Orangewood Ltd is one of the major players in the Northland kiwifruit industry, managing orchards totalling about 50ha in the Bay of Islands and operating a Kerikeri packhouse which also handles fruit from orchards where the company does not have a management role.
Managing director Carl Muller said Orangewood was expected to pack just over a million trays of kiwifruit this season.
The firm has a permanent staff of about 55. With the harvest beginning, about 150 are now on the payroll.
A nightshift will start operating in the packhouse as the harvest hots up over the next six or seven weeks, bumping staff numbers up to about 220, and at the peak of the harvest Orangewood could employ up to 320 people including about 20 Recognised Seasonal Employer workers from Vanuatu, although Mr Muller said the company had a "pro-local" employment policy.
Prolonged rain could have a big impact during harvesting and Orangewood needed to have procedures ready to minimise the effects of wet weather.