FRANKLY SPEAKING - WEEK 7
Welcome to this weeks update. The big during the week has been that boat loads of used cars have been intercepted at the border infested with marmorated stink bug and correctly MPI have denied them access and turned the boats around. It is an incredible state of affairs that boats should arrive in New Zealand having set sail over the Christmas period infested and it is a credit to MPI that they denied entry.
The kiwiberry harvest has commenced. The first of the fruit has been harvested and through the system and airfreighted to the market. The new machine at KCG has settled and the team are refining the punnet systems to bring the production up to peak capacity. But we are pretty pleased with it and the fruit this year looks to be the best handled to date – the fruit is clean and if anything a little large. Fruit will be on the Australian super market shelves this week.
Our technical team continue to review data from the monitor programme, the data is showing for Hayward that size [fresh weight] continues to be higher than the previous season and dry matter the same as last year. In Hayward the data has not shown any impact from the weather [all that rain], with freshweight and dry matter tracking similarly to last year. Over the next 5 weeks we can expect to see an average of 4gm per week fruit growth, with the caveat from Murray Judd that we must also have sunshine. For Gold3 the monitor data is showing size continues to be above what it was in the past two years and dry matter at this time is similar to the last two years. The monitor data over the next couple of weeks will show whether the dry matter will continue to accumulate as it has in previous years. Dry matter accumulation levels in Gold3 have peaked at 1% dry matter accumulation per week and the rate of accumulation will decline slowly from now on and fresh weight accumulation is on average expected to be slightly over 4gm per week for the next 4 weeks.
The week 9 monitor for all Gold3 MA's will commence this weekend, carried out by either VLS or Eurofins. Please contact your CRM if you have any questions.
Zespri has posted to you the Schedule 5 2018 Supply Agreement last week. All that is required by you is to tick option A and complete the left hand box at the bottom of the form. This can be dropped to our Lab, Head office or contact your CRM.
Over the past week there has been some activity on the roof of Seeka 360. This is the install of a 28kw solar array; and is part of a project on sustainability.
The install involves enough solar panels to run Seeka 360 for its electricity needs at a peak load. Also being installed is latest technology Tesla Battery Wall to allow for the smoothing of supply, and provision of power supply support in the event of an unexpected shutdown.
Displays will be available for real-time power generation against usage. This is an exciting project, which will see Seeka 360 not needing to utilise power from an outside provider.
Just a reminder Seeka is holding the annual Sea fishing tournament on Friday 2nd March. Please reply to the invitation sent to you by email or deliver the registration sent by post to Head office or contact your CRM
Regards
Michael
Seeka Key
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