The 10th World Avocado Congress wrapped up in Auckland today, and one of the highlights of the event was the exhibition, featuring nearly 30 exhibitors showcasing a broad range of products and services to the industry.
"Our sponsors came on board early. It's great that they are here, and they have been so active," President of the World Avocado Congress Committee and CEO of New Zealand Avocado, Jen Scoular said. "We hope that their investment in this congress helps their business thrive - that's the intention. Exhibitors are telling me that they are getting a lot of attention and talking to new people, and each other. I just think it's part of the non-stop conversation about how we help each other move forward positively."
Darling Group - Avocado Ice Cream
During the congress, one of the sponsors Darling Group provided delegates with an ice cream made from its own recipe, which has only been showcased at special occasions and events. Among the ingredients of ice cream is avocado, lime juice and A2 organic milk.
Photo: Darling Group Business Development Manager, Josh Parry with the avocado ice cream
"We have been making the avocado ice cream for quite a while, and started doing it for the Agricultural and Pastoral show in Katikati," Marketing and Communications Manager Midge Munro said. "It draws people's attention and we have done it for a few years, so we thought we'd do it here. I think I underestimated how popular it was going to be, we only have just enough to get us through. It has been a real hit. A lot of people haven't had it before and they really like it."
Darling Group is an integrated supply system incorporating growing, packing, exporting and marketing. Ms Munro says the company is planning to expand to Asia (Hong Kong) and North America (California), setting up offices there - and is currently made up of a number of companies in New Zealand and Australia.
“Avoworks is the growing end, so they plant and develop avocado orchards,” she said. “They do the high-density orchards, and also the harvesting and maintenance. Just Avocados is our dedicated pack house, and that’s in Katikati, just for avocados. Zeafruit is domestic citrus and avocado marketer, and they have a pack house as well in Gisborne and grow citrus as well. We have J.H. Leavy and co and they are based in the Brisbane markets. That’s a full fresh fruit and vegetable wholesaler that also does export logistics, warehouse and storage. Then we have Darling Group Marketing which is our international trading entity. We export avocados and citrus from NZ but also we export and import avocados from other sources (Australia, Mexico, Peru, Chile and California) as we are trying to supply Asia over the 12 months with avocados.”
AvoJect
AvoJect is a New Zealand company, with a local product and customer base. Sam Sheargold, from Aongatete Avocados Limited, says the product brand is at the World Avocado Congress to try to grow recognition and awareness, with the hopes of expanding worldwide.
“This is an AvoJect syringe - it’s for delivering plant protection material for the control of Phytophthora,” he said. “It’s a low-pressure method and puts plant protection material into the xylem of the tree and it goes up the vascular system into the leaf and down into the roots. The feedback has been really interesting; a lot of people haven’t heard of it before. We are also learning how different countries and different growers look after their Phytohpthora issues in their orchards. So, for us, it’s been really interesting to get that feedback and experience.”
A full 10-step user guide on how to protect the tree and look after the syringes are available online. Also, the product is available for sale on the Avoject website, and is currently only in Australian and New Zealand dollars, but it can be shipped worldwide. Mr Sheargold says that it is not limited to avocado trees, but other fruit crops can benefit from its use.
Radfords Software Solutions
Radfords is a software solutions company based in Tauranga, and has been involved in the avocado industry for over 10 years and represents around 90 per cent of the NZ industry in terms of post-harvest volumes with its software.
"It has been fantastic seeing the 1,200 attendees, and about 700 from overseas," CEO Adam Cuming said. "It's exciting to hear all the accents and hear about the directions that their different industries are moving in terms of export and consumer demand. We work with some key players in terms of NZ domestic supply and also into Australia and Asia. There is a lot of new growth in Auckland, which is hotter and drier conditions, typically, right through to the Bay of Plenty and Tauranga, where conditions are a bit more humid and our reach is covering those regions from an avocado perspective."
Apart from avocados, Radfords is also heavily involved in kiwifruit, and also apples, citrus, cherries and avocados. The company is also expanding in Australia and the United States.
Over the past four days, almost 1,200 delegates registered to attend the event in Auckland, travelling from 33 countries, hearing from a broad range of topics from market/production conditions to sustainability, pests/diseases, rootstocks, breeding, post-harvest, agritech and nutrition/health. Ms Scoular says it has been a proud moment for the national industry, and the event has been a success.
"It has been a team effort and I have had amazing support from my New Zealand Avocado team, and the World Avocado Congress team," "We set up a separate entity, World Avocado Congress NZ Ltd with an independent board, that is supported by the NZ Avocado board, and of course, we have the scientific and marketing committees, so there is a lot of people who are involved. So the fact that we have put this plan together, and it has been so successful is a testament to sharing and doing it well."