36 | Prime Limes HORTICULTURE T T Kim Bowden The road to growth hasn’t been smooth With picking alone accounting for over half the cost of production, expanding the orchard was suddenly off the table. Johnny Milmine’s love of a good gin and tonic was the unlikely starting point when he was looking for something different to grow in 2012. Limes seemed like a good place to start. Fourteen years and four hectares later, Prime Limes represents a sizeable slice of New Zealand’s small lime industry. But the road to growth hasn’t been smooth for the Hawke’s Bay grower. The business began with 800 lime trees and 200 lemonade lemon trees, a sweet variety that can be eaten like an orange. As demand and returns grew, Johnny developed more land, planting another three hectares in the free-draining gravel soils favoured by neighbouring vineyards. He also looked for ways to extend the season and protect the crop, investing in tunnel houses that offered protection from frost while bringing production forward by around two months. His plan was simple: keep expanding and supply prime Hawke’s Bay-grown limes. The business was thriving until the market shifted. The previous New Zealand government allowed Vietnamese-grown limes into the country, which commenced from November 2022, a move Johnny says came without industry consultation and delivered a major blow to local growers. “The grower’s return has just absolutely changed,” he says. At the peak, supermarkets were selling New Zealand limes for up to $50 a kilogram, with growers receiving as much as $20, Johnny says. Once cheaper imports arrived, retail prices fell to $10 or $12, and grower returns plummeted. With picking alone accounting for over half the cost of production, expanding the orchard was suddenly off the table. On top of picking costs are compliance, transport, packaging, and packing, which the grower pays. “We were going to continually plant every year, so we haven’t done that,” Johnny says. “We still get a premium for [the tunnel house limes] compared to the normal season, but it’s going to take a while to pay off the investment we put in.” Much of the crop now goes to juicing, supplying bars, restaurants, and producers like St Andrews, which turns the citrus into preserves, dressings, sodas, and cocktail mixers. Fruit left on the tree longer turns yellow, yielding more juice, which is processed by a local juicer in the bay.
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