Editorial: Our apples the pick of the crop

We're lucky in Hawke's Bay that it's easy to support local growers.

Not only can we buy crisp, delicious New Zealand-grown apples, we can choose to buy produce that was grown just a few kilometres from home.

That doesn't mean my local supermarket can't stock fruit from elsewhere, I'll just bypass it in favour of local produce when I can.

That's my choice as a shopper, and it's a choice that Australian buyers should be able to make for themselves as well.

But that's what the issue of New Zealand apples in Australia should be: a matter for consumer choice.

The first shipments of our apples will be landing on Australian shelves this week, and local growers have no illusions about the difficulties they'll face.

Even those handling the fruit are under pressure not to work with New Zealand produce, and MPs are making last-ditch efforts to keep the apples out. The thing is, there are no legitimate reasons to keep them out.

Given how parochial we can be about our fruit and veg, we can understand why Australian shoppers might want to support local producers.

But there will be some buyers who'll be won over by the quality of our produce, and they should be entitled to make that choice too.

Some years ago I bought a pack of four New Zealand braeburn apples in a Dublin supermarket.

It was quite a splurge on my limited backpacker's budget: they cost the equivalent of about NZ$3 each.

But they were worth every cent: crunchy, juicy and just so much more apple-ey than anything you could buy in Ireland.

That's what Australians are about to discover.