One of the most common frustrations during packing of bags is the time consumed by the labeling system. Changing tape, tickets or ribbons means halting the process while another tape or ticket roll is being loaded.

This leads to unnecessary delay, accumulation of costs per bag and increases in lead time. Furthermore, the tape or tickets attached to the bag can easily tear off or be removed and can fade when subjected to sun light, causing logistical problems and loss of identification. Depending on the number of customers and products being packed, storage of all the different tape and tickets increases your costing and often leaves you with unusable surplus material.

Together with LC Packaging Eqraft has developed laser printable bags and a laser printer that prints straight on to bags without the use of ink ribbons, tape or paper tickets. As the printing is without contact there are no wearing parts.

This printer has been developed for high volume continuous operation at high reliability. The printer allows for the individual printing of bags with filling dates, product information track and trace numbers and any other information making the identification of each specific bag and its contents possible. Printing is done straight onto the bag without the use of the so called consumables such as PE tape, paper tickets, sprayed ink or ink ribbon.

The Eqraft Laser Printer for Bags allows for:

• No Consumables
• Real time printing & online editing
• Durable, water & light resistant prints
• Individual product identification

Currently the Eqraft Laser Printer and the LC Packaging laser printable bags are being thoroughly tested by one of our customers in the Netherlands. The official presentation will be at the Potato Europe Exhibition in Emmeloord on September 13-14th. The Eqraft Laser Printer for Bags can be integrated with the Baxmatic® bagging equipment.

| A n Eqraft release  ||  August 29,  2017   |||

JR’s Orchards, writes Nicola Watson for www.freshplaza.com  is the only large scale, export orchard left in the Wellington area and is situated in the heart of the beautiful Wairarapa, in Greytown.

"Our region's climate of hot days and cold nights gives our fruit outstanding pressures and brix, making our apples highly desirable to all markets," said Jamiee Burns from the company. "In the past 5 years we have planted in excess of 35,000 trees including the new “Sunglow” Red Delicious which is attracting a lot of interest due to its sweet taste and storage compatibilities."

JR's are planting another 5,000 trees this winter, mainly Royal Gala and High Colour Braeburn. "We are looking to grow our markets in Europe and Asia as we feel our variety mix of Royal Gala, Braeburn, Fuji, Sunglow, Pacific Rose and European Pears will be perfect for these markets. We also export to the Middle East market and currently supply fruit into Lidl and Aldi in Europe."

Although netting is not common among New Zealand apples growers, JR's have 90% of their orchards protected. "We have the largest single netting structure for apples and pears in New Zealand and we will continue to develop until we are 100% covered," explains Jamiee.

"The netting has many benefits in enhancing our fruit quality and fruit finish as it has created its own micro climate under the nets. Our crop is protected from birds, insects, wind and hail."

The first netting was erected in 2007 and according to Jamiee, it has been a fantastic investment. "We have seen a 30% increase in production due to the netting. This is achieved by having a cleaner, pest free product and healthier trees."

JR's are a stand-alone business with no other grower supply base. Everything is marketed under the ECCO brand is 100% own fruit. "We have our own packhouse and coolstores with the capacity to Smartfresh 2,000 bins per day. We load all containers onsite and are part of New Zealand's Secure Exporters Program. This allows our export product to enter overseas markets freely without the need for additional offshore customs inspections."

The company has also invested in a new Compac grader that allows them to size, colour band, defect sort and optimise pack weight to ensure accuracy of the product.

"Our philosophy and vision is to grow excellent quality fruit in a sustainable way, while showing respect for our environment. We have twice entered the New Zealand Ballance Environmental Awards and in 2009 won the Gallagher Innovation Award. In 2015 we entered again and won the 2015 Hill Laboratories Harvest Award, 2015 Waterforce Integrated Management Award and 2015 Massey University Innovation Award, said Jamiee proudly.

The company is accredited to BRC, Global Gap + GRASP, Sedex Registered and follow the New Zealand Pipfuit Apple Futures Program to ensure we can deliver an excellent product and meet all our Importers stringent MRL standards required by our markets.

| A FreshPlaza release  ||  August 31,  2017   |||

TRAVERSE CITY — Devices to help farmers get over, around and through orchards and vineyards were on display during the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center's annual open house last week.

Seven agricultural equipment vendors — three from the area — sprawled out down the hill from the Research Center office and conference building.

One area vendor, Herman's Mobile Service from Suttons Bay, towered over the other companies.

Herman's displayed a mobile frost fan that extends 28 feet into the air. Built by Tow and Blow in New Zealand, the device is powered by a diesel engine.

"This machine will cover 11 acres," said owner Pat Herman. "The new model that is coming in now are 14 acres. Diesel engine. They're quiet, like a lawn mower. The biggest thing with these is portability. You can move them from one crop to another or put them away when you're done with them."

Herman said permanent frost fans, while covering more acreage, also burn more fuel.

"We're going to have slightly less coverage than them, maybe one to two acres," he said. "But the other thing we have going is we burn about a gallon and a quarter of fuel an hour where those are going to burn about 13. It's a big difference."

The mobile frost fans also feature a temperature-controlled start. Herman said the $37,000 price tag is "very comparable to the stationary ones."

Herman said his company has been carrying the product for three years. He said Herman's Mobile Service sells many of the mobile units in Ohio, New York and Wisconsin.

| A RecordEagle release  ||  August 31,  2017   |||

"Double the amount of pallets fit onto a container ship" writes Nele Moorthamers Marketing Manager Europe ZESPRI International ( Europe) NV for FreshPlaza. A few months ago Seatrade introduced a new line from New Zealand. "Our kiwis now go to Belgium with the Seatrade Blue," says Nele Moorthamers of Zespri Europe. "This container ship goes to Zeebrugge via Peru and the US, arriving at the BNFW terminal, where the kiwis are unloaded. It will be a set line that will arrive at Zeebrugge every 10 days. The first ship from the new line arrived on August 28. Around 40% of the shipment is SunGold and the rest is Green and Organic kiwi fruit."

ContainersIt's the first time that Zespri has transported its kiwis in 40 foot containers. " 

In the past the kiwis arrived in Zeebrugge in reefer ships, where the entire deck was filled with pallets of kiwi fruit. The line Color Carrier, uses cooled container ships. Every container has around 20 pallets of kiwis and are individually cooled. It mainly has an impact on loading and unloading the ships," she explains.

Double the volume"The container ship has a much larger capacity. In the past we received around 5,000 pallets through a reefer ship and there are 10,060 pallets on the ship that arrived on Monday. That's more than double. The transit time is now a few days longer than with the reefer ships, as this line has extra stops."

Nele says that the season has been satisfactory so far. "We still have around six weeks of sales for New Zealand SunGold, before we seamlessly move to European SunGold. The season for Green is more difficult, as the demand is large and the supply on the market is quite limited."

 | A FreshPlaza release  ||  August 30,  2017   |||

Yang Shuang reports  for Fresh Plaza that as of August 22, one of the leading Chinese fruit companies, Fruit Day, and JD.com have officially started to sell persimmons from New Zealand. Their platform is one of the first to sell New Zealand's persimmons in China. After 12 years of negotiations the first batch has finally arrived on the Chinese market.

Last year, in May, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) published the "Inspection and Quarantine Administration requirements for New Zealand persimmon and Turkish cherries." On May 27, products that fulfilled these conditions of, were approved to be imported to China. This year, on July 20, China's AQSIQ has once again updated the list of New Zealand persimmon exporters who have been allowed to export New Zealand persimmon onto the Chinese market.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise agency trade commissioner Damon Paling said: "I am delighted that New Zealand's crunchy persimmon will be able to enter China for the first time this summer. The New Zealand fruit is tastier than ordinary persimmon - it's sweet and delicious. I hope that Chinese consumers will like it."

Crunchy persimmon growing on plantation

Fruitday imported this first batch from a company called 'First'. It actually was the 'first' company to have its products approved by China's AQSIQ. First's crunchy persimmon plantation is situated on the east coast of New Zealand, in Gisborne. But it's not only the unique environment that makes persimmons from First so good, but also a special V-planting technology, which helps to reduce the negative impact of insects. This technology also lets more sunlight reach the fruits, so they can become even sweeter.

Zhao Guozhang, co-founder of Fruitday, said: "We are very confident about our sources of supply. Our purchasing mission has traveled all over the world to find the best fruits. New Zealand combines perfect natural conditions with well-developed agricultural technologies. Their products earned their customers the highest appreciation. New Zealand is a very important source of supply for us. It has a lot of world-famous farmers, brands and associates who are our indispensable fruit partners.

Fruitday is a pioneer and an innovator. Since it's very foundation Fruitday has been promoting high quality fruits from New Zealand. In the last eight years, we've made a lot of new fruits available on China's market. For example: Zespri Sungold kiwifruits, Zespri Green kiwifruits, Envy apples, Queen Rose apples, New Zealand honey pears and a lot of other fruits that have never been sold in China before. Fruit Day is still working hard to bring even more high quality fruits and to gain more trust from Chinese government officials. Being a company that introduces new kinds of fruits to the Chinese market, Fruit Day have become the number one choice for their partners.

About Fruit DayFruitday was founded in 2009. It is a new kind of food enterprise and one of the leaders on the market. Fruit Day works with the food suppliers all over the world. The company has an App for on-line sales and also uses off-line channels of distribution, which allows it to satisfy as many customers as possible. Fruit Day have their own direct sales platform, private cold storage and cold chain logistics.

| A FreshPlaza release  ||  August 28,  2017   |||

The apple season will still be a bumper despite T&G Global's lower first-half-year profit forecast, says New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard and reported by FreshPlaza.

In a NZX announcement T&G Global reported a 49 per cent decrease in first-half-year profit, with poor weather contributing to harvest timing, quality, volume and margin.

"Inclement weather also affected third-party growing partners in New Zealand and internationally, leading to an overall decrease in the volume of fruit available," T&G Global said.

Profitability was also affected by the northern hemisphere where fruit was available for a longer period, delaying the switch to southern produce.

"These issues led to operating profit for the pipfruit division decreasing by $8 million from the same period last year."

Mr Pollard said that, for the whole season, it looked like it would be a similar result to last year nationwide.

"Last year was a record year, so if we do the same we equal our record - you can't complain about that," he said.

| A Fresh Plaza release |  August 25,  2017   |||

A group of leading New Zealand cherry growers have joined together to export a premium cherry line to the international markets starting in the 2017/18 season.

"Pure Pac consists of a group of 7 passionate Cherry Growers who all own orchards in the Cromwell Area Central Otago," explains Ross Kirk, Chief Executive of Hortinvest which has been contracted as Pure Pac's project manager and packhouse manager. "What makes Pure Pac unique is all the shareholders are grower suppliers. We will grow, pack and market the fruit directly to buyers in the international market. Pure Pac have engaged an experienced team to put together their packhouse, logistics and marketing of our cherries."

As a group they currently have 70ha in production and coming into production and this year they will plant an additional 20,000 trees.

2017-18 will be the first export season for Pure Pac, however the growers have been exporting via other packers/exporters. According to Kirk they got together and decided they would like to work directly with the international market and therefore decided to invest in a state of the art packing house which will be ready for the first cherries to be processed in December 2017.

The harvest starts prior to Christmas and will run till early February.

"We have several varieties. The key export ones are Samba, Lapin, Sweetheart, Staccato and Rainier. In the first season we expect to pack 450mt and over the next 4 years anticipate volumes increasing to 1000mt per annum," said Kirk. "We are growing the varieties that suit the Asian market, they are sweet, juicy and crunchie."

Pure Pac are working with Compac Engineering to put in the latest cherry grading technology, along with some technology which is imported from Italy and France to complete the packhouse set up. The new packhouse will be capable of handling 1200mt’s over the cherry season.

"We are very excited to be launching our two brands at Asia Fruit Logistica: Pure Gold and Gold Reserve," stated Kirk. "The difference in the brands is simply the box and brand design. The quality of the cherries will be the same high quality premium cherries in each box.

"We have very strong demand from Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, we are looking to expand throughout Asia, and we would like to also work with customers from India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan."

Pure Pac will be at Asia Fruit Logisitca as part of the New Zealand Country stand. The team, including some of the grower/directors will be there to meet with customers and discuss the group's cherries and the up coming Cherry season.

| A FreshPlaza release ||  August 23, 2017   |||

 MODESTO, Calif., Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- E. & J. Gallo Winery (Gallo) announced today that it has been awarded the exclusive rights to distribute New Zealand's Saint Clair Family Estate wines in the United States, effective immediately.

Known for producing some of the best Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand's Marlborough region, Saint Clair Family Estate is the latest addition to Gallo's premium import portfolio. "Saint Clair Family Estate is well-known around the world and we are excited to introduce this award-winning Sauvignon Blanc to American consumers," said Roger Nabedian, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Gallo's Premium Wine Division.

Owners Neal and Judy Ibbotson first planted vines in 1978, and were one of the early family pioneers to the Marlborough wine industry. Today, Saint Clair Family Estate owns fifteen vineyards located throughout the Wairau, Awatere, and Omaka Valleys of Marlborough, as well as Hawkes Bay. This allows the winery to specialize its plantings by grape variety in the sub-regions that provide the most suitable terroir for each.

"Saint Clair Family Estate is thrilled to have entered into a partnership with E. & J. Gallo Winery as the exclusive national distributor for the Saint Clair brand in the USA," said founder Neal Ibbotson. He added, "We share many of the same values – family, passion and quality – and the move is an exciting opportunity for us to further develop our brand in the USA market."

The Saint Clair name originated from the vineyard property, first settled by the Sinclair family. Pioneer James Sinclair built one of the first homes in Blenheim and was closely associated with the early development of the town. Over time the name of the property reverted to the original Saint Clair.

The Saint Clair Family Estate Sauvignon Blanc will retail for $28. While the wine is already available in select states, the national roll-out is scheduled for Q1 2018.

About E. & J. Gallo WineryFounded by brothers Ernest and Julio Gallo in 1933 in Modesto, California, E. & J. Gallo Winery is the world's largest family-owned winery and the acclaimed producer of award-winning wines and spirits featured in more than 90 countries around the globe. A pioneer in the art of grape growing, winemaking, sustainable practices, marketing and worldwide distribution, Gallo crafts and imports wines and spirits to suit a diverse range of tastes and occasions, from everyday offerings to boutique, luxury bottlings.

The Gallo portfolio is comprised of more than 80 unique brands, including Barefoot Cellars, Dark Horse, and Gallo Family Vineyards, as well as premium box wines The Naked Grape and Vin Vault. Premium offerings include Apothic, Carnivor, Chateau Souverain, Columbia Winery, Ecco Domani, Edna Valley Vineyard, J Vineyards & Winery, Louis M. Martini, MacMurray Estate Vineyards, Mirassou, Orin Swift, Talbott Vineyards, and William Hill Estate, along with highly acclaimed imports, such as Alamos, Brancaia, La Marca, Las Rocas, Martín Códax, Whitehaven, and LUX Wines, importers of Allegrini, Argiano, Jermann, Pieropan and Renato Ratti. Gallo Spirits offers New Amsterdam Vodka and Gin and E&J Brandy, in addition to imported Scotch whiskies from Whyte & Mackay, including The Dalmore, Jura Single Malt and John Barr Blended.

Apple growers have good reason to be optimistic, with New Zealand named the world’s most competitive apple performer in the World Apple Report for the third consecutive year.

The good news comes as hundreds of apple growers and industry players descend on Napier for Pipfruit New Zealand’s annual two-day conference. (August 2nd)

Pipfruit New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard says the apple industry continues to grow and is a significant contributor to the Hawkes Bay and New Zealand economies with a goal to achieve $1bn in export returns by 2022.

“Although the outlook is bright we are focusing our conference this year on challenging and disrupting industry thinking about what the future may hold,” said Mr. Pollard.

“We must not get complacent. We need to continually keep improving and stay ahead of our competitors as the NZ apple industry is transforming into a billion-dollar export business.”

The World Apple Report, recently released, ranks New Zealand first over 33 major apple producing countries ahead of Chile and the US.

Mr Pollard said it is a great achievement to have a competitive edge over the rest of the world and to keep holding that position.

“The apple industry has doubled exports in the last four years so our provinces are prospering from this success. We are growing hundreds of full time jobs across the sector in all areas including production, post-harvest, logistics, marketing and exports.

“We expect to see over one million apple trees planted in New Zealand this year and nurseries have three-year back orders as growers work to meet a growing international demand for New Zealand apples.”

The Pipfruit New Zealand Conference starts on Wednesday 2nd August and will run for two days with some well-known names taking centre stage.

Sir Ray Avery will speak about disruptive thinking, Dr Andre de Barros Teixeira will discuss innovation, technology, R&D and marketing and Dame Diane Robertson will address the impact of big data on consumers and markets.

| A PipfruitNZ release  ||  August 1,  2017   |||

It was an all-New Zealand affair in Orange County, California today as Zespri officially opened its regional office to manage growing sales across Northern, Central and Southern America.

Zespri Chief Executive Lain Jager says Zespri is growing strongly across North America with most of this growth coming from the new gold variety Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit, which is proving hugely popular.

“The New Zealand kiwifruit industry is on track to more than double sales to $4.5 billion by 2025 and an important part of this growth will come from developing markets like North America, as well growing sales in our more established markets. Zespri is relaunching the kiwifruit category in the United States and the wider Americas region to attract new consumers and grow sales,” says Mr Jager.

Kiwifruit in the US is an underdeveloped category at number 21 in the overall fruit bowl compared to ranking in the top 10 for most European and Asian countries. However sales of all kiwifruit in the US – Zespri and other brands – are growing well above general fruit sales.

Zespri SunGold sales volumes in North America have grown over 100 percent over the past two years and are projected to hit nearly US$50 million in 2018/19, as consumers respond to the delicious tropical sweet flavour. At present, around 40 percent of SunGold sales are through Asian-American retail outlets, as these communities are more familiar with Zespri Kiwifruit. However the new variety appeals to mainstream American consumers too, with exciting growth through mainstream customers.

Mr Jager explains that retailers’ needs are changing and Zespri is working with distributors to meet those needs. “By appointing market development managers, we’ve been able to work with key retailers to build meaningful programmes to expand our distribution across the country and returned more value to our retail partners and New Zealand growers,” says Mr Jager.

Zespri is increasing its marketing investment to introduce more people to the great taste of Zespri Kiwifruit with an integrated PR, digital and social media campaign which includes in-store geotargeted mobile advertising, along with new eye-catching retail packaging.

Mr Jager explains Zespri is growing its offshore presence to deliver increased sales around the world, officially opening an office in Dubai earlier this year to service the regions of the Middle East, India and Africa. “More than half of our 450+ staff are based offshore now, with offices in 21 countries delivering sales and marketing programmes in 59 countries around the world this season,” says Mr Jager.

A Maori cultural delegation officially opened the new office at an event with senior Zespri executives, Ambassador Tim Groser and Mayor of Newport Beach Kevin Muldoon, with karakia/prayers and waiata/songs to bless the new whakairo/carving commissioned for the office. Carver James Tapiata has made several other carvings for Zespri offices in New Zealand and around the world and he created this work Te Puawaitanga (The Flowering) for the new office. Around 10 people will be based in the office.

| A Zespri release  || July 28,  2017   |||