What about our closest overseas market, Australia

DECEMBER 2017

TECHNICAL INFO

Getting the most out of AvoGreen Page 4

TREVELYAN’S UPDATE

Nursery UpdatePage 2

LOCAL MARKET

Local Market ReportPage 7

GENERAL NEWS

Staff ProfilePage 8

Chris Bailey AVOCADO GROWER

In August I visited Australia as part of AVOCO’s grower tour. I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of my observations. We visited three of the biggest growers and packhouses in Australia, which are all family-owned. South of Perth at Pemberton are the Delroys. They pack approx. 900,000 trays.

The Francescos in WA pack approx. 1 million trays, and have a packhouse and high-pressure processing plant. North of Brisbane at Bundaberg we visited Simpson farms, who pack approx. 1 million trays and also have a high-pressure processing plant.

As a comparison, AVOCO will this season export approx. 1.5 million trays from about 700 growers.

Points from the visitAustralia has a huge flowering coming on for the 2018 season. There are big plantings in all areas with a three year wait for trees. When these come on stream there will be added pressure to the markets although there are a fair number of old plantings that are

either dropping off or being replaced. There is good cooperation between all the Australian entities we visited and AVOCO starting to emerge.

The size of the Aussie market is quite eye opening, and they have an eight day shed to market delivery time for Western Australia compared to our 21-28 days. Western Australians are looking at expanding into Thailand (this is an opportunity for us as they will struggle to fill this slot once it grows). The Mexicans had applied for avocado entry into Australia as part of a trade deal but missed out.

The Australians also have a high wage cost approx. $28 hour. All the fruit they market is essentially local market for

them so they have a higher packout rate than us but are able to sell at a similar price to us (we saw some fruit that we would classify for oil).

The Australians do pluck pick some crops with minimal problems because of the drier climate so lower rot pressure and the maximum eight day delivery time to the market floor. But it doesn’t look as good on the market floor so is a bit cheaper and not as well received. AVOCO has worked hard to create a relationship with the Australians to maximise opportunities and minimise overlaps which means the benefits are starting to show up now.

ConsequentlyWe have a much stronger and stable Australian market. The fruit quality is generally better as the fruit moves through quicker. There is a clear preference for NZ fruit when it is in season. The Australians, because of AVOCO’s size and ethos, are now working with us as a stable and long-term partner.

NZ can continue expanding out, knowing that the Australians are also working towards increasing the export opportunities both in Australia and further afield.

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2 TREVELYAN’S AVOCADO QUARTERLY DECEMBER 2017

Orchard Health & Safety boards

Nursery Update

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We are now adding orders to the wait list for trees available in 2020.

This year we have sold:

• 2520 Hass on Zutano

• 386 Zutano on Zutano

• 30 Edranol on Zutano

Our graft success rate for our seedling trees was approximately 78%. We have now laid down all of our seeds for next season.

We have successfully produced roots on our trial clonal trees, and are hoping to obtain the sublicense agreement for the propagation of Dusa and Bounty soon.

Danni van der Heijden AVOCADO GROWER LIASON

Clonal avocado on removal from the etiolation room.

Rooted clonal plants. Roots forming on clonal rootstock

New Zealand health and safety laws require that site safety information is displayed at the entrance to every orchard.

Trevelyan’s have arranged for Mackie Signs to produce a board that meets these requirements.

These boards cost around $300 each to manufacture and install.

Trevelyan’s will pay half of this amount if you choose to get one of these boards. Trevelyan’s will also install them for you. The more boards we order, the cheaper the price gets. If you would like one of these boards please let your grower services

rep know so the manufacture and installation can be arranged. We have also sourced a weather proof plastic bin to house a Visitor sign in book and an updated Hazards Register to record any new or daily hazards. These plastic bins can be fixed to the existing Orchard Health and Safety board and cost $58 plus gst.

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As at 1st December we were 50% harvested (3000 bins), which is right on flow plan. Our fruit size continues to track larger than the industry by two whole count sizes (22.3 vs 24.3). The largest fruit of the season so far goes to John and Margaret Scrimgeour at 563 grams!

The export market continues to perform very well. Growers can expect record returns this season. Because of the high market returns, the late harvest incentive is going to pay more than expected. As the graph below shows, people picking at the end of January can expect around an extra $8-$9 per tray. This is great news, and will go some way to rewarding growers who hang fruit late.

In other news, in late November Trevelyan’s were asked by the industry to do some work on preparing our packhouse, and some growers, for a trial shipment to China.

This process has shown us that we need to be at the top of our game with

regards to compliance. As growers, you need to make sure you are operating as per the AvoGreen standard. This includes (but is not limited to):

• Your monitoring result lasts for 28 days. If you don’t get a spray on in that time you need to monitor again before spraying.

• Please only spray products that target the pests that have been identified on your orchard.

• Ask for advice from your grower rep, spray contractor, or NZ Avocado whenever you would like another opinion.

We at Trevelyan’s are excited about the opportunities this new market present us.

Finally, have a great Christmas and New Year, and we hope the fruit sets successfully!

Operational Update Daniel Birnie AVOCADO MANAGER

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ISO Week 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Per tray estimated incentive - estimate based on 25 ct and larger values

late harvest compensation

These values are based on an FOB value that can rise and fall subject to market conditions. This model should only be used as a guide as the final per tray value will vary.

4 TREVELYAN’S AVOCADO QUARTERLY DECEMBER 2017

Pest Control

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SPRAYS APPLIEDAVOGREEN MONITORING RESULTS

PEST LEVELS AND SPRAY APPLICATIONS

John and Margaret Scrimgeour have had successful results this season on their Maniatutu Road orchard through effective use of the AvoGreen programme.

The pair harvested approximately 60% of their crop between late October and early November this year. Their fruit had a packout of 79%, which is higher than the Trevelyan’s season average so far

(67%), and less of their fruit graded out of export was due to thrips and leafroller damage compared to the Trevelyan’s average.

The Scrimgeours use Trevelyan’s AvoGreen monitoring service and

apply the appropriate sprays when thresholds are exceeded. Their orchard was monitored eight times from fruit-set in November 2016 until October 2017. When a threshold is reached, they tend to use sprays targeted towards the pests found rather than broad-spectrum ones. The Scrimgeours regularly consult with the avocado team at Trevelyan’s when deciding which sprays to use on their orchard.

The pest levels and spray application chart and table show how the pest levels on the Scrimgeour’s orchard changed over the growing season and when sprays were applied on the orchard. From these, we can see that:

• A single leafroller spray was applied after leafroller were found in late November, and after this no leafroller were found until the next September. Often we find by targeting a pest early they find it hard to increase their numbers again.

• A single thrips spray (Fyfanon 440 EW) in January did not eliminate thrips from the orchard.

• Two thrips sprays of Calypso with Wetsol were sprayed in April and no thrips were found in the following monitoring round.

• Avid and Paramite were sprayed together in September and the numbers of six spotted mites found on the orchard decreased following this.

Please note that Altacor has a 180 day withholding period for Korea. We would recommend Prodigy as an alternative leafroller spray. Fyfanon 440 EW is an organophosphate and may impact some beneficial organisms.

Getting the most out of AvoGreen

Key points:• Monitor your orchard regularly.

• Spray in response to pest finds in a timely manner.

• Ask for advice – talk to your packhouse rep and your spray contractor.

5DECEMBER 2017 TREVELYAN’S AVOCADO QUARTERLY

Every year during late spring, and following “bees out”, avocado growers anxiously inspect their orchards wondering if their efforts will be rewarded with a good set or whether they are faced with fruit set failure. The situation is further complicated by the very low fruit set rates associated with avocado where we require less than 0.1% fruit set. A typical large tree has more than a million flowers and all we require is 600-900 fruit to be set (900 fruit per tree equates to 22.5 tonnes/ha using a 100 tree per ha spacing). And so, we inspect our orchards every few days and hope that the weather was good, the bees did their work and that energy stores were sufficient for successful pollination, fertilisation and fruit set.

As we shift from flowering into new season growth we are faced with variations around two themes, especially in unpruned trees. On one hand, we have trees that flower lightly and do not set a normal crop. They rapidly become predominantly vegetative with excess vegetative shoot growth. On the other extreme, there are trees that flower very heavily, set well and then struggle to get their vegetative shoot growth going. Less often we see well-balanced trees with both good flowering and sufficient vegetative shoot growth. Spring shoot growth is very important as it is the flowering wood for the following season.

As the 2017/18 harvest is considered an industry “down” year we expect that most avocado orchards will have flowered very heavily and that growers will be facing the challenge of forcing vegetative growth. What we know is that alternate bearing is the default for most commercial avocado orchards, and that alternate bearing often amplifies over seasons. In a study analysing individual tree records, not orchard records, more than two thirds of trees had high alternate bearing indexes. In 2016 at the AVOCO Conference, Carol Lovatt presented compelling science-based evidence for this alternate bearing tendancy in Hass avocado.

The physiological driver for alternate bearing is the inability to produce spring and early summer flush. About this there is no debate! The key question we need to ask is what

controls the release of vegetative buds in avocado trees that have set heavily. Current knowledge is that bud release is under hormonal, not nutritional control, and this is referred to as “correlative bud inhibition”.

Auxin (a plant growth hormone) produced by the fruitlets is exported from the panicle and as it moves along down the stem and branch structures it prevents vegetative buds from growing. Applying nitrogen onto trees does not overcome this inhibition. In fact, it will often only

make the situation worse by over stimulating late summer/autumn flush once the correlative inhibition effect is over. Israeli research has shown that late summer flush further depletes scarce starch reserves predisposing the avocado tree to “cuking” the following spring.

However, we do have some very good tools to assist with vegetative growth and they have been shown to be effective either scientifically in experimentation or commercially in orchard practise:

Releasing spring flush in heavy flowering and cropping trees Jonathan Cutting

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• Pruning (reducing the crop load, and reducing the strong auxin driven correlative inhibition signal preventing vegetative growth).

• Good root health (providing a natural endemic source of root produced cytokinins which can over-ride the auxin driven correlative inhibition signal).

• Application of cytokinin containing bio-stimulants (such as Stimplex)

• Well balanced fertiliser programmes.

Pruning is an essential tool for the grower to manage and reduce alternate bearing. Trials in New Zealand have shown that return bloom and cropping can be improved with heavy flower pruning and/or early summer pruning to balance crop load. We do not yet have all the pruning answers and we accept that annual or continuous avocado pruning in New Zealand is an evolving art. We also need to be aware that we face the additional challenge of very late harvest and dealing with canopies with fruit in them. Brave growers experimenting and trying new pruning options, styles and approached are gaining experience. We are largely “stuck” with our tree genetics and each orchard has nuances that prevents a “one size fits all” approach. I am confident that over the next decade pruning will be refined and become an essential input carried out 2-4 times a year.

Good root health is essential for alternate bearing management. Roots are the primary source of cytokinins in the tree. Cytokinins are an essential group of plant “hormones” that drive key physiological phenomena including:

• Assisting with the regulation of

apical dominance (in balance with auxin) and the release of buds from inhibition.

• Key hormone driving cell differentiation and therefore plays a role in “dominance” phenomena (big fruit versus small fruit, “cuking” and which fruit drop).

• Delays leaf aging and chlorophyll breakdown (key role).

• Flowering (differentiation of flower structures) and fruit set (as part of a complex set of hormones).

In a number of orchards, root health has suffered this past winter and spring, with regular flooding and above average rainfall. Overall there has been a significant contraction of root systems due to heavy flowering or where flooding has occurred (or both). Trees may need additional inputs to help them re-grow a healthy root system and the severity of root drowning and/or Phytophthora may only become obvious from January on.

Bio-stimulant sprays are emerging as powerful and useful tools. Most bio-stimulant sprays are seaweed or kelp-based and contain complexes of natural “hormones” and organically complexed nutrients. Depending on the raw material they tend to be either cytokinin dominant (for example Stimplex) or auxin dominant (for example Kelpak). Choice of bio-stimulant is dependent on the outcome you are aiming for. For example, a horse race course that needs to stimulate and repair turf would use an auxin dominant bio-stimulant whereas releasing lateral buds from inhibition (“feathering” in apple industry speak) requires a product biased toward cytokinins. Last year Prof Carol Lovatt gave

a comprehensive presentation at the AVOCO Conference explaining the role and interaction of plant hormones and the part they play in alternate bearing in avocado. There are also a number of synthetic proprietary “hormone” mixtures on the market including Berrelex, Pro-Gibb and Promalin. I mention this to reinforce the role of plant hormones in general commercial horticulture; for example, rooting stimulation in the nursery situation. In the case of avocados, we are looking to release buds from inhibition and to prolong leaf life. A cytokinin biased product, such as Stimplex, would be the appropriate choice in spring when vegetative buds are inhibited.

Balanced fertiliser programmes are essential for consistent, long-term orchard productivity. The programme should take into account nutrient form, time of application, soil chemistry, nutrient removal, nutrient deficiency, whole tree physiology and tree ontogeny (aging). It is important that annual leaf and soil tests are taken to ensure that the fertiliser programmes are meeting the nutritional needs of the trees.

In conclusion growers need to be aware that a cornerstone to manage alternate bearing is growing the right amount (quality and quantity) of spring-early summer flush typically during the November to mid-January period. Vegetative bud release can be a challenge under high flowering and fruit set conditions. Growers have some powerful tools to help them including pruning, bio-simulants, maintaining good root health and being diligent about regular fertiliser applications as part of a wider tree nutrition programme.

A flowering panicle with two terminal vegetative buds from lateral flower buds both recently released from inhibition (possibly due to no fruit being set in the panicle).

A flowering panicle with a fully released terminal vegetative bud (note the vegetative vigour and no fruit set in the panicle).

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Local Market Report Lance Dodd DOMESTIC PRODUCE MANAGER

Supply continues to be our challenge in the local market this season.

Poor weather conditions in the early season affected picking plus growers were struggling to get to the minimum dry matter level for clearances to pick.

With lower supply we have seen great returns to growers as you can see from the price tables.

Traditionally by October we have regular supply, market is stable and stores are promoting actively to drive sales. However, this year the supply chain has just not quite filled up and so the market place is not as aggressive in their sales.

What’s great to see is the continued growth in demand for avocados across the country. Consumers are becoming more and more aware of the health benefits avocados provide and so our forecast will be great returns all season long.

The oil market continues to battle for supply and they are facing challenges in meeting their customer needs locally and overseas. Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2018.

CLASS 2 JULY - 02 AUGUST - 01 AUGUST - 02 SEPTEMBER - 01 SEPTEMBER - 02

16 $22.55 $23.64 $25.85 $27.01 $28.94

19 $26.04 $27.27 $30.57 $27.72 $29.98

24 $27.70 $29.45 $30.73 $31.68 $31.62

30 $26.01 $28.18 $23.05 $27.39 $29.24

36 $19.27 $20.34 $20.41 $14.64 $15.12

42 $18.98 $19.37 $16.55 $17.45 $14.85

CLASS 3 JULY - 02 AUGUST - 01 AUGUST - 02 SEPTEMBER - 01 SEPTEMBER - 02

16 $14.68 $21.82 $23.51 $25.38 $26.84

19 $16.43 $22.44 $21.85 $23.17 $24.63

24 $19.70 $23.29 $21.61 $24.72 $24.7

30 $15.59 $19.76 $19.24 $20.85 $25.71

36 $14.85 - $13.00 $18.31 $17.61

42 $12.49 $13.25 $17.13 $19.01 $16.9

Per bin $1,527.37 $1,603.72 $1,506.19 $1,759.49 $1,687.85

The Fast FiveGROWER PROFILEJohn & Kathleen MorrowWhere are you based and how long have you been growing avocados for?Pongakawa Bush Rd. We have been growing avocados for 10 years.

What do you enjoy most about orcharding/what’s been the biggest highlight?Growing avocados allows us to involve our family in our business. We also enjoy picking, seeing fruit in the bins and sending them to the packhouse.

What has been the biggest challenge of being a grower for you?

Getting the work done! We have a dairy farm, and getting all the picking and pruning completed on time can be a challenge.

If you weren’t a grower what and where do you think you would be?We are dairy farmers number one, and accidental avocado growers number two. But we love growing fruit.

What’s an interesting fact most people don’t know about you?28 years ago we purchased a run-down sheep farm and converted it to dairy. We did this while raising four daughters under the age of 5 years-old!

Photo: Grandaughter Iris enjoying some avocado in the orchard

8 TREVELYAN’S AVOCADO QUARTERLY DECEMBER 2017

Staff ProfileKath RitchieWhat is your role and how long have you worked at Trevelyan’s?I’m an AvoGreen monitor. I started working with Trevelyan’s in June this year.What do you like so far about working at Trevelyan’s?I like the friendly family atmosphere, the people are great, and the ethos of Trevelyan’s.The avo pest monitoring job itself is great; working outside, visiting different orchards, helping people. What are your main interests/hobbies outside of work??I paint pictures. Mainly they are for hanging outdoors. Beach scenes, landscapes etc. I have had some varied requests for different pieces. I also restore old furniture. I love to potter in the garden, little projects more than just weeding!!What would you like people to know about you?I lived in Australia for 15 years. I had three kids there and realised that a close family network is what I wanted the most. We moved to Te Puke when the children started school and have been in the area ever since. They are all grown up

now and are happy in their chosen fields.My husband Mark and I recently bought a property on No2 Rd, in front of my parent’s orchard, beautiful gardens and some avocado trees. We are very happy living here.Who has been the biggest inspiration in your life?By far my biggest influence is my family. My parents, brother and his wife are orchardists also, so I am in my element having daily discussions with them.My parents taught me to work hard, work smart, always have a sense of humour and never take yourself too seriously. Great advice.

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DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this document is given in good faith, but because in providing this report it has been necessary, in some circumstances, to rely on the information provided by others and a number of future factors, this may influence the result. Accordingly, Trevelyan’s Pack and Cool Ltd and their employees do not accept any liability should any grower or other party incur any loss having relied on information given in this document.

TRENDING WEBSITES, YOUTUBE, FACEBOOK & INDUSTRY e-INFO

www.trevelyan.co.nzwww.trevelyan.co.nz

trevelyanspclwww.facebook.com/trevelyanspcl

www.bayfarms.net.nzwww.bayfarms.net.nz

AVOCOwww.avoco.co.nz

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Daniel Birnie 0274 866 969 Avocado Manager

Jonathan Cutting 027 973 3513 Orchard Productivity Manager

Danni van der Heijden 022 062 0602 Avocado Services

Christine Broad 027 539 5644 Harvest Coordinator

Liz Espin 07 573 0085 Clearance to Pick enquiries

Raewyn Taite 027 805 3077 Packhouse Manager

Key Contacts

The opportunity to market both fresh and processed product must help in

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expanding markets. The processing plants have become an essential part of their system as it allows them to improve upon the quality of what they put on the market floor. An added plus is the NZ processers now are paying a little more to secure supply. Australian processors are making high value products like baby food, chocolate and caramel mousse. As well as commodity-based products like oil. This is an opportunity for our process grade to become a higher valued ingredient and add to the high value image the avocado currently enjoys.

AVOCO’s relationship with Coles and Woolworths is being strengthened by the relationship that has been developed with the three facilities we visited. At the Brisbane markets Scott, Steve and Nicki from Murray bros. spoke about how quality, consistency of supply and our ability to supply over the Christmas period and through January and February is an important part of their marketing plan and for our returns.

We were also shown their new facility including ripening rooms which they had the confidence to build because of the relationship with AVOCO.

SummaryThe relationship with these major players helps to coordinate flows and

distribution to minimise overlaps.

This has been achieved in part by managing quality, reliability, volume and being able to adhere to flow plans.

We are seeing a rapid but controlled growth in the supermarkets as well as wholesale markets without the fractured approach from the past.

The transparency amongst the four entities has gone a long way to achieving this by strengthening the working relationship and trust between all parties.

In the longer term we have an opportunity to be a part of a global growth strategy in Australia and further afield into Asia and beyond.

BF