Haumako’s harvest season a technological turning point

Tātau Tātau is helping grow Wairoa’s horticulture sector through two major orchard developments. The first, Tara Orchard—a 18-hectare site with Ohuia Incorporation—has been fully operational since 2021 and includes a cadetship program for local rangatahi to gain hands-on skills.

Building on Tara’s success, Tātau developed the 109-hectare Whakapau Orchard, which it fully owns. It includes 30 hectares of Envy apples (licensed from T&G) with plans to plant future crops. The 2024 Envy harvest marked a key milestone, transforming former grazing land into a premium horticulture site.

For the first time, Haumako has recently introduced automated picking platforms at Tara Orchard—a significant step forward from the old-school ladder-and-bag method. These platforms use conveyor belts to gently transport apples from the tree straight to the bin, reducing bruising and improving fruit quality.

More importantly, they’re making a huge difference for the people doing the work.
“The old way of picking was hard on the body—especially for our older, experienced workers,” says Sirius Tamati-Smith, a cadet graduate and winner of the 2024 Gisborne Young Grower of the Year – Best Apple Grower. “These platforms are helping extend careers, and that means we’re able to pass skills down to the next generation.”

Frank King, Block Lead at Tara Orchard, agrees. “We’re seeing fewer injuries, fewer sick days, and a happier, more productive team overall.”

This year’s harvest began in mid-March and finished in just 21 days—a tight window that required serious teamwork. Haumako’s crew of permanent staff, cadets, and casuals rose to the challenge, balancing practical orchard work with study toward their Level 3 Certificate in Primary Industries.

Behind the scenes, Workforce Manager Dwayne Russell made sure everything ran smoothly.

 “It’s about having the right people in the right place at the right time,” he says. “And with the new tech on board, we’re seeing real improvements in how we work and what we can achieve.”

But Haumako’s focus isn’t just on productivity—it’s on people and place, too.
At Whakapau, this year’s fruit wasn’t harvested for export. Instead, the team focused on thinning the trees and returning nutrients to the soil to support next season’s crop as they aim to produce export grade Envy apples. Rather than let all the fruit go to waste, bins were made available at the Ruataniwha entrance for the local community to help themselves.

And Haumako donated a pallet of apples to the Māhia school gala. Students got hands-on, making toffee apples and bagging up fresh fruit to sell.

Haumako's gala apples

Looking ahead, Haumako has plans to expand infrastructure, including new coolstores and improved water storage. But the heart of their work remains the same: growing long-term opportunities for the people of Wairoa.

“This is more than just growing apples,” says Russell. “It’s about growing futures—for our rangatahi, our workers, and our community.”