Zespri hits major milestone
Kiwifruit marketer Zespri says its kiwifruit has now reached more than 100 million households globally.
New Zealand’s 2025 kiwifruit harvest has started with the first fruit picked in the Bay of Plenty, marking the earliest ever harvest.
Growers Mark and Josie Ruiter and their Orchard Manager Sarah Davidson were excited to be the first in New Zealand to have the kiwifruit on their orchard picked this year.
The growers' kiwifruit were of the red variety. Zespri’s sweet, berry-tinged tasting RubyRedTM is the first variety which is picked for supermarket shelves in New Zealand and some overseas markets, followed shortly after by the Gold and Green varieties.
The excitement of this season’s kiwifruit is being shared by most of New Zealand’s growers who are experiencing ideal growing conditions to produce plenty of high-quality fruit. Current analysis forecasts an industry milestone could be reached this year with a record crop of just over 200 million trays of kiwifruit to be harvested over the coming months. This would be a modest increase from last year’s record-breaking season of more than 190 million trays. On average, each tray has around 30 pieces of kiwifruit. The harvest traditionally peaks in mid-April and runs through until June.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc. chief executive Colin Bond shares grower’s enthusiasm about the current season.
“While my thoughts are with those Tasman and Whakatane growers who received significant hail damage at the end of last December, overall, growers have experienced a great lead up to harvest with ideal sun and little wind to produce excellent kiwifruit”, says Bond.
“Over the last few years our industry has been working collaboratively to ensure our supply chain is robust to export increased volumes and deliver our high quality fruit to consumers around the world.”
Zespri chief executive Jason Te Brake says it’s fantastic to see harvest get underway following a largely positive growing season.
“I’m excited about the upcoming season, with another record-breaking crop with moderate increases in SunGold and Green kiwifruit volumes, and Zespri RubyRedTM Kiwifruit doubling in volume," Te Brake says.
"Demand for our fruit remains strong and we’re focused on delivering high-quality fruit early and consistently throughout the season to maximise returns for our growers," he says.
“Our customers and teams in the market have come off a strong 2024 season, are looking for more of our fruit, and are ready to begin sales strongly in the coming months.”
OPINION: As of last Thursday, five regions – Taranaki, Northland, Waikato, Horizons and Marlborough-Tasman – had been declared medium-scale adverse events.
Two new Awards have been developed for the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) programme that will help some farmers on their journey to farm ownership.
The winner of the 2025 Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Industry Awards enjoys the variety of work farming offers and the ability to improve each season.
A company growing and processing seaweed with known methane-busting properties at a facility in Bluff is expanding internationally but New Zealand cattle farmers won't be getting the product anytime soon.
Through its new partnership with New Zealand Landcare Trust, Fonterra has committed to funding ten $25,000 grants for wetland restoration in communities across the country.
The chair of the Dairy Environmental Leaders (DEL) says the country's dairy farmers are at the forefront of environmental management.
OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been…
OPINION: Shane 'Matua' Jones, crusader against all things woke, including "woke banks", couldn't have scripted it better when his NZ…