Biggest ever avocado crop

New Zealand’s largest ever avocado crop has been successfully harvested, packed and marketed with a massive 7 million trays sold during the 2014-15 season.

The new record volume which was 43% higher than last season, and up from a previous industry high of 6.1 million trays sold in 2011-12 and a great industry return.

A new orchard performance benchmarking system has been developed over the past two years to help measure R&D initiatives and motivate growers to produce higher and more consistent yields.

This season also marks the first year of the avocado industry’s visionary Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). The programme, called “New Zealand Avocados Go Global”, aims to triple productivity and increase avocado sales to $280m by 2023.

An extensive R&D programme now in place partnering with Plant & Food Research,  with additional research funding secured through MBIE.

Australia was once again the industry’s biggest export market, taking 3.2 million trays this season. But Scoular says Asia remains the future focus. The region bought 1.3 million trays this season – almost double the previous record set in 2011-12.

The New Zealand avocado industry is the third largest fresh fruit export from New Zealand.

NZ Avocado Growers' Association Inc. (NZAGA) and Avocado Industry Council Ltd (AIC) work with the New Zealand industry to set export standards, facilitate market access, promote New Zealand avocados and provide technical information to all New Zealand growers of which there are over 1,450 based mainly in the Bay of Plenty and Northland. For more information visit www.nzavocado.co.nz

Sir Paul Callaghan EUREKA! Awards for Secondary school or university undergraduate students

Entries close 19 June at  eureka.org.nz

Prize money has been doubled this year with the premier award worth $10,000 and three runners up getting $5,000 each.

The RCW EUREKA! Trust has also obtained support for an increasing number of scholarships worth up to $2500.  Several of the scholarships are linked to the National Science Challenges.

View full list of scholarships and the selection criteria here.

Regional competitions to identify regional winners who will be eligible for selection for the national finals are scheduled from Sunday 21 June (Canterbury) until Saturday 25 July (Waikato, Auckland and Palmerston North).  The full schedule is available at eureka.org.nz.

Finalists selection will be completed by Saturday 1 August.

Glass recycling in New Zealand hits new high

Glass container recovery as a percentage of glass consumption has reached a record high of 72.6% according to data released by The Packaging Forum. Consumption of glass packaging has continued to decline slightly but there has been 5% increase in glass collected from kerbside and public places for recycling over 2014.

John Webber, Manager of the Glass Packaging Forum (part of The Packaging Forum) said:- “This increase after two relatively stagnant years reflects the investment made by local government and industry to introduce new and better systems to collect glass containers from households and the hospitality sector. We monitor over time every project which we fund and there is typically around 18 month’s pay back before we start seeing the glass returns. On this basis we are confident that our internal target of a 78% recycling rate is achievable by 2017 when our current voluntary product stewardship scheme completes its first seven year term.”

New Zealand recycling rate is shown in green and Australia in red compared to EU countries

Royal Society seeking Director – Expert Advice and Practice

The Royal Society of New Zealand has established a new role:  Director – Expert Advice and Practice, to lead the strategic development and management of programmes to provide expert advice to government and the community, and generic research practice guidance to the research community.  The Director will lead a small team which supports panels of experts drawn from the research and scholarship communities in generating the advice.  The Director will be adept at developing and managing fruitful relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, often at senior level. A critical success factor is that the expert and practice advice is highly valued by, and informs, the decisions of its intended audiences.

View more information on the position: Director – Expert Advice and Practice.