COTTERELL CONNECTION
When John and Cindy
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Cotterell purchased
their 8.5ha block of
sundrenched Bay of Plenty land 20
years ago, their plans were to make
the most of the 400 existing avocado
trees. These days, the name Cotterell
is synonymous with the sought-after
fruit…John formerly worked as a
grower services representative for
AVOCO and has a long history of
involvement on the New Zealand
Avocado Board.
However, down the back of their
site – next to an adjoining 10ha
of avocado plantings purchased
two years ago – was an annoying
piece of land covered in forestry
with disused effluent ponds that
no one really knew what to do
with. The Cotterells thought long
and hard about how to utilise the
0.9ha of low-lying land unable to
sustain avocadoes because of its
soil dampness…and then along
came BerryCo to offer the family a
chance to make the land profitable by
planting blueberries.
At their peak – within the first four
years after planting – each plant can
produce around 6kg on average,
with exceptional plants topping
7-8kg each per season. However,
protective cropping is the best way
to grow the berries in New Zealand
to maximise yield and quality, and an
extra four to six weeks of production
is achievable compared with open
field cropping.
So the Cotterells lured their
daughter Tracey Giacon back
to the Bay to manage the new
project. With a background in
governance, administration and adult
education, Giacon had no previous
horticultural experience, but a strong
determination to make the land
successful again. “It is exciting to be
part of something that’s so new and
hi-tech,” she says. “It’s a bit scary as
well, but we have great support and
it’s a very busy project.”
Cotterell started land contouring at
the end of 2016, by using swales
where leg rows ran to ensure water
coming off the tunnel structures
was channelled and directed to
drainage points. The construction of
the structures – made by Queidan -
began in February last year and are
8.5m wide, with a range in length
from 93m to 213m and a gap vent in
the middle to help with ventilation.
There are three rows of plants per
tunnel at a spacing of 90cm, with the
Eureka variety located on the outside
and centre rows, and pollinator First
Blush in centre rows only, Giacon
says. Weedmat placed underneath
is Reflecta from Redpath NZ, which
works well to increase light levels,
and plant support structures used are
Vinstakes with wires placed at three
levels.
In all, 3643 Mountain Blue Orchard
variety-licenced blueberry plants
acquired through BerryCo have been
planted since May last year. Potted
in 30 litre square Plant Logic pots,
growing prospers with a layer of
stones in the bottom to help with
aeration and drainage. Media is a mix
from Daltons, specially formulated
in consultation with BerryCo, Giacon
says.
“Concrete pavers have been used
to place pots on, providing stability
others following behind all the way
down to Motueka. Around 30-40
growers are on BerryCo’s books,
covering around 80ha, and Judkins
says the company is extremely
strategic in selecting the right
growers and land, with the first 40ha
centred around the main growing
regions of the Far North, Bay of
Plenty, Waikato and Nelson.
"Consumers’ expectations around
their eating experiences are changing
as proprietary varieties - which
have gone through strict breeding
programme regimes - deliver a better
result to the consumer," he says.
“We know that retailers globally are
now starting to de-list varieties as
they become superseded by better
performing varieties and this is the
area where the potential to expand
is.”
BerryCo will provide a boost to the
New Zealand blueberry industry
as production increases over the
coming years. About 700ha of
blueberry crops are grown in New
Zealand annually.
and ensuring they are level on the
uneven ground,” she says. “The
pavers also create a barrier which
helps with weed control and to
visually access the run off from pots.
Wind cloth installed along all sides
of the tunnels with bird netting fully
enclose the rest of the structure.”
The entire area is roughly divided into
three zones which run across the
tunnels to ensure that even pressure
is maintained across the sloping
site. Each pot contains two 2.2L/hr
drippers, with the system fed from a
three-tank configuration including an
acid tank and a separate mixing tank.
Water supply is from a bore, which
is pumped into a 30,000 litre holding
tank.
The system is controlled by an
Autogrow NZ multigrow system,
installed by PGO Horticulture. It
includes an envirosensor which
measures temperature, humidity
and light levels, as well as a runoff
station which measures the volume,
temperature, PH and EC of runoff and
the moisture level in individual pots. If
anything goes wrong, the system will
factor in variables and trigger changes,
as well as alerting Giacon remotely.
The Cotterell family have been
so impressed with the blueberry
potential that they have started
groundwork for a second 1ha block,
using the same systems. “We can
see a lot of good things coming from
blueberries,” Giacon says. “The
returns are impressive, and it’s great
being part of a relatively new fruit
crop industry. We see good things in
the future, and we’re proud to be part
of it.”
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