The miniature Rockit apple, with its full-sized cousin. Photo / Supplied
Over the past two decades, New Zealand's horticultural exports have tripled to more than $6 billion annually, making up 11 per cent of the country's total exported goods.
Backed by its world-class science, astute breeding programmes and typical Kiwi ingenuity, Plant and Food Research is confident the horticulture industry is well placed to continue its growth spurt.
As well to the big three of kiwifruit, wine and apples, other new products and varieties are coming on stream and destined to make an impact in world markets.
"Horticulture has been a spectacular success story in terms of year-on-year growth due to a whole range of factors," says Dr Gavin Ross, Plant and Food Research group general manager of marketing and innovation.
"One of them is that the sector has done really well in embracing innovation and taking on new technologies and approaches that support its own growth. For example, we now have varieties of our major fruit crops grown in New Zealand and in other parts of the world for year-round exporting.
"These products come out of the scientists in New Zealand," says Ross."Our science can have an immediate impact on a quite significant scale. That's good for Brand NZ.
"Growers are using a whole raft of different approaches and technologies to export their products to markets where people will pay a premium for them.
"They will get there through integrated approaches of controlling pests and diseases and other environmental challenges which means 'the apples in New Zealand are the cleanest in the world. The New Zealand sector has a green and nutrition halo, but that doesn't mean we stand still."
The growing systems orchardists are now using are producing high-yielding, high-quality fruit that is in demand around the world.
Roger Bourne, Plant and Food Research general manager of customer and brand, says the sector is growing like topsy. "We have a lot of confidence about what we are doing.
"We make sure we understand what the consumers want and the suitable breeding programmes for generating new sustainable products and adding value. The demand for food security and healthy and nutritional products is strong, and we are really good at it.
The market wants what we can provide, and the sector can add billions (of dollars) more."
Bourne says the sector has established itself in Asia, including China, Europe, the UK, the Middle East, and Australia — and there are still a lot more markets to develop.
"For instance, the sector is making further inroads in the United States by establishing its health position and having strong branded products," Bourne says.
"And there's room for more players and investment at home. The growing Maori involvement with their land and young people and fantastic brands is exciting."
Last year New Zealand exported a record $6.68b of horticultural produce to 127 countries — the average value for the five years prior was $5.73b. Including domestic consumption, the horticultural industry is valued at more than $10b — on a par with the tech sector.
Asia received $2.77b of horticultural produce, Europe $1.19b, North America $960m, Australia $925m, UK $550m, Middle East $73m, Central and South America $19m, and Africa $17m.
Kiwifruit led the way with $2.709 billion worth of domestically-grown exports, though the value increases to $4b with sales of Zespri SunGold and Green fruit produced in places like Italy, California, Chile, China and Japan to create a 12-month supply.
Grape wine exports earned nearly $1.6b, fresh and processed apples $850m, avocados, including avocado oil, $210m, onions $145m, frozen and dried peas $108m, fresh and processed potatoes $100m, vegetable seeds $88m, squash $72m, cherries $55m, and blueberries $40m.
Avocado sales have increased from $62m in 10 years, cherries from $23m, vegetable seeds from $56m, blueberries from $16m, and hops from $9m to $36m. Apples doubled in value over the past decade.
Ross says future growth will still come from the successful industries of kiwifruit, wine and apples, but there is a range of other crop options emerging.
"When we look at kiwifruit, it is only 1 per cent of the global fruit bowl and there's an enormous opportunity for expansion. We've already delivered some of the best varieties of apples that consumers around the world have enjoyed. But there's a pipeline of new varieties and the opportunity for New Zealand to expand in the global apple sector," says Ross.
"We are already into blueberries and hops. We are scratching the surface on oats and protein extraction, and we are looking at left-field options like nuts and dragon fruit.
They are at an early stage but it shows we can have a more diverse offering from New Zealand than what we have today."
Plant and Food Research is collaborating with Nelson-based Pic's Peanut Butter which is running a growing trial in Northland with the prospect of yielding about two tonnes of nuts per hectare. Pic's wants to replace its $10m a year imports from Australia and Brazil with locally grown peanuts.
Plant and Food Research has been working with Vietnam, which supplies 50 per cent of the global dragon fruit market, to develop new cultivars, sustainable production techniques and post-harvest systems. The dragon fruit plant is a cactus, and the fruit has a soft texture and mildly sweet flavour, described as a blend of pear and kiwifruit.
Zespri is now selling its RubyRed kiwifruit, bred by Plant and Food Research, to Singapore, Japan and China, with volumes reaching 250,000 trays this year. The new variety with its unique colour profile and berry-like taste has attracted younger consumers.
The miniature Rockit apple, nurtured by Plant and Food Research for 20 years and ideal for snack boxes, is a blend of the sweet and crunchy Gala and Splendour varieties.
Rockit is now sold in 30 countries, having experienced 45 per cent growth in revenue over the past two years, and the apples are grown in 10 countries for year-round supply and freshness.
With climate change and rising global temperatures in mind, Plant and Food Research worked with its Spanish counterpart to develop the first "hot" red apple variety, which is now licensed for grower testing in New Zealand, South Africa, Europe, UK and Australia.
Commercial planting has begun in Spain, and places with long hot summers in New Zealand will be able to add high-quality pipfruit to their horticulture portfolio, while the apple-growing regions will be able to keep sustainably producing quality fruit as the climate changes.
Plant and Food Research is now taking a stronger interest in indoor horticulture. "This is a trend outside New Zealand — producing vegetables and other crops close to the market," says Ross.
"New Zealand can have a stake in this by developing our own techniques. Dairying globally has gone indoors; strawberries, boysenberries and blueberries are grown in a tunnel greenhouse environment.
"The economics of growing indoors is interesting. You have the same piece of land growing multiple crops and you don't have to worry about seasonal factors. The leafy green fruit are stacked upwards and the yield multiplier becomes significant. The numbers being put out are impressive," says Ross.
Collective Miro LP is aiming to transform 500-1000 hectares of under-utilised Maori land into a $200m blueberry production business using the tunnel greenhouse technique. Miro wants to become "a baby Zespri" by co-ordinating the whole supply chain.
Plant and Food Research is also involved with industry partners in developing the future orchard planting system, with the potential to double productivity from 80-100 tonnes to 180-200 tonnes per hectare.
The crops are grown on dwarf rootstocks, the rows are closer together and the shape of the plants is redesigned to produce a tall, thin canopy or wall of fruit. The simplified fruit trees run in one plane with simple upright vertical fruiting shoots.
When developed the trees have no branches; instead there are columns of fruiting buds with the leafy areas highly exposed to the sunlight. The aim is to design a canopy that meets the requirements of fruit quality, durability and appeal, and to achieve a high 90 per cent light intervention.
Ross says improving the efficiency (including labour and environmental) of fruit production on a minimum amount of land while reducing inputs on the orchard is vital for the longevity and sustainability of the fruit tree industries. "By finding smarter, greener options, we are helping to deliver healthy foods from the world's most sustainable systems," he says.
Plant and Food Research is also investigating technology advancements to help solve multiple food and environmental problems and grow the primary industries.
The next moves could come in open ocean aquaculture, lab-based meat, zero waste factories, digital orchards, and new breeding techniques, like gene editing with CRISPR, to speed up the cultivation of new varieties that normally take at least 15 years to bring to market.
Bourne says the New Zealand horticulture industry has a strong sense of unity. This co-operation is a major catalyst for future growth.
"Zespri has a $4b business and apples a $1b business and what they've learned is flowing down through the sector. There is a lot of talks that avocados can become a $1 billion crop. That's going to take time to build up the technology, branding and infrastructure base.
"We see growth coming on a broad set of fronts. Yes, the big players will still be a big part of that, but there are other exciting businesses sitting behind them," says Bourne.
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