46 | Tirohanga Fruit Co Ltd T T Richard Loader Quality at the heart The Tirohanga Fruit Company has grown to 115 hectares of kiwifruit orchards under management. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT When Ray and Liz Sharp bought a beautiful home with extensive gardens in Tirohanga, 6 kilometres out of Opotiki, it came complete with 10 hectares of land including some established kiwifruit orchards, setting in motion what would become a highly successful family-owned and operated kiwifruit enterprise. Over the last three decades, the Tirohanga Fruit Company has grown to 115 hectares of kiwifruit orchards under management, including 10 hectares currently at various stages of development — part of which will be planted out this year. Of the 115 hectares under management, apart from 41 hectares in Te Kaha and Omaio, all orchards are located in and around Tirohanga or Opotiki with the vast majority either 100% owned or in a partnership arrangement. “Te Kaha and Omaio orchards are all on Māori lease land and on a profit share arrangement,” says CEO Francis Pauwels. “That’s very special to us because it enables opportunities for jobs, and a share of the profits to go back into the local community.” A full-time permanent team within Tirohanga Fruit Company provides a broad range of contracting services exclusively to its 115 hectares, with the support of a seasonal workforce brought on at the peak times during pruning and harvest. “We have thirty four permanent staff including orchard managers who make the decisions around orchard operations, and six orchard supervisors. We’ve really boosted the number of supervisors in recent times to maintain high quality and productivity. We have a full time machinery maintenance person, and a maintenance team who look after the orchard structures, roading, irrigation — everything except the canopy.” Predominantly growing gold varieties, and progressively converting some of the remaining green varieties to gold as capital permits, the fruit is taken right through to harvest then handed over to EastPack who work with Zespri to sell the product. “Our job is to produce the highest quality fruit we can and then hand it on to the packhouse. At the moment our team is doing the winter pruning, setting up the number and position of the canes that will be flowering and then fruiting, and managing them right through to harvest.” While seasons fluctuate significantly depending on what Mother Nature can put in its path, Francis acknowledges that this season was exceptional, with 1.95 million trays of kiwifruit packed. “That’s one percent of New Zealand’s annual harvest and about a third of the throughput of the local packhouse, so it’s quite significant. The previous year we were about two-thirds of that harvest volume, because we had a lot of frost damage, and the year before that we had a lot of wind damage. There are things that we can control that are repeatable in the formula, but then it’s up to the season and Mother Nature. Winter chilling is really important for a good strong bud burst, as is pollination for flower setting. We really try to encourage natural pollination. The team doing the winter pruning are reasonably pleased with the amount of cane and canopy they are able to set up, and the number of buds per square metre, which all bodes well so far.” Francis has been part of the Tirohanga Fruit Company journey for the past twenty months, and brings a wealth of experience in manufacturing, marketing including the establishment of overseas markets, and distribution. With many team members enjoying long tenures with the company, Francis says career development and providing opportunities is a key focus for the Sharps and management team. “We’re running a programme at the moment with our senior teams doing leadership, coaching and personal development. Allied to that, we started some work around what career development pathways will look like. We can help people with skills, so that when an opening comes up, they’re ready to step in. That’s also important for succession and risk management. I also have a philosophy that if somebody wants to develop in a certain career direction, but we cannot present an opening, what we can do is present the opportunities to gain the skills, fully expecting that in a few years they might move on, but perhaps come back to us with even more experience.” Tirohanga Fruit Company is still very much a family owned and operated business, and Francis says Ray Sharp continues to take a daily interest in the business, taking great joy in looking over the orchards that he played a significant role in physically developing over those thirty years. 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