The early season Japanese market has been of great significance for New Zealand's kiwifruit industry since the first shipment more than two decades ago, with large volumes coming from Te Awanui Huka Pak Maori grower orchards. Today the group is a major shareholder in packhouse company Seeka, while it also holds a stake in exporter Zespri. At www.freshfruitportal.com we speak with CEO Hemi Rolleston, who says the industry's Maori presence overseas is not just about marketing and entertainment, but standing on firm ground.

NZ growers dance the haka with some of Zespri's most important Japanese importers

New Zealand's spirited haka war dance of the indigenous Maori people is well-known in rugby, where determination and fierce competition mean everything; a psychological force that no opponent could overcome in the Rugby World Cup last year.

One of them was Japan, losing 83-7 to the All Blacks.

In the trade arena, New Zealanders were back performing the dance in front of the Japanese again in April 2012, but with a very different purpose; a message that the country's kiwifruit supply is reliable and that relationships are highly valued.

"A lot of people would ask, 'is it a good idea to send 55 growers over to that market when they have got challenges and should be at home, at a time when we should be cutting costs?'," says Rolleston.

"We thought differently to that and decided it was more important to show our commitment by being in Japan to show our long term view, and our positivity. We wouldn’t come if we didn’t have a long term vision, and that’s a powerful message."

"A regular orchardist may leave the kiwifruit industry and whatever relationships they’ve formed then have no value, but whether we like it or not, we're long term players and the Japanese have seen that. If it's not me it's going to be someone else who is connected, and we're not going to sell."

From Tauranga to Tokyo

Rolleston says Te Awanui Huka Pak's business model stems from inter-generational ownership of land and has developed through collaboration and entrepreneurial nouse.

"We have blocks of land and some have up to 2,000 owners, which can be transferred but only through bloodlines; in our collective we have around 300ha and grow around 2.5 million trays of kiwifruit," he says.

"With these farms we decided we were not just going to grow but pack the kiwifruit and market them too, as that was before the system with Zespri. We had industrial land in Tauranga which was Maori-owned and it was decided that it would be used for a packhouse.

Hemi Rolleston with the Te Awanui Huka Pak team

"Those leaders 30 years ago were visionaries who asked, ‘why not build a packhouse?’ at a time when Maori people usually just grew kiwifruit. We then went from production to the other end of the chain and that's how Te Awanui Huka Pak was formed."

In 2009 the company decided to sell the packhouse to Seeka in exchange for a 17% shareholding, while the company owns 3% of Zespri.

"Under the agreement we would send them (Seeka) the kiwifruit we grow, and we would be shareholders in the company, which is on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. That was a challenge and a momentous decision.

"Now that Zespri is the kingpin in supplying kiwifruit, we have been producing premium fruit for them to market in Japan, and as a large shareholder in Zespri we have helped them in getting good support there.

"So the Maori performance was not just an entrée or entertainment for the Japanese, as all the people involved are part of the industry; we account for 5% of the country's total crop and we are the largest shareholder of the largest packhouse."

Rolleston believes the performance and presence helped drum up support for the season.

"We’ve had great feedback from Japan from distributors and the market is a real boost for us. Having 55 of us up there dancing the haka, the Japanese are a spiritual people, and the performance excited sellers.

"It helped Zespri, who have faced difficult conditions in Japan, but now things are getting better. We can’t say that we did that, but we helped Zespri to do that."

He says a Maori culture-oriented visit to Malaysia in 2005 had a similar effect on sales and the country's kiwifruit trade relationship with the South East Asian country.

Maori grower Hoani Kerei

"We make sure that everyone understands the role of our group."

A collaborative approach to Psa

Halleston is thankful for his company's luck, with orchards far from the Psa-V vine disease epicenter in Te Puke.

"Psa doesn’t care who you are or what you do, and we still don’t know everything about it," he says.

"We have a lot of initiatives and the strength is in our collaborative approach; we are very fortunate to be outside the Te Puke area, and especially that we have about 50ha on islands, which used to be our weakness as you have to get the kiwifruit on a barge and that costs more money.

"Because of the nature of our orchards we don’t have any debt, and because of that we were able to cordon off affected areas."

He cites one example from September last year, when Psa was reported on a Te Awanui Huka Pak-owned 60ha orchard on Matapihi peninsula.

"We decided to cut out 3ha of vines to prevent the spread, and we can do that because of the nature of our business model.

"If it were an individual on that land they might not have cut out the 3ha the next day."

Hemi Rolleston with his niece and Zespri head of Japan Chikao Ebihara

"Individually many of our entities are all relatively strong but when we come together we are very strong and very collaborative. That's the Maori way."

He says the company also developed a toolkit so that growers know what to do with Psa management, which has been adopted by the industry.

Indigenous inspiration

With the large operation that the collective has built, Halleston hopes other indigenous groups around the world will be inspired to achieve their own successes in horticulture.

"Throughout the world there are indigenous people who are entrepreneurs; they don’t need to be seen as people who just entertain, but as people who think for the long term.

"But if you spend all your energy competing with each other, you’re going to get tired. You first need to collaborate onshore before you can go offshore.

"There needs to be investment across the value chain so that you can go from growing to postharvest, and don’t compromise your culture as it adds a value that only you can give. Make use of it but don’t sell it."

He adds that the profits of Te Awanui Huka Pak are mostly re-invested in the business, but a portion goes towards community assistance.

"The model is very holistic. Of course we have the economic aspects, we have our outgoing costs and in most cases the profits are re-invested in the land, but we also use it for education, career projects, grants for the elderly and the overall wellbeing of people.

"Kiwifruit is an exciting industry to be in; it’s global, it creates jobs for our people and its also healthy which is positive."

www.freshfruitportal.com