Future Orchards international tour to New Zealand

For the first time since 2019, APAL is pleased to announce the return of the Future Orchards® international grower tour in 2024.

The tour to New Zealand will take place from 15–19 January 2024 and cover both South and North islands with AgFirst consultants leading orchard walks in their home regions.

Growers will tour both the Tasman (Nelson) and Hawke’s Bay regions visiting a number of leading growers to discuss their season to date, block performance and growing systems.

Nic Finger, Industry Development Manager for Grower Development and Trials, said he is excited to see international tours back on the agenda.

“New Zealand has a great range of growing systems, high performance blocks and switched-on people out in the orchards. It’s a great opportunity to see fruit on the trees a few weeks before harvest kicks off with the AgFirst team able to introduce us to some world-leading orchards and the teams that run them.” 

Over the four days of tours participants will see: 

• High performance orchard blocks consistently performing at >100t/ha across a range of planting densities and varieties.
• Modern and emerging planting systems and the performance to date.
• New varieties, the growth habits and trends in plantings.

Four days of orchard visits will be offered with participants being asked to book their own flights to- and-from New Zealand, accommodation and internal transfers between Nelson and Napier.

Included in the ticket price ($400 for members and $800 for non-members) will be two group dinners, four days of orchard tours, local guides, nightly debriefs and a tour pack.

Due to the anticipated popularity of this event, businesses will be limited to registering a maximum of three attendees each. Any additional staff members who wish to attend will be placed on a waitlist and they will be contacted if there are any remaining spots available.

Following the international tour, Future Orchards® Front Line Advisors (FLAs) will organise a follow-up walk across each of Australia’s main growing regions; with those who visited New Zealand able to share their findings from the trip. 

For further information on the itinerary, estimated costs and suggested hotel/flight bookings see here. 

Registration for the New Zealand tour will open to growers (via Eventbrite) from Thursday August 10 2023 to coincide with the Technical Symposium in the Goulburn Valley on a first-come, first served basis with the link to be shared via APAL’s Industry Juice newsletter as well as being available on APAL’s website.