Business Central February 2021

38 | Pioneer has vision for industry New Zealand macadamias are well known internationally as the biggest and best tasting. from page 36 Torere Macadamias ► Pumps & Irrigation ► Remote Control Monitoring ► FarmWork & Domestic 22 CHURCH STREET, OPOTIKI • PO Box 10 Opotiki 3162 renee@jayar.org • 07 315 6469 It doesn't have to be that way info@thinksafe.co.nz thinksafe.co.nz 0800 600 004 We're proud to partner with Torere Macadmias Now operating in eight countries from NZ to Canada. ThinkSafe is trusted by more than 90 industries and counting. Why? Because with the tools, technology, expertise and experience to be your health and safety partner 24/7, 365 days a year, from just $550 per annum - we’re the most e cient and cost-e ective product on the market Get in touch to start your free APP trial today! Health & safety driving you nuts? “The nursery grew gradually but we got really carried away in 2005/6/7 and orders started to really come in and we developed the nursery to full capacity with 10,000 seedlings.” Then came the global recession in 2008, hitting Torere Macadamias very hard. Vanessa says while the full impact wasn’t felt till 2011/12 it all but toppled Torere Macadamias. “I also had cancer in 2012 and after a year’s recovery called my family together and told them I didn’t have the energy or resources to get the nursery going again. “They needed to make a decision as to who would be willing to pick it up. My son, Walter, put his hand up, left his job and relocated back to Torere and started to regenerate life in the nursery.” A five year business plan drawn up in 2013 established a number of goals including new website and branding and product devel- opment using nuts harvested from the few trees that had reached maturity, to generate income while Walter grew the nursery. Achieving all the five-year goals by 2018 including selecting the best nine varieties, Va- nessa developed a 10-year growth strategy to develop New Zealand’s organic macadamia in- dustry, approaching Plant & Food for research assistance and applying for financial support through the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF). Awarded $995,000 from the PGF, the alloca- tion follows the three distinct components of Vanessa’s visionary growth strategy. Stage one is to grow the industry from the ground up by increasing plantings and devel- oping training and grower education. Allocated $380,000, the funds are being used to expand the nursery including solar power and $265,000 for classroom buildings and establishing a training programme. “In conjunction with the local polytech’s horticultural unit I’ve developed a two year level 2 – 4 NZQA training course for growing macadamias. “That course commenced September this year and at the end the students will be quali- fied macadamia orchard managers.” The nursery has now been expanded from 10,000 seedlings to 50,000 annually. Stage two is all about science and research to verify the nutritional value of the nine varieties of the macadamia trees and to see if there are any differences between them. “We have three research projects running with Plant & Food Research for Pollination, Early Crop Yields and Insect & Pest Tracking. A fourth project to analyse the composition of the nine varieties and develop NZ’s own macadamia Nutrition Food label has just been applied for. The third stage is to develop harvesting and processing facilities at Torere, a grower co-op- erative, and to establish an organic processing factory. The $350,000 loan for this stage has not been uplifted by Torere Macadamias yet. The funding from PGF is a real vote of con- fidence in what we are doing and has allowed us to implement the next three stages of our development, something we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.” Vanessa’s nine-hectare block across the road from the nursery has been progressively planted in macadamia trees with the final 1000 to be planted during 2021. Of the existing 1500 trees, 1200 are harvested with the balance used as ‘mother trees’ providing the scions for grafting in the nursery. Last year Torere Macadamias harvested 12-tonne of nuts, though Vanessa feels this year’s harvest will be slightly down. “We have a huge on-line presence for our macadamias. “I develop the products that I love, using our Gisborne Farmers Markets for validation of the products. “We also supply organic outlets around the country. Rutherford and Meyer, New Zea- land’s manufacturer of crackers, take about 50% of our volume.” Perhaps in the future, we may see organic and natural New Zealand macadamias in a box with a kiwi on the front. “We have a huge on-line presence for our macadamias. I develop the products that I love, using our Gisborne Farmers Markets for validation of the products.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT