Business South October 2023

| 25 T T Ange Davidson Horticultural enterprise playing its part On the kiwifruit side of the orchard, gold is leading the charge with green kiwifruit just holding on profit-wise. Nelson: Thomas Bros REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT The Thomas family have been farming near Riwaka in the Nelson-Tasman district for over 160 years. A new generation of Thomas’s now manage the land and have built up an impressive horticultural enterprise that began in the 1970s when the writing was on the wall for tobacco farmers and the Thomas family planted some of the region’s first kiwifruit. The current crop of Thomas cousins, Steve, Mark, Paul, Dan, James and Emma farm 70 hectares of apple and 70 hectares of kiwifruit, and a 2.5 hectare block of cherries. They have built two packhouses and a cool store to diversify income sources and to help spread potential risk to the industry. It was their parents who established Thomas Bros Ltd with the addition of pip fruit to the original kiwifruit orchard and the two brothers remain in the business as directors and mentors. Steve Thomas says that while the Tasman district may have missed out on the extreme weather events experienced in the North Island, it didn’t miss out on the impact of labour shortages in the wake of the Covid global pandemic. As tourism completely dried up, the horticulture industry carried the district through these tough times. “In 2020, everyone was still stuck in the country so there was enough staff to go round, but by 2021 things changed dramatically. We saw it coming and jumped onto social media in a big way to promote how great it was to work on our orchard. “We offered longer contracts and invested in new cool stores to hold fruit until we had the staff to pack. We also developed an accommodation village and invested in hot showers and toilets at the back of the shearing shed so people could park up in their vans,” says Steve. “We also automated many of the processes and were able to reduce 30 short term jobs which is about 10% of the peak season work force.” “The Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme is brilliant and has helped to grow our company by having fixed term labour available. We employed up to 330 workers in the middle of last years harvest and 150 of these were RSE which is about 40 % of our labour needs,” he says. “Kiwis want permanent jobs, not six-month contracts so RSE really helps us to grow our business which in turn, allows us to offer longer term work contracts to Kiwis.” Things are looking promising for the coming season as labour is easier to come by and the Thomas family are looking to roll out more automation. “Now we’re waiting for the next great apple variety to arrive. We grow a variety of apples with Envy being close to the ideal apple. It’s very popular within Asian markets. It’s big, sweet and red, and is a high yielding crop,” says Steve. On the kiwifruit side of the orchard, gold is leading the charge with green kiwifruit just holding on profit wise. The Thomas’s have established a three-hectare block of red kiwifruit which they have grafted onto green kiwifruit stock and believe has the potential for increased turn over. “The red kiwifruit is similar to gold and sold in a punnet. It currently returns to the orchard gate for $23 a tray whereas gold sells at $11.50 a tray. It has a similar sweet taste as the gold with a berry flavour,” says Steve. A member of the Horizon Energy Group 0800 772 077 Proud to support and work with Thomas Bros Ltd. For all your Industrial Refrigeration and Automation Solutions. OjiFS Packaging Southern | 03 349 4434 | case.si@ojifs.com Proudly supplying quality corrugated packaging to Thomas Bros Ltd. ojifs.com PH: 03 528 9065 | 32 KING EDWARD STREET - MOTUEKA And we are the agents for • On farm service technicians • Full workshop facilities 40 YEARS IN BUSINESS

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