Growing mood that change is inevitable | Rural

The irresponsible actions of some avocado exporters are depressing grower returns and there is no place for them in the industry, believes Hugh Moore, former chairman of the Avocado Growers Association, who has been in the fruit growing industry for more than 35 years.

Mr Moore said while many exporters were doing a good job for their growers, others were not.

"I call them ground feeders. They are the exporters who have little or no marketing experience and who are continuing to ship avocados offshore even when they have no market for them.

"These actions are driving down the wholesale price which is also affecting the retail returns."

Some growers could get as little of $2 to $4 per tray for fruit when last year they earned up to $20. Other may receive a bill because their fruit had to be disposed of, he said.

Exporters who had retail markets in Australia and were also exporting to Japan and America could return growers $10 to $11 a tray but the effect of large volumes of New Zealand fruit in the wholesale market would serve to depress retail prices and returns to growers, he said.

Growers were often unaware of the situation in the market and could be in for an unpleasant surprise when they got paid.

"As in the past, the industry body should have been publishing market information. They have the power to get wholesale and retail prices from the exporters and market flow information that should have been made more available to growers two weekly as this would have given growers the ability to calculate their orchard gate return.

"The industry can also monitor wholesale market websites I think it has got to go back to taking those lengths for the future.

"It's about three seasons since this information has been available. There is a hesitancy to do this and this has let the industry down this season," he said.

In order to prevent a repeat of this season's marketing problems, Mr Moore said growers had to take control of their industry and "line up their exporters and make them accountable".

"The grower should select the big three from the most successful exporters and make them form a co-ordinated marketing organisation for Australia and make sure there is grower representative on that organisation."

"An example of the kind of structure which might work is the 19-year-old Team Avocado Trust. This is a grower powered organisation that has a contracted marketer that reports and is responsible to the trust board along with their appointed packhouses. The trust owns the vendor supply numbers to the Australian retail market and is proved a very successful grower controlled marketing organisation."

He does not expect the industry to go to the lengths the kiwifruit industry did in 1987 when the Kiwifruit Marketing Board was formed which led to the establishment of the single desk marketer Zespri.

However, he does believe growers need to show leadership and demand changes in order to protect their livelihoods.

"I did put my hand up to help create change in the kiwifruit industry and I don't know that I'm doing the same now but I am prepared to tell growers which exporters aren't performing, if they want to ring me," he said.

"The problem with the smaller exporters is that they do not have any control over the picking and packing of fruit. Some growers demand their fruit is picked when they want it harvested, not at the best time for the markets. Packhouses want to keep packing because that's how they are paid and some exporters are discovering they have inventory in packhouses they didn't know was there.

"Other exporters are putting fruit on the water without a market for it to go to. That's irresponsible."

Unlike many fruit, avocados don't have to be picked at a certain time and the harvest is spread over several months. "The best refrigerator for avocados is on the tree," said Mr Moore.

Australia is New Zealand's largest avocado market although the industry's four biggest players Southern Produce, Primor, Freshco and Just Avocados have formed a joint venture to export fruit to Japan. "That's working well and the level of co-operation between the exporters is a model for the industry," Mr Moore said.

Growers and exporters knew the 2011-2012 season would produce this country's biggest crop ever - an estimated 5.9 million trays (both export and local market), compared to the previous largest crop of 4.2 million in 2007-08, and just over 3 million trays last year.

In light of that growers should have been asking the hard questions of their exporters before signing up with them. "The fruit industry is based on personal relationships and the exporters' agents are often nice guys growers feel a loyalty to. But any fool can ship fruit in a year of short supply to a short market and make good returns."

In a year of high crop volumes, exporters needed skills in crop and inventory management and marketing and should have been sending fruit to other markets such as America, instead of just Australia.

"Growers own the fruit from picking to market and they have a right to know where it is going, what percentage of their exporter's market is made up of retail and wholesale and what returns they can expect."

John Schnackenberg, Chairman Avocado Industry Council and of the Avocado Growers Association agrees some growers could be in for very low or nil returns this season but said around 65 per cent would receive $10 or more per tray. The size of the crop, around double that of last season, would still see a significant injection of capital into the economy, particularly in the Bay of Plenty, he said.

While export volumes are up, so too are volumes on the local market and New Zealanders will be enjoying high quality, well priced fruit. "Growers have done en excellent job in producing this season's crop so fruit quality is high," said Mr Schnackenberg.

However, New Zealanders traditionally consume much less fruit than their Aussie cousins. "In Australia annual consumption is around 2.8 to 3kg of avocados while in New Zealand it is around 1.8kg." Mr Schnackenberg said while the local market would help boost grower returns a little, orchardists needed to ask their exporters for more information before signing up.

"Growers own the fruit right up until the point of sale and they have the right to ask exporters where it is going and what returns are likely to be.

"The industry has been giving growers this message for some time but unfortunately some growers have not been paying attention. They should be asking questions. We are also communicating with exporters," he said.

The most exposed exporters were those who did not have links with retailers in Australia or other markets, such as Japan, Asia or America, to send fruit to.

Mr Moore said it was too late in the season for exporters to switch markets and plans to spread the fruit more widely should have been made months ago.