California panel to promote kiwifruit

Press, 11 October 1979, Page 31

California panel to promote kiwifruit

By JOHN HUTCHISON in San Francisco California has a new law establishing a Kiwifruit Commission, and the New Zealand industry will be invited to have a member on it, according to a leader in the industry in San Francisco. The bill, passed by the legislature and just signed by into law’ by the governor, will set up the machinery and the funding to promote research and marketing. It must now be approved in a growers’ referendum in January. The prediction is that it will be easily adopted. That accomplished, the commission would be authorised to charge as much as five per cent cf the price paid growers, to finance the promotion programme. A grower who has analysed the proposal estimates that the tax may produce as much as $300,000 in its first full year of operation, probably beginning in late 1980. In the interim, the Kiwi Growers of California, with several hundred members, are considering a voluntary contribution of ten cents per flat to raise money to launch the new venture. A member of the board of directors of the growers’ body, Mr Claude Sweet, has said he sees a mutual interest between New Zealand and California growers. He is president of a kiwifruit-market-ing co-operative in Southern California and active in the highly successful operation of the state's Avocado Commission. “By 1990, kiwifruit will be an important California crop,” he said. Whether that prediction should be taken as a warning or a hopeful

signal of large new opportunities for New Zealand growers may depend on the success of the industries in both countries in co-ordinating their production, promotion, marketing, and export programmes. Mr Sweet said he saw a powerful mutual interest between the two. He believed successful development of the kiwifruit market in the United States called for the fruit to be on sale in highly visible quantities on a year-round basis. Kiwifruit, at present, tended to be a curiousity, externally unattractive and obscurely displayed among the masses of colourful soft fruits in wide variety which entice the American consumer, particularly in the very period, roughly May to October, in which New Zealand kiwifruit was available.

Although the American and New Zealand seasons overlapped somewhat because of kiwifruit’s long storage and shelf life, they were largely complementary, and uniquely adaptable ■to a 12-month cycle. “It would benefit us and the New Zealanders if kiwi were visible and reasonable in price all year long,” said the California grower.

“Now, most produce dealers are marking it up so high that too much of it spoils for lack of purchasers.” Kiwifruit often cost more than 60 cents. He believed a price of 40 cents would be more realistic and would result in volume sales if supported by intensive advertising, “tie-in” arrangements with dealers, and persuasive point-of-sale merchandising. “We don’t want New Zealand growers to lose

money, because that will hurt us,” Mr Sweet said, claiming to reflect the consensus of his fellow directors. “When the commission is organised under the new law, we expect to make a formal proposal to the New Zealanders, inviting their participation and providing a seat on the commission.” He and his colleagues welcomed any contact with the New Zealand industry, in the interest of intelligent forward planning, not only in terms of the American market, but with regard to export. The Americans were interested in an “open market” relationship that would embrace a free exchange of production, marketing, and pricing information. Mr Sweet spoke highly of the present promotion campaign waged in the United States by the New Zealand industry through the Los Angeles firm of Sybil Henderson and Associates. “We want to encourage and add to that programme,” he said. Ms Henderson was an invited speaker at a recent growers meeting, attended by 300. She urged the group to promote kiwifruit at the retail level, and she predicted great expansion in California production.

The state now has about 400 hectares of kiwifruit in production, will begin to harvest double that figure next year, and is planting an estimated rate of 160 new hectares annually. The 1979 crop will be about 600,000 trays. The 1980 figure could exceed a million. If the full five per cent levy is adopted, the commission’s 1981 promotion fund would be more than $500,000.