Leah and Mark Ericksen inspecting some of the Gem apples on Monday. Photo / Warren Buckland
Leah and Mark Ericksen inspecting some of the Gem apples on Monday. Photo / Warren Buckland
The apple-picking season has come early for a collective of growers in Hawke's Bay who have invested in a variety of early-ripening apples.
Mt Erin Group is made up of seven fruit growers around Hawke's Bay who have partnered together and operate a shared packhouse.
The group will begin pickingtheir newest apple variety this week, which they have branded Gem and are launching on the market.
They plan to pick about 60,000 tray carton equivalents (TCEs), which weigh 18kg each, of Gem apples this season and the group will export them mainly to Asia.
The same variety of red apples is already grown in the region by the likes of apple giant T&G, who introduced them last year under a different brand name, Poppi.
The apple-picking season traditionally runs from mid-February to late April across Hawke's Bay.
Mt Erin Group will begin picking its new variety of apples, Gem, this week. Photo / Warren Buckland
Mt Erin Group says because this variety ripens early the fruit can go to market before other apple varieties.
Another benefit of the Gem apples is that pickers - who are in chronically short supply in Hawke's Bay - can be spaced out across a longer season.
"It's all about risk and reward, I suppose," said Waima Fruit Company owner Mark Ericksen, whose company is part of the Mt Erin Group.
"Obviously during the early part of the season there is more risk of climatic events and cooler conditions."
He said the Gem apples were bright red and "sweet and crunchy".
He said that like many other growers his company was in need of pickers and tried hard to create an attractive work culture.
Members of Mt Erin Group ahead of the apple-picking season. Photo / Warren Buckland
"It's a struggle for all and it's not easy," he said, about finding workers during the Covid pandemic and national labour shortage.
"We focus on having a good culture where people enjoy coming to work making a difference, not just coming to eat their lunch."
You can apply for a job with Mt Erin Group through its website.
The rollout of the new Gem brand also coincides with the 100-year anniversary of the land attached to Waima Fruit Company belonging to the Ericksen family, which Mark Ericksen said was pretty special.
Apples grown in the Northern Hemisphere and placed on the market are coming to the end of their season, and demand for fresh apples from the Southern Hemisphere ramps up at this time of year.
Recognised seasonal employer (RSE) workers will make up a large portion of apple pickers in Hawke's Bay during the upcoming harvest.
About 2500 RSE workers were in Hawke's Bay in mid-January, according to NZ Immigration.
Most of those workers (83 per cent) are from Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and the Solomon Islands.
A lack of other travellers such as backpackers - due to border closures during Covid - has resulted in huge shortages of pickers.
