Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand facts for kids
Kiwifruit, often just called kiwi, is a super important fruit for New Zealand's economy. New Zealand was the first country to grow kiwifruit for sale around the world. They helped create the huge demand for this tasty fruit that we see today! New Zealand is now the third biggest producer of kiwifruit, after China and Italy, growing about 30% of the world's supply. In 2008–2009, New Zealand's kiwifruit exports were worth about NZ$1.45 billion.
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Where Did Kiwifruit Come From?
The fuzzy kiwifruit first came from China. In the early 1900s, seeds were brought to New Zealand by Mary Isabel Fraser. She was visiting schools in Yichang, China, and brought some seeds back. In 1906, a gardener named Alexander Allison planted these seeds in Whanganui, New Zealand. The vines first grew fruit in 1910.
Later, around 1924, a New Zealand plant expert named Hayward Wright developed the well-known green kiwifruit in Avondale, New Zealand. This popular green kiwifruit was later named "Hayward" in his honor.
How the Kiwifruit Industry Started
The first time Chinese gooseberries (as they were called then) were grown to sell was in 1937 by an orchard owner named Jim MacLoughlin. He found that the vines were easy to care for and produced a lot of fruit. By 1940, MacLoughlin bought more land to grow even more Chinese gooseberries.
During World War II, about 550 cases of the fruit were sold each season. American soldiers in New Zealand really liked the fruit. This helped the fruit, which was mostly eaten in New Zealand before, start to be sold to other countries.
Starting to Sell Kiwifruit Overseas
In 1952, Jim MacLoughlin talked to the New Zealand Fruit Federation. They agreed to help ship and sell the fruit to the United States. This was New Zealand's first time exporting Chinese gooseberries! Thanks to early research by John Pilkington Hudson and others, the fruit could be transported long distances without spoiling.
Changing the Name: From Chinese Gooseberry to Kiwifruit
As the fruit became more popular in New Zealand, people started calling it "Chinese gooseberry" instead of its original Chinese name. However, when companies like Turners and Growers started exporting the fruit, they faced a problem. The name "Chinese gooseberry" had political issues because of the Cold War. Also, they wanted to make sure people didn't confuse it with European gooseberries, which could get a fungus. Turners and Growers even tried calling them "melonettes."
An American importer, Norman Sondag, didn't like "melonettes" because melons and berries had high import taxes. He asked for a short Māori name that would remind people of New Zealand. In June 1959, during a meeting in Auckland, Jack Turner suggested the name kiwifruit. He thought the fruit's fuzzy brown skin looked like New Zealand's national bird, the kiwi. This name was chosen and soon became the official name for the fruit. In the 1960s and 1970s, Frieda Caplan, who started Frieda's Inc., helped make kiwifruit very popular in the United States. She convinced supermarket managers to sell the unusual-looking fruit.
Growing Up: The Kiwifruit Industry Gets Organized
As the export market grew, many different growers, groups of growers, exporters, and sellers were involved. To work together better, the Kiwifruit Export Promotion Committee was set up in 1970. Then, in 1977, the Kiwifruit Marketing Licensing Authority was created. This Authority helped set rules for things like fruit size, quality, and how kiwifruit should be packaged for export. It also advised the government. This gave growers some say in who could export their fruit.
How the Industry Grew
The amount of kiwifruit exported from New Zealand grew very quickly from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. Many more companies started exporting fruit during this time. By 1976, New Zealand was producing more kiwifruit than its own people could eat! This showed how important exporting had become.
Facing Competition from Other Countries
In the 1980s, other countries also started growing and exporting kiwifruit. New Zealand lost its special advantage of being the first to sell kiwifruit worldwide. The seven companies in New Zealand that were allowed to export fruit started competing fiercely with each other. This pushed prices down, which meant growers earned less money and caused ups and downs in how much fruit was supplied and demanded.
How New Zealand Reacted to Competition
In the 1990s, New Zealand changed how it exported kiwifruit to deal with the increasing competition from other countries. To make sure growers could earn good money again and to make the market more stable, the New Zealand Government and the growers worked together. They created a special system where only one company could export kiwifruit. This company is called Zespri. This meant that all kiwifruit grown in New Zealand for export (except to Australia and New Zealand) had to be sold through Zespri.
All New Zealand kiwifruit is now sold under the brand name Zespri. This branding helps people know that the fruit comes from New Zealand and prevents other companies from benefiting from the hard work of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board (which is part of Zespri).
Zespri International Ltd. is owned by 2,700 local growers through Zespri Group Ltd, which started in 2000. Zespri's job is to promote and sell kiwifruit in other countries. They also set rules about which kiwifruit can be sold for export.
The Kiwifruit Industry Today
Much of the work to improve the green kiwifruit and create the golden Zespri variety was done by the Plant & Food Research Institute (which used to be called HortResearch) between 1970 and 1999.
In 1990, the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board opened an office in Antwerp, Belgium, for Europe. This office became the main place for selling Zespri gold kiwifruit in Europe in 2010. Since 2012, the name "Zespri" has been used to market all green and gold types of kiwifruit from New Zealand.
In 2017, New Zealand growers were buying more land to grow Zespri gold kiwifruit. This was because there was a high demand for the gold variety around the world, even though getting a license from Zespri was becoming more expensive.
Dealing with a Plant Disease
In November 2010, a serious bacterial disease called Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (PSA) was found in a kiwifruit orchard in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. This disease can cause a lot of damage to kiwifruit vines. The government used special rules from the Biosecurity Act 1993 to try and stop it from spreading. These efforts continued in 2011, but the disease still spread to most orchards in the Bay of Plenty by November 2011. Some of the outbreaks were from a very strong type of PSA called PSA-V. This disease is found worldwide and caused serious problems in Italy and France in 2011 too.
In February 2020, the New Zealand Government agreed to pay NZ$40 million to 212 kiwifruit orchard owners and a company called Seeka. This was to settle a lawsuit where growers said the Government was responsible for losses caused by the PSA disease. The growers had argued that the Ministry of Primary Industries allowed PSA into the country by importing kiwifruit pollen from China.
Kiwifruit as an Invasive Plant
Sometimes, kiwifruit vines can become an invasive plant in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. This can happen when fruit is dumped near natural bush areas. The Department of Conservation, which protects public land, considers Actinidia deliciosa (the scientific name for kiwifruit) to be an environmental weed in some areas.
