Workers needed to harvest Northland's bumper kiwifruit crop

Seeka's Kerikeri packhouse will process a bumper crop of the fruit this year - if enough workers can be found.

More workers are needed to pick and pack Northland's bumper kiwifruit crop, which is almost ready to harvest.

Jim Smith, Seeka general manager of growers and marketing, said the company was actively recruiting.

"We are looking at processing approximately 4.5 million trays of kiwifruit produced in the Kerikeri area this season,'' he said.

New Zealand's entire crop was expected to be at record levels this year, about 190 million trays.

Fruit quality in the Kerikeri region was excellent, and most orchards had come through the recent storms well, he said. Growers were making an extra effort to ensure they were going to deliver excellent quality to the shed to make the job easier.

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"Growers have had plenty of rain and good temperatures this summer so the orchards are producing good-quality fruit.''

Seeka, already a large produce company, has grown significantly in the past 12 months with the acquisitions of Orangewood in Kerikeri, OPAC in Opotiki and NZ Fruits in Gisborne.

The amalgamation with Orangewood was completed in November.

One of Seeka's Kerikeri kiwifruit orchards expecting to produce a bumper crop this season, with picking due to start soon.

Seeka now has 11 packhouses nationally along with 18 coolstore complexes. It also has a wholesale and retail services business in Auckland, plus a large orcharding business in Australia.

Orangewood processed more than 2.3 million trays of kiwifruit a season.

Smith said Orangewood had realised they need to undertake a major capacity investment and Seeka had capacity following its large-scale revamp of the Seeka Waipapa Rd facility.

Kerikeri kiwifruit ready to be sent to market.

Smith said Seeka had a strong relationship with Ngati Hine and the Ministry for Social Development, and training programmes were helping fill available positions.

"We are still actively recruiting now. The 2022 harvest is almost ready to start,'' he said.

Last year's record kiwifruit crop in Northland was worth $76 million and this year's is expected to be worth even more.