Photo: New Zealand Apples and Pears
Productivity gains and an increase in high-value varieties led the apple and pear industry to contribute nearly $2 billion in total revenue to the economy last year.
Industry group New Zealand Apples and Pears commissioned consultancy firm MartinJenkins to assess the economic impact of the industry on regional and the national economy.
It found exports were worth $892 million last year, while upstream and downstream impacts like jobs and orchardists spending made up the rest of the $1.96b total revenue impact.
Apples and Pears chief executive Karen Morrish said it has been a decade since the industry took stock of its worth.
"We knew we were having a considerable impact on the communities around us but we actually quantify that, we knew there had been significant growth in the last ten years but to get that in writing is great."
Morrish said growers investing in new varieties and productivity gains has paid off.
"The growth is really significant; when you look back to 2012 the industry was exporting about $347 million worth of apples and pears and that's grown to $892 million last year.
"Growers have been planting higher value apple varieties like Rocket, Dazzle, Joli and Envy which are doing really well in Asian markets. They're also growing in smarter ways, it's all about growing yields on the tree and getting more from the same amount of hectares."
The industry is well placed to double exports again in the next decade, she said.
"We have an industry strategy to double exports within 10 years. That aligns with the government's desire to double food and fibre export revenue in the same period."
However, Morrish said a disappointing finding of the report was that while the industry was booming, grower profits were not.
"The general cost of production has increased like most parts of the horticultural and agriculture sector so that's squeezed margins, so we really want to focus on improving returns for growers.
"Part of it is looking at the settings we have within New Zealand, whether that be labour, capital compliance, market access, terms of trade, environmental regulations, there's a lot but we need to look at how we can do things smarter going forward."