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Zespri's Gold3 kiwifruit - Source: Zespri International -
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Fifty-one years after New Zealand-grown Chinese gooseberries were re-branded as "kiwifruit" the nation's single-desk marketer, Zespri Group Ltd, is rolling out three new commercial cultivars, two of which will underpin a major strategic shift.
Growers will be given detailed information on Monday about the new varieties, which include two gold cultivars - gold3 for early-season crops, and gold9, with long-storage potential - and a new sweet green cultivar, green14.
It plans to use the attributes of the two new gold varieties to extend the period in which supplies are available from New Zealand, rather than relying on growers in the northern hemisphere, where establishing gold orchards is proving problematic and expensive.
The company said today that 600 hectares of the three new commercial varieties would be licensed to be planted or grafted this season, and the first significant sales volumes were expected in 2013.
Controversially, Zespri has also announced on-orchard trials for two red kiwifruits on a shortlist for future commercialisation.
Their rival, Turners and Growers, recently launched a legal challenge to Zespri because it wants to be able to export its own red and gold cultivars, and an early green fruit it has licensed, without putting them though the development trials and assessments as the Zespri fruit.
Zespri argues that New Zealand should only export the best and most commercially successful cultivars, but Turners is trying to break the Zespri monopoly on sales outside Australasia because it says that if it controls the plant variety right for a cultivar, it should be allowed to export that fruit in competition with the rest of the NZ-grown crop.
Zespri said it decided on Wednesday to roll out the new cultivars after a 10-year development programme partly funded by taxpayers through state-owned science company Plant and Food Research, four years of on-orchard, storage, shipping and taste tests in New Zealand, Europe and Japan, and extensive work with growers and international customers.
Zespri chief executive Lain Jager said the decisions were vitally important steps in the continuing development of the New Zealand kiwifruit industry, and part of its medium- and long-term strategy to progressively and sustainably grow sendings from this country "while taking care not to cannibalise existing sales and prices".
"This has been the most thorough and rigorous product development process ever undertaken by the New Zealand horticulture sector, and, as a joint industry/government initiative, it is New Zealand Inc at its best," Jager said.
More than 50,000 potential new varieties had been part of the programme, more than 10,000 had made the initial shortlist, 40 went to initial growing trials, four made it to on-orchard trials and underwent on-orchard, storage, shipping and taste tests, and three have reached the stage of commercialisation.
For the red varieties, nearly 2000 different options had been considered, with more than 10 making it to initial growing trials, and two to on-orchard grower trials.
Zespri's last big roll-out of a new cultivar, sold as zespri gold since 1998, has proved hugely successful with the gold fruit selling for up to twice the price of conventional green fruit.
Jager said zespri gold was the world's best performing horticulture product, with gold orchards yielding about 22% heavier crops than green plantings.
"The next best step we can make in our business is to strongly grow the gold product line, and take a major step towards year-round supply, primarily from New Zealand."
Taste tests showed the two new gold varieties were close enough to the existing zespri gold to be marketed under the same brand without confusing consumers in Europe and Asia who wanted the fruit all year round.
"Right now, New Zealand can meet demand for zespri gold kiwifruit for 20 weeks of the year, with the rest being met from offshore supply," he said. "Today's decisions are about taking that towards 30 weeks."
The balance of the demand would be met by licensing zespri gold to be grown in the northern hemisphere.
