2024–25 apple harvest exceeds expectations, says Apples and Pears NZ CEO
The 2024-25 season apple harvest has “well and truly exceeded expectations”, says Apples and Pears NZ chief executive Karen Morrish.
As the apple industry faces a labour crisis, there is a lot of talk about technology playing a role in harvesting crops.
However Apple and Pear NZ chief executive Alan Pollard reckons this is 10-15 years away. He says there is a move to introduce elevator platforms, which means that people who might have physical challenges can come into orchards because they don’t have to climb up and down ladders.
“There is work being done on robotic harvesting, but this is a bigger challenge for apples than kiwifruit,” he told Rural News.
“An apple tree you will pick three or four times, and you have to make a judgement on the colour, so you just can’t strip a tree,” Pollard explained. “The technology to do this is challenging and it means that a grower has to change the whole structure and layout of the orchard to fit the new technology.”
At present, apple trees are three dimensional. However, to meet the needs of technology, trees would need to be grown as a two dimensional ‘wall’ and closer together.
Pollard says about 10% of the orchards are being changed over to this system each year, but it will take a long time before all are ready for technology when it arrives.
In the meantime, the industry will continue to rely on a diminishing local labour pool and see if it can get the Government to take a more pragmatic approach to the RSE scheme and allow more overseas workers into NZ.
Pollard says the RSE scheme is highly regarded internationally and is transforming the New Zealand industry and providing much needed aid to Pacific nations.
In an ever-changing world, things never stay completely the same. Tropical jungles can turn into concrete ones criss-crossed by motorways, or shining cities collapse into ghost towns.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts…
OPINION: The huge success of former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson's new TV show, Clarkson's Farm, and the boost it…