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With trees on the massive avocado orchards at Tapora maturing, they are starting to produce large quantities of fruit.
One of three orchards in the area – Harbour Edge Avocado, west of Wellsford – currently has 155ha planted.
Up until now, the fruit coming off the orchard has been going through the capsicum packhouse at Southern Paprika on Woodcocks Road.
With local grower Hamish Alexander having financial interests in both businesses, and peak production of both crops at different times during the year, this system has worked well up until now.
But the amount of fruit has now become too much for the packhouse to handle.
Southern Paprika manager Blair Morris says volumes will only increase as the trees get older and produce more. On top of this, new planting on the 400ha orchard will be ongoing.
To maintain the Woodcocks Road site as the packing centre for both crops, a new 2500 square metre packing shed has been built. The capsicum operation has moved into this building, with the vacated 2000sqm shed being upgraded to handle the avocados for the upcoming season that starts properly in July.
The avocado packhouse is the only one in the Auckland region, with others being at Kerikeri and Whangarei, and the rest further south around the largest avocado producing area, the Bay of Plenty.
Morris says avocados have become a commodity globally, so they need to be able to produce high quality fruit, have consistency over the year and at the lowest price possible. The proximity to the Auckland market gives easy access into both the local and overseas markets, he says.
To take full advantage of this proximity, and to help reduce costs, Harbour Edge Avocado is joining forces with Valic NZ of Kings Avocado, which has a 150ha avocado orchard, and Furlong Orchards, with a 400ha orchard in Hohora, in the far north.
They are starting a joint venture marketing company to cover the three avocado brands, with avocados produced on the three properties packed at Southern Paprika.
The new operation is looking to pack up to 1.5 million trays of fruit this year – about 20 per cent of the national crop. This will eventually ramp up to three million trays.
Expansion on site comes with a $1 million price tag with as much again expected to be outlaid as the avocado operation expands in future.
Currently, 60 per cent of fruit is exported with 40 per cent retained in the domestic market, Morris says.
“The Auckland market has been somewhat neglected, as most top grade (grade 1) fruit are generally exported. This year we also intend to supply grade 1 fruit into the Auckland market.”
Currently, capsicums for the domestic market go to Woolworths and Foodstuffs, and the avocados will do the same.
To get the new packhouse up and running, Nathan Henderson, formerly packhouse manager at NTL Horticulture in Whangarei, has been brought on board.
Southern Paprika currently employs 165, with 35 new staff being sought for the avocado packing house.
While the packing jobs are seasonal, because of the overlap of the two crops, management staff will be able to shift between the two operations.
This overlap should also help local packhouse workers, with more continuous months of work at the site.
The avocado industry is worth about $145 million in export and domestic market earnings.
