A Central Otago initiative to make apple exports more sustainable in the future has been embraced right across the country, and one year after its inception, Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Peter Beaven said the uptake had been "outstanding".
Fifty percent of all orchards nationwide had registered for the Apple Futures programme, which aims to export fruit with nil residues, and a further 12% were now organic or in the process of conversion, Mr Beaven said.
"Despite 2007-08 being a testing growing year with regular rain, the results were outstanding.
Half the fruit we tested was completely free of residues and the other half had residues so low they were at the limits of detection.
This places the pipfruit industry at the forefront of using innovative systems to produce the safe food that consumers are demanding," Mr Beaven said.
He was particularly impressed with the high rate of uptake in Central Otago, where all but one of the district's 38 orchards have registered for Apple Futures or converted to organic production.
Central Otago District Council business development manager Jonathan Gadd said Apple Futures was a Central Otago initiative, and its existence was the result of the efforts of local growers and industry supporters.
Apple Futures is a three-year programme supported by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, and intended to advance New Zealand's orchard management systems to a level where residue-free production is achievable.
Year one of the programme saw 90 orchards from Central Otago and Hawkes Bay monitored. Nelson has entered the programme for year two.
