14 | Spiralling costs put squeeze on growers A bumper onion crop ready to be lifted. Sue Russell It’s been a good 18 months since Rural South last spoke with fifth generation horticulturalist Robin Oakley, of Oakleys Premium Vegetables, based in Southbridge and Amberley, central Canterbury. Back then, issues flowing on from difficulty accessing traditional RSE workers from Vanuatu were uppermost in Robin’s thinking and since then, with a more positive uptake of local holiday workers of late, the business has moved away from engaging in the RSE scheme. Across land it owns and leases, in total 450ha is planted in an array of vegetables; potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli, beetroot and latterly onion. “We’ve been pretty happy with our crop yields as well with the exception of pumpkin, which got slammed with hail with a third of the crop having to be down-graded last season,” Robin explains. When Rural South caught up with Robin late March the second onion crop was being lifted. Learnings from last year, he says, were invaluable and this season’s crop has proved a success. Rising costs are the biggest single business stress Robin says. When there was a shortage of vegetables to market during the covid times and weather events in the North Island, with consequent increases in market value, this off-set the impact of cost increases to a degree. Now the national yield is returning to pre-covid levels and vegetables are reducing in price, the burden of these operational costs is being felt more keenly. “Wages have increased, along with fuel, land rentals and other production costs, so it is really important to keep the business model as simple and efficient as possible. Margins are very, very tight with a swing of 5% - 10% making a huge difference to our bottom-line.” Oakley’s branded products are available at all Foodstuffs retailers in the South Island – Four Square, New World and Pak’n Save outlets, while in the North Island Baby and Classic Golden Gourmet Potatoes are also sold at these supermarkets. In the Upper North Island, outlets such as Farro HORTICULTURE » Oakleys Premium Fresh Vegetables and Fruit World stores sell Oakley Golden Gourmet Duets, Trios and Petites. “We’re experiencing good growth in the North Island as people discover how delicious and nutritious our specialist potatoes are.” The Amberley property is due for resource consent renewal, another cost bearing down on the operation. The frustration, Robin explains, is that the resource consent process has not brought about any change in production methodologies. “All the consent has done was confirm that what we are doing is best practice and meets industry standards. I understand they need to know what people are doing and that some industries need to reduce their footprint, however we are compliant on all environmental fronts, hence the frustration in these costs.” Improvements, Robin says, that are occurring in operation practice are not coming about through the compliance systems, they are coming about because he and the team are constantly looking at ways to improve outcomes environmentally, for their staff and for their customers. Quietest time of the year is June and July but only from a production stand-point. Post-harvest processes are busy all year through. “Once we get into August and September, the spring growing cycle begins all over again.” Oakley’s Premium Vegetables employs a team of 50 full-time staff with seasonal staff coming on at picking and post-harvest. Asked whether, at this time, he was looking for staff, Robin says, he’s struggling to fill the maintenance engineer role. “We would definitely be interested in hearing from anyone with experience and qualifications in this area.” A future additional cost will come about as the whole sector in Canterbury grapples with water issues. “I can see we will need to prepare for developing more water-storage dams, to further enhance reliance on water accessed from rivers.” A significant investment has already been made in supplying solar power generation across the company’s Southbridge site, where produce is processed and refrigerated. At Amberley, research has been undertaken to identify the best sequestering crop to grow on marginal land. FERTILISER SPREADING | FARM MAPPING GPS TRACKING | VARIABLE RATE SPREADING LIVESTOCK CARTAGE | DAILY FREIGHT CONCRETE SUPPLIES | GRAIN CARTAGE SHINGLE SUPPLIES | FERTILISER SUPPLIES Leeston: 03 3248 070 | Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz A member of the Horizon Energy Group 0800 772 077 For all your Industrial Refrigeration and Automation Solutions. Proud to support and work with Oakleys Premium Fresh Vegetables. 393 Frasers Rd, Dunsandel 7682 03 325 4170 www.edswain.co.nz Transport Enquiries Contact Eddie 0274 328 429 • Brad 027 250 1166 i Contracting Enquiries Contact Eddie 0274 328 429 • Stephen 027 325 8344 i CONTRACTORS CARTAGE | BALING
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