The country’s food and fibre sector accounts for over 80% of goods exports, and the forecast export revenue growth of horticulture at 19% (year to June 30, 2025, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries) is the fastest of any agricultural sector.
Ongoing growth depends on the agritech that we create or bring into our market.
Globally, the agricultural robot market is expected to grow at 20% annually.
The post-harvest period is critical to efficiently and attractively presenting quality New Zealand produce to the world through technology, skills and our premium brand.
Over the last five years, in a business development role, I’ve watched tech innovation revolutionise post-harvest solutions.
The challenge is to invest in an era of precision agriculture driven by machines but with human oversight and innovation.
Heading into 2026, post-harvest is being shaped by three mega-trends that New Zealand must lead.
1: Automation and artificial intelligence
Robotics and automation are transforming horticultural industries around the world.
I recently walked into a citrus packhouse in Spain and was shocked by the people-count there.
Automation is no longer optional in New Zealand.
It helps offset rising wages and the difficulty in finding workers, particularly during the peak kiwifruit season.
Some packhouses are offering wages up to $50 an hour, but still can’t find enough workers.
The physical demands of stacking heavy boxes and working long hours are deterring young people from taking these jobs.
Automation offers a reliable, 24/7 solution without the health and safety concerns associated with manual labour.
New Zealand is at the forefront of post-harvest automation.
Mount Pack & Cool (MPac) in Tauranga has the most highly automated kiwifruit processing plant in the world.
Its post-harvest packhouse attracts international visitors, from processors to growers, with widespread industry interest in the facility’s productivity, cost-efficiency and sustainability.
MPac’s business has gone from six million trays in 2018 to packing 30+ million trays in the latest season.
Today, kiwifruit is New Zealand’s most valuable crop export.
Robotic graders, optical sorters and artificial intelligence-driven quality systems will become the norm in packhouses to maintain throughput and consistency.
The post-harvest process is being streamlined to ensure consistently high-quality products reach global consumers.
Camera and processing power are advancing and will eventually guarantee the phyto-sanitary status of fruit, so it is bug-free when heading to markets.
For apple post-harvest processing initially, we are using artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to provide the most accurate internal and external analysis – including colour, shape, diameter and weight – increasing the quality of the end product.
The camera grading system incorporates AI machine model learning.
The grading technology enables real-time quality analysis and adaptive sorting, reducing human error, helping operators manage complex sorting tasks more efficiently and accelerating throughput.
AI helps the system recognise fruit defects and adapt to changing environmental conditions, delivering more precise results.
Blockchain is part of the future picture – driving security, transparency, traceability and trust into the supply chain, from orchard to consumer.
2: Smarter workforce
Post-harvest’s future pairs human skill with machine precision for smarter collaboration. Photo / Warren Buckland
Automation is not about replacing people; it’s about creating smarter systems, skilled technical roles and more fulfilling jobs.
The future of post-harvest plays humans and machines to their respective strengths and finds new ways for them to collaborate.
To support jobs, innovation and productivity, New Zealand’s post-harvest workforce must upskill for the future of AI, robotics, IoT and data analytics.
An October BCG report on agritech highlighted the need for secondary school science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) education and accelerating digital agritech training pathways and micro credentials.
An astute observation was the high value placed on cross-disciplinary talent, skilled in both tech and agriculture, that is often lured from New Zealand – and that younger, tech-oriented workers can be attracted by the integration of the internet of things (IoT), AI, robotics and remote sensing.
We can expect future fruit supply chains to adapt in real time to manage fruit size, defects, seasonal peaks and more.
Packhouses will hum with AI-powered robotic systems, predictive analytics dashboards, real-time data streams and digital-first workers managing automation and dashboards onsite or remotely – doing everything from troubleshooting IoT-connected machinery to adjusting AI-driven sorting algorithms.
The Maf Roda Group devotes an average of 3% of its annual turnover to technological innovation.
New Zealand needs to inspire the next generation of innovators into our key sectors and create a tech-advanced workforce – we can tap transferable skills focused on attractive career pathways for young people, and why not draw from gaming communities who can navigate complex interfaces – think spatial awareness, hand-eye co-ordination, adapting on the fly, system troubleshooting and simulation-first robotics.
3: Sustainable horticulture
With climate change, sorting machines are becoming even more essential for ensuring fruit quality during unpredictable weather events.
Our organisation’s AI-powered sorting systems are designed to adapt to changing conditions, helping producers sort fruit based on size, defects and moisture content.
This technology allows producers to maximise their yield, despite environmental stresses.
As countries tackle major environmental threats, emissions and waste, regulation, climate-focused investment and consumer preferences are driving a clean imperative through horticulture.
Post-harvest horticulture is getting smarter about managing its emissions, something that a next-generation workforce values.
The carbon footprint includes packaging and waste-to-landfill, electricity use, transport fuel and refrigerants.
The solutions range from AI-driven shelf-life forecasting and installing solar power through to electric transport, biodegradable packaging and upgrading coolstore systems.
Let’s meet the post-harvest revolution head-on – New Zealand’s prosperity depends on our horticulture industry embracing its tech, creativity, talent and brand opportunities.