were taking steps to improve security including CCTV and hidden cameras.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Police were also actively engaging and educating fruit shop owners in areas where stolen avocados were suspected of being sold.

Dianne Cheshire has now put up security fences and cameras. She doesn't enter the orchard without her staffy-cross Bruce and her cellphone, at the ready to call police.

What you should do

Police recommend orchardists call 111 immediately upon finding offenders on the property. With any sightings of suspicious persons or vehicles, it also helps to discreetly take a photo at the time.

Police ask residents to not put themselves in danger or take the law into their own hands if confronted by offenders.

Police say if a shop owner has knowingly purchased stolen avocados they could potentially be charged with receiving stolen property.

All avocados harvested in New Zealand are clipped, leaving a small stalk "button". If the avocado stalk looks very long, or if there is a hole where the stalk should be, it is possible the avocados have been stolen.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Source: New Zealand Police

Made with funding from

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Rare upside-down stamp sells for $260,000

21 Sep 10:49 PM
Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

Why Lone Star Tauranga's former franchisee went under

21 Sep 08:53 PM
Sport

Wilde unstoppable: Fourth straight T100 triumph after comeback from crash

21 Sep 08:40 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Rare upside-down stamp sells for $260,000
Bay of Plenty Times

Rare upside-down stamp sells for $260,000

The rare Lake Taupō stamp first cost just four pence when issued in 1903.

21 Sep 10:49 PM
Premium
Premium
Why Lone Star Tauranga's former franchisee went under
Bay of Plenty Times

Why Lone Star Tauranga's former franchisee went under

21 Sep 08:53 PM
Wilde unstoppable: Fourth straight T100 triumph after comeback from crash
Sport

Wilde unstoppable: Fourth straight T100 triumph after comeback from crash

21 Sep 08:40 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP