NZ avocado growers gain FernMark export licence
New Zealand avocado growers have received a major boost by securing a collective FernMark Licence for their exports.
As New Zealand's avocado growers struggle to stay afloat after three years of plummeting Hass prices, a new hero emerges in the form of the GEM™ avocado.
A brand new, premium variety, which for the first time ever will be sold exclusively online at $3.80 each, in a bid to improve returns for growers.
Michael Franks, Seeka CEO, believes it could completely change the industry, likened to the Gold Kiwifruit in the 1990s.
The New Zealand avocado industry is in one of the worst states it’s been in decades. Extreme weather events and new crop production in export markets have lead to a significant reduction in export volumes.
Traditionally, 85% of New Zealand's avocados are exported to Australia, although the Australians have overproduced and saturated not only its own market, but also those in India and Asia, further squeezing New Zealand growers.
Over the last 3 years, domestic retail prices have plummeted by 61%. Avocados that once fetched $3.22 are now selling for a mere $1.25, leaving growers like Peter Guy of Pahoia, forced to sell their Hass for less than what it cost them to produce it.
“For the first time in 20 years we haven't exported. We left our fruit on the trees last year, something that we’ve never done before. Some growers are saying they’re either pulling them out, or going to plant kiwifruit. Luckily we planted some GEM™ trees about 7 years ago, which are now good to go.”
Guy called a meeting with Franks - Seeka owns the licence to the GEM™ in New Zealand. He pleaded with Franks that the traditional supermarket route would not yield the fruitful profits that the growers ever so needed.
“I said if you want to sell the GEM™ in the supermarket, that's not where we're selling ours. We sat
down and I told him I think we should go direct-to-consumer.”
Gracefully, Franks agreed with Guy, and granted exclusive distribution rights to The Avo Tree. A direct-to-consumer Avocado subscription service based in Te Puna, Bay of Plenty. The decision has been welcomed with open arms by Thorley Robbins, director of The Avo Tree.
“It’s just what we need. A decent, premium avocado that is not only a superior product to the Hass in taste, size and reliability. But it’s going to retail at almost 3x the price of the Hass. So the growers can actually make some money off of the fruit that they’ve spent the last 20 years growing,” says Robbins.
In a risky yet necessary move, the direct-to-consumer model has been embraced by Franks.
“I think the GEM™ is going to be huge for the industry. There hasn’t been a big change like this in over 20 years. It could be similar to the Gold [kiwifruit],” says Franks.
The streamlined supply chain of The Avo Tree, allows growers to receive better returns and consumers, much better fruit.
The GEM™ is laden with a host of qualities.
The Government and horticulture sector have unveiled a new roadmap with an aim to double horticulture farmgate returns by 2035.
Canterbury farmers and the Police Association say they are frustrated by proposed cuts to rural policing in the region.
The strain and pressure of weeks of repairing their flood-damaged properties is starting to tell on farmers and orchardists in the Tasman district.
The sale price of Fonterra’s global consumer and associated businesses to the world’s largest dairy company Lactalis has risen to $4.22 billion.
Alliance Group's proposal to sell a 65% shareholding to Ireland's Dawn Meats won't solve the red meat industry's structural problems, says former Federated Farmers meat and wool chair Toby Williams.
The Government is being warned that some recent bad policy decisions are undermining its target of doubling exports by 2030.
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is…
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle…