More growers making a sustainable income, a reduction in irregular bearing, and New Zealand avocados as a premium and preferred avocado in Asia are among the visions for the industry held by Ashby Whitehead – the new chairman-elect of the NZ Avocado Growers Association and Avocado Industry Council.

Ashby, who takes up the chairmanship this month when long-serving chairman John Schnackenberg steps down as part of a planned succession, says the industry vision is achievable.

'For the first time, a five-year plan has been implemented, focusing on strengthening and growing value through expanding export markets. This plan is a start on the right road to achieving long term value for the industry.”
The industry is also optimistic about its business case for Primary Growth Partnership funding to inject further investment.

'We have huge, valuable opportunities to leverage but we are challenged by low investment in market development and science to improve yield. Investment into our industry by the crown through PGP enables a step change in performance and an acceleration of solutions to create a profitable industry. Without PGP our ability to successfully face those barriers is much more challenging.”
Challenges are what Ashby and other growers have been facing in recent seasons, but that, he says, is part of being involved in a primary industry.

The Whitehead's avocado trees were hard hit by a frost last year which left no fruit to harvest, and 3.3 ha of vines on their 4.5 ha kiwifruit orchard have been removed because of the bacterial disease Psa-V.
'I've gone back to engineering, which is what I did my apprenticeship in when I left school,” says Ashby.
However, he's obviously not about to give up on avocados. 'They are nice trees to grow. They can be individual just like dairy cows and I really like the fruit, which is also high in nutrition.

'I'm a firm believer in horticulture as a good way to create an income. You don't have to be working on it every hour of the day like you have to with a nine to five office job,” says Ashby who grew up on the family dairy farm in Te Puke and was educated at local schools.
Ashby's aim in his chairmanship role is to be a voice for growers as he has no financial interest in packing or exporting operations.

'Our focus is on bringing the industry together, uniting all fronts so that we can be stronger together and can work smarter together to solve the issues we face.”
One of those issues is that the industry relies heavily on the high value, limited volume Australian market and has not leveraged the significant opportunity offered by Asian markets.
Another is irregular bearing which means growers produce unsustainable yields and exporters are provided with an irregular supply of fruit which makes it difficult to develop markets.
When it comes to the value chain from grower to consumer, Ashby says performance is not benchmarked or measured, and while information is collected, it is not well shared.

'New Zealand must successfully compete with other countries to supply high value and quality fresh fruit.
'We celebrate the collaborations which have developed across the industry. They represent exporters who have chosen to work together to better meet the supply needs of customers in export markets .”