Business South November 2021

40 | ‘Farmers of light’ hitting their stride from page 38 HORTICULTURE Hoddys Fruit Co duced and a ladder is no longer needed. Other options include adding lights so picking can be done at night. “The biggest thing in the short to medium term is making sure we have a reliable source of workers and keep looking for new ways to do things better – continuous improvement.” Until recently the Hoddy family had owned the orchard for four generations. The business was sold to RD8 Group in 2017 but family members, including Andrew’s wife Joanne and Joanne’s parents Michael and Karen Hoddy, still work in the business. The family also con- tinues to own 40ha of the land that they lease back to HFC. The business grows, packs, stores and markets the fruit. It produces around 10,000 bins of apples each year equating to 25 million fruit. Varieties include royal gala, braeburn, fuji, pink lady, kanzi and, more recently, dazzle. Dazzle is a sweet, crisp ready-to-eat apple popular in the Asian market. Andrew says that the bright red glossy skin, juicy flavor and bright white crunchy flesh has made them an instant winner. HFC grows around 4ha and is hoping that in time more may trees may be available to to plant.. HFC has its own packhouse and cool storage facility where is packs its own fruit as well as packing on contract for a few other suppliers. HFC apples are sold domestically and exported, primarily to the UK, Europe and Asia. Countdown is the company’s single biggest customer globally. Covid-19 has thrown a few spanners in the works for the industry, particularly in terms of disruption to shipping. Demand for fruit is strong but a lack of pickers in 2021 when seasonal workers couldn’t enter the country saw HFC re-thin trees after the 2020 Boxing Day hailstorm to ensure less fruit to pick come harvest time. The hailstorm destroyed approximately 25% of all the apples meaning a hit to profit. Andrew says in trying times trusted industry relationships become more important: “If marketers know we are growing the good fruit they need, they can stand behind the product and extract maximum value from the markets. At HFC our focus is on growing the “If marketers know we are growing the good fruit they need, they can stand behind the product and extract maximum value from the markets.” CAR, 4WD, TRUCK, TRACTOR & AGRICULTURAL TYRES EASY ACCESS WITH OFF STREET PARKING The Copier Company Ltd Nelson Blenheim West Coast Locally Based Sales & Service Mult -funct on Mach nes Cop ers Pr nters Scanners Document Solut ons W de Format Mach ne IT Solut ons M ke Brady 027 439 6626 Trevor Allan 027 432 0064 Tony Snape 021 481 838 Kev n Str ckland 027 256 0986 57 Vanguard St, Nelson 0800 867 426 copy@copierco.nz www.copierco.nz AgFirst Consultants Nelson Ltd 391 High Street, Motueka 7143 | 03 528 0330 motuekaadmin@agfirst.co.nz | www.agfirst.co.nz Independent Agriculture & Hor�culture Consultant Network AGFIRST Providing technical services in all hor�culture crops with specialist knowledge in kiwifruit, pipfruit and grapes.