Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
management, maturity standards, storage requirements, and potential attractive-
ness to consumers in various global market segments;
• Co-investment by the fruit industry and Government in the cultivar development
programme;
• The availability of plant breeders rights that allowed controlled release of the
cultivar both within New Zealand and in alternative growing regions globally;
• Investment by the industry, including at the level of individual growers, in com-
mercial scale production and in storage and shipping, to ensure that the cultivar
could be produced reliably and marketed to a consistently high quality;
• Product promotion by the industry through major, highly professional marketing
campaigns.
It is critical to note that cultivar development requires commitment and investment
over long periods of time. In this instance, it was around 30 years between the initial
collection of material that would serve as novel and important parents, through to
the production of modest volumes of an elite new product. This commitment in-
volved the active participation of a number of different sectors within R&D and of
all of the participants in the supply chain.
The initial development of the cultivar, inclusive of breeding, production and
sensory science research, was estimated in 2004 to be $NZ 20.5 million (Aitken
et al.
2004a
). Market development costs in excess of $NZ 50 million were paid
for by the industry in the early phases of commercialisation over the 2000-2004
period. Cumulated export returns from ZESPRI
TM
GOLD kiwifruit up until 2003
were $NZ 344 million and forecasts were that earnings would be $NZ 1 billion
by 2009 (Aitken et al.
2004a
). Actual earnings by the entire industry in 2009 were
$NZ 1.072 billion of which ZESPRI
TM
GOLD was 27 % of total production vol-
ume. From an initial launch of this cultivar until 2012 the cumulative sales value
of ZESPRI
TM
GOLD were approximately $NZ 4 billion. This new cultivar has,
therefore, been a marked success, not just in New Zealand but in other countries
such as Italy. It received widespread consumer acceptance and generated premium
returns to individual growers and to the industry sector. It also provided options for
sales given that demand for the gold-fleshed fruit was able to leverage sales of the
more commonly-known green-fleshed cultivar. A consequence of this success was
that the planted areas of both cultivars increased. While susceptibility to the bacte-
rial disease
Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae
(PSA) is now having the effect of
limiting production of 'Hort16A', the cultivar and the marketing efforts of ZESPRI
International Ltd, have paved the way for the marketing of other novel, differenti-
ated kiwifruit cultivars.
Breeding Apples
New Zealand has a strong history of breeding and developing new apple cultivars.
Both cvs 'Royal Gala' and 'Braeburn' were introduced internationally from such
efforts. A characteristic of each however, was that they were not protected with
