Expansion plans included purchasing and developing additional land for cherry production at Lindis Peaks, near Tarras, and establishing the packhouse and export infrastructure required, chief executive and director Sharon Kirk said in a statement.
The company’s first cherries would be harvested and exported from December this year to February next year and would target the growing global seasonal and Chinese New Year market.
About 83ha had now been planted at Mt Pisa and 36ha at Lindis Peaks and there was additional land available for development at Lindis Peaks.
The traditional sheep and beef landowners of the orchard sites at Lindis Peaks and Mt Pisa were among the investors behind Deep Creek Fruits.
Orchard and project manager Ross Kirk said the developments generated 15 to 20 jobs during stage two planting and a range of full-time positions including orchard and administrative positions. Up to 20 pickers would be required for the first harvest and numbers would increase up to 500 per 80ha by 2025.
Deep Creek Fruits chairman Michael Ambrose said the offer invited wholesale investors to purchase partnership interests in the development.
The minimum investment was $105,000 and the ideal investor put in at least $250,000.
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Lol - an extra 500 workers in an industry that is constantly complaining about a lack of workers and pressuring the Govt to open borders so it can import more low wage workers. How about ensuring you can staff and house you short-term workers before expanding. After all, you don't expand other businesses without ensuring to can get the components needed to actually produce your product.
But they won't , they will ignore local applications (like so many have recently ie the Central Otago man who claimed he didn't have the time to go through work applications, while at the same time protesting they couldn't get enough workers and to open the borders etc). They will just run to the Govt and say if you don't allow us to import more labour we will lose 'x' amount and it will be your fault , despite the fact it was them that expanded without ensuring they had the ability to staff it.
To top it off are building suitable accommodations to house the extra workers? It's not as if the area has a surplus of accommodation now, or are they expecting worker to live in tents or pay through the nose for short-term accommodation while being paid in or around minimum wage?
Funny, such a huge outcry when farms are converted to forestry, but here we have 'The traditional sheep and beef landowners of the orchard sites at Lindis Peaks and Mt Pisa were among the investors behind Deep Creek Fruits.'
And yet over the lifetime of a forestry block when considering the people need to prep, planting, pruning and maintaining, harvesting, transporting etc the workforce is not too similar; and yet we here constant moans about farming land being converted to forestry but not to orchards despite the fact the forestry is the natural state of most of NZ and was cleared in the first place.