The apple and pear industry has a new name, New Zealand Apples and Pears Incorporated, a change from Pipfruit New Zealand.
The unanimous decision was made at the industry’s annual general meeting held in Napier today.
New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive, Alan Pollard, said the new name tells exactly what the industry is “apples and pears” and takes advantage of the strong global reputation of “brand New Zealand”.
“In the early days Pipfruit New Zealand was primarily engaged with growers, who all know what pipfruit is. While that is still our primary role, today we are engaging with a much broader audience from career seekers, government officials both here and overseas, and the general public.
“We found that there was some confusion about who we represented with some thinking we represented other fruit with pips such as mandarins, lemons and oranges, which we don’t.
“We can now more easily tell our story and people will know exactly what we grow and market,” Mr Pollard said.
In export terms pears are just 4 percent, to apples 96 percent but Mr Pollard said some exciting new pear varieties released in the last couple of years could change that.
Prior to the AGM, the organisation tested the new name and brand with targeted audiences at the Mystery Creek Field Days, the Hawke’s Bay Horticulture Field Day and at the Nelson Young Grower competition.
“Feedback was very positive and that was supported today by the strongly favorable vote by the industry.
Mr Pollard said New Zealand apple growers have good reason to be optimistic, as New Zealand continues to be the world’s most competitive apple performer, as announced in the World Apple Review Report, for the third consecutive year.
He said the apple industry continues to grow and is a significant contributor to the Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand economies with a goal to achieve $1bn in export returns by 2022.
“Although the outlook is bright, we must not get complacent. We need to continually keep improving and stay ahead of our competitors as the NZ apple industry is transforming into a billion-dollar export business.”
The World Apple Review, released in May, ranks New Zealand first over 33 major apple producing countries ahead of Chile and the US.
“The apple industry has doubled exports in the last four years so our provinces are prospering from this success. We are growing hundreds of fulltime jobs across the sector in all areas including production, post-harvest, logistics, marketing and exports.
“Over one million apple trees will be planted in New Zealand this year and nurseries have three-year back orders as growers work to meet a growing international demand for New Zealand apples.”
For more information:
Alan Pollard
Pipfruit NZ
Tel: 021 576 109