01 Sep 2023

Growers choose not to expand SunGold Kiwifruit production outside of New Zealand

Wholoe and cut SunGold kiwifruit on small silver plate with table cloth

Zespri growers have voted not to progress a proposed expansion of Zespri kiwifruit plantings in the Northern Hemisphere.

The proposal to expand the planted hectares of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit in overseas countries (excluding Chile and China) by up to 10,000 additional hectares was put forward to support the industry’s strategy of marketing Zespri Kiwifruit to consumers all 12 months of the year.

A total of 67.8% of growers and 71.7% by fruit weight voted in favour of the first proposal to increase the number of hectares.

70.2% by producer vote count and 73.6 % by fruit weight count supported a second resolution to allow the planting of up to 1,000 additional hectares of new varieties.

75% is required on both counts for a producer vote to pass under the Kiwifruit Export Regulations.

For new varieties, planting is restricted to the 1,000 hectares approved in the 2019 producer vote while work will continue to procure Green Kiwifruit from our Northern Hemisphere growing partners.

Mr Mathieson says Zespri’s in-market teams will consider the best way to utilise the fruit that is produced to support sales of New Zealand fruit.

The result is disappointing but our industry is structured to empower growers by giving them direct influence over the key strategic decisions outside of Zespri’s core business. While there was strong support for expansion, it was not at the level required to proceed, I’d like to thank all those growers who participated in the process and acknowledge the many who voted - we’ll be discussing the result further with growers in the coming weeks.

We did receive a lot of feedback during the discussions on the proposal. This included the need to tackle New Zealand fruit quality concerns and the cost of licence. One of the key challenges was from growers who do not own shares who did not believe that an increase in offshore plantings delivered enough benefits for non-shareholders. We will continue to work with growers on these issues.

 

Dan Mathieson

Zespri CEO

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