Doug Brown owns and operates an organic avocado business in the Westen Bay of Plenty. Photo / Merle Cave
Fifty years’ experience combined with a touch of fatherly advice paid off for a Bay of Plenty avocado grower in wild spring weather conditions.
Now 80, Doug Brown owns and operates an organic avocado business, handling both growing and marketing.
Soon after he arrived on the Katikati property, he planted 300-400 pine trees to act as a buffer against high winds.
Brown said he also picked up a few tips from his father, who ran a citrus and feijoa operation in the Bay of Plenty from 1970.
“I looked at what Dad had done – and also pretty much flew by the seat of my pants for a while.”
The early September winds struck pre-picking, but he said less than 0.5% of his crop was affected.
Brown said growers “on the flat” in the Katikati area were badly hit, with a lot of fruit on the ground.
After milling in earlier years, he now has 250 pine trees – all around 30m high – protecting his orchard.
“It’s buffered by the trees,” Brown said.
“The trees act as filters, dissipating the wind.”
His organic avocado business, Ecoavo, includes a 2.4ha block with 250 trees.
When he started a half-century ago, Brown remembered Katikati as a predominantly dairy farming area.
“There were no avocado orchards, and kiwifruit had just started in Te Puke.”
Brown grew up in the United States as a “farm boy” in Illinois.
“We had 13 cows, pigs, beef cattle and cropping on 1000-plus acres [400ha].”
As an adult, he shifted to the Hawaiian capital, Honolulu, where he grew avocados for his own use.
With his father in New Zealand, Brown visited seven times before making the permanent move.
Moving into avocados in the Bay of Plenty, he was immediately drawn to organics.
“With a young family, I didn’t want to live around a chemical regime.”
His entry coincided with the formation of organic certification specialist BioGro, and he was its 10th inaugural member in 1983.
“It’s been a great journey.”
Using an online sales system, Brown sends avocados around the country to shops, restaurants and individuals.
He said recent seasons have been good, production-wise.
“There’s been a pretty decent crop every year.”
Picking on his property is undertaken every fortnight, all year round.
The national avocado industry is navigating a season of contrasts.
New Zealand Avocado chief executive Brad Siebert said there had been exceptional fruit quality and good volumes, paired with intense pricing pressure and early-season export market challenges.
“While consumers are enjoying affordable avocados, growers are facing markets at home and offshore that have had to manage significant supply.
“There are, however, some international markets showing promise, especially those where other origins are now concluding their seasonal programmes.
“Domestically, supply pressure means supermarkets are offering pre-ripened avocados and reporting record demand.”
Siebert said this trend was expected to continue into the warmer months, giving consumers extended access to good-quality fruit.
For growers, however, the situation is less favourable.
“Quality fruit is fetching unusually low returns even when fruit availability is very comparable to previous seasons.
“Despite the strong crop and higher-than-expected pack-out rates, the early parts of this season are shaping up to be challenging for all involved.”
Siebert said the industry was also dealing with a significant wind event that occurred in mid-September.
He said this had resulted in significant fruit and leaf drop for some Bay of Plenty growers.
“Work is underway across the sector to quantify the extent of the issue and connect with support services to ensure growers have the advice and assistance they need.”
Export markets are now starting to show signs of relief, Siebert said.
“While there has been an increase in avocado shipments from Peru, up more than 30% compared to the previous year, with extended supply periods into key destinations such as Japan, South Korea and the United States intensifying, New Zealand supply should now start to benefit from South American volumes starting to reduce in the coming months.”
Siebert said Western Australia was also contributing to the global supply in some of New Zealand’s key export markets, with a forecast crop nearing 11 million trays.
“Their early entry into South-East Asian and Hong Kong markets is expected to challenge New Zealand’s positioning.”
While some New Zealand fruit has already been shipped to Australia and will continue to be, volumes remain modest, Siebert said.
“International supply, plus a delay to fruit maturity in some regions, has meant export programmes have started slower than anticipated as the industry now works to capitalise on upcoming export opportunities.”
Locally, he said market volumes have had some weekly peaks, yet overall domestic volumes are consistent with previous years.
Total industry crop forecasts have a harvestable crop of 6.5 million trays, being split around 60/40 between export and domestic.
Despite these challenges, the season’s fruit quality was holding up well, Siebert said.