In Northland, the region’s roughly 800ha of vines – mainly around Kerikeri – returned $136m to growers, up from the $113m they received the previous season.
The season in Northland could have been even better, but for some adverse weather.
Northland’s kiwifruit industry brought in a record amount in the 2025/26 season with the region’s roughly 800ha of vines earning $136 million in returns to growers.
“We’ve seen variable budbreak across Northland this season due to low winter chill hours, which has particularly affected the gold varieties. Our Red kiwifruit haven’t been as impacted because of their stronger floral characteristics,” NZ Kiwifruit Growers’ Inc Northland representative Hannah Shaw said.
“At this time growers I’m speaking with in Northland are seeing their gold yields generally down compared to previous seasons, although we’re still working through the final numbers for this year’s harvest.
“On the other hand, red yields are mostly higher, which we’re putting down to the vines maturing and growers building more knowledge and confidence in how to grow the variety. Nationally, we are forecasting the current season’s total volume to be another record breaker.”
Shaw said that in terms of weather, it’s been a challenging season with some severe weather events, but the damage from wind and hail has largely been isolated rather than widespread.
“We’ve had higher-than-average rainfall, which is creating plant health issues, and we expect that could become more noticeable this year, particularly with root dieback in wetter areas. The high humidity and persistent wet conditions have also increased fungal pressure, which has made plant health management more difficult.
“Despite the weather, fruit quality is looking good in the market at this stage, so there’s still confidence we’ll see solid returns. Most growers are still feeling positive about the long-term outlook, largely because of the strong industry structure and alignment, especially compared to other primary sectors.”
And with global demand for the country’s kiwifruit soaring, growers can look forward to even stronger returns next season, Zespri chief executive Jason Te Brake said.
“This 2026/27 season we’re expecting another record crop from New Zealand of around 220 million trays, with around 4% of kiwifruit grown in Northland.
Of the more than 800 producing hectares in the region, there are 651ha of SunGold, 116ha of RubyRed and 52ha of green. The RubyRed and SunGold harvests are now complete,” Te Brake said.
“These results are something the industry can be proud of, particularly given we delivered a record crop in a much more challenging and complex environment.
“Record per hectare returns and our improved per tray returns reflect improved yields and our ability to secure strong value for growers, shareholders and our communities through the strength of our brand and supply chain,” he said.
Te Brake said the 2025 season marked an important step forward as the industry looks ahead to the next decade.
“We’ve launched our 2035 strategy which is focused on building on our momentum – ensuring we continue to invest in quality, capability and market development so we can consistently deliver strong returns for growers and sustained value for shareholders over the long term.
“By focusing on our three drivers – building brand-led demand, transforming global supply and creating the product portfolio of the future, we’ll be in a strong position to realise our ambition of becoming the world’s healthiest fruit brand by 2035 and deliver strong value to the industry.”