A Bay of Plenty orchard management and post-harvest company has upgraded one of its facilities to increase its packing capacity by 40 per cent for this coming avocado export season, which has just begun in New Zealand.
DMS Progrowers Limited has invested heavily in the avocado automation areas of its business over the last 12 months and CEO Derek Masters says the existing Te Puna packhouse plant was inefficient and had high repairs and maintenance (R&M) costs to keep it going. The upgrade includes a new, purpose-built avocado soft bin tipping system from MAF Roda, connected in-line to a custom-built water blaster machine feeding the large 10-lane camera grading and packing line.
"Building new and installing fit-for-purpose plant has alleviated that burden of R&M," he said. "We also want to provide assurance to our grower base that DMS is serious about looking after their fruit in optimum condition while we have it in our care. DMS is predominantly a kiwifruit orchard and post-harvest company, however outside the kiwifruit growing cycle fits nicely with the avocado growing season cycle. Therefore, the harvesting and packing of avocados dovetails nicely into our annual packing program at our DMS Te Puna site. The packing line plant at our DMS Te Puna site is also capable of packing avocados, so it's a good utilization of plant and staff. DMS has a dedicated avocado client services team to focus wholly on looking after our many avocado growers who use DMS as their contract packer."
The company is expecting a larger volume in 2024/25 from the previous season, and Mr Masters says the fruit set is high and quality looks good. The export season has just started this month in September and will continue through to early next year, while the local domestic market demand will continue on for a few further months and most likely finish in March.
The important piece of the new packing line, according to Mr Masters, is the water blaster unit which is used to wash the avocados to remove any spray resides or pests.
"This is particularly important to meet certain export market conditions," he said. "Existing water blaster units in the market require a heavy pressure system which can damage the avocado skin, leading to inferior quality into the export market. The DMS system has been designed to wash, to meet export standards without high pressure, therefore ensuring we give our growers the best opportunity to export their fruit at higher prices than the local domestic market. It's better returns for our growers."
The upgrade in equipment coincides with avocado plantings increasing significantly over the last 10 years and DMS has noticed demand for this "highly nutritious fruit" has grown domestically and around the world. This has led to the company now having more than 375 growers in its avocado portfolio.
"DMS has increased its number of growers significantly with an acquisition of a grower base from another Bay of Plenty packer who decided to no longer pack avocados," Mr Masters said. "So, their growers looked to DMS to be their packer. This recent addition of growers and their volumes was easily accommodated by our company, so the transition was smooth."
He added that: "Avocados have had a lot of promotion over these years, highlighting their health benefits New Zealand has a very suitable climate to grow Avocados, and it's a relatively easy crop to grow. This has encouraged small and large growers to plant to meet this demand. However, the volume that NZ now produces far exceeds local domestic demand and the industry really relies on the export market, Typically into Australia and Asia."
The DMS CEO says the kiwifruit industry is continuing through a volume growth phase with an additional volume of the GA gold volume coming on stream from plantings over the last 5+ years.
"To cope with this volume DMS - like other post-harvest companies in the Bay of Plenty - has had to add packing and cool store capacity to keep pace with the kiwifruit volume," Mr Masters said. "DMS has invested roughly $50 Million into packing lines and cool stores over the last five years. This investment in expansion has been mostly at its DMS Te Puke site."
For more information
Derek Masters
DMS Progrowers
+64 7 578 9107
[email protected]
www.dms4kiwi.co.nz