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1 Issue 7 Fresh Focus JULY 2012 The First Fresh Team Bill Thorpe Chairman Ian Albers Managing Director Brian Pepper Product Manager Phil Croy Product Manager Stuart Mansill Product Manager NEW AND IMPROVED Over the past few months we have been redesigning our web site and it has finally gone live this week. You can check it out at All of the information has been updated. It still requires a few tweaks but we didn t want to wait any longer! Have a look over it and tell us if you like the way it looks. Here s a small snippet from the new The Team section. Robert Schroder Product Manager Dave McLellan Technical Advisor Justine Hurlstone Marketing Administration FIRST FRESH NZ LTD 265 LYTTON ROAD GISBORNE Ph Fax info@firstfresh.co.nz Web: One of the exciting new features is the ability for growers to log in to a secure area, search for and download your own line reports. This is located in the Growers Toolkit section. Line reports will be posted to the website every day and you will also be able to search the archive for any line report going back several years and across all varieties. Right now we will continue to and fax line reports to you manually but in time it is our intention for these to be delivered straight to your in-box via . 1

2 Early next week we will send out your username details and how to access the site. We will also be adding in spray diary templates, details on our crop protection programs and copies of the weekly price schedule. Hope you enjoy it. NEW WEATHER STATION As of this morning we now have what will hopefully be the first several First Fresh weather stations up and running. ALL growers can view this weather station on line by using the following link. This weather station is located at College Vineyard in College Road. Five grower entities in the College Road area have each contributed 20% of the cost and they have generously agreed to make the data accessible to all growers. We would hope to have further stations (using a similar cooperative ownership approach) installed as time goes by (one at Patutahi and perhaps one near Bushmere Rd would be excellent) These sites are available for all growers to visit as guests to check weather, temps, rainfall, humidity etc. Have a look. 2

3 Product Report Brian Pepper PERSIMMONS As I mentioned last month we packed 1,344 tons of fruit this season, with 166,730 4kg trays of Class1 fruit (49.6%) packed for export. This quantity beats our 2010 record quantity by 85 tons, but poor fruit size and export pack-outs left us well short of beating any records for Class1 export grade. We have exported 85% of our crop at prices that are pleasing when considering the stiff competition we have encountered in several of our main markets from very cheap South African Persimmons. The fruit that we still have on hand has been pre cleared for Australia and will be dispatched over the next three weeks. We are receiving good feedback from all of our customers and the effort that is being made to pick and pack only the high coloured fruit (which tastes good) has created good demand for our brand. In order of volume shipped we have exported Persimmons to the following countries; Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia. We improve our average returns for Choice grade Persimmons by bagging and storing fruit in the peak of the season when the prices are very poor. This season we have had good demand for our bagged fruit at good prices, but selling the large quantity of small fruit is proving to be quite challenging. TAMMARILLO The quantity of fruit being harvested has started to improve and demand is still strong. The national crop is still rebuilding from the devastating effects of the bacterium spread by the Tomato/Potato Psyllid, so relatively short supply should see the market place for Tamarillos remain strong again this season. 3

4 Product Report Robert Schroder MEYER The main winter Meyer crop has been all but harvested. The majority of this fruit is going for export meaning the supply/demand for fruit in the New Zealand market has been in relative equilibrium. This year we have again exported to Japan and USA. So far we are ahead of where we were at the same time last year as far as export volume is concerned. Lemon growers have been receiving our fortnightly newsletter Lemon Essence which has detailed our progress. We have been very impressed with the condition of this year s fruit and more importantly so have our customers. As most of us know the increased crop volume this year compared to last, has led to a smaller fruit size profile. TAG 2 Lemons have been the difficult ones to move so far this season, on the local market, although locally there are steady returns for quality TAG 1 medium Lemons. We have also had a lot of 45-50mm (SS) FRUIT which is proving quite difficult to sell for a decent return. We have put a bit of this small fruit away in storage in the hope that the demand will improve later in the season. YENBEN As we advance well into the winter Yenben harvest, we find that fruit quality has been very good with general reports and feedback from buyers that the quality has been better than last season. The local market is at a level that still offers a return equal to that of Meyers for Choice grade, even though prices have slowly been dropping over the past weeks. The key now is to keep up with the regular harvesting and pick when your crop is ready as we have regular export shipments leaving every two weeks and local market requirements to fill. I have been seeing brown rot in a few orchards around the district so we must keep an eye out for this during harvesting in an attempt to keep it out of the bins. LIMES Most growers have finished their main winter crop harvest. Any fruit that is left has been hit with frosts over the past few weeks which has had a rapid effect on fruit colour especially smaller trees and exposed blocks where we have seen fruit change from green to yellow very quickly. As a consequence Choice grade pack outs have dropped significantly resulting in higher juice packouts, but there is demand for this as well so if you have a bit of fruit left and are worried that it is too yellow, please give me a call and we will do our best to find a home for it. GRAPEFRUIT We have been selling Morrison and Cutlers Red Grapefruit since the middle of June. Demand continues at a steady rate for clean fruit between in the favoured size range of 80 and 100mm, anything else doesn t give the best returns as we will see returns drop a little as volume increases. There are several juice or processing options available for the other grades, so if you wish to know more please don t hesitate to call. 4

5 Product Report Phil Croy SATSUMA MANDARINS Despite having two weeks of school holidays last month Satsuma sales have been very strong especially in pre pack form. There is currently very good demand for Gisborne Satsuma mandarins in both loose and pre pack form. We are well into Aoshima and Kawano harvesting and have roughly 3-4 weeks to go until the season winds up in early August. Any growers who are holding off picking Kawano would be wise to get harvesting under way, the first of the Australian Afourer are being harvested and will be on our shores within the next fortnight. Although indications are that they will enter the market at a slightly higher price than local Satsuma, mark my words that the selling price will drop like a stone once the volume being imported picks up. This will give consumers cheaper option than local Satsuma which will slow sales as we attempt to sell the remainder of the crop. The quality of fruit we are currently packing is quite varied with pack outs ranging between 70% and 94% T1. The main factors for low pack outs are wind blemish and sooty mould. Fruit size in the later varieties has not improved on what we have packed this season to date as shown below. 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 34% Satsuma Mandarin Fruit size 2011 vs % 66% 31% % of pack under 60mm % of pack over 60mm ENCORE MANDARINS Driving around the district I have been amazed by the colour being shown in some Encore blocks, frightening really considering that we still have another month until the last of the Satsuma s are cleaned up. The blocks I have looked at are also size challenged so we will be lining up extra pre pack promotions to help pull this fruit through the market. I will be out and about in the coming weeks to catch up with all Encore growers, but please call me should you have any queries regarding this crop. 5

6 Product Report Stuart Mansill NAVEL ORANGES LOCAL SALES The 2012 Navel Orange harvest has been progressing well since the first harvest on June 15th. Fruit quality has been excellent with less scarring evident on fruit. We have seen steady sales at reasonable prices, especially when compared to Our total of packed fruit for the season is the same as 2011 but the First grade and Export totals are ahead of last year by 20%. This is a great result and a credit to growers who are at last seeing results from efforts to produce better Navel Oranges for our markets. Less second grade fruit being pushed into the market is the best way to enable us to hold our prices. The taste of the early navels has been acceptable this year. One major buyer has told us that the New Zealand fruit is better quality and has better taste than the Aussie fruit so that s encouraging. While we are seeing some pitting from wet/cold conditions at this stage it is not a major problem. Let s hope the recent downpour from this week has not accentuated this problem any further. Australian growers are set to produce the first balanced crop of Navel Orange since the drought years. They are expecting to produce around 380,000 tonnes of good size and quality Navel Oranges. Compare this with our 10,000 tonnes! Their Navel oranges are destined for domestic and export markets including Japan, Hong Kong USA and New Zealand. This is why we are seeing large numbers of cheap, relatively good tasting, Oranges in New Zealand. Our marketing plans this year are to more than double our exports to Japan and increase our New Zealand market share but also maintain increased grower returns over We have sound relationships with major New Zealand supermarket groups. We plan to maintain steady sales throughout the season. We see no point in aimlessly pushing fruit into a market that would just love to crash prices lower. We have been very selective as to how and where we have placed our Oranges with greater emphasis on sales to supermarket programmes. I am looking for growers to maintain regular supplies for packing throughout the season. August has traditionally been the toughest time in the market, but I expect our controlled marketing plans will help maintain good prices during this period. EXPORT FRONT We have had our first out turn in Japan. Quality was considered acceptable, however the customer found the taste slightly bland compared to last season. We have another arrival this week. Demand is not as strong as hoped with a large number of South African Valencia still in the market. Hopefully hotter weather in Southern Japan will improve demand. We are packing for our next 2 containers this week. This is a total of 7 containers so far this season. We do need to ensure that only the best tasting fruit is packed for export with the customers demanding 11.0 plus brix for future shipments. 6

7 Out in the Field - Dave McLellan NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT Last month I was asked by several growers about nitrogen applications following harvest in crops. Just to confirm timings for winter/spring applications where required. June/July (Following harvest) apply a foliar urea application (Low Biuret Urea) at about 1% to enhance flowering and get N into leaf. Very important if going into an off year. August (Budbreak) apply a base fertiliser of lime and or Phosporous depending on soil tests (P is the nutrient for root development) and only if required. September/October (Try to target 4-6 weeks before new blossom is open) base dressing of N (eg CaN or similar) at about kg/ha depending on age of tree, on or off year type of crop (ie if applying to crops such as Encore or Valencia where multiple crops are to be carried at the same time then less N more frequently will prevent greening issues with the current crop). Notes: Lime Know what your ph levels in the soil tests are. If below 6.5 I would recommend approx. 1-3t/ha lime. The product Lime Reverted Super contains P as well as Ca and S. It is important to ensure micro nutrients like Sulphur are applied when adding lots of N based fertilisers so Lime Reverted Super (Ravensdown) is a good choice. Urea A low Biuret Urea contains 460g/kg of N and will assist not only leaf health but will be converted into carbohydrates to promote bud health for the next flowering. Also a Ravensdown product. Low Biuret Urea is used to apply maximum urea based N without scorching or burning plants (can occur with high biuret formulations). OLLEOCELLOSIS Ole, ole, ole.oi, oi, oi. Oleocellosis or water spotting has begun showing up this month on some late navel and mandarin blocks. The term water spot has been used in coastal California navel growing areas for a similar condition which has a coastal wet cold climate similar to NZ and a similar issue found on mandarins in Australia is called water mark. But whatever you call it, it is certainly causing some issues. The cause appears to be a mix of a number of factors all coming together to create the perfect storm which allows the break down of the rind to occur. These factors include shelter, wet ground, wind chill and exposure, variety of citrus grown (late varieties appear more prone than early varieties) and maturity stage of fruit as well as seasonal weather patterns such as wet summers and mild winters which can also accentuate the risk and severity of damage as fruit is not naturally hardened off when the cold conditions arrive. Precautions such as early GA applications and early calcium sprays can assist as well as ensuring the block has adequate shelter. One suggestion is a calcium spray at colour break which assists to strengthen the skin. Wind chill can drop the temperature by 6 degrees Celsius from what is reading on the thermometer. The best protection is to be prepared and to learn to read the signs, weather patterns and specific risk factors associated with your own individual blocks. I can assist you in identifying these if you wish. In the meantime if you have suffered at the hands of this disorder be aware of what may happen next. You may want to rush out and remove the worst damaged fruit but experiences in previous years have suggested that a natural drop consisting of this worst damaged fruit will occur and the not so marked fruit will continue to hang. You can assist your crop by putting on a second stop drop application straight away to assist hold as much fruit on the tree as possible. 7

8 Out in the Field - Dave McLellan SOOTY MOULD Blocks who have suffered with sooty mould as a result of white fly, scale or mealy bug can assist in limiting pack out downgrades by applying mineral oil at 0.6 % approximately 10 days before harvesting. This assists with removing some sooty mould when fruit goes through the pack house. Growers can use either DC Tron oil or Excel oil at 0.6% - 1%. High water rates and good drying time are essential. IRRIGATION MONITORING First Fresh are introducing an irrigation monitoring system this spring as part of a joint venture with AgFirst Hawkes Bay. Probes will be available to be placed in orchards and read weekly (during appropriate times of the season) to show the soil moisture, full and trigger points and provide recommendations on irrigation required. This will also assist in identifying blocks under water stress and computerised data can be compared year on year or month by month to assist growers with irrigation decisions. I used these probes on the last orchard I ran and found them to be the best system I had used. Twenty probes will be installed this winter on several properties (and multiple crops) and we will keep you up to date with progress and provide sample reports for your information. First Fresh will be purchasing the equipment and software and supplying this service to interested growers as part of our Technical Services in addition to the established crop pest monitoring, soil and leaf analysis and advisory services already provided. Further information including estimated costs will be advised in due course. SOIL TESTING July is the optimum time to take soil tests to determine fertiliser programmes for the coming season. Call me if you would like a soil test or soil tests carried out. These are provided at cost (laboratory costs) to our growers as part of the technical services offered by First Fresh. First Fresh Pruning Field Day Venue: Date: Time: Wi Pere Tiniroto Road block Wednesday the 22 nd August starting at 1.00pm with a BBQ. A G E N D A Discuss the issues with this years crop profile and how pruning effects size and quality A look at pruning of Oranges, Encore mandarins and Satsuma's carried out at Wi Pere Discussion re flowering and thinning of blocks Overview of new irrigation monitoring systems Marketing overview of the season to date A drink and informal discussion to finish the day If you are interested in attending the field day please RSVP to Justine by justine.hurlstone@firstfresh.co.nz or phone:

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