Previous Next Table of Contents Index Growers explore New Zealand growing districts By David Burkhart A group of orchardists from the Pacific Northwest traveled to New Zealand and Australia earlier this year to see how fruit is grown there. The geography of New Zealand, the island country that lies about 1,000 miles east of Australia, is dominated by mountain ranges, hill country, volcanoes, geysers, mud pools, and underground thermal springs. We were told by one source that nowhere in New Zealand are you farther than 50 miles from the ocean. In a country with a population of 3.5 million people and thousands of miles of coastline, there is not the high inflated value for ocean view property that there is in the United States.
All beaches are public in New Zealand.
The lack of cold or heat stress makes growing fruit somewhat less stressful than in the Pacific Northwest, where heat, winter freeze, and spring frosts are common. The average rainfall varies from around 44 inches in Auckland to 32 inches in the Hawkes Bay area, and 25 inches in Nelson and slightly lower in Christchurch. Of this total, 17.9 million boxes are exported to Southeast Asian countries, to Europe, and to North America. Processing accounts for 10.6 million boxes, and local sales are 3 million. As with other fruit producing areas of the world, the new apple varieties, particularly those developed in that country, are rapidly being planted.