Our foray into the apple industry commenced with the purchase of an orchard in June 2016. The orchard is on Dartmoor Road, Puketapu, Napier. It has 5.78 hectares of apples and approximately half of the orchard has been removed and replanted in August 2016.
The orchard has been expanded with the purchase of the surrounding vineyard in June 2017 which 19.13 hectares have been converted into an intensive apple orchard in winter 2017 and the remaining 10.32 hectares was converted in winter 2018. This takes the orchard to 40 hectares.
In partnership with Freshco, we have planted Breeze, Red Sonia and Pink Lady varieties. We see strong growth opportunities for proprietary apple cultivars partnered with an export-focused marketer.