Plant & Food Research’s Pipfruit breeding programme has been running for more than 60years. Pictured above is an as yet unnamed pear variety simply called PremP109, a new potential cultivar recently expanded into commercial production through PREVAR and AIGN.
Plant & Food Research has around unique 80 pears trees like PremP109 within our Motueka research orchard, and more planted in at our Hawke’s Bay site. Promising new varieties bred on our research orchards are trialled with local growers as a means of researching how they act within a commercial orchard environment. The photo above shows fruit just before harvest. PremP109 fruit from this property and another are being exported for the second year to Asian and Europe and are currently fetching good returns for the growers.
New Zealand’s horticulture industry now accounts for $1 in every $13 of exports, with an annual value of close to $3.5 billion.
According to Fresh Facts, the annual publication outlining New Zealand’s horticultural facts and figures, horticultural exports in the year to 30 June 2011 totalled $3.46 billion, an increase of 3% on the previous year. Produce from New Zealand’s horticultural industries is now calculated to be worth a total $6.4 billion annually.
“Horticultural exports have been steadily increasing since the 1970s, and are now worth more than $3 billion,” says Peter Landon-Lane, CEO of Plant & Food Research. “New Zealand is known globally as a supplier of premium horticultural products. Our wine sector has had huge success in growing the popularity of Sauvignon blanc, due to its unique flavours. Similarly, our fruit sector is known for introducing novel products with great taste profiles. Added to this, our production systems are known to exceed sustainability and phytosanitary requirements. This innovation and diversification has allowed us to create and maintain a premium in the global marketplace.”
Fresh Facts has been produced annually since 1999 by Plant & Food Research with support from Horticulture New Zealand. Copies of the publication can be found at www.freshfacts.co.nz.
Key facts:
New Zealand’s horticultural exports are valued at $3.5 billion, 7.5% of total exports
The value of horticultural exports has doubled since 2000
Wine is New Zealand’s largest horticultural export, valued at $1.1 billion
Fresh fruit exports are valued at $1.5 billion, including close to $1 billion of kiwifruit
Vegetable exports are valued at $614 million – $270 million of fresh vegetables (primarily onions and squash) and $344 million of processed vegetables (mostly potatoes, peas and sweetcorn)
Australia is the largest export destination, receiving $756 million of New Zealand’s horticultural produce, close to 5 times the produce received in 2000. Other key destinations include Japan, the UK, the USA and Europe.
Natural products chemists, Dr Nigel Perry, Elaine Burgess and summer student Jermy Lei talk with Alison Ballance of Radio New Zealand’s ‘Our Changing World‘ programme about their recent work looking for bioactive components in food that might contribute to health and wellbeing.
The research is part of the Nutrigenomics New Zealand, a joint project between Plant & Food Research, AgResearch and the University of Auckland that aims to develop targeted foods or groups of foods to prevent, ameliorate or cure inflammatory diseases, with a special emphasis on inflammatory bowel disease.
Dr Carolyn Lister leads the Phytochemicals and Health Team, within Plant & Food Research’s Food Innovation Portfolio.
Carolyn obtained her PhD in plant biochemistry from the University of Canterbury in 1994. Although originally working on pigments and plant colour, in 1997 Dr Lister completed a fellowship at the University of Glasgow where she developed an interest in the role of pigments in human nutrition.
The primary focus of her Group’s current research is phytochemicals and their role in human health.
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Plant & Food Research’s Pipfruit breeding programme has been running for more than 60 years. Pictured above is an as yet unnamed pear variety simply called PremP109, a new potential cultivar recently expanded into commercial production through PREVAR and AIGN.
Food Composition Database
NZ Horticulture Facts & Figures
