Frozen exports

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 11

Frozen exports

When the' sailing ship Dunedin left Port Chalmers with a cargo of refrigerated produce on February 15, 1882, it changed the whole social and economic structure of New Zealand.

One hundred years later, “Country Calendar” will take a look at the first centenary of that sailing, and at the history of the technological developments of refrigeration, in a special programme tonight on One, at 7 o’clock. The director, Keith Slater, said: “New Zealand agriculture was never the same after that first sailing. It became much more intensive, creating more employment, which in turn brought more money into the country.

“As a nation we depend on exporting farm produce. Farming is our biggest industry, but without refrigeration it would be nothing." The man responsible for the shipment that sailed on the Dunedin was William Saltau Davidson, the manager of New Zealand’s largest land company. His deputy, Thomas Brydone, built a dairy factory to encourage land settlement on the company’s estates at Edendale, and put New Zealand's dairy industry on a business-like basis. “The Dunedin also had on board kegs of butter, which were probably the first refrigerated dairy produce to leave this country,” said Slater.

"Today a countrywide network of milk tankers travel some 25 million kilometres a 7 year linking farms to the factories that make up a billion-dollar industry.” The dairy factory at Edendale in Southland is still operating. This factory makes 4500 tonnes of cheese a year, a fraction of New Zealand's total cheese and butter production. "Davidson and Brydone had the foresight to see that New Zealand could produce food, but that without refrigeration there was no way to get the produce to overseas markets. “Although they won the race in front of other companies, there was room for

everyone in those days.” Today there has been another change in land use that is also dependent on refrigeration — the glamour business of horticulture. The fragile fruits demand even greater capabilities from refrigerated technology. Horticultural crops can be exported either frozen or fresh. Freezing is more convenient and makes the product easier to transport, but overseas consumers prefer fresh fruit. The only way to get most horticultural products to the market is to airfreight them. Modern-day jet aircraft can get to Britain in hours — the Dunedin took 98 day's. The advantages of air transport make it possible for

every conceivable product, even live fish, to be sent overseas. But this service is not cheap, so, as in 1882, it looks as if shipping will be the answer.