Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2.1
Grower returns and export sales volumes for ZESPRI
TM
GREEN, ZESPRI
TM
GOLD
and ZESPRI
TM
GREEN ORGANIC kiwifruit from New Zealand, from 2003/2004 to 2011/2012.
(Sources: Zespri Annual Reports 2003/2004-2011/2012 (http://www.zespri.com/userfiles/file/
About_Annual_Report_2011-12.pdf)
Season
Cultivar
2003-
2004
2004-
2005
2005-
2006
2006-
2007
2007-
2008
2008-
2009
2009-
2010
2010-
2011
2011-
2012
Gross orchard gate returns: relative to green (= 1.0)
Green
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Green
organic
0.95
1.06
1.15
1.21
1.46
1.30
1.33
1.16
1.07
Gold
1.16
1.53
1.65
1.69
1.92
2.03
2.81
2.60
2.75
Kiwifruit sold: trays equivalent (million)
Green
49.6
59.1
62.5
58.8
67.9
72.7
71.9
69.9
73.3
Green
organic
2.3
2.7
2.7
2.3
2.8
2.9
3.3
3.3
3.5
Gold
8.6
14.7
14.1
16.7
19.3
21.9
22.0
21.1
29.1
Sensory science evaluations showed that this selection was likely to be favoured
strongly in Asian markets (Warrington and Weston
1990
).
Industrial adoption of this new selection was initially slow—the first trial export
shipments occurred in 1998 and the market launch occurred in 2000. A new cultivar
required a change in thinking by the sector including adoption of suitable grow-
ing practices by producers, the development of maturity standards and post-harvest
handling protocols, and the promotion of a completely new product in both tradi-
tional and potential new markets. The subsequent developments of this new cultivar
have been very impressive. Gross orchard gate returns per hectare for producers of
ZESPRI
TM
GOLD, through a combination of higher yields and higher sales returns,
exceeded those of ZESPRI
TM
GREEN from the initial production volumes and sub-
sequently by as high as 2.8-fold. New Zealand production volumes increased to
29.1 million trays in 2011/2012, becoming 27 % of total industry production. By
contrast to this major innovation through the introduction of highly appealing new
cultivar, premiums from organic production and increases in production volumes
were comparatively small (Table
2.1
).
The underpinning reasons for the success of this new cultivar and the subsequent
benefits to the industry can be identified with a number of key factors, including:
• An awareness of the fruit breeders involved of the diversity available from with-
in the genus and an understanding of market opportunities for new cultivars that
were attractive to consumers at a very early stage in the development of the
breeding programme;
• The integration of a range of horticultural sciences relevant to the development
of a new cultivar including: taxonomy, sensory science, postharvest manage-
ment, and crop husbandry. These skills refined areas such as training and pruning
methods, pollination requirements (kiwifruit is dioecious), pathogen and pest
