Packhouse Operations

2015

Meet Derek EdwardsNew Horticulture

Business Manager

Gold3 Harvest 2015

Gold3 Taste Bands

Tracking of Gold3 Psa Vine Management Lease or Management?

Bikes, school desks &

chairs for RSEs

Up and Coming Events

Aongatetes New 3 Room Coolstore with 3 high racking

April 2015

ISO WEEK 14-18

www.coolstore.co.nz

enquiry@coolstore.co.nz

Packhouse Operations

Our Aongatete season started early and very rapidly to full day and night shifts with GA/ G3 fruit. To date we have had a larger volume than usual of both Green and Gold which has meant a very busy shipping period as well, with 75% of our early start having already been loaded out. New key people this year in the Production Team (Fish Bowl) of the Packhouse are: Andrew McConnell, joining us ex MPI. Andrew has been working on the import phytosanitary area so is enjoying being involved in the export side of the business and will be working in the Technical Team as well. We also have Ryan Blair who is a Hort Cadet and has been part of the Monitoring Team. Ryan started with us last season and has had a full year in both the Packhouse and out in the Orchards. Further introductions in other areas of the packhouse will follow next month! This season Aongatete have a number of projects especially focussing on GA/ G3 for both low dry matter segregation and storage potential. Nathan Johnson is leading these. Our new Coolstores are running now and ready for our long store fruit. We are very pleased with them especially having them all racked. We are happy to report that our new RSE teams have settled in well and have been well supported by our more experienced workers. There is a pilot scheme this year with two Kiwifruit facilities, including Aongatete to employ people from Nauru. We have ten working on both day and night shifts (five in each shift). They are really enjoying our cheap fruit and vegetables as everything has to be imported in to Nauru. A cabbage for example can cost anything from AU$12 to $36! We also have our first group of Samoans arriving in late April to join our picking teams. Please remember you are most welcome and we encourage you to come and view

the packing of your fruit Aongatete will phone you to give you an approximate time

of when your fruit is running and we look forward to seeing you then.

Nell Dawson 027 549 4998

Where the journey for the

New Coolstore began...

2

Greetings all, my name is Derek Edwards and I have just joined the team here at Aongatete as the new Horticulture Business Manager, replacing Gerard Bennett who left late last year. For those not familiar with the role I will be based out of the Sharp Road facility and have responsibility for the Horticulture Services side of the companies operation. As you are aware Aongatete undertake a broad based range of orchard services, including leasing and managing orchards and providing a full range of on orchard services covering the whole gambit from winter prune to harvest and everything in between. This role sits alongside the Technical and Grower Services Teams in providing support to Growers. So a bit about me and how I ended up here. While new to the post-harvest sector I have spent the past 15 years in a number of senior roles in the horticulture and environmental management sector, most recently as CEO of a national horticulture company. On a personal level I am married to Viv, BOP/ Gisborne regional manager for Plunket, and have two sons Sam and Jack, one in a building apprenticeship and one at High School. Im known to play a bit of music (badly) and ride a mountain bike (slowly) with my biggest accomplishment, according to my friends, reaching 25 years of married life last year. For my sins I have been a grower of kiwifruit for the past 9 years and, like the rest of you, have gone through the ups and downs of the PSA roller coaster, which has radically changed our industry and how we as growers need to approach it. I currently grow green and G3 in Te Puna, and am just waiting for my first full harvest off the G3, with fingers crossed! I also did my time as a bee keeper so always look forward to pollination. My early impressions of Aongatete? Great people with a hugely positive outlook. While it can be a bit of clich it definitely is the people that make the difference, and I have been hugely impressed by the level of commitment and passion that the staff here bring to the job, not to mention the technical knowledge and experience of people like Graeme Philp, Hinga Marsh, the Dawsons and a host of others. On a slightly different level I have been especially taken by the Kiwistart maturity testing programme that the company runs and the flexibility of the harvest and pack house teams, the ability to react quickly to Zespri requirements would appear to give Aongatete an edge over other post-harvest companies when it comes to kiwi start. Since I have been here I have been trying to meet as many growers as possible, get out to see orchards and harvest in action and start planning our orchard work programme for the coming season. In particular looking at identifying any structure and/or R&M work that is required as we need to get this costed and booked as early as possible. Looking further out Im very keen for the Horticulture Division to grow, the company has had some excellent results with its leased and managed orchards and has developed a strong and skilled workforce. If anyone is interested in learning a bit more about what Hort Services can offer you as a grower please give me a call. I look forward to meeting more of the Growers as the season progresses. Derek Edwards Aongatete Horticulture Business Manager 027 543 0741 email: derek@coolstore.co.nz

New Horticulture Business ManagerDerek Edwards

5

The falling temperatures and increased rainfall during autumn/winter increases the Psa risk. The following program are some of

the possible measures you could take to protect vines from Psa infection. Once your fruit has been harvested it will be important

to focus on the Psa management program. If your fruit wont be harvested until early May it will important to apply the

pre-harvest copper ensuring NO WETTING or SPREADER ADJUVANT applied while the fruit is still on vine.

Please visit the KVH website to monitor the Psa risk model for your area at link: http://www.kvh.org.nz/psa_risk_model. The

example below is for Katikati while the risk is still low we are still advocating the program above based on your harvest

program.

Hinga Marsh

021 047 1013

Psa Vine Management Reminder

Postharvest PSA Management Plan

Timing Product/rates Water Rate Optional (extra cost)

Pre-harvest for late

maturing areas .

Nordox 70-90gm/100L 1200-1500L Nordox only 7 day PHI

(or 14 days for Coptyzin)

Immediately

Post-harvest

Nordox 70-90gm/100L

Spreadwet 25ml/100L

1200-1500L Foliars Budwiser 42gm/100L

or 5kg/ha [if good leaf health]

Actigard 20gm/100L

(Only 4 applications allowed per

season)

Every 18-21 Days Nordox 70-90gm/100L

Spreadwet 25ml/100L

1000-1500L As leaf drop starts reduce water

rate proportionatelty

Prior to pruning &

immediate after

blocks are completed

Nordox 70-90gm/100L

Spreadwet 25ml/100L

700-1000L

http://www.kvh.org.nz/psa_risk_model

www.coolstore.co.nz enquiry@coolstore.co.nz

Pre-Harvest Check List

With Harvest approaching it is time to consider checking off those other jobs not re-lated to your canopy. Things to consider are: Loadout yards clear of Weeds Loadout yards levelled potholes, etc fixed up Suitable washdown facilities available and working (hoses ready) Toilets cleaned and operational Preferred designated eating area available and communicated Blocks numbered clearly for maturity testing Entrances Clear for Trucks and other vehicles Orchard Hazards noted and reported to Packhouse including details of any canopy propping, etc Any special instructions for your orchard communicated to Packhouse and Agfirst Removal of stock from orchards and loadout areas (preferably a month before harvest)

With the heightened awareness of the issues and implications related to Food Safety we are seeing tighter controls and monitoring from Zespri. If you have any queries about getting your orchard ready for harvest please call your Grower Services Rep.

Tracey Chinnery Grower Services Manager

Richard Allen Grower Services Rep Ph 0275 307 909

Andrew Dawson Grower Services Rep Ph 0275 940 247

Rod Calver Grower Services Rep Ph 0275 909 710

Tracey Chinnery Grower Services Manager Ph 021 664 276

Hinga Marsh Hort Technical Manager Ph 021 047 1013

Madeleine Rudge Grower Services Ph: 07 552 0916

Graeme Philp Field Operations Manager Ph: 021 921 584

www.coolstore.co.nz enquiry@coolstore.co.nz

Margaret Miller Grower Services Ph 0275 763 899

Alan Thorn Grower Services Manager Ph 021 343 576

Rod Calver Grower Services Ph 0275 909 710

Andrew Dawson Grower Services Ph 0275 940 247

Richard Allen Grower Services Ph 0275 307 909

www.coolstore.co.nz enquiry@coolstore.co.nz

Richard Allen Grower Services Rep Ph 0275 307 909

Andrew Dawson Grower Services Rep Ph 0275 940 247

Aaron Hokopaura Grower Services Rep 021 809 152

Tracey Chinnery Grower Services Manager

Hinga Marsh Hort Technical Manager Ph 021 047 1013

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