Zespri is positioned to grow its gold kiwifruit supply beyond 60m trays in coming seasons, after announcing plans to ramp up its Psa recovery programme.
New Zealand’s single desk kiwifruit marketer will allocate 1,130ha of licences for its more Psa-tolerant gold cultivar Gold3 this year, 288ha more than was originally intended.
This includes 442ha of one-for-one licences, where growers of Zespri’s original gold variety, Hort16a, can transfer to Gold3.
The remaining licences will be issued to new developments and growers wishing to convert from green varieties.
Zespri Chairman Peter McBride said increasing the licence allocation fitted a trend within the New Zealand industry, which has seen growers increasingly looking to broaden their varietal portfolios.
“Following this licensing round, around 60 percent of New Zealand kiwifruit growers will grow at least one Zespri licensed variety, showing the continued transformation of the industry from its historical reliance on Hayward to increasing diversification of cultivars at orchard level,” McBride said.
“Our intention has been to build gold supply towards 60m trays and this year’s allocation almost gets us there.”
Under a review of its grafting restrictions, Zespri will allow growers, who have been allocated a licence, to choose when they transfer to the new cultivar.
The moved is aimed at preventing a significant gold supply shortage during the transition phase.
“Zespri will allow growers to delay grafting this year if they prefer, so we have a more phased increase in future volumes,” McBride said.
“Growers who elect to defer grafting until after 2014 will also be able to defer their licence payments for an additional year.”
Since its commercial release in 2010, Gold3 has shown a greater level of tolerance to Psa than Hort16a.
This, combined with Gold3’s commercial qualities, has made it the cornerstone of the recovery pathway, which aims to grow gold volumes beyond pre-Psa levels.
“This spring is a critical period for us to understand how well Gold3 can produce in a Psa environment and while it is clear growing in the Psa environment will be challenging, the demand for Gold3 licences this year is testimony to an emerging confidence by growers in the variety,” McBride said.
“Zespri is building up Gold volumes in response to the medium- and long-term demand we see from emerging markets.”
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