Pāmu, New Zealand, expects its orchard development at Kapiro Station in Northland, Bay of Islands, to reach a cashflow positive position despite current avocado pricing. Since 2020, 70 hectares of avocados have been developed across three stages. The oldest blocks are yielding up to 24 tons per hectare. Stage 3, comprising 30 hectares planted in 2022, enters its first commercial harvest this year.
A total of 30,000 avocado trees have been established at densities of up to 400 per hectare. Trees are planted on mounds of 300mm to 400mm to assist root systems in drying after heavy rainfall. Plantings are distributed according to soil type and topography. "The orchard has spread out a long way as we used the best soil types and topography," said horticulture business manager Matt Hayward.
The orchard is allocated more than 500 megalitres of water annually from the Kerikeri community irrigation scheme. Storage infrastructure is required to manage outages and support fertigation. Blueberries require reliable irrigation during critical periods.
Six hectares of tunnel houses have been planted with Corrina and Ceres blueberries in 2024. A further six hectares are being established with varieties aimed at shoulder season harvest windows for domestic and export markets. Blueberries take priority for picking from July, while avocados are ready from May with greater harvest flexibility.
According to Hayward, harvesting and packing account for approximately 75 per cent of blueberry costs, while growing costs are lower. Avocados have a different cost structure, with spacing, pruning, and picking strategies influencing yield and efficiency. "Are we better off doing 17t/ha and making the fruit much more accessible without the need for hydra-ladders, thereby considerably lowering the cost of production?" said chief investment officer Andrew Sliper.
Labour remains the largest cost component. Seasonal staff includes working holiday visa holders, with efforts underway to extend employment to up to nine months annually across both crops.
The business is trialling robotics for mowing and spraying, autonomous bin towing, RFID picking bags, pest and disease identification systems, and AI vision glasses for pruning. Blueberry pruning requirements across 12 hectares total approximately 2.5 million cuts annually.
"The aim with all of these new technologies is to reduce the cost of production because labour is the biggest cost line," Hayward said.
Pāmu notes increasing avocado production in South America, Australia, and Northland. "We have to concentrate on costs of production and make efficiency improvements across the board," Sliper said.
Source: Farmers Weekly
