People looking to invest in horticulture in New Zealnd typically look to Northland for avocados, the Bay of Plenty for kiwifruit, and Hawke's Bay for apple orchards.
But according to The New Zealand Herald continuing strong demand for horticultural crops and increasing pressure on land prices and availability for greenfield orchard plantings mean other areas are starting to present opportunities.
Waikato now grows almost 600ha or 4 per cent of the country's national kiwifruit crop.
Two thirds of the Waikato area is in Green and a third is in SunGold. Since being commercialised in the wake of a Psa outbreak in 2010, the industry has been surprised at the adaptability of SunGold.
The fruit has surprised growers and orchard managers with its heavy fruiting capability, and capacity to grow well beyond traditional kiwifruit growing areas.
Recently there had been strong interest in land uses beyond the usual pastoral models, including the successful sale of a dairy unit that incorporated a kiwifruit orchard said Bayleys Waikato general manager Mark Dawe.
"Interest in that property came from traditional farmers interested in having that diversity of income flow that the kiwifruit bought with it with the buyer purchasing the entire operation".
Over in more remote regions like the North Island's East Coast, the potential for land use beyond traditional pastoral had also been lifted by government funding and kiwifruit's success.
