Te Puke's Clarisa Gibney harvests the season's first kiwifruit crop, which is also the first commercial crop of Zespri RubyRed. Photo / Dscribe Media
Te Puke's Clarisa Gibney harvests the season's first kiwifruit crop, which is also the first commercial crop of Zespri RubyRed. Photo / Dscribe Media
Picking the first kiwifruit off the vine made last Thursday a red-letter day.
The 2022 kiwifruit picking season started with the first RubyRed kiwifruit being picked in Te Puke - the first time Zespri's red kiwifruit has been picked to be sold as a commercial variety.
The sweet, berry-tinged-tasting redkiwifruit will go to supermarkets in New Zealand and some overseas markets.
Kiwifruit grower Mark Mayston owns orchards across the Bay of Plenty, with about 4 per cent of his 100ha of orchards in red kiwifruit. He says it is exciting to be part of the milestone.
''We've been lucky enough to be part of the pre-commercial trials that have gone on for the last few years,'' he says.
''It's pretty exciting and, as growers, we are a little bit lucky compared to a lot of primary industries, to have a new product come through and to be part of that.''
He says the excitement comes from working with something different.
''It just adds so much value to your job and interest in what you are doing, developing a new product and now the whole development side's been successful and we're now commercialised.''
Of the three main kiwifruit varieties, RubyRed ripens first, making an early start for this year's picking season.
''One of the big advantages for us is it's helped with our labour supply.''
The early start will extend the picking season, which means giving seasonal workers a longer period of work.
The start last week was a little earlier than anticipated.
''It's early, no doubt about it, and as we see change around weather patterns I think it's something we should expect a bit more of,'' says Mark.
Mark also grows SunGold and Hayward kiwifruit, with about 60 per cent of his hectarage in SunGold.
Getting the first fruit picked offset the disappointment of damage cause by Cyclone Dovi that had trees fall on kiwifruit canopies and ''thousands of trays of fruit on the ground''.
''I don't think too hard about it, it's farming and all you do is upset yourself - we just get on cleaning the mess up and be thankful we didn't have a whole lot more damage and move on.''
Te Puke kiwifruit picker Clarisa Gibney, who was out picking this season's first fruit, says it was a surprise to get the call to work.
She says it wasn't that long since she was working on summer pruning.
''My husband works for Seeka and I was telling him 'we're picking red kiwifruit tomorrow' and he said 'what?','' she says.
Clarisa first started working in the industry 25 years ago and is excited by the potential of the RubyRed variety.
The 2022 season has the potential to be another record-breaking year with more kiwifruit produced than ever before.
A forecast of at least 190 million trays will need to be harvested, overtaking last year's record of over 177 million trays. On average, each tray has about 30 pieces of kiwifruit.
The harvest traditionally peaks in mid-April and runs to June.
"Growers and the wider industry will again be following all government protocols and working hard to safely pick, pack and ship what's expected to be another bumper crop of at least 190 million trays, maybe more,'' says Zespri's chief grower, industry and sustainability officer, Carol Ward.
"As well as a continued increase in our SunGold Kiwifruit volumes this season, we're excited for the first year of commercial volumes of Zespri RubyRed kiwifruit, which we know is keenly anticipated by our consumers in New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and China."
The success of the 2022 kiwifruit harvest hinges on the ability of the industry's supply chain to operate effectively under the quickly changing Covid-19 settings. The industry requires 24,000 people to pick and pack the crop. However, forecast surges in Covid-19 infection rates are expected to restrict the availability of New Zealanders.
In addition, the opening of New Zealand's borders is expected to be too late to replace the 6500 backpackers required for harvest.
New Zealand has some 2800 growers who produce kiwifruit across over 13,000ha of orchards between Kerikeri in the north and Motueka in the south.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc chief executive Colin Bond
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc chief Colin Bond says the industry has built experience over the past two years on how to operate a harvest under Covid-19 restrictions.
"The health and safety of our workforce is our first priority and NZKGI is working continually with government agencies to develop operational processes to mitigate Covid-19 infections.
''The industry is working collaboratively to do everything we can to get all the fruit off the vines – and that must be done in a way which puts our people first."
This year is the fourth of NZKGI's labour attraction campaign, to attract seasonal workers to pick and pack in the harvest.
"I strongly encourage everyone to roll up their sleeves and join the team to harvest this iconic piece of kiwiana", says Colin. "Picking is a great opportunity for those who like to be in the outdoors, while the packhouse is suited to those who like to have fun in larger teams indoors."
Almost all packhouses have told NZKGI they will be paying at least the living wage of $22.75 an hour. Kiwifruit picking is also expected to exceed the living wage with an average of $27 an hour paid last year when the minimum wage was $20 an hour. Information on job opportunities can be found on the NZKGI website or on the Facebook page KiwifruitJobsNZ.
2021 Kiwifruit industry regional contribution Northland: $91 million Auckland: $76 million Waikato $67 million Bay of Plenty: $1.78 billion Poverty Bay: $60 million Hawkes Bay: $33 million Lower North Island: $7 million Upper South Island: $71 million
