Wonky Box co-founder Katie Jackson (left) talks with Hugh Findlay about cosmetic standards/requirements that were needed to send to different markets.
Wonky Box co-founder Katie Jackson (left) talks with Hugh Findlay about cosmetic standards/requirements that were needed to send to different markets.
Cyclone Gabrielle was the final straw for family-owned Cherry Gold Orchards.
After an extremely wet year and with the cyclone on top of all of that the Hawke’s Bay orchard lost 60 per cent of this season’s kiwifruit.
The remaining 40 per cent was going to waste. It wasn’t feasible to send the smaller amount to Zespri as the costs would have been too great for the amount of fruit they had left.
Hugh Findlay and his family bought the orchard 16 years ago as part of Hugh’s retirement plan. It is largely a family-run business and, after retiring from his day job four years ago, Hugh has been working on it fulltime.
“It is small – only 20 acres and we grow gold kiwifruit, green kiwi fruit, a couple of varieties of apples and cherries.
“At the time of purchase, the kiwifruit was of average size but since then much bigger kiwifruit entities have been developed and ours is now very small in the scheme of things,” Hugh explained.
Family-owned Cherry Gold Orchards teamed up with Wonky Box to get the rest of its kiwifruit out to the markets before it goes to waste.
While the orchard was impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, fortunately the water was flowing quickly across the orchard, meaning little silt was deposited.
However, the orchard found in between Napier and Hastings soil was already waterlogged and once Cyclone Gabrielle added to that waterlogging it heavily impacted the orchard plants.
“They are extremely stressed and many have died. We are currently removing those and replanting,” Hugh said.
The family will need to replace 2000 trees this year and it will be years until the orchard returns to its typical production volumes.
During a regular season, Cherry Gold Orchards picks apples and kiwifruit from February through into April and they are exported to overseas markets.
“This season the yields were severely depleted to the extent that I calculated that it would not be economical to pick any of the green kiwifruit for export, so I left what little fruit we had to ripen naturally on the vines with the intention of marketing it locally,” Hugh said.
All that was left was to find somewhere to sell the rest of the fruit. Hugh’s daughter Sarah Findlay did some market research and approached Wonky Box.
After losing 60 per cent of its kiwi fruit to wet weather Cherry Gold Orchards is working around the clock to get the rest off to the local market.
Wonky Box is a North Island initiative trying to reduce food waste by rescuing the “too big, too small and too wonky” fruit and vegetables from growers.
Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms explained Hugh and his wife Linda Findlay didn’t want to see the kiwifruit going uneaten, especially at a time when costs are high, therefore have been working with Wonky Box to collect the remaining 40 per cent of green kiwifruit.
“We have been collecting the perfect fruit but also fruit with markings or that don’t meet the sizing specification for their export markets. Nothing will go to waste,” said Simms.
Hugh said, “We were delighted. Supplying Wonky Box has been a godsend for us as we have too much fruit left for just local gate sales.
“We have already dispatched about seven tonnes of green kiwifruit and still have probably two or three times that still to pick.”
