NZ Avocado responds to tough challenges
While the avocado industry faces challenges with lower export packouts due to bad weather and increasing competition in export markets, NZ Avocado is working to optimise growers’ operating environment, says the organisation’s marketing and communications manager, Matthew Ball.
He says NZ Avocado is providing growers and supply chain partners with consolidated crop flow data to aid decision-making in harvest and export planning.
NZ Avocado will also be consulting on a review of the industry’s export strategy to ensure the next season allows for increased export opportunities to more markets, he adds.
“The crop not exported this season has increased supply into the domestic market and we are seeing the result of this, with lower returns,” Ball told Agriview.
“The domestic market has more recently become our largest volume and value market and we need to protect that and collectively work on increasing consumption.
"New Zealand does not import avocados, so every purchase is supporting local growers and the wider industry in our regions.”
Ball says NZ Avocado acknowledges the difficult situation many growers are in this season – a predicament which has been heightened by increasing compliance and orchard input costs.
“The organisation is actively engaging with growers to understand what orchard level and wider industry strategies need to be employed to bring economic resilience to their businesses.
“Orchards differ in their scale, operating style and ownership model with only 12 per cent of our 1800 orchards over 5ha. So while a number of growers are refining their operating approach due to the current season, many we talk to remain optimistic about the opportunities ahead in coming seasons.”
Despite heightened competition from Australia and other origins in our historic markets across Asia, the New Zealand industry remains dedicated to capitalising on upcoming export opportunities, Ball adds.
“The recent entry into new markets like Canada and the resumption of exports to the United States demonstrate the industry's resilience and adaptability.”
The industry is anticipating a larger volume crop in the upcoming season, starting in July, but Ball says this expectation relies on good growing conditions and a lack of extreme weather events. All going well, this will allow New Zealand to deliver high quality fruit harvested at the right time to meet the increasingly dynamic windows of opportunity in the country’s export markets, he says.
Meanwhile, the industry remains committed to innovation and improvement.
“While Hass avocados currently dominate New Zealand’s crop and worldwide trade, there continues to be activity from the wider industry into new fruiting varieties,” Ball says.
“The industry is also focused on improving the selection of rootstock varieties available to growers having recently imported new rootstock cultivars from offshore breeding programmes to test in New Zealand conditions.
“The focus is on consistency, disease tolerance and tree health.”