Summer questions: Zespri CEO Jason Te Brake on the growing opportunities for kiwifruit

New Zespri chief executive Jason Te Brake.

With world demand for New Zealand kiwifruit set to stay ahead of supply, 2025 will be a year for global marketer Zespri to set its sights higher and further, says chief executive Jason Te Brake.

Te Brake is catching his breath over the holiday break after a hectic six months in the job, including spearheading Zespri’s successful push for industry approval to expand offshore growing of Zespri-branded gold fruit in order to provide markets with fruit all year round.

How would you describe 2024 for your business?

It was a positive year. We had two key priorities – delivering the season well and holding a successful grower vote to expand our offshore production and we succeeded on both counts. We sold our largest ever crop at strong returns for growers and the industry agreed to expand offshore to work towards our goal of a full 12-month supply to support New Zealand grower returns. It was a strong demonstration of the unity and strength of our industry and our ability to make strategic decisions together. It’s been great to see growers so positive and the industry moving forward so strongly. It was also really positive to see the Zespri brand continue to strengthen relative to competitors, reaching the top spot for fruit brands in our top 15 key markets, helping to create value for growers.

What will be your biggest business challenges in 2025?

We’ve had challenges in recent seasons but the last season has been very positive and we’re looking to build that next year. The outlook for the industry is incredibly bright. We continue to see strong demand and our customers keep telling us they want more fruit so we’re feeling confident that with a moderate increase from New Zealand next year that we can continue the momentum we’ve had this season. Planning is well under way with an ongoing focus on fruit quality and starting and executing the season well. With more fruit expected to be produced it’ll be critical we get fruit to market as early as possible to ensure that we’re taking advantage of early season sales opportunities and maximising early season sales run rates and avoiding capacity constraints here. Ultimately we want to make sure we’re getting good quality fruit off the orchard and maintaining a consistent flow of fruit right through to the end of the season, with a focus on efficiency and managing costs, to ensure we get the best returns for our growers.

What opportunities do you see in 2025?

There’s significant opportunity for the industry, with demand for Zespri Kiwifruit forecast to remain ahead of supply, and with the industry really well positioned to create more value for growers. In terms of consumer trends, there’s a strong and growing emphasis on health and wellbeing and also purchasing decisions based around the wellbeing of the communities they live in – they want to buy good, healthy products from brands that are doing the right thing. Zespri Kiwifruit ticks both boxes. We’re also investing in creating new sources of demand with a focus on innovation and supply chain and sales and marketing excellence. For me, a focus on core business and what we do best is critical to creating ongoing value for growers and for New Zealand. This year is also an opportunity for us as a business and industry to set our sights a bit further and look out to 2035 and consider what will make us successful and allow us to continue to offer the world’s leading kiwifruit portfolio and be the world’s leading fruit brand.

What will it take to kickstart New Zealand’s economy?

Trade is critical. We need to earn money to support New Zealand communities with a focus on outstanding products and services backed by strong brands. We know the world wants more of what we produce in New Zealand and at the moment there is more demand than we can meet. We’re committed to working with the Government to overcome barriers to turn the opportunities for growth into reality and create ongoing value for New Zealand. With our sales set to double by 2030, we’re also right behind plans to double primary sector exports, working together to deliver benefits to our country.

How will a Trump presidency affect the geopolitical dynamics?

Let’s wait and see. North America is an important growth market for us and we’re committed to growing the market further.

What are the concrete actions your company has taken to reduce climate change?

We’ve seen more impact from climate change through our growing systems and also around the world in recent seasons. We remain focused on continuing to reduce our impact to ensure a sustainable future for the industry and so we’re meeting the expectations of our customers and consumers in market. Shipping and packaging has the largest impact through our supply chain. We are working with shipping companies to reduce our carbon impact per piece of fruit through increased efficiency with vessels and this season we successfully completed biofuel trials on our charter vessels which we intend to extend in 2025. We’ve also been focused on increasing the amount of recycled, reusable and compostable packaging through our supply chain. Our ongoing commitment to innovation is an opportunity to support increasing productivity and create more value for our growers while reducing our impact on the environment.

How are you increasing diversity in your business?

Improving diversity is important to us. Part of that has been better data and insights so we understand where we’re at and how to get to where we want to be. We’re holding ourselves accountable through reporting, including on our gender composition and gender pay equity performance now published in our annual report. We are actively monitoring diversity when looking at our leadership teams and our talent development opportunities. Looking ahead, we’ll continue to work toward progress in increasing the representation of women in senior roles in our company and in building an inclusive culture for all Zespri people.

What is your New Year’s resolution?

My New Year’s resolution is to spend more time with my children and being present with them.

Where and how are you holidaying this summer?

I’ll be in Taupo with my wife and kids making up for lost time this year and enjoying some summer sunshine at the lake.

What would you recommend as a good podcast to listen to over summer?

My favourite podcast is ‘Business Wars’.