Maximising profitability: improving Class 1 yield and harvest efficiencies

November 2024 | Presented by Cameron Burt and Sarah de Bruin, AgFirst | Future Orchards® presentation and video

Cameron Burt and Sarah de Bruin of AgFirst examine how apple growers can improve profitability by increasing Class 1 yield and reducing harvest inefficiencies. Using findings from the 2023 actual and 2024 forecast Orchard Business Analysis, the presentation connects in-season crop management, harvest decisions and post-harvest packout data to the financial performance of the orchard.

The analysis shows why production, packout, price and people all matter. The model recorded Class 1 packouts of 61% in 2023 and 67% in the 2024 forecast, with Class 1 yield increasing from 27.6 t/ha to 31.3 t/ha. At the same time, costs of production were rising. This reinforces the need to spread costs across as much high-value fruit as possible rather than focusing only on gross tonnes.

The presentation separates factors into what growers cannot control, what they can influence and what they can directly control. Medium-term opportunities include genetics, protection from hail and sunburn and systems to improve colour. Short-term management includes reducing harvest injury, achieving target fruit size, improving colour and grooming defects before harvest. Canopy management, nutrition, irrigation, crop load, reflective cloth, leaf blowers and mechanical summer pruning are discussed as tools that may support these goals.

The economics of packout improvement are illustrated with case studies. Using a Kanzi example, increasing packout by five percentage points at the same 50 t/ha gross yield increased modelled EBIT by $7,925/ha; a ten-point improvement increased EBIT by $15,850/ha. Even where gross yield fell because lower-value fruit was deliberately not picked, improved packout still produced a stronger EBIT result in the scenarios presented.

Harvest is highlighted as the most expensive on-orchard operation in the 2023 model, at about $0.23 per gross kilogram, with post-harvest costs adding another $0.65/kg. Sending Class 2 or process fruit through harvest and packing therefore adds significant cost to lower-value product. The presentation also shows that upper-quartile businesses combined higher yield and packout with lower harvest expenditure per kilogram than the rest of the panel, demonstrating the value of harvest efficiency as well as fruit quality.

The resource encourages growers to use post-harvest packout data to drive next-season decisions. By identifying where value is lost — through defects, colour, size, injury or inefficient picking — orchard teams can focus management effort on the changes most likely to lift Class 1 production and profit.