Kiwifruit grow best in deep, well-drained, fertile soils. The soil should not be prone to waterlogging and have good nutrient retention.

Growing kiwifruit is suited to flat whenua. This is to help with access, infrastructure, and operation of machinery. We recommend a slope of less than 7 degrees because erosion risk increases with slope.

Kiwifruit have very deep root systems and need a corresponding depth of soil to grow well (at least 120cm). Their deep root system absorbs nutrients and water in all the soil layers.

For good kiwifruit growth and yields, various nutrients are required. This includes:

• Phosphorus - to stimulate root growth
• Potassium and sulphur - to promote bud break
• Nitrogen - carefully managed to achieve high yields
• Boron, iron, magnesium, and zinc - in smaller quantities to enhance fruit set and production.

It's important to test your soils before planting your crop. Many companies offer this service. This will help you understand the current fertility of your block and nutrient requirements. Optimal soil pH is 5 to 6.8.

Soil safe Aotearoa

In Aotearoa, kiwifruit is very sensitive to temperature extremes and will require shelter to protect them from wind and frost. They need winter temperatures below 7°C for good bud burst and flower development, but heavy winter frosts can damage vines and in severe cases kill young plants. Kiwifruit require warm temperatures between bud break and harvest time for fruit development.

Chilling requirements mean that the average daily temperature between May to July needs to be less than 11-12°C.

Modelling the effect of climate change on land suitability for growing perennial crops.

Water is an essential aspect of a kiwifruit orchard. Too much rain can lead to plant death and too little rain can affect the growth of the fruit. Young vines have different water requirements to mature plants which will use 4-5 litres of water per square meter of canopy per day.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated - 2022 Kiwifruit book

The availability of water to the plant is the major determinate of fruit size at harvest.

If you're thinking about growing kiwifruit on your whenua, check the rainfall and rain intensity in your region. This is important while your kiwifruit are growing and before harvesting.

See NIWA for more information.

Kiwifruit are a perennial crop, meaning you will get one crop every year for the productive life of the plant.

When planning to plant kiwifruit, you will need to consider your geographic location and the type of kiwifruit suited to your location. Different varieties of kiwifruit will grow better in different areas of Aotearoa due to their winter chill requirement. For advice on what types of kiwifruit suit your whenua, talk to New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers (NZKGI).

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers.

The Kiwifruit Book.

Kiwifruit have male and female plants and the layout of your orchard needs to be planned so that every female plant is located close to a male for pollination.

The vines must be trained on to a support structure which is orientated north-south to optimise sunlight onto the vines.

Kiwifruit have extensive and ongoing crop management requirements to ensure productivity.

You will need machinery to prepare your whenua for planting kiwifruit and to construct the associated orchard infrastructure.

Kiwifruit will grow on the vines for 6 - 10 months before they're ready to be harvested (spring to early autumn). When it is time to harvest, an independent laboratory will test the fruit maturity and give a clearance to pick. Harvesting can then begin.

Harvesting kiwifruit is done by hand between March and June. Minimal summer rain and low autumn temperatures hasten the ripening of fruit, so cool and dry autumn areas like Marlborough and Hawkes Bay will start harvest earlier.

After harvesting the kiwifruit from the vine, they're transported in bins to the packhouse and left to sit for 48 hours. This allows the fruit to cure which improves the storability and reduces the risk of botrytis rot setting in.

The fruit is then sorted, graded, and packed for market.

After harvesting your kiwifruit, the storage of your crop is very important. This ensures your crop can get to international and domestic markets in the best possible quality.

Packhouses will store your crop for a time. This helps to finish the curing process and maintain the quality of the crop. A cool store will hold your kiwifruit for longer periods in controlled atmospheric conditions to be sold later in the season, or wile being transported to an export market.

Kiwifruit can be affected by diseases like PSA and Sclerotinia, and pests like scale, leaf-roller caterpillar and the passionvine hopper. You will need consider using pest management methods, such as:

• counting the number and species of pests weekly
• monitoring crops to assess plant health
• making the environment attractive to insects that can eat pests
• targeted use of fungicides and pesticides.

There are approximately 2,800 kiwifruit growers and 3,200 registered kiwifruit orchards in New Zealand. The Bay of Plenty produces 80% of the kiwifruit crop.

In the year ended November 2021, gold kiwifruit made up 47 percent ($1.9 billion) of total fruit export value from New Zealand, while green kiwifruit made up 23 percent ($923 million).

Stats NZ - Fruit exports dominated by gold kiwifruit

Zespri

Controls the route to market for most kiwifruit grown in New Zealand and all export kiwifruit except those exported to Australia.

NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI)

Represents the interests of growers. Growers pay a levy of 1.1 cent/TE (tray equivalents).

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated

Māori Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated

The purpose of this organisation is 'To build and grow the Māori Kiwifruit business for current and future generations.'

You can register as interested party or individual or as an established entity.

Māori Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated

Kiwifruit New Zealand

An industry regulatory body that can authorise other parties to export kiwifruit in collaboration with Zespri to markets other than Australia.

Kiwifruit New Zealand

Export market

Kiwifruit is New Zealand's highest value export crop worth $2.9 billion (2020/2021).

New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority

Scale

Kiwifruit can return a profit from a small or large-scale enterprise. If an owner-operator runs an efficient kiwifruit enterprise on 4 hectares it can be viable. However, 25 hectares is the minimum size for a commercially viable enterprise with a fulltime orchard manager. Turning a profit from growing kiwifruit depends on several factors, like:

• your location - access to the market, or infrastructure, or to a packhouse
• your production practices - modern machinery and equipment or smaller scale efficiencies
• the market demand and access to the market
• your operational efficiencies - larger orchards may benefit from economies of scale.

Venture - Kiwifruit, branching out blueprint

Equipment and infrastructure

There are various tools and equipment needed for growing and harvesting kiwifruit. These include:

• packhouses
• cool store
• windbreak netting (and artificial crop protection)
• hail protection cover may be recommended
• crop support structures (for example carousels or stringing poles)
• machinery (for example, grafting machines)
• bin trailer
• pruning equipment
• sweeper and string trolley
• irrigation systems.

It's estimated that you'll need to grow at least 25 hectares of kiwifruit to offset the costs of investing in machinery and equipment. Contractors could be used to provide some of these services if you are producing fruit on a smaller scale.

After harvesting your crop, you'll need access to a packhouse and cool store to maintain the quality of your kiwifruit. The pack house will sort, grade, clean, and pack your kiwifruit into trays, ready for the market. You will need to have a contracted supply agreement with the pack house.

Here is an example of a packing agreement:

Trevelyan - Kiwifruit packing agreement 2020

Jobs and people

Your people and labour requirements are seasonal, based on key milestones, like pruning and picking. You'll need a mixture of unskilled labour, as well as specialists. The specialists will help you with:

• managing the crop cycle,
• pest management techniques,
• harvesting and,
• post-harvest management.

The peak demand for labour and specialists by kiwifruit producers is during planting, pruning, and harvesting times. There is a year-round requirement for labour with full-time employment of one to two employees required for a 10ha orchard. Seasonal labour is required on a part-time basis during flower and fruit thinning, spraying, and the most labour-intensive tasks of pruning and harvesting.

Northland Regional Council report - Growing kiwifruit

Case study - Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchard

Here is an example of a kiwifruit orchard in the Bay of Plenty, let's imagine it had 25 hectares of gold kiwifruit grown last year.

It yielded 355,000 trays of kiwifruit, bringing in a revenue of $4,225,000.

It had $1,325,000 in expenses, and the farm made a profit of $2,900,000.

The orchard had invested significant capital investment upfront ($5,000,000) to set up the orchard and paid a one-off licence fee to Zespri to produce the SunGold variety ($13,750,000). It took them 8 years to become cash-positive.

It took 5 years for the vines to reach full production.

Operational costs

The estimated operational costs to produce kiwifruit are around $53,000 per hectare per year. This depends on factors, like:

• scale of the operation
• level of mechanisation
• specific horticultural practices
• regional and locational factors
• market conditions.

Labour costs can be significant, especially when you're first setting up your orchard. Some other examples of costs that you'll need to consider are:

• rootstock
• fertilisers
• pesticides and herbicides
• pollination costs
• skilled and unskilled labour
• permits, licenses, or certifications

compliance with regulations and food safety standards.

Costs

There are some costs you will need to consider, and these will change with the amount produced. Here are some examples:

Yield (and time to profit)

It typically takes several years to establish a sustainable and profitable operation. Vines do not reach full production for 5 years. The substantial upfront capital investment required to establish the infrastructure, and licencing fee if producing the gold variety (there is no licence required to produce the lower value green-Hayward variety) means that there will be a negative cashflow for 5-8 years.

Maximising the amount of good quality kiwifruit grown will increase the profits you earn. Factors that can contribute to higher kiwifruit yields include:

• crop management (for example shelter, support structures , irrigation)
• expert pollination
• variety selection
• planting density
• nutrient management
• weed control
• experienced pickers and availability of labour
• supply agreement with a pack house
• harvesting at the right time.

Revenue

Returns from kiwifruit production are influenced by a variety of factors, including:

• market conditions
• yield
• quality
• production costs
• pricing strategies
• events beyond your control, for example weather conditions or market fluctuations.

Things we can do to create better returns include:

• efficient practices to maximise yield and production.
• market demand and pricing
• quality and grading
• Cost management
• Storage and post-harvest handling
• Value-added opportunities

To help you make informed decisions and maximise returns, it's important for you to:

• stay informed about market trends through research.
• maintain good relationships with buyers.
• regularly assess your orchard's production and financial performance through tracking costs.

Operating profit

To estimate your operating profit, you must look at the money generated from selling your kiwifruit, minus your production costs. Some factors may affect your revenue and influence your orchard's operating profit. These include:

• orchard size
• yield - the quantity of kiwifruit sold
• market conditions and fluctuations
• production costs and efficient horticultural practices
• pricing strategies
• weather conditions.

You will need to consider your production costs, which can include:

• labour
• rootstock
• fertilisers
• irrigation
• pest and disease management
• machinery maintenance
• storage
• packaging
• marketing costs.

These costs can be affected by having efficient horticultural practices and effective cost management.

Each orchard will have factors specific to them and different market dynamics. Keeping accurate records of your production and financial records can help you see where improvements could be made and increase your operating profit.

New Zealand kiwifruit grower-owned Zespri exports kiwifruit to several global markets and 90% of the total kiwifruit produced is bought by Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, USA and the European Union. The authorities can provide information on what's needed to export kiwifruit, including:

• procedures
• documentation
• fees or licences
• packaging standards
• biosecurity requirements.

Venture - Kiwifruit, Branching out blueprint

For more information about growing and exporting kiwifruit contact the New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated.

KNZ is the industry regulator charged with applying the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999. Kiwifruit can be exported to countries other than Australia in collaboration with Zespri, by applying to KNZ for a collaborative marketing programme. In 2021/22, 15 companies operated 23 collaborative marketing sales programmes with Zespri, exporting just over 4.1 million trays of kiwifruit from New Zealand to markets other than Australia.

Read more about Zespri's regulations

To export kiwifruit, you need to follow legislative requirements, including:

• Exporting kiwifruit from New Zealand is governed by the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999. The regulations permit only Zespri or collaborative marketers approved by KNZ to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit. The Regulations do not apply to the sale of kiwifruit in New Zealand, or its export for consumption in Australia.

Australian markets only:

• Kiwifruit to Australia Product Group. Kiwifruit exported to Australia are a prescribed product under the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act. The nine HEA-licensed exporters to Australia are represented by Kiwifruit Exporters to Australia (KETA).

All kiwifruit sold must comply with:

• meeting export requirements, like documentation and packaging standards
• ensuring food is grown so it can be sold under the Food Act 2014

meeting regulations around risks to freshwater.

You would pay a levy of 1.1 cent/TE (tray equivalents) to NZKGI, which goes towards industry-wide maintenance and development activities and gives you access to export channels.

You must comply with National Programme 1 requirements under the Food Act 2014. This includes:

• following safe food practices, like checking for pests and using clean water
• registering your business with either your local council or MPI
• getting your business verified.

Learn more about National Programme 1.

You will need a freshwater farm plan, either now or by 2025 if your whenua will have:

• 20 hectares or more of arable and/or pastoral use, or
• 5 hectares or more of horticultural use, or
• 20 hectares or more of combined uses.

These plans identify actions to manage and mitigate risks of on-farm activity to freshwater. They must be certified and audited, then recertified every 5 years.

Learn more about freshwater farm plans.

Some additional certifications and registrations may make your kiwifruit more appealing to buyers.

You can choose to get certified with New Zealand Good Agricultural Practice (NZGAP) for a yearly fee. Some retailers and wholesalers only take crops from an NZGAP-certified supply channel.

Learn more about NZGAP.

Learn more about organic certification through BioGro.