increase font size
Zespri chief executive Daniel Mathieson (right) and orchard owner Gopa Bains look over the first commercial Zespri RubyRed harvest, near Te Puke. Photo by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media.
The first kiwifruit for the new season are now being picked and not surprisingly this is taking place in the kiwifruit capital of NZ - Te Puke.
Zespri's new RubyRed is the first variety to be picked and it's also the first time this new sweet and tasty kiwifruit has been picked commercially. It will be available on some NZ supermarket shelves and also exported.
Zespri's chief grower, industry and sustainability officer Carol Ward says as well as a continued increase in SunGold Kiwifruit volumes this season, the company is excited about the first year of commercial volumes of Zespri RubyRed Kiwifruit becoming available.
"We know this is keenly anticipated by our consumers in New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and China," she says.
Ward says the industry requires 24,000 people to pick and pack the crop this year. But she says forecast surges in Covid-19 infection rates are expected to restrict the availability of New Zealanders.
"In addition, the opening of New Zealand's borders is expected to be too late to replace the 6,500 backpackers usually required for harvest," she says.
NZ has some 2,800 growers who produce kiwifruit across 13,000 hectares of orchards between Kerikeri in the north and Motueka in the south.
Zespri’s counter-seasonal Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) programme is underway with approximately 33 million trays, or 118,800 tonnes, expected this year from orchards throughout France, Italy, Greece, Korea, and Japan.
According to Zespri's November forecast for the 2025/26 season, returns are likely to be up for all fruit groups compared to the last forecast in August.
European growers are playing a key role in ensuring Kiwifruit marketer Zespri has year-round supply of high-quality fruit for consumers.
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
Keep up with innovation and e-commerce in China or risk losing market share. That was the message delivered at the China Business Summit in Auckland this month.
The Government is set to announce two new acts to replace the contentious Resource Management Act (RMA) with the Prime Minister hinting that consents required by farmers could reduce by 46%.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be “a really dumb move”.
The University of Waikato has broken ground on its new medical school building.
Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.
Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.
The avocado industry is facing an extremely challenging season with all parts of the supply chain, especially growers, being warned to prepare for any eventuality.
OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable…
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your…
