Crop load targets for quality fruit production

August 2023 | Presented by Paul Vogelaar, Kiwi Crunch, New Zealand | Future Orchards® short video

This short Future Orchards® video focuses on setting crop-load targets that support marketable fruit quality rather than maximising fruit number alone. Paul Vogelaar of Kiwi Crunch discusses the need to match fruit number to the capacity of the tree and the quality specifications growers are trying to achieve.

Crop load directly affects fruit size, colour, maturity and return bloom. A useful target therefore needs to consider variety, canopy strength, previous block performance and the size profile required by the market. Once the target has been defined, counts during thinning provide a practical way to check whether orchard teams are leaving the intended number of fruit.

The video is a concise reminder that yield targets should be expressed as measurable fruit numbers and linked to quality outcomes. That makes crop load easier to communicate, monitor and refine from season to season.