years of success

Waimea Nurseries staff tending to young apple trees Mike and Bruno are in a transition period from bare-rooted trees to containerisation

“It reduces our physical footprint and allows us to mechanise for a wider labour force by eliminating some of the back-breaking work involved with the business,” Bruno explains. “The big thing is it allows us to be more responsive and we can scale up or down and use it for other crops.” The nursery is investing in an on-site facility to plant large-scale containerisation, using biodegradable paper. Ongoing trials will fine-tune the system. The nursery uses Danish Ellepots – a sustainable seedling propagation solution that uses paper certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council to create substrate pots. Waimea Nurseries bought Ellepot machinery to make the pots locally. The paper that is used is still being refined to achieve a product that is 100% biodegradable. The end result for a grower will be a little tub of potting mix growing a tree ready for planting. At this stage, the pots are only being used within the nursery, but the plan is to have growers trialling them by late 2022. The potted trees transplant well, meaning growers can avoid transplanting shock. “It is a more flexible way of planting at different times and the pots are easier for growers to handle,” says Bruno. It also allows the nursery to stabilise tree prices because it will be able to stabilise labour costs.

The trees take up more room than bare-rooted trees in a truck, will need to be kept hydrated as opposed to being stored in a coolstore and will require being planted in ground that is already set up with irrigation. Bruno says Waimea wants to work with growers to trial and improve the concepts, then resolve any issues before further expansion. Transitioning the nursery to containerisation is aimed at reducing the nursery’s demand not just for labour, but also land and water. For a company that grows trees on some 20 sites around the Waimea Plains, totalling 300ha, land and water availability is crucial. Two thirds of that land is leased and traditionally, the nursery has been able to secure two-year leases. Dwindling land availability and increased demand means they now need multi-year leases – which requires rotating with cover crops to avoid fumigation. Crops such as sunflowers are now a common sight around the plains once the nursery has lifted its fruit trees. Water used to be free, but the new Waimea Community Dam being built will cost the company more than $100,000 a year. The family business has already paid just over $5,000 per hectare to secure water rights – with a flexible mechanism for leased land. They bought a significant surplus of shares, as did many landowners, to get the project up and running and Mike doesn’t begrudge a cent of it.

“We are way better off with this dam because it has created confidence and productivity in this area. Without surety of water, we would probably have to be somewhere else.” The dam is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. It will ensure business as usual for the nursery as it tackles the next phase of containerisation and automation.