32 | REGIONA L DEVELOPMENT Sunchaser T T Kelly Deeks Island orchard eyeing record crop The Sunchaser avocado orchard on Motiti Island off the Papamoa coast is expecting a record crop this year, New Zealand’s earliest maturing avocado orchard, Sunchaser on Motiti Island off the Papamoa coast, is expecting a record crop this year, with in excess of 4500 bins and the ability to fulfil full national supermarket programmes with significant volumes of early fruit. Sunchaser was started by Mark and Gavin Yortt in 2004, when they purchased 120ha on Motiti and completed planting by 2006. In 2009 they bought a further 25ha which they sheltered and commenced a planting programme in 2011 where 2000 clonal Hass trees on Dusa root stock were planted. These, together with some clonal plantings in 2020 are now the orchard’s youngest trees and are giving the biggest incremental production. “Under the astute management of Greg and Lynn Prince we’ve had seven good production years with no alternate bearing,” Mark says. “The orchard has been incrementally increasing its production, and we have younger trees that have produced more each year as they mature. “Pruning is an annual exercise but two years ago, we heavily pruned in the winter just to get the height down, and those trees didn’t produce as much fruit last year. “This season we’ve had reasonably wellspread rain from fruit set in September/ October to January. It’s getting drier now, but the nice warm sunny days really get the trees going, and photosynthesis will be pretty high at the moment so that will help with fruit size.” Sunchaser capitalises on Motiti’s amazing soils, which have a dense ash layer about three-four metres down that really holds on to water. This was discovered when Sunchaser took part in a Plant & Food Research trial during the early development stage of the orchard and dug down beside a young avocado tree. “The tap roots went right into this layer, and the trees really do hold on well during dry spells.” Over the coming 12 to 18 months, Sunchaser will be working on its irrigation capability by utilising the large 12” bore sunk in 2005. During drilling, the wall of the bore was cracked and saltwater ingress occurred, so the project was abandoned. Sunchaser is now looking to test the bore water again with the potential to install a desalination plant, since these are more effective and efficient than was available twenty years ago. “The desalinated water produced would be used for domestic purposes, or stored to enable us to get back into an irrigation regime. We don’t need a huge plant, just one that can do maybe 35,000 to 40,000L in 24 hours.” Sunchaser is a finalist in the 2024 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards and Mark says it’s pretty easy to be sustainable on the island, what with being off-the-grid, collecting rainwater, enhancing soil health and carbon reserves, and using only soft chemistry for crop protection based on need determined by pest monitoring. “And while we can’t claim any credits, it’s well known how much carbon avocado trees sequester. We are sequestering about 800 tons of carbon every year, but we can’t claim it, even though the forestry industry can.” Mark will hang his hat on the fact that Sunchaser avocados are high volume, high quality, and early maturing, and like all avocados, a nutrient-dense superfood and a delicious addition to any healthy diet. Avocados provide all the health benefits associated with consuming healthy fats, fibre, anti-aging and disease-fighting antioxidants, and nearly 20 vitamins and minerals. They can have a positive impact on heart, bone, eye, and gut health, can reduce risk of cancer and depression, provide natural detoxification and antimicrobial action, relieve osteoarthritis symptoms, protect from chronic disease, and even help support a healthy pregnancy. Mark says very weak pricing has seen avocado consumption increasing in recent years, but these prices aren’t enough to sustain commercial production. “There needs to be a recalibration of pricing. If the industry fails to give an economic return to growers, there will be no industry. While we must work very hard to supply our supermarket customers with early fruit and we can do full programmes of significant volumes commencing in early May each season, realistic values for this superfood need to be restored.” BOSTOCK SHELTER TRIMMERS LTD Contact Rob Bostock 027 222 4157 bostocktrimmers@gmail.com “Working with a passion for excellence.” Gorilla Commercial Coatings services the commercial marine industry with: High Pressured Water Blasting Dustless Vapour Blasting Sand Blasting Commercial Marine Painting Scaffolding www.gorillablast.co.nz | hello@gorillablast.co.nz | Mark Hanna 021 025 83074
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