Tendertips Asparagus

Tendertips is owned by 2 families – Lewis and Shaw – who have been growing and packing asparagus in the Horowhenua since 1980. They are the second largest business involved in asparagus in the country. They are vertically integrated – with harvest and packing facilities. Crop goes to both domestic and international customers.

Geoff Lewis and Margot Shaw have been working together for over 17 years – running the Tendertips packhouse that the two families own.

Geoff and wife Liz are also Tendertips largest growers – with around 70ha of asparagus.

The crop grows from crowns which are productive for 3 to 12 years. Geoff says smaller growers don’t seem to be reinvesting in the crop – and a shortage of supply looms into the future.

The bulk of the Tendertips crop goes to export and supermarkets – with some crop at peak of the season, going to processing.

Geoff Lewis says the season was running about two weeks behind usual, because of cool temperatures.

That seemed to be the case for growers in the main regions of Hawke’s Bay, Waikato and the South Island.

Once temperatures improve, growth can be prolific. Geoff says they pick as much as six tonnes in a day.

About half Tendertips product goes for export, the rest ends up in New Zealand supermarkets.

Availability of labour has been a big issue of the years. The RSE scheme has taken some of the pressure off. Geoff says there are now good relationships with a couple of Samoan villages that ensure a steady supply of labour during the season. About 24 Samoans were helping to pick the crop this year. By all accounts it is hard work.

The packhouse employed about 45 staff from Levin and the surrounding area. Over the peak season the farm harvests from a total of 80 hectares of asparagus.

The emphasis on export crop has meant a big investment in high tech camera based sorting technology – the help grade and weight the crop individually. The vision technology takes three-dimensional photos of each asparagus spear and then estimated its weight. It also grades the asparagus according to quality.

Tendertips also have their own warm water anti-pest treatment for the export crop to Japan.