| 31 Birdhurst Orchards REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Birdhurst Orchards currently produces 800,000 18kg cartons of apples and a million trays of kiwifruit a year. For 40 years George Sturgeon, under the umbrella of Motueka Farm Machinery, has been servicing the Wilkins family’s kiwifruit and apple orchards – Birdhurst Orchards - and the tobacco farm that preceded them, and in that time he’s sold them 30-odd units of machinery. The relationship with the Wilkins family dates back to 1974. George Sturgeon sold Kerry Wilkins his irst tractor, a Case 1690 2WD, in 1986, and two more within the same year. George had started out operating a service truck for the original Motueka Motors, but the upshot of that company going into receivership in 1982 was that George was able to buy its parts and service sections and start up on his own account as Motueka Farm Machinery. The new business began life in a leased corner of the premises of another local irm, Knapp Engineering, whose principal, Keith Knapp, was a personal friend of George’s. Motueka Farm Machinery slowly outgrew the premises it shared with Knapp Engineering, so Keith Knapp put up a new building in the horse-paddock next door, of which George initially leased a part before over A long and trusted relationship a period of time coming to occupy the whole site. Following the tobacco ban, the Wilkins brothers had switched to growing kiwifruit along with four other farms close to them. George Sturgeon was there to help as they made their transition and to share the delight when the irst crop paid a handsome $11 a tray, only to slump to $3/tray within three years as large new plantings around the country temporarily swamped the market. The Wilkins’ Birdhurst Orchards managed to survive, and the brothers diversi ied from their 57ha of kiwifruit into what is now 300ha of dwarf apples. “I’ve always had a close relationship with the Wilkins family, and today they’re my biggest clients,” George says. George initially had the agency for David Brown equipment, then for Case and Case IH before specialising in the highly regarded Italian marque Landini. “We’ve now got the biggest range of Landini products in the country.” George says his son Brad, who’s been working for his father for 23 years at Motueka Farm Machinery , has to be “the most experienced Landini technician in the country”.
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