Just what the doctor ordered

All growers were invited to place orders for the new Dazzle apple trees.

Fruitcraft, holder of the production and marketing licence, will start deciding this week how many of those growers it can supply with trees; expressions of interest closed last week.

The variety is PremA129 and the brand is Dazzle. Fruitcraft is a collaboration between Mr Apple, Bostock NZ and Freshmax.

It is expected to be one of the biggest variety launches since Royal Gala several years ago.

Fruitcraft chief executive Steve Potbury says they want to be inclusive.

“We want to get as many people as we can behind this variety so we can get some decent production going quickly, so we can make a mark in the market.

“If we can get everyone behind us, it will have the potential to be one of the bigger apple varieties out of New Zealand.”

The response so far from growers has been “fantastic – better than I thought”.

They wanted orders for trees for next year in by the end of last week so they could look at how well they could meet demand.

“We can then meet as many orders as we can,” he says. “The trees will be planted now in the nursery and delivered to growers next winter. It takes three years to get a crop, and six to seven years to get full production out of a tree.

“It is a long term process; we need to get all this underway -- trees being grown in nurseries and trees being planted in orchards -- before we can get fruit to be able to supply the market.

“We think we can supply everybody or just about everybody who is interested…. I expect we will have the first fruit available for sales into markets in two years.”

Over 100,000 trees are already being grown by NZ growers including Mr Apple, Bostock NZ and Freshmax, and nurseries have prepared rootstock to meet the growers’ orders.

The new variety will be grown mostly in apple growing regions in Nelson and Hawkes Bay but commercial orchards in other regions are welcome to talk to Fruitcraft also.

Potbury says it is compared with the Royal Gala launch because they have lots of confidence in the apple.

“It’s a really good product in lots of ways – a good product for the markets, particularly the close Asian markets. And it’s easy to grow in the market.”

If it grows well they can ensure good quality fruit that will get to markets in good condition.

“We plan to commercialise it here in NZ by saying ‘all growers can grow it and all exporters can come and talk to us about it’.”

The variety’s breeder, Plant and Food Research, at Havelock North, did consumer evaluations with Indian and Chinese consumers, and got a good response.

“We have also sent fruit to different markets around the world and the response particularly from Asian countries has also been fantastic,” says Potbury.

“It has given us the confidence to get some orchards planted; we need to give it a name and develop a brand and start growing the fruit because it is more than good enough to make a real splash in the market.”

Because the breeding programme is funded by the NZ Apple and Pear Growers and the Australian Apple and Pear Growers through a consortium called Prevar, it has the rights to the variety. Prevar has licensed Fruitcraft for worldwide production and marketing. Fruitcraft’s business is to evaluate and commercialise new apple varieties.

“We have successfully bid for this licence for this variety. Then we have said ‘the way we will commercialise this is not just holding this out to the shareholders of Fruitcraft but by offering it to the whole industry’.”

Fruitcraft will also look for specific partners in other countries but it won’t be open to all growers in all markets overseas. Only chosen partners will be licensed to grow and market the fruit to provide year-round supply.

Fruitcraft is forecasting 1 million cartons of the Dazzle apple will be exported from NZ by 2028. Such a number would put it among NZ’s most popular apple varieties.