Kiwi Produce director Geoff Oliver has bought 2500 passionfruit plants and 500 tamarillo trees to replace the Gold kiwifruit vines he has cut out.

Three other growers in a similar position in the area have planted new passionfruit plants and plan to get their fruit packed and distributed by the Te Puke packhouse.

Kiwi Produce director Geoff Oliver is looking to grow tamarillos and passionfruit on his bare kiwifruit structures.

Kiwi Produce is located at Paengaroa in the Te Puke region.
Geoff and his team manage 68 canopy hectares of kiwifruit, including Gold, Green and 85 per cent of the New Zealand KiwiBerry crop.
He has cut out 2.5ha of Gold so far on one block, but has left another block with less infection where he is trying to 'keep it going through to the next harvest”.

'If we can keep the vines growing, you never know what is around the corner in terms of new control measures.”

Kiwi Produce already packs and arranges domestic and export sales for tamarillos and passionfruit on behalf of other growers, as well as a vast range of other fruit and vegetables.

Strict management plan
Geoff is aware of the psyllid and black leg problems in the tamarillo and passionfruit industries.

'We plan to commit to a regular spray programme to minimise bacterial, virus and insect damage, plus we will be monitoring weekly.”

He says other issues with consistency of these two short term crops, are the turnover of growers who exit as their plants die off and because of the limited export potentials offshore.

'We work with a number of exporters and plan to source some new markets, particularly in Asia.

'The problem with these smaller fruit crops is that it doesn't take much volume to go from an under supplied market to a saturated market.”
The options of other alternative crops for kiwifruit growers, who now have posts and pergolas but no kiwifruit plants, are somewhat limited.
'If they haven't grown other field crops before – it can be difficult,” says Geoff.

'If you are going to grow another crop you need to research net returns you can expect after all costs are deducted.”
He says some growers may be better off looking for employment off their orchard.

'There is going to be some grief as growers try to weather the storm for two or three years.

'Growers need to make a really sound choice.

'In some cases, it might be a better option to make the orchard their weekend job and find a job in town – although that's easier said than done.” Geoff says other crops worth investigating include:
• Vegetables, 'You can get into vege crops, but you're up against some of the commercial growers that do it really well.”
• 'We are working with some growers who have planted watermelons and sweet corn.
• 'Other options include; pumpkins, beans, outdoor capsicums, celery, chillies and chicos – you can grow those in the shelter belts.”
• Berries, 'The structures would lead to a berry fruit.”

Processing problems

Another issue for growers to consider, if they are dabbling in another crop, is the work involved in packing, marketing and sales as an individual.

The single point market entry strategy operated by Zespri is not available to most other crops.

'Kiwifruit has a wonderful marketing structure. You just have to get your fruit in a bin and on a truck,” says Geoff.

Kiwi Produce coordinates domestic sales and exports a range of crops and can help growers with marketing their smaller crops.

Geoff says the repercussion of Psa on the kiwifruit industry may see growers steering clear of investing exclusively in a monoculture.

'It will probably make growers more aware of spreading their risks and spreading their range of investments.”

Both Zespri, Kiwifruit Vine Health and the Kiwifruit Growers Association say it is not their place to tell growers what to do in regards to growing alternative crops.