Kiwifruit growers celebrate bumper crop for 2024 season

New Zealand’s 2024 kiwifruit harvest is coming to an end.

By RNZ

Kiwifruit growers are celebrating a record crop for the 2024 season.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc said with only small volumes left to be picked off orchards, a record 193 million trays had been submitted, with each tray having an average of 30 pieces of kiwifruit.

Ideal weather during flowering and harvest combined with sufficient labour means the fruit has been picked off the vines in an orderly manner during the past three months.

The successful season is in stark contrast to last year, when only 133 million trays were exported due to labour shortages, cyclones and frosts hitting kiwifruit vines at the wrong time.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc chief executive Colin Bond said the success of this year’s harvest was a result of great teamwork throughout the supply chain.

“I would like to thank the thousands of pickers and packers as well as the countless other workers who have rolled up their sleeves over the last year and worked diligently to create a successful harvest for our industry.

“The fruits of their labour have a flow-on effect to the wider communities who also profit from our success.

“Growers now eagerly await the prices that Zespri can attract in overseas markets for their fruit, despite gaining strong pe- tray returns over the last two years, poor yield has hurt growers financially.”

The low yields, combined with increasing orchard costs, had meant many growers were under the pump to keep their businesses afloat, Bond said.