Maori-owned orchards bounce back from cyclone damage
A large Māori-owned kiwifruit business that was badly damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle has bounced back with a vengeance.
The Mott family are well known commercial vegetable growers based in Tangiwai, near the township of Ohakune in the Central North Island.
Tangiwai is probably best remembered for the Christmas eve railway disaster in 1953.
Mott's Premium Produce is renowned for the high-quality parsnips they produce and sell to the Foodstuff supermarket chain around the country. Their property is in the shadow of Mt Ruapehu and on a fine day it provides a fabulous backdrop to their growing operation.
Kandy Mott and her late husband Craig developed the property, but since Craig's death her son Jeremy and his wife Amy have taken a major role in the business.
As well as the parsnips and swedes, the Motts have been growing a crop of a special variety of beetroot called Chioggia, which is used in the popular Garden Medley crisps put out by the Proper Crisps brand, available in supermarkets.
Amy Mott says that the Nelson-based company "knew that Jeremy is good at growing things," so asked the Motts to develop a beetroot that would work with their range of what they describe as "delicious vegan healthy snacks made entirely with real, natural food and seasonings".
The Motts experimented with several varieties of beetroot, but once they narrowed it down, the decision jumped out at them. The common name of this variety is Candy Stripe, and they felt that sounded close enough to Kandy Mott, general manager of the family business.
Besides the beetroot being an added business arm to the Mott farm, it was a winner for the Proper Crisp company, which says customes raved about the sweet tasting beetroots so much that they have increased the ratio of this vegetable to the packet, which also includes kumara, parsnip and carrot crisps.
The move into the beetroot venture is just another example of the Mott family's enthusiasm and courage to innovate and a reason for their success.
They operate in challenging times and often in difficult conditions but still produce high quality products which meet the demands of the buyers and the consumers.
Recent rain has offered respite for some from the ongoing drought.
New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.
For Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms, the decision to open the service to those in rural areas is a personal one.
The golden age of orcharding in West Auckland was recently celebrated at the launch of a book which tells the story of its rise, then retreat in the face of industry change and urban expansion.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.