Orchardist Ray Annan believes that New Zealand fruit growers must focus on what they can do best. This does not mean aggressive wide scale production but instead increasing the fruits available and maximising the seasonal opportunities for differentiating production. And he also believes he’s found the key to this tailored door to success.
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Since 1995, Annan has been growing pluots since 1995, but cannot hope to supply large export markets and is focusing instead on local markets to sell the “premium fruit.”
The pluot was first developed in a complex hybridising process 11 years ago, by Californian company Zaiger Genetics. The bizarre mix of plum and apricot is popular in the US but relatively unknown on New Zealand soil, allowing Annan to capture demand through marketing them “above the scoffing market.”
