LED headlamps aren't normally part of a kiwifruit picker's equipment – but picking gangs working for Western Orchards Packhouse in Katikati have recently been working late in order to harvest fruit in the face of changeable weather.

Kiwifruit picking: File photo.

Western Orchards manager Sean Carnachan says with individual headlamps and tractor headlights illuminating orchards, picking has being going to as late as 10pm during some nights to make up for time lost to rain.

Kiwifruit can't be picked when wet, and rain during recent weeks has slowed down the harvest. Overall, the industry had harvested 52 million trays of fruit by last Monday, May 27, putting it at about 54 per cent of the total volume to be picked.

Westerns Orchards is ahead of the average with 65 per cent of its fruit harvested and 62 per cent of that fruit now packed. Sean says quality and size is good at an average of 33 count. 'The yield per hectare is also pleasing at an average of 10,000 trays for green.”

Zespri Supply Chain general manager Sally Gardiner says the 2013 season is progressing well, with ships departing full and on schedule.

'Submit is slightly behind previous years due to the dry summer, which meant many growers delayed harvest to get their fruit to the maximum possible size. Gold harvest is virtually finished and we're over halfway harvesting the green fruit, which is on-par with previous years. The drier conditions this summer have contributed to high levels of dry matter and a fantastic-tasting vintage crop,” says Sally.

'We still have a couple of weeks of harvest to go and we're on target to meet customer demand for the 2013 season. Sales have been very strong to date and customers are universally commenting on the great taste of our fruit.”

Steve Butler general manager of Trevelyan's in Te Puke says the packhouse has harvested about 50 per cent of its crop so far and fine weather forecast for this week will enable even more to be picked.

'The fruit is good, clean with low rejects and the size has increased. The taste is good thanks to the drought. Volumes are down because of Psa-V but we are expecting a jump next year as new varieties come into production.”

Seeka chief executive Michael Franks says this is a late season and what is required now is some cold weather to get maturity levels up. Wet weather has slowed harvest, and safety of staff working in orchards is also a consideration after rain.

'The new gold variety G3 is showing pleasing results. Hort16A fruit is a little small but is still performing well in Seeka orchards in Katikati, Coromandel and Northland. Seeka has no Hort16A fruit to harvest from Te Puke because of the disease Psa-V,” says Michael.

Allan Dawson, managing director of Aongatete Coolstores, Katikati, says the weather has slowed the harvest which was late to begin with; and fruit maturity is tracking about 10 days behind last year.

Mild weather and rain has helped fruit, which was small early in the season, to size up, particularly on orchards which still have good canopy cover.

'We are reasonably happy at where we are and have the opportunity to put fruit into controlled atmosphere storage when it is picked,” says Allan.

'The worry for some growers now is of frosts, and we are keeping frost-prone orchards in mind when planning our picking. The irony is we need temperatures to cool down to get the brix levels (sugar levels) up and bring an end to maturity.”