Can we develop an apple that can grow in 40 degrees Celsius?
And can we find a way to make dragon fruit grow in New Zealand?
In Havelock North, we have the scientists who can.
As average temperatures around the world continue to tick upwards, the work of two Hawke’s Bay whizzes, alongside their respective teams, to develop climate-resilient fruit is being hailed.
Emma Brown and Satish Kumar are researchers with Plant and Food Research, based just out of Havelock North.
Both are leaders of research to secure the future of fruit production, through developing new varieties of fruit that can handle different future climates.
And both of their projects have now been named as finalists for the Science New Zealand Awards 2025, held on March 12.
Brown, alongside Spanish partner institutes and her team including scientist Richard Volz, has developed two new apple varieties named Tutti and Stellar, which are suited to grow in the extreme heat of the Spanish summer in Catalonia.
“We’re talking about temperatures exceeding 40C, sometimes for weeks or a week at a time [with] night-time temperatures above 20C,” says Volz.
“Tutti is a mid-season red apple, Stellar is an early-season full red apple. Both produce very good colouring which is often very difficult in those hot conditions.”
Volz describes Tutti as a particularly juicy, sweet apple with a crunchy texture akin to the best of modern varieties, but with less acid.
The Stellar also has a good texture for an early summer apple, featuring a balanced taste with a little more acid compared to the Tutti.
“They’re what I call examples of two modern apple varieties in terms of eating quality and, of course, ticking all the boxes for growers in terms of productivity and yield,” Volz said.
With 260ha of Stella trees already licensed in Europe, and 150ha to be planted in Chile, the “climate-proof” apples are hoping to make a significant impact on the $23 billion global apple industry.
With New Zealand temperatures set to rise, Brown says there are opportunities for these new varieties of apples to be grown in regions that are not currently suited to other apple varieties.
“We do know that our climate is changing, so this does prepare New Zealand for opportunities to continue apple production in regions that may otherwise no longer be suitable,” she said.
“Starting the programme more than 20 years ago, because that’s how long it takes to breed apple varieties, turned out to be a really great decision and the interest in the programme has only expanded over those years.”
Also nominated is Satish Kumar and his team who have worked alongside partner institutes in Vietnam on three new varieties of dragon fruit.
Kumar describes the dragon fruit as a tropical fruit crop, grown in hot and humid conditions.
“It’s a beautiful looking fruit – with a name like dragon, it gives a dragon appearance, with a beautiful bright red colour,” he said.
Kumar describes the taste as acidic and sweet and extremely popular in Asian countries.
“For some [westerners] it probably doesn’t taste much at all,” he laughed.
“But our new varieties that we have developed are ... better and people love eating them, even outside [Asia].”
The programme started with the objectives of improved taste and eating quality, improved storage so the fruit can be shipped easier, and to prevent canker disease among dragon fruit orchards.
“We have managed to release [and] develop new varieties that taste better, can store longer, and they are tolerant to canker disease as well,” Kumar said.
“So, I think we have achieved our objectives that we have set out in the beginning.”
Kumar believes in the next 10 to 20 years as temperatures increase, dragon fruit could become a viable option for growers looking for new climate-resistant crops.
“We are evaluating whether there would be the ability for dragon fruit [to flourish] in Northland,” he said.
“We started the trial back in 2020 and we are testing the different production systems.
“The results we are getting so far, they are quite encouraging, and we want to continue and evaluate even further.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier. He reports on all stories relevant to residents of the region.