Boosting Taranaki's horticulture

Venture Taranaki/Te Puna Umanga's Branching Out project aims to address both environmental concerns and changing consumer demands, by identifying and facilitating opportunities for the food and fibre sector in Taranaki.

Since, 2020, the project has been working to pick some high-value winners for the region. It will now be concentrating on six specific areas for further research as it enters Phase Two of the project. These are: hemp fibre for construction, medicinal ingredients, indigenous ingredients, hops, gin botanicals and high-value food crops suitable for inclusion in a standard crop rotation.

The work will be funded by a $975,000 grant from MPI's Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund announced late last year by Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor. The project has also secured $1.2 million of funding from various local sources, councils and in-kind contributions from industry, growers, and research institutes.

"In phase two, we will continue to take a full value chain approach to the new ventures we're progressing," Michelle Bauer, Branching Out project lead, explains. "We will develop industry strategies for each oppportunity, delivering clear models for the investment required to help provide these new industries a clear path to success in Taranaki."

Bauer says the initiative goes beyond land use and also looking at how to add value and deliver the greatest returns - as well as enable sustainability and develop the industry strategies that give the ventures the greatest chance of success.

The work builds on a Plant and Food Research study in 2020 that found that 207,000ha (nearly 30%) of the Taranaki region's total 724,000ha could potentially be suitable for horticulture. That study looked at a more traditional range of horticultural crops including kiwifruit and avocados.

"That work was done very much in the early stages of the project and has been very helpful in terms of giving us a steer," Bauer adds. "But we needed to look not just at what could grow in Taranaki, and also the market and value added opportunities as well as the existing capabilities, knowledge and infrastructure that might already exist in the region.

She says kiwifruit and avocados are "still on the long list" but those crops are already growing in the region and already have established paths to market.

"At the end of the day, the short list ventures are those in which further market work needs to be undertaken."

Venture Taranaki's director of sector partnerships, Anne Probert, said the project aimed to give life to the investment opportunities by taking the ideas from paper to tangible, on-the-ground initiatives.

"Through Branching Out's activities, we aim to create 50 new jobs, plant 650 hectares of novel crops, develop new enterprises, and attract $8 million of new revenue or investment to our region by 2025."

What Are The Options?

Plant and Food Research Principal Scientist Dr Brent Clothier says climate change may make Taranaki increasingly viable for crops like kiwifruit.

Clothier is the author of the 2020 Taranaki Land and Climate Assessment, which took in data from a variety of sources to assess the region for factors including winter chill, Growing Degree Days (GDD10), and Frost- Free Period (FFP). Flowering plants generally require some period of winter chill to induce spring flowering. However, Clothier told Hort News that Northland is already losing some of the winter chill needed by kiwifruit vines.

The study, commissioned by Venture Taranaki, as part of its Branching Out initiative, found that nearly 30% of the region could potentially be used for horticulture, although it identified some challenges for some specific crops.

The area in purple is the 207,000ha of Taranaki deemed potentially usable for horticulture. Supplied by Plant And Food Research.

The summarised findings were:

- APPLES: Requirements for winter chill and GDD10 are consistently met throughout the region for mid-season varieties.

- AVOCADOS: The report notes that avocados are sensitive to spring temperatures, with mean minimum spring temperatures that are “sufficient, yet less than ideal” met in certain areas.

- BLUEBERRIES: Varieties with low and medium winter chill requirements would be suitable throughout Taranaki.

- HOPS, HEMP AND CBD CANNABIS: The report considered these together since they are closely related and their needs would be similar. The main driver of growth is summer day length and that is met across the region.

- HAZELNUTS AND WALNUTS: GDD10 requirements are easily met across Taranaki as both nuts require significant winter chilling.

- KIWIFRUIT: Winter chill requirements are generally met across the region.

- POTATOES: The report says a spread in potato growing rotations is possible - first bounded by the soil temperature required for sowing (15°C, met at the end of August) and the latest bound being the accumulated GDD10 required for tuber maturation.

- WINE GRAPES: GDD10 requirements are generally met – but the report found that the whole region is probably too wet for grapes.