Growers and readers may have heard us talking about our Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) and I wanted to take the opportunity of providing an update on progress.
Our PGP has been a very valuable tool for us as an industry - it has provided a platform to talk about how we all collectively, as industry players, work together in one direction to create value.
It is not the only tool we have, but we know it is making a difference and helping the industry towards some pretty ambitious growth targets.
PGPs are programmes in New Zealand's primary industries that attract crown support or funding because they push the boundaries, are innovative and are ambitious.
The New Zealand Avocado Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) is a five-year programme that started in 2014, to transform New Zealand's avocado industry from reliance on one market to a globally competitive, high-value, sustainable export industry with a dynamic market in New Zealand.
The vision is that by 2023 an integrated New Zealand avocado industry delivers NZ$280m annually in net sales and productivity has tripled to 12 tonnes per hectare.
Programmes like this with goals to quadruple sales and triple productivity may seem hugely ambitious, but I can report that we are on target to achieve these. Into year three of the programme, the industry value has more than doubled in five years, and productivity is also improving strongly.
Collaboratively building supply and demand:
Some of the exciting things we have implemented and can report on are captured here.
Extension or tech transfer was something we struggled with - how do we share information about growing productivity in avocados across our growers.
What we have done is to establish grower and rural professional working groups in both Bay of Plenty and Northland with the objective to identify ways of increasing avocado yield and consistency.
Working groups are based around growers with a specific issue, and we use the knowledge and experience of the growers, add our capability, add the expertise of scientists from Plant & Food Research and discuss the views and opinions of all of those experts.
Working groups are set up to look at strategies for canopy management, the evaluation of new cultivars and a better understanding of the environmental and management factors that contribute to tree decline.
We regularly report these research findings on the NZ Avocado website and at industry field days.
Improvements to the way growers, packers and exporters communicate and manage their export compliance is underway across the supply chain.
These solutions, which include an enhanced spray diary and automated clearance to pick functions, will improve industry productivity and reporting throughout the post-harvest sector.
We are working with New Zealand marketers in developing the New Zealand Avocados Amazing Anytime promotions theme through television and magazine advertising, supermarket avocado sampling, events and social media.
You may have seen our latest television ad featuring our fun avocado character, Ollie.
Kiwis love Ollie and it has been great to be able to incorporate Ollie into our supermarket avocado tastings by inviting consumers to take a 'selfie' with Ollie.
Marketing and supply initiatives through the Go Global programme also continue to enable strong collaboration and jointly implemented in-market promotion and education programmes in export markets.
To check on PGP progress, we have a steering group that meets quarterly, and of course our Board is regularly updated and tests progress against expected outcomes.
It's an exciting time as we, one of many stakeholders in the avocado industry, watch the impact of tools such as the Primary Growth Partnership enable industry growth and value.