ZESPRI® GREEN ORGANIC Kiwifruit
Over twenty years ago when Dave and Jane Church purchased 23 hectares (57 acres) of surplus dairy land inside Tauranga's city boundaries, they weren't sure what they wanted to do with it.
It was its location that sold it to them says Dave Church, then a rural valuer. They brought a house for $100, moved it onto the land and began planting kiwifruit vines.
Today they look down on their old home from a site cut out of the curved hillside that cups the western edge of their property. The new house is built of bricks made from clay removed in the levelling process. Laid out beneath them, under a hot late summer sun, are the orchard blocks enclosed by their dark green shelter belts and a whole range of ecosystems.
When they first arrived, there were no trees, except for two stands of native bush with kauri. They have planted many more, including black walnut and liquid amber. "It's aesthetics. It's just beautification of the land. It's trying to make the best use of it and its contours," says Dave. Included in that best and diverse land use are organic sheep and organically raised cattle, a wetland specifically for bird life, and a herd of goats used solely as weed eaters on the rougher paddocks.
Dave Church was the first post-harvest operator to become involved in organic production when the pack house and cool store he owns in partnership began handling organic fruit at the beginning of the 1990's. Today Centre Pac is 100% organic; but back then his decision to make his orchard organic was met with scepticism. Attitudes changed when organic kiwifruit began to come through the packhouse. "They couldn't believe their eyes. They couldn't tell them from a non-organic crop," says Jane. On the home orchard she noted changes as she worked among the vines. The orchard has always been unmown, but now she could hear a difference - "The sound of it, the birds, the insects. It seems really alive down there”.
"We're working alongside natural processes and that's a good thing," continues Dave, who has watched many organic practices adopted by other growers. "We are modern day innovators of our forefathers' management methods”.
In the intervening years, the packhouse's nucleus of organic growers has expanded many times over. What they have in common, he says, is natural instinct. "They'll always make good orchardists because they've got green fingers. They're good at it, and they're observant and interested. They're the ones who enjoy just walking through the orchard, seeing how things are going. They want to produce the best”.