Katrina Knill – Zespri

Turning ideas into measurable actions

Impact Orchard Network (ION) growers have been setting business plan goals and sharing how they’re working towards sustainable with profitability, through data-driven decisions.

It was a gathering of minds, of ideas and of skills. The inaugural Impact Orchard Network (ION) field day recently drew more than 60 growers and advisors from across the industry to share sustainable growing ideas and experiences at Hangawera Orchard near Katikati.

Hangawera is one of three ION orchards now established in the Bay of Plenty. It’s a 4.5 hectare conventional Gold3 orchard, and the most recent orchard developed by Stephen Kenna, Phillipa Wright & family (KWKIWI) who hosted the ION event.

ION is a demonstration orchard network that aims to test, showcase, and foster discussion about good orchard practices, knowledge and tools. Its focus is on methods for optimising soil health, water and nutrient efficiency, and minimising environmental impacts, in tandem with achieving good production and profitability.

The KWKIWI team were vulnerable and generous with the insights they shared on the day, across a broad range of orchard topics including irrigation, fertiliser and emissions management, sward maintenance and native planting. They also discussed their approach to goal-setting, and the data and technology they’re using to inform orchard decisions.

“Hangawera is in a different location to our home orchards, allowing us to implement some risk-management strategies and we’re enjoying the benefits of flat land,” said Phillipa.

Setting shared goals

Maketu ION grower Kiri Tapsell and his wife Alyssa also worked with Scott from Rural Coach to develop their farm and orchard business plan late last year. They say that they’d recommend the process to other growers who have multiple businesses, growth plans, or business diversity like they do with both a farm and orchard operation and multiple decision-makers.

“It’s helped us to articulate and share our vision with the other directors. I found the 1:1 approach much better than doing it in a group course-type setting that I’ve tried before,” said Kiri.

Their business vision is to be financially viable, meet all stakeholder and financial commitments, and be able to transition to future generations. That includes taking care of the land and continuing the family legacy on it through good strong production without negative effects on environment & orchard costs.

“We want to be a high yielding orchard that’s achieving OGRs in the top 20 percent in a way that doesn’t require stupidly high inputs and costs,” said Kiri. He’s working hard to be as efficient as possible across the orchard aspects he’s in control of such as machinery work, nutrient, soil and sward management.

Kiri has set production targets that his orchard manager (who takes care of canopy management) works to, and they’re transitioning most of their blocks to a low vigour system to help them achieve those.

Making plans and setting targets is nothing new to the KWKIWI team but they hadn’t ever discussed and documented their business goals as a family team until late last year. Phillipa Wright and son Daniel Kenna set the scene at the ION field day by sharing some of those goals, and the family have since been fleshing out a business plan for achieving them.

The KWKIWI team have been supported in their business planning process by agricultural consultant Will Wilson.

“We started working with Will Wilson to help enhance our business, succession and to develop our plans as a family team,” said Phillipa. “Together we came up with our four key strategic focus areas; economic, environment, community and governance. It was great to sit down as a family, with someone facilitating, and it really highlights the need to make time in our busy lives to plan.”

The other two ION growers have recently developed business plans too, both finding the experience a useful one (see Succession planning a priority and Optimising OGR, pg 43). For all the ION growers, sustainability spans economic, environmental and social outcomes, and their business plan goals reflect that.

Measurements to guide goal achievement

As Daniel says: “you need to be in the black to be green”, so KWKIWI’s first priority is economic sustainability. They’re aiming for a 2025 target of 75,000 trays from their 4.5 hectare Hangawera orchard, with an OGR of $183,000 per hectare. To support this, they’re reviewing their business systems, optimising inputs, and using crop sizing estimation with Aerobotics (mobile phone-based technology) to track fruit growth and help predict fruit size at harvest.

Their environmental goals include working towards carbon neutrality, and optimising soil organic activity, water and nutrient use. To support that, they’re using data and measurements to inform their decisions, including:

• soil moisture & evapotranspiration monitoring for smarter irrigation;
• soil & leaf testing to fine-tune nutrient inputs;
• crop scanning and observations to improve spray, thinning and canopy decisions; and
• carbon footprint tracking to measure emissions and reductions.

“We’ve also set up a digital form that our staff complete on their phone at the end of each day, to help us to track tasks and costings,” William Kenna, who set the system up himself, explained. “This data feeds into an easy-to-read dashboard that gives us a real time view of how our orchard work is tracking and how staff are feeling each day.

We believe having access to good data and information helps us make better decisions. It’s useful for trouble-shooting mid-activity as well as for seasonal reviews and planning.”

Next steps for Impact Orchard Network

KWKIWI and other two ION growers Simon Cook and Kiri Tapsell are continuing to work toward their business plan goals, recording their inputs, actions and results as they go.

Simon and KWKIWI are also participating in a freshwater management plan pilot this autumn where they will use a new Zespri digital tool and support from a Horticulture NZ advisor, to create a plan for their orchards.

They’ll continue to share what they’ve learnt so far at future ION field days, with the next event planned for winter 2025 at Simon’s Cottlevale Orchard.
Check the events section of the Canopy website or the Zespri KiwiTips and Kiwiflier newsletters in May for details, or contact Katrina.Knill@zespri.com

Succession planning a priority

Te Puke ION grower, Simon Cook says that he’s always had a plan in his head but taking the time to work through it with wife, Katey and write it down has been valuable.

“We worked with Scott Neeley from Rural Coach who walked us through a process of identifying our values, strengths, opportunities, challenges and threats, and what success looks like to us. He helped us to write up our business plan goals and map out actions and timeframes for achieving them. We have that all documented now in a really simple format that’s given Katey a clearer view of where we’re headed, and that we can share with family and other business stakeholders.
Succession planning is a key priority for us. We’re third generation growers, working across 20 hectares in split ownership that needs to be consolidated to make future investment and growth more viable. It’s about securing a sustainable business that supports the family for generations to come,” said Simon.
That priority is reflected in his high level business plan goals which include:

• Consolidate the family orchard and continue looking towards progression;
• Be active in supporting the kids with their futures;
• Have a quality lifestyle through having work-life balance and controlling how and where they spend their time.

‘Looking towards progression’ for his operation includes sustainable orchard management that maintains a long-term view of their family legacy, takes care of the land, and uses best practice, advice and research to inform inputs.

To fund those goals, Simon is targeting stable production levels of 14-16,000 trays per hectare (t/ha) for Hayward, 16,000 to 20,000 for Gold3, and still working to recover financially from frost damage in the 2022 season.