Ōpōtiki grower wins 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
The first kiwifruit for the new season are now being picked and not surprisingly this is taking place in the kiwifruit capital of NZ - Te Puke.
Zespri's new RubyRed is the first variety to be picked and it's also the first time this new sweet and tasty kiwifruit has been picked commercially. It will be available on some NZ supermarket shelves and also exported.
Zespri's chief grower, industry and sustainability officer Carol Ward says as well as a continued increase in SunGold Kiwifruit volumes this season, the company is excited about the first year of commercial volumes of Zespri RubyRed Kiwifruit becoming available.
"We know this is keenly anticipated by our consumers in New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and China," she says.
Ward says the industry requires 24,000 people to pick and pack the crop this year. But she says forecast surges in Covid-19 infection rates are expected to restrict the availability of New Zealanders.
"In addition, the opening of New Zealand's borders is expected to be too late to replace the 6,500 backpackers usually required for harvest," she says.
NZ has some 2,800 growers who produce kiwifruit across 13,000 hectares of orchards between Kerikeri in the north and Motueka in the south.
Like many manufacturers around the world, European agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturers are currently operating in a difficult market environment. But they are heading to the world’s largest agricultural machinery event in Hanover next month with a degree of cautious optimism.
Established in 2021, the John Deere Technician of the Year Awards champion the important contribution parts and service technicians make to the Australian and New Zealand agriculture, construction and forestry industries.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on farmers from all regions to take part in the final season of the Sheep Poo Study aiming to build a clearer picture of how facial eczema (FE) affects farms across New Zealand.
New Zealand is closer to eradicating bovine TB than ever before, but possums remain a threat, says Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
The ACT Party says media reports that global dairy giant Nestle has withdrawn from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance shows why New Zealand needs to rethink its approach to climate.