Latest news with #FarmRight
Otago Daily Times
18-06-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Apple venture taking off on dairy farm paddocks
Coastal dairy farm paddocks in Canterbury are being transformed into a high-production horticultural venture. Pendarves is about to become a lot busier as 250ha of apples will be supported by infrastructure on site, including accommodation for 100 staff. Named Tōrea Orchard and referred to colloquially by workers as ''the hort resort'', the orchard will be supported by accommodation for a further 200 seasonal staff off-site, to be built in Ashburton or Rakaia. It's a development that will see millions injected into the Mid Canterbury economy. Conversion is going ahead at pace, despite recent rain and lots of mud. Up to 125 workers on site daily include permanent and overseas staff on the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme. Trellis, involving steel frames and thousands of kilometres of wire, and irrigation, is being installed prior to planting of the first trees on Monday. There will be 900,000 trees in two stages, producing 116 million premium export Rockit and Joli apples per year. Tōrea Orchard is the first large scale Joli planting in New Zealand. Owned by the NZ Super Fund and managed by FarmRight, the orchard will become a significant employer – about 85 full-time equivalent permanents, about 450 for picking over seven weeks, about 150 for pruning. The first picking season will be 2028. Among the first permanent workers is Matt Bentley of Ashburton. The orchard manager began in February. From a cropping background, Bentley said he was enjoying the role, especially staff training and hiring. ''People management is what I love. I think that's what's going to be the best for me, growing people alongside the crop.'' FarmRight managers at Tōrea Orchard are just as excited as orchard manager Matt Bentley about the project. Meeting The Ashburton Courier on site last week were chief operating officer Gavin Tayles, general manager pip fruit Red Martin and general manager NZ Super Fund rural portfolio Ed Tapp. The trio said Bentley was an example of how staff did not need to have a background in horticulture for the many roles on offer. ''It will be a new opportunity for people to get into the industry, and we will teach them what to do,'' Tapp said. Martin said Mid Canterbury's cold winters would be perfect for producing crisp and juicy apples. 'Winter chill condenses the bloom and gives a good fruit set,'' he said. Tayles said the development would inject millions into Mid Canterbury's economy. In about four years, the annual spend on employment would be up to 40 times that of a dairy farm. ''The development will create employment opportunities and flow-on benefits for community groups, churches and sports teams,'' Tayles said. Increased traffic on surrounding rural roads would be minimised with bus and van transport provided for seasonal workers from the off-site accommodation in Ashburton or Rakaia. The off-site accommodation would be for picking and pruning staff brought into the area, likely under the RSE scheme. ''We will be looking to create synergies with other local seasonal workforces to help extend periods of work for people.''
Otago Daily Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Canterbury farm being converted from dairy to apples
A seaside dairy farm in Canterbury is being converted into an apple orchard. The conversion of the Pendarves farm is the first commercial planting of a new apple variety in Canterbury backed by superannuation funds. New Zealand fruit and vegetable giant T&G launched its Joli brand in 2023 following its Envy and Jazz varieties. Initially 125ha of the dairy farm will be planted in the spring, representing Canterbury's first commercial planting of the new variety following trials. T&G has entered into an agreement with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund through its rural investment manager FarmRight. The company is licensing the growing of its Joli apple brand to FarmRight, which will be responsible for planting and growing the 125ha. The farm site has not been publicly released until now. FarmRight has confirmed the Joli project is being undertaken at the Pendarves location. Signage at the gate states the project is being undertaken by FarmRight, NZSuperFund Rural Land Ltd, and Torea Orchards. Infrastructure development is also under way at the site. FarmRight is advertising for permanent and fixed-term staff to work on the orchard. Meanwhile, T&G Apples chief operating officer Shane Kingston recently told Allied Press one of the company's business goals was to have diversified growing. Local conditions suited the introduction of an apple orchard in Canterbury, he said. "We had already planted in Hawke's Bay with 55ha and when we were looking for conditions for Joli to be successful Canterbury came up really strongly when we think about climatic conditions, availability of water, soil types and land available for such a venture. So it made really good sense to diversify to Canterbury." He said FarmRight's development would start with the orchard infrastructure and carry through to the start of tree planting in spring. Apples could be harvested after four or five years, but trees would take seven years before they started fruiting at a commercially viable crop level, he said. "It just shows the level of commitment from the NZ Super Fund, FarmRight and T&G for the region and the variety. In the context it's a long-term play." Kingston said the partners had evaluated the projected returns from their investment in the Joli orchard. "As you could imagine with the decision been made here, the Super Fund and FarmRight are in a number of primary industry sectors, dairy included, so they have got a very good understanding lens on returns per hectare and for them this is a good investment."
Otago Daily Times
29-04-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
New apple brand to be grown in Mid Canterbury
New Zealand fruit and vegetable giant T&G has set in motion the first commercial planting of Joli apples in Canterbury backed by superannuation funds. T&G's Joli is its latest branded apple line, launched in 2023, and follows Envy and Jazz varieties. The company, which began as Turners and Growers, a fruit auction business in Auckland 125 years ago, has identified the region as a good base for growing the new variety. Initially, 125 hectares on a Mid Canterbury dairy farm will be planted in spring with the rest carried out the following year. This will be the region's first commercial planting of the new variety following trials. So far 55ha of Joli trees are in the ground in Hawke's Bay, with plans to have 250ha in orchards under licence throughout main growing regions by the end of next year. T&G has entered into an agreement for the orchard venture with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, through its rural investment manager FarmRight. The company is licensing the growing of its Joli apple brand to FarmRight, which will be responsible for planting and growing the 125ha in Canterbury. T&G Apples chief operating officer Shane Kingston said one of the company's business goals was to have diversified growing. Local conditions suited the introduction of an apple orchard in Canterbury, he said. "We had already planted in Hawke's Bay with 55ha and when we were looking for conditions for Joli to be successful Canterbury came up really strongly when we think about climatic conditions, availability of water, soil types and land available for such a venture. So it made really good sense to diversify to Canterbury." He said development would start with the orchard infrastructure and carry through to the start of tree planting in spring. Apples could be harvested after four or five years, but trees would take seven years before they started fruiting at a commercially viable crop level, he said. "It just shows the level of commitment from the NZ Super Fund, FarmRight and T&G for the region and the variety. In the context it's a long-term play." The farm site and total cost of the venture has not been publicly released, but was likely to be a multimillion-dollar investment converting dairy land into an orchard. Mr Kingston said the partners had evaluated the projected returns from their investment in the Joli orchard. "As you could imagine with the decision been made here, the Super Fund and FarmRight are in a number of primary industry sectors, dairy included, so they have got a very good understanding lens on returns per hectare and for them this is a good investment." Mr Kingston said the NZ Super Fund was investing in horticulture as a way to create wealth for New Zealanders as well as producing high quality food for global consumers with the support of FarmRight and T&G. He said Joli was a large red apple with juicy, crispy and sweetness qualities. "We still have some questions to answer, but all of the consumer research work we have done and all of the market assessment we have done and all of our understanding of fresh produce and apples give us really strong signals that this has the potential .... to be a real success for the Asian consumer." He said the flavour profile was sought after by consumers across Asia and customers were waiting for the first delivery in 2027. More Joli plantings were unlikely in Canterbury over the next two years, but potentially in the longer term. FarmRight's general manager of the NZ Super Fund Portfolio Ed Tapp said the initiative continued the NZ Super Fund strategy of investing in commercial varieties delivering high returns. "We are excited to be bringing large scale apple production to Mid-Canterbury and the Joli plantings will bring the total canopy area on the dairy-to-apples conversion to 250ha." Over the next four to five years, as more trees become available, T&G plans to extend the growing of Joli to growers in Europe and the United States. T&G is the sole licence-holder for growing, marketing and selling Joli apples. The commercial plantings follow nearly a decade of the company working with partners to develop and trial the variety. Jazz and Envy exceeded projected returns last year for growers. That was a result of a slightly smaller crop because of "residual cyclone impacts" in Hawke's Bay and T&G also credited strong in-market sales and cost management. Last year returns for Envy increased by $3.65 per carton compared with 2023, while Jazz rose $5.60 per carton. This season's expected carton returns would likely be released to growers at the end of next month when a crop evaluation was completed.
