Kinzett Cherries, Tomatoes and Grapes

The Kinzett family have over 100 years of horticultural involvement in the same location of Springlands, near Blenheim, most recently with tomatoes under glass, grape growing and cherry growing. The major workloads of these crops are all at different times during the year. They employ a permanent crew of 18 people and up to 50 casual pickers and packers for the cherries.

Cherries from Marlborough at Christmas are a great tradition in New Zealand, especially for those travelling north and south for the summer holidays. The picking season is short, only about 6-8 weeks, very labour intensive and subject to weather interruption and “rain cracking”. The industry is moving away from Marlborough to Central Otago, where the harvest is later and risk of rain is smaller. The Kinzett family have grown cherries for 28 years, and are replacing trees of older varieties with newer ones, which produce bigger-sized fruit and have better rain damage resistance.

Paul Kinzett is a third-generation tomato grower at Springlands, just west of Blenheim. The Kinzett family has over 100 years of greenhouse tomatoes in the same district. Tomatoes are grown hydroponically under glass in a modern Dutch design house covering 2ha. The yield target for one year is 50kg per square metre – or about 1000 tonnes annually for the property. Heating in the house is from woodchip burner, making the tomato venture carbon neutral. Mid-November is crop changeover when the old crop is removed, greenhouse sterilized and replanted with grafted stock so that tomato picking starts again in mid January. The new plants are in production for the following 10 months. Normally only one variety is grown for loose fruit, much of which is pre-packed. All grading and packing is done on site under the Galaxy brand for Foodstuffs South Island (New World and Pak’n’Save). The Kinzetts supply Turners & Growers (Warren Frost) along with other growers for the Galaxy brand.

The controlled environment under glass leads to minimal use of chemicals on the crops. Temperature and air flow are maintained to eliminate mildew and a beneficial insect, called encasia formosa (a parasitic wasp) controls whitefly. The encasia wasp parasitizes whitefly by laying its eggs in whitefly eggs. This breaks the whitefly life cycle without having to spray. Bumblebee hives come from the North Island to naturally pollinate the flowers.

The tomato/potato psyllid (TPP) is a major new pest which must be controlled with insecticides to prevent it infecting plants with liberibacter (which is also having a major effect on capsicums and tamarillos).

The Kinzetts have 40ha of grapes, 80% of which are sauvignon blanc, along with pinot noir, chardonnay and gewürztraminer. They supply Allan Scott Wines. Focus in the vineyard is top quality. This vineyard does not have frost protection, as the risk is considered lower than other Marlborough districts.

Returns for grapes have fluctuated but Paul Kinzett grows on the philosophy of aiming for the best quality and riding out the ups and the downs.

Paul Kinzett began growing cherries in 1983 and now has 8ha in the cherry orchard, with tree spacing of 2.5m by 5m, and total tree numbers of 6500. They are grown under 5m-high netting ceilings and sides, to prevent bird damage. Therefore the trees are pruned to be under the 5m netting, keeping them accessible for pickers.

The first varieties planted were the well-known Dawson and Bing, but Paul now describes them as “past their use-by date” and being replaced with Roseann, Lapins, Rainier and others. They are bred to be semi-dwarfing on Colt rootstock.

Marlborough cherries begin the export season from NZ, mainly to Asian countries like South Korea and Taiwan. These go in 5kg export packs via Le Fresh International of Auckland, under managing director Ingrid Hofma.

Local distribution and sales are carried out by Richard Cameron of MG Marketing.

For the Kinzetts at Cherryland, harvesting normally begins in mid-November and continues until the end of December (six weeks) with only pick-your-own sales during January. Last year (2011) maturity was perhaps 7 days later, after a cold September and the threat of frosts.

Pickers are recruited from casual workers and are paid contract rates. Cherries are hydrocooled, stored in chillers, sized and packed on a small grading system and leave Cherryland in pack sizes ranging from 400g to 5kg.

One-third of the harvest at Cherryland goes export and the rest local sales.