KEY POINTS:
Zespri has hatched a plan to target US healthcare professionals in a bid to boost orders in the global kiwifruit marketer's North American market.
Amid heavy competition from South American rivals - especially in Chile - Zespri has hit on a scheme to hoist its Yankee sales in
ways that circumvent the normal advertising and public relations channels.
And a key plank in this healthcare crusade involves exploiting the trust that patients on occasion feel for those who would first do no harm.
Zespri general manager for global marketing Peter Luxton says the aim is to provide the white- coated brigade with medical or nutritional information they can then pass on to their clients - er, patients, sorry.
"If they're hearing it from somebody they are consulting with one way or the other, it's that much more persuasive."
And to wow those sceptical MDs, Zespri admits to funding studies into the benefits of kiwifruit which then feature in targeted publications such as professional literature and research reports.
Luxton says Zespri also presents industry-funded studies directly at medical conferences or in stalls on the sidelines.
But the sophistication needed to market fruit in the competitive US market doesn't stop there.
Zespri is revamping its customer and distribution networks in the US to concentrate on "cultural hubs where Asian and Hispanic communities are present".
"These consumers have a significantly higher propensity to purchase premium fruit than other Americans," Zespri states in its latest annual report.
Although Luxton expects the North American market - in which Zespri sold just 3.7 million trays out of a global total of around 80 million - will grow this year, he admits the "huge consumer market hasn't performed as well for us as our other markets".
Bee mite here to stay
Biosecurity Minister Jim Anderton does not believe it is possible to eradicate the varroa bee mite, and his department estimates the pest will cost the South Island rural sector up to $600 million over the next 35 years.
However, he believes that if miticides such as Apistan are used correctly - that is, in rotation - then resistance can be delayed.
But the outlook for organic farmers was gloomier, with formic acid deemed less effective against the mite that first found its way to the North Island in 2000 and has since spread to the South Island.
In reviewing the Government's biosecurity budget for the 2007-08 year, Parliament's primary production committee heard that although the impact of the mite on South Island agriculture would be $41 million to $54 million over 20 years, that would rise to between $564 million and $600 million over 35 years, as the impact - like the resistance - was expected to be delayed.
The ministry acknowledged the use of nitrogen fertiliser had increased in the South Island but the committee's report said it was not clear if that related to a shortage of bees for clover pollination.
The industry and the Government gave up on plans to eradicate the pest last year after BASF, the German company that owns the intellectual property for an insecticide they planned to use to kill feral bees, withheld permission to use the poison for fear of legal repercussions if something went wrong.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is seeking appropriations of $168.71 million for the next year, around $15 million less than the previous year.
In its report, the committee noted that since its previous estimates examination the ministry had, however, been able to claim the successful eradication of the painted apple moth.
Mideast moves
Fonterra has not bothered to push any of its brands in the Middle East and Africa for the past six or seven years, it has emerged, even though that region provides the global dairy giant with about $1.2 billion in revenue.
"We have not promoted any of our brands for the past six or seven years," says Fonterra's hub general manager for the region, Amr W. Farghal, in a surprising admission to Retail News Middle East this month that could go some way to explaining some of the pressure on Fonterra's value-added businesses.
Although rocketing dairy commodity prices have allowed Fonterra to boost its payout forecast significantly, its value-added businesses - which include consumer brands and its ingredients business - have suffered as a result.
One can't help wondering if actually touting the brands in the Gulf States and Africa might have had an impact on value-added returns that are expected to more than halve in the coming season.
However, Farghal says that situation is changing, with the focus now on building brands such as Anchor and Anlene.
"Value-added products are the future for our brands."