John Bostock Apples
John Bostock was the first New Zealand grower to embrace organic production on a commercial export basis due to international demand for clean, healthy, and safe fruit.
The first orchard was fully certified in 1999. It is a philosophy of JB Apples Ltd to produce premium quality fruit in an environmentally and socially sustainable way.
It could be argued that John has anticipated what the market wanted and as has met their requirements.
JB Apples Ltd has over 400 acres of orchards either currently Bio-Gro fully certified organic or in conversion.
In 2003 John Bostock bought DM Palmer an export company. In doing so he became not only large scale but vertically integrated.
DM Palmer NZ Ltd exports fresh organic apples, pears, and squash. The company has been involved in the export of fresh organic crops for ten years and products are currently exported to Europe, North America, Canada, and Asia.
DM Palmer works with a group of twenty organic pipfruit farmers in the Hawkes Bay.
Both DM Palmer NZ Ltd and the growers are certified by Bio-Gro NZ. Bio-Gro NZ is accredited by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM)
The key principles of organic production are to:
Encourage and enhance biological cycles
Maintain and improve long term soil structure and fertility
Maintain genetic diversity
Cycle organic matter and nutrients within the production system
Avoid pollution
Harvest started late February, with the Cox and NZ Beauty the first varieties to be picked.
Royal gala harvest started late February/early March this season - this is approximately one week later than normal.
At harvest the fruit is monitored for sweetness (brix), pressure, pest and disease incidence etc.
The organic orchards and some of the conventional orchards now use pheromone traps to detect the incidence of a particular pest and the levels of infestation. This way they can target what spray (Bts ) and prevention programmes they are allowed under the organic and bio-dynamic system.
Aside from quality issues like russet and blackspot the main issues for the harvest season is getting enough good quality pickers. The vast majority of them at least in the past - were foreign tourists.
Legislative change in the casual labour market in the last year or so has created some issues for growers.
Fruit not exported is sold onto a growing local market for organic produce or juiced. This season fruit brix levels and fruit pressures are looking good.
The first organic apples will arrive in Europe and the US in early April and continue to be suppled until September.
Despite shifting large amounts of product into markets around the world John hasnt been backward in coming forward over the issue of access to the Australian pipfruit market.
Australia banned the import of New Zealand apples in 1921 after an outbreak of fireblight two years previously. The growers have been trying to overturn that ban ever since.
The current attempt began 12 years ago, but at the time of the big protests in 2005 there was still no response from Australia.
John was at the forefront of protests in Wellington back in 2005. Since those protests Australian biosecurity and the OZ apple industry have finally been forced to allow Nz pipfruit into their market probably 2008 harvest being the first.
But there still are strings the costs in meeting Australian biosecurity standards may end up making the exercise too expensive for growers.
The first orchard was fully certified in 1999. It is a philosophy of JB Apples Ltd to produce premium quality fruit in an environmentally and socially sustainable way.
It could be argued that John has anticipated what the market wanted and as has met their requirements.
JB Apples Ltd has over 400 acres of orchards either currently Bio-Gro fully certified organic or in conversion.
In 2003 John Bostock bought DM Palmer an export company. In doing so he became not only large scale but vertically integrated.
DM Palmer NZ Ltd exports fresh organic apples, pears, and squash. The company has been involved in the export of fresh organic crops for ten years and products are currently exported to Europe, North America, Canada, and Asia.
DM Palmer works with a group of twenty organic pipfruit farmers in the Hawkes Bay.
Both DM Palmer NZ Ltd and the growers are certified by Bio-Gro NZ. Bio-Gro NZ is accredited by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM)
The key principles of organic production are to:
Encourage and enhance biological cycles
Maintain and improve long term soil structure and fertility
Maintain genetic diversity
Cycle organic matter and nutrients within the production system
Avoid pollution
Harvest started late February, with the Cox and NZ Beauty the first varieties to be picked.
Royal gala harvest started late February/early March this season - this is approximately one week later than normal.
At harvest the fruit is monitored for sweetness (brix), pressure, pest and disease incidence etc.
The organic orchards and some of the conventional orchards now use pheromone traps to detect the incidence of a particular pest and the levels of infestation. This way they can target what spray (Bts ) and prevention programmes they are allowed under the organic and bio-dynamic system.
Aside from quality issues like russet and blackspot the main issues for the harvest season is getting enough good quality pickers. The vast majority of them at least in the past - were foreign tourists.
Legislative change in the casual labour market in the last year or so has created some issues for growers.
Fruit not exported is sold onto a growing local market for organic produce or juiced. This season fruit brix levels and fruit pressures are looking good.
The first organic apples will arrive in Europe and the US in early April and continue to be suppled until September.
Despite shifting large amounts of product into markets around the world John hasnt been backward in coming forward over the issue of access to the Australian pipfruit market.
Australia banned the import of New Zealand apples in 1921 after an outbreak of fireblight two years previously. The growers have been trying to overturn that ban ever since.
The current attempt began 12 years ago, but at the time of the big protests in 2005 there was still no response from Australia.
John was at the forefront of protests in Wellington back in 2005. Since those protests Australian biosecurity and the OZ apple industry have finally been forced to allow Nz pipfruit into their market probably 2008 harvest being the first.
But there still are strings the costs in meeting Australian biosecurity standards may end up making the exercise too expensive for growers.