Zespri has announced it has licensed 600 hectares of land for use to grow its three new varieties Gold3, Gold9 and Green14 next season. In total, Zespri received 817 applications for 1800ha of new variety licences and has granted 200ha for Gold3, 250ha for Gold9 and 150ha for Green14. This allocation represents about one in every five Zespri growers having licence to a new variety. Of Zespri's 2700 New Zealand growers, 556 have received licences to grow Zespri's new More...

Bay of Plenty fruit grower Matthew Greenback is in the running to be Young Grower of the Year. He is in the final to be held at Auckland's Sky City in August and will compete against two fruit growers and one vegetable grower from the Nelson and Hawke's Bay regions. Matthew Greenback has a one in three chance of being the 2010 Young Grower of the Year. Aged 26, Matthew works for DMS Progrowers and will compete in a day-long event. It is designed to test the growers in a range of practical More...

The initial four-day hearing of Turners & Growers case against Zespri begins Tuesday in the Auckland High Court. Round one of the court battle to determine the future course of New Zealand fruit export regime will concentrate on only two issues - Whether the Kiwifruit Export regulations purportedly giving Zespri a monopoly are unlawful; and whether the High Court has jurisdiction to determine whether Zespri has been acting in breach of regulations 9 (non-discrimination) and 11 More...

Environment BOP has purchased the Onekawa Mata Farms Ltd property, located above the Ohiwa Harbour entrance, east of Whakatane. The Onekawa Pa is located on a 6.5 hectare property and is considered one of the region's most culturally significant sites. The neighbouring land already owned by the council possesses the Te Mawhai Pa and the purchase of the new property will allow public access to both sites of significance. Environment BOP chief executive Bill Bayfield says the purchase More...

Two Bay of Plenty farming operators face hefty fines for illegally discharging effluent in the Lake Rotorua catchment area. In the first case, a Rotorua dairy farm was fined $40,000 in the Hamilton District Court for four offences under the Resource Management Act. Fantastic Farms Limited was fined $10,000 on each of four charges relating to incidents where dairy effluent discharged onto land in circumstances where the effluent entered a watercourse, which formed part of the Waiteti Stream More...

Zespri is increasing the number of licensable hectares for one of its new kiwifruit varieties after it proved popular during the licence subscription process in June. The two Gold varieties; Gold3 and Gold9, are both oversubscribed and the new sweet Green, Green14, is undersubscribed. Zespri is increasing the amount of hectares licensed to grow its new Gold9 variety. This oversubscription for the Gold varieties has led Zespri to increase the amount of licensable hectares it will More...

Turners & Growers has launched a new website for its ENZA kiwifruit varieties – www.enzakiwi.com. The site which is regularly updated includes profiles on each of the ENZA kiwifruit varieties with research and nutritional information as well. ENZA is looking forward to building a relationship with new markets using the enzakiwi site. ENZA marketing manager Campbell Naish says the new kiwifruit varieties are expanding the appeal of kiwifruit around the world and that the More...

The New Zealand kiwifruit industry is celebrating its relationship with China on New Zealand Day at the World Expo in Shanghai by considering its history. Spanning more than a century, the New Zealand kiwifruit industry has forged a $1.5 billion industry with China. This article was reported by Zespri. In 1904, Wanganui school teacher, Isabel Fraser, returned from China with a number of small black seeds. These seeds found their way to orchardist Alexander Allison who produced the More...

Bay of Plenty based kiwifruit marketing giant Zespri is reporting that a free trade deal with South Korea could be worth almost $34 million to New Zealand growers. This comes as Prime Minister John Key and Zespri chairman John Loughlin visit Korea on talks to acquire a FTA. John Key on a June tour of a Bay of Plenty packhouse prior to his trip to South Korea where he is working on an FTA that would benefit the kiwifruit industry. Korea is one of Zespri's 'Big 6' export markets and last More...

Allan Crafar is making a last minute legal attempt to stop the receivers' sale of his former dairy empire Plateau Farms Ltd. Papers were filed in the Auckland High Court on Wednesday, and the application for an injunction stopping the receivers' sale will be heard on Friday. Allan Crafar is not giving up on his farm ownership yet. Allan Crafar had no comment to make when contacted by SunLive on Thursday morning. When asked if he had also made a bid for the farms, Allan said he has the More...