ADVERTORIAL
Mike and Steph Russell have come up with the perfect add-on to their residential rental property business, that not only offers a solution to their own portfolio but also other property owners and those needing an additional bedroom or office or worker accommodation.
The couple have been property investors since 2008, purchasing run down properties in Hastings and Flaxmere, that required renovations. They completed these themselves in the weekends and evenings, creating a portfolio that are all Healthy Homes compliant, and warm and tidy for their tenants.
Over recent years they have been having so many enquiries from both current and prospective tenants, needing an extra bedroom, so they started looking for solutions.
As well as creating a passive income stream through a housing portfolio, Mike has been a commercial pilot for Air New Zealand and Jetstar while Steph has worked in the technical and quality space of the pipfruit industry for a number of years. Mike was made redundant as a pilot when Jetstar closed its Hawkes Bay service and has transitioned from planes to trucks, using his skills in the air to on the ground as a truck driver over recent COVID-19 times.
The couple who enjoy a challenge, and working together for solutions, saw cabins as a viable accommodation alternative. A cabin could be easily moved on to a property and be up and running very quickly.
“We started doing some research and we came across a cabin builder and hire business in Hamilton, and he wasn’t interested in the Hawkes Bay market, so we decided to partner with him.”
“We didn’t want a cheap product that wouldn’t last and we were really impressed with the natural wood paneling, the insulation is amazing as is the double glazing. The cabins are cool in summer and warm in winter.”
The Russell’s purchased a purpose built trailer from their cabin supplier that transports the 4.2m by 2.4m cabins. They have a target of having a fleet of around 40 cabins. Any surplus cabins can easily be stored at their Bridge Pa property.
“So far the cabins have been very popular as an extra bedroom, extra office space either at home or on a work site and worker accommodation within the horticultural and agricultural sector. We also recently had a family wanting one for home schooling their children”
“We complete a pre delivery site inspection, to ensure the most suitable cabin location, in particular for cabin stability and safe electrical supply.
Those cabins deliver from Gisborne to Waipukurau and everywhere in between. Mike and Steph currently have cabins available, and welcome enquiry, so please call Steph on 027 4444 262. Cabins are also available to view.
I can’t really complain about the amount of rain we’ve had in recent months and the temperatures, though I bit more sun for my solar ovens wouldn’t go amiss. Rainfall accumulations for the calendar year to date are above average and temperatures have typically been warmer than usual.
August made a generous contribution on both counts, delivering above average rainfall and temperatures that were 1.5°C warmer than normal. The Heretaunga and Ruataniwha Plains and the southern coast of the region were most blessed, or cursed depending on your view, receiving an extra 50% of average August rainfall.
It’s therefore all good news for groundwater levels, which are looking robust for the start of spring. The same can be said for soil moisture which is above median levels for the time of year and at field capacity in many places. Soil temperatures were warm for August and finished the month on about 11°C. August river flows were nicely close to average for the month.
The forecast for spring looks promising, with near normal rainfall expected and temperatures warmer than usual. A negative Indian Ocean Dipole and La Niña conditions will be the main drivers of our spring weather so we could see more in the way of northeasterlies than blustery westerlies. Sea level pressures are expected to be lower than usual to the northwest of the country and higher than usual over and to the east of New Zealand. That has potential for a pattern of long settled periods interrupted by the occasional rain maker – a pattern that hopefully leads to average spring rainfall overall.
Percentage of Normal Rainfall
Dr Kathleen Kozyniak
Principal Scientist Air
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
It was an absolute pleasure to see a packed Rutherford Hotel at the annual pipfruit conference a couple of weeks ago. With Nelson in a state of emergency, it was not until the 24th hour that we could actually feel comfortable to give the conference the green light.
I think it is fair to say from the feedback received and the camaraderie and networking witnessed, that we made the right call. Thanks to all of those who were working furiously behind the scenes in the days leading up, to get us to the starting line.
It was fascinating reading the survey feedback. The results underlined for me one of the most important lessons I have learned in this job so far – you can never please all of the people, all of the time. Or put another way, we often view things through a very personal prism. However, the results proved we pleased most of the people throughout, so that is a big tick.
There were some amazing highlights. The recurring themes I heard seemed to revolve around people, partnership and trust. While partnerships were always going to be a key underlying theme of adapting to new horizons, I was thrilled at just how many of the presentations touched on it directly, or indirectly. It really is how we are going to solve some of the biggest challenges facing us as an industry. We are stronger, together.
For me, Sir Ian Taylor was a superb way to finish the conference. He summed up the tone of the conference beautifully with his touching presentation and keyword, “attitude”. Much of the technology is already there, it is peoples’ attitudes that will make the difference for our future.
Walt Duflock gave us some great American food for thought. We learned there is tremendous scope for our industry to work closely with the West Coast of the US, as they roll out agritech and biologicals research and innovation. There is plenty to learn, share and gain from partnering with the United States. Western Growers and Walt provide New Zealand a gateway into the influential and well-heeled US agritech investor community.
The future of our industry was alive and well at the conference. I think the industry is in great hands. We need to double down on mobilising these young voices, they are the changemakers of tomorrow.
We heard from Zespri the value of deep partnerships and trust as the foundation for their success into the northern hemisphere. Charles Finny provided some fabulous insights into the global and domestic trade dynamics – casting a cloud over the short to medium-term prospects of the global economy. We were also given a sobering perspective on the avalanche of regulations coming down the pike and how that is affecting growers’ bottom lines.
On the sustainability front, we got some clear messages of the opportunity to complement your commercial imperatives through initiatives such as sustainability linked loans. We also heard the rallying call demanding stronger leadership and transitional spending from Wellington to help fast track the industry down the sustainability pathway.
Finally, it was a delight to see the leadership and passion of Hans Doevendans recognised with the NZAPI Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award. Hans has been an outstanding advocate for the New Zealand pipfruit industry over many years and this was a fitting reward for his service.
Kia ora koutou,
You may be aware that as of 31 October, EIT will amalgamate with all polytechs in NZ under the Te Pūkenga banner. EIT will be rebranded Te Pūkenga so you will see a change to our name and logo over coming months. The Primary ITO are also joining Te Pūkenga. All our programmes for fruit production will continue next year as usual. However, there will be changes going on to unify all fruit production programs around the country, and new courses be made available. The goal of Te Pukenga is to provide consistent qualifications, flexible learning to suit the student, and be based on industry input through regional groups, such as the Regional Skills Leadership Group. We still have the same team that will continue to provide education and training to the fruit industry through 2023 and we look forward to your continuing support.
Level four students have just completed the Fruit Crop Management course, and have only three more classes this year. Please encourage them to attend every tutorial to get assessment work completed. Level three fruit production students have crop health over the next 6 weeks, and will be completing the codling moth trap assessor in class. We have a new cohort of year ones starting this month, making our first year group over 40 students!
There is a workplace assessors course running at EIT on 20/21st September (fee = $624). This course is helpful for staff who are supporting trainees and interested in education. If you have anyone interested please email Diana, dmorris@eit.ac.nz.
Wishing you a dry, sunny Spring, noho ora mai.
Best regards,
Clare Buckner – EIT
February and March were wet with something like 300%, or three times, normal rainfall. April, May and June were relatively dry with about half of what might be expected. Our big accumulation months of July and August had half again compared to normal, or 150%. I’ll come back to this later. This is good time to have really good drainage – a fiddle around the edge? Personally, I’m seeing standing water where I have not before. No wonder sprayers are making a mess.
Winter chilling was the lowest that it has been in the last five years. Comparing this winter just gone with 2018, which had good amounts of accumulation we are missing about 20% of the units. Looking at the numbers in a different way, June, July and August were all about 1.5°C warmer, in a comparison with the last 18 years. A bit less of an increase near the coast and a bit more dramatic in our more inland growing areas. Yet flowers of apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums seems to be of good quality and in sufficient numbers. That would indicate that was sufficient winter chilling even with reduced accumulation. Cherries are still waking up, and do require more chilling so we shall see what happens. Cherry responds well to dormancy enhancing products should these become more necessary with continuing warm winters. So at least for this part of the climate matrix we do have a fiddle to apply.
That frost was a doozy! Not hugely deep but long, with some starting protection at 8:30pm. There are reports of -3.5°C but mostly in the -2°C area. Without frost protection fruitlets are absolutely smoked and there will be losses, but there are no wide-spread loss reports. All that rain was perhaps the saviour as the wet soils prevented the situation from being so much worse. Any damage will be well visible by now. A bit more than a fiddle with water, wind machines and helicopters used, but the crop, in large part was saved.
Back to water again, and what might be the unknown at this stage, and perhaps the major influence for the season. The obvious is getting cover sprays on for brown rot and botrytis control. A warm day at full bloom might be good enough for pollination and then we wait to see what happens with fruit set. As Ronald Vermeulen said at the recent field days, it’s the stresses at pollination and post-pollination that influence set. Too much or too little of a critical input can trigger fruit drop.
With good drainage, enough of the root hairs will be strong enough to support the fruit that has been pollinated, sprayed, frost protected and sufficiently chilled to carry a crop. Maybe the stressors that we are encountering will set a crop close to ideal. We shall see.
Now let’s see how the cherries and apples go!
Richard Mills
Summerfruit Technical Advisor
021 632559
Spring has arrived and the first green tips are out. It would help if the wind would blow away the rain clouds to help the soil dry out, as this would allow us to spread fertilizer and spray out weeds to be ready for the next season. May it be a good one.
Zespri has released its August forecast for the season. It is disappointing that OGR for both Gold and Green kiwifruit was reduced by a substantial amount. It is not the customer that let us down, but rather increases in the cost of fuel and materials as well as the high number of onshore and offshore fruit loss. The latter is the highest fruit loss deduction ever, costing growers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Our industry needs to and will address this issue, starting with a quality review of the whole supply chain. If the Zespri roadshow in Napier is any indication, there are plenty of ideas of how we can overcome this issue. We have a history of working together to find a way forward. To ensure all growers have a channel to share their ideas, NZKGI has created a ‘feedback box’ for growers to submit their comments. To submit your feedback on the quality review topic, please send an email to: qualityreview@nzkgi.org.nz.
The Zespri team is coming to town twice in the week commencing 19th September. The Global Extension Team (GET) is holding a Spring Field day covering how to grow high-quality fruit and protect the crop on Tuesday, 20 September 2022 at 10.00am at Ngai Tukairangai No.2 Orchard, 2 Moteo Pa Road, Puketapu.
Two days later, Zespri will host a “Shed Talk”. This is an interactive format where Growers move around stations to discuss and explore relevant topics, including the licensing review, fruit quality, and the development of improved and new digital tools and services. This will take place on Thursday, 22 September at 2pm at 122 Twyford Road, Hastings. You can register here.
Bye for now,
Jens
Jens Liesebach
KGI Lower North Island Representative
I am pleased to finally be able to advise that the TANK Plan Change decision was issued on Friday (9th September). As it is a big decision we are still working through it and figuring out what it means for growers, but please look out for emails in the coming weeks that provide you with more information about what it says.
There is also still time to let the Council know what is important to you about the environment in Hawke’s Bay, and what do you want to see to make the environment better, which is information they will use to inform their thinking about the Kotahi Plan Change. There is an online tool that you can use to do this, which you will find here.
The council is also running some drop-in sessions –there is one at the Waimarama Community Hall on Tuesday 20 September 2022 from 4-6pm, and there is also one at the Havelock North Function Centre on Thursday 22 September from 4-6pm It is really important that we highlight the importance of a healthy environment that can support food production, so if you do have a few minutes I would encourage you to provide some feedback to council in whichever way you feel most comfortable. If you are interested in reading more, there is plenty of information available on the Council website.
As always, if you have any resource management questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me on Charlotte.Drury@hortnz.co.nz or 027 3225595
As always, if you have any RMA questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me directly via email at Charlotte.Drury@hortnz.co.nz or on 027 3225595.
Dr Charlotte Drury,
View Consult, Consultant Planner on behalf of Horticulture New Zealand
In the resource management space, the most significant thing to report this month is that the regional council has started to actively engage with the community about the Kotahi Plan – this is a plan that will apply across the entire region, and will cover all aspects of the environment – freshwater, biodiversity, climate change, soil management, the coastal and marine area, natural hazards, energy, transport and infrastructure. It will replace/incorporate the regional policy statement, resource management plan (including the Tukituki and TANK plan changes, and the coastal environment plan).
At this stage the council is focusing on understanding what is important to the community about the environment in Hawke’s Bay – what do you want to see to make the environment better. There is an online tool that you can use to do this, which you will find here
The council is also running some drop-in sessions – some of these have already occurred, but there is one at the Ellwood Function Centre on 8 September 2022 from 2-7pm if you wanted to drop in and talk to a council staff member. Also feel free to email me your thoughts and I can collate those and provide them to the council. It is really important that we highlight the importance of a healthy environment that can support food production so that it is recognised as being something that is important to the community, so if you do have a few minutes I would encourage you to provide some feedback to council in whichever way you feel most comfortable. If you are interested in reading more, there is plenty of information available on the Council website: The Kotahi Plan | Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (hbrc.govt.nz)
As always, if you have any RMA questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me directly via email at Charlotte.Drury@hortnz.co.nz or on 027 3225595.
Dr Charlotte Drury,
View Consult, Consultant Planner on behalf of Horticulture New Zealand
Blossom is out on early Stone fruit and there is some bud movement on apples and pears – spraying has begun. The 22/23 season is underway and mother nature has thrown in a couple of really good frosts to get us going. Every fruit season is different, you never get two the same, which is a relief, especially after the one we’ve just come through. So put that one behind you and look ahead to a much better one in every way.
During my recent visit to the US, I was told that the Washington State crop is very small with estimates of around 100-105 million Bushels, (this is about a third down of their average annual apple crop of around 160 million) making it the smallest they have had in years. These reduced yields are due to heavy frosts, which have had a severe impact, they’ve also experienced major return bloom issues stemming from the severe heat and drought weather they experienced last season.
Last week, I visited Central Otago to learn more about how their growers have navigated seasonal labour issues over the last couple of years. The visit was organised by MPI who are sponsoring a HB Fruitgrowers’ led project to support our local industry in this space. A similar project has been running in Central Otago for a couple of years, so we were keen to take learnings from that. The visit included meetings with a range of growers and service providers, it was clear that we share many common issues, however some key differences were also apparent. The alignment of the bulk of their harvest to the school holiday period is a clear advantage for them as this makes engaging student labour significantly more accessible. They are also much less reliant on labour contractors and much more reliant on the backpacker market. Several growers have already started dialogue with prospective working holiday visa applicants. A key message was the importance of starting recruitment efforts as early as possible.
We have our 123rd AGM coming up on the 14th of September at Toitoi. I encourage all our members to come along – hear what we’ve been up too the last year and the new initiatives planned for the coming year and beyond. This is a great way to network and catch up with our grower family.
Brydon Nisbet
HBFA President
As we start to get our first sprays on for the new season it’s a great time to check your spraying system’s are setup for success.
Take some time now to make sure your Spray Plan is up to date. Talk with your spray team to make sure they are aware of sensitive areas around the orchard and how those areas need to be managed differently to reduce the risk.
Set your sprayer up for success. Make sure your sprayer is set up to hit the target. Has your sprayer been calibrated and serviced this season, do you have the right nozzling and do your operators know how to adjust setup and speed for different canopies to get the best coverage. It’s a great idea to get the spray team to check coverage with water sensitive papers throughout the season as the canopy changes.
Have systems in place that make it easy for staff to get things right. Things like spray round checklists, daily maintenance checklists and clean up checklists help prevent mistakes and keep equipment working at a high standard. Take time to make sure your team are trained up and understand both the equipment and how to keep themselves safe during spraying this season.
It was awesome to see such a fantastic turn out to the NZAPI ‘Skill Up for Spraying’ training day in Hawkes Bay last week. Hopefully those that came along got some great tips and tricks to ensure they have a safe and successful spray season.
All the best for the coming season, and remember we are here to help, just give us a call.
