Central Otago cherries in demand for Lunar New Year export boom

Today, it’s run by third-generation brothers Kevin and Raymond “Musso”, with the next generation also starting to come on board.

The orchards total over 105ha on three different sites throughout Central Otago – the Earnscleugh blocks, some in Bannockburn, near Cromwell, and another in Bendigo.

Robb explained the orchard was “reasonably unique” in that it grew, packed, exported and marketed all its own fruit.

“That vertical integration for us is probably a real driver of the success of the business, and the viability of it going forward.

“It really means that we’re in charge of our own destiny.

“We’re focusing on high-end niche products [so] that we are able to control how it’s grown and when it’s packed, how it’s packed and how it’s sold.”

With hot, dry summers and cold winters, Central Otago is a region of extremes.

Clyde Orchards general manager Kris Robb. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

It also makes it ideal for growing summer fruit varieties.

“The trees need those cooler temperatures in the winter – it’s called winter chilling – and they need a certain amount of hours, the lowest degrees for them to know that it’s time to wake up again when the spring comes,” Robb told RNZ’s Country Life.

At the peak harvest period, Clyde Orchards has about 150 staff working – picking and packing. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

“Then that hot, dry summer helps us with pest and disease control, but it also assists with those flavours of the fruit that everyone loves, you know, those juicy, sweet flavours come out with the heat.”

The “core business” was cherries and flat peaches, he said.

Clyde Orchards also grows a range of flat peaches known as flattos. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

Clyde Orchards grows about 10 different types of cherries across half its orchards, which means the harvest period runs for about eight weeks starting in mid-December.

These are largely destined for export, markets such as Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Singapore.

Technology helps ensure the quality of the fruit being picked. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

Clyde Orchards is also the only commercial grower, packer and distributor of flat peaches, or flattos, in New Zealand.

Central Otago’s wet summer has made for a challenging growing season this year and delayed the cherry harvest by a week or so.

Robb said it was more important to allow the fruit to mature properly and pick when it was at its best rather than rush the process.

Many of the cherries will be destined for export markets ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year period. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

It has not quite been the harvest they’d hoped for, with volumes down, but it is far from a disaster, and they are now turning their attention to bringing in the peaches.

Key to the harvest is the more than 150 staff who help pick and pack the produce.

The team comprises locals ranging in age from high schoolers to retirees, backpackers from around the globe, and 20 ni-Vanuatu, who are part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer, or RSE, programme.

Clyde Orchards has several different orchards throughout Central Otago. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

Clyde Orchards has been involved with the programme since its inception in 2007.

It is a grower-initiated scheme to fill the shortfall of available labour in the horticulture and viticulture sectors, and is also aimed at supporting economic development in the Pacific region.

Many of the workers at Clyde Orchards have been coming for almost 20 years.

The team uses Hydralada Platforms to pick cherries. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

Robb said they were “very, very efficient”, averaging about 50-odd buckets a day.

The team of five picking cherries in the orchard today harvested as many as 15 or even 20 new pickers, he told RNZ’s Country Life.

“It’s great to have them here.”

Clyde Orchards has opened its new 10-room accommodation for the RSE team, inspired by a traditional Vanuatuan meeting house. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

This season, Clyde Orchards opened a new 10-room accommodation unit for the RSE team, inspired by a traditional Vanuatuan meeting house.

For RSE workers like Mike Mangau, it is an opportunity to support those on his home island of Tanna.

“When we earn money here, it’s good to take something back home.”

Mike, a ni-Van RSE worker, has been coming to Clyde Orchards from Vanuatu for almost 20 years. Photo / RNZ / Gianina Schwanecke

Mangau has invested the money earned in a coffee plantation and beekeeping business, as well as building a local kindergarten.

It can be hard being away from home for so long, though – he arrived in October and will stay through the harvest period until May.

“It’s good to come over here and help somebody to help our communities and some other things.”

Find out more about Clyde Orchards and what they’re growing here.

– RNZ