James Blair Named 2026 Young Grower National Champion
James Blair, an agronomist for AS Wilcox and the Pukekohe regional champion, has won the 2026 Young Grower national title.
T&G, the largest citrus grower in New Zealand, is forecasting a harvest of around 80,000 crates of satsuma mandarins from Northland - one of New Zealand’s largest mandarin growing regions.
T&G’s Regional Manager - Northland, Tom Chamberlain says due to a warmer, drier summer, this season’s mandarins taste great.
“Satsuma mandarins are now the largest volume citrus crop in the country. This year the crop is fantastic – sweet tasting and larger in size – making them perfect for the whole family, he says.
While the majority of the new season fruit will be sold in New Zealand retail outlets, satsuma mandarins are also popular in Japan with some of T&G’s New Zealand crop being exported to the market over the coming months.
“Given current seasonal labour shortages, the challenge for us has been having enough hands to harvest the fruit,” Chamberlain explains.
“As an essential business, we’ve worked with many Northland employment agencies to provide opportunities to locals, alongside our seasonal workers, providing them with the required training on safe work practices.”
