{"id":449036,"date":"2026-05-28T06:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/449036\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T06:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:51:09","slug":"northlands-kiwifruit-growers-earn-record-136-million-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/449036\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland\u2019s kiwifruit growers earn record $136 million return"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Northland, the region\u2019s roughly 800ha of vines \u2013 mainly around Kerikeri \u2013 returned $136m to growers, up from the $113m they received the previous season.<\/p>\n

The season in Northland could have been even better, but for some adverse weather.<\/p>\n

\"Northland\u2019sNorthland\u2019s kiwifruit industry brought in a record amount in the 2025\/26 season with the region\u2019s roughly 800ha of vines earning $136 million in returns to growers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen variable budbreak across Northland this season due to low winter chill hours, which has particularly affected the gold varieties. Our Red kiwifruit haven\u2019t been as impacted because of their stronger floral characteristics,\u201d NZ Kiwifruit Growers\u2019 Inc Northland representative Hannah Shaw said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time growers I\u2019m speaking with in Northland are seeing their gold yields generally down compared to previous seasons, although we\u2019re still working through the final numbers for this year\u2019s harvest.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, red yields are mostly higher, which we\u2019re 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\u2019s total volume to be another record breaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw said that in terms of weather, it\u2019s been a challenging season with some severe weather events, but the damage from wind and hail has largely been isolated rather than widespread.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the weather, fruit quality is looking good in the market at this stage, so there\u2019s still confidence we\u2019ll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with global demand for the country\u2019s kiwifruit soaring, growers can look forward to even stronger returns next season, Zespri chief executive Jason Te Brake<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 2026\/27 season we\u2019re expecting another record crop from New Zealand of around 220 million trays, with around 4% of kiwifruit grown in Northland. <\/p>\n

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,\u201d Te Brake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese results are something the industry can be proud of, particularly given we delivered a record crop in a much more challenging and complex environment. <\/p>\n

\u201cRecord 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Te Brake said the 2025 season marked an important step forward as the industry looks ahead to the next decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve launched our 2035 strategy which is focused on building on our momentum \u2013 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy focusing on our three drivers \u2013 building brand-led demand, transforming global supply and creating the product portfolio of the future, we\u2019ll be in a strong position to realise our ambition of becoming the world\u2019s healthiest fruit brand by 2035 and deliver strong value to the industry.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Northland, the region\u2019s roughly 800ha of vines \u2013 mainly around Kerikeri \u2013 returned $136m to growers, up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[100520,138,18660,7491,28470,23361,305,23553,1132,111,139,24926,69,5351,1974,6695,1527,1436,6926,2846,102],"class_list":["post-449036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-100520","tag-business","tag-crop","tag-earn","tag-earning","tag-growers","tag-have","tag-kiwifruit","tag-million","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northlands","tag-nz","tag-previous","tag-record","tag-regions","tag-return","tag-rise","tag-season","tag-them","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}