August 25, 2024 • 7 mins
Aaron McCloy of Far North Tropicals joins Craig Cumming to chat the rise in demand for tropical fruit trees here in NZ. Find out more at www.farnorthtropicals.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we're going to turn our attention to the rising
demand for tropical fruit trees. That's right, growing porporan and
vcago bananas and way ketto is not such a weird
idea idea and joining us now as I grew from
the Far North. Aaron mcloy, Good morning, Aaron.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
How are you? Oh? I'm great, Thank you. Nice to
talk to here.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yeah. Likewise, well, tell us first of all, the rising
demand for tropical trees. It's not just the Far North
that we're talking about here, is that we're also talking
about maybe the South Island.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, like we've got some temperate plants
that the acts kind of tropical, like the American purpor
and I'm like, we've had people starting to grow bananas
down in christ Church. We've had fruiting fruiting bananas. Last
year on Oriental Prague and Wellington we got we've got
(00:51):
a crazy difference in temperatures that people are starting to go,
hang on, I'm not getting hard frosted anymore, so I
can start to grow some of these more tropical species
in places that historically did get hard frost and aren't anymore.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah. I was going to ask that because I mean,
I'm from dened and so naturally I woke up this
morning I had a frost on the car. You talk
about Christitch, I mean, we normally associate with tropical fruit trees,
warm weather just about probably all year round. So what's
changed is that the weather pattern? Is it that I
suppose resilience of plants. What's made the difference to be
able to grow these sort of fruit trees and fruit
(01:24):
that we're not used to.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, I think people are becoming more aware of their
own individual microclimates. Some people. You know, we get messages
people going where I am, I don't get hard frosts
down the road. They do, and so people are starting
to be more aware of what they've got rather than going,
oh in this region, and that's made a big difference.
(01:47):
People are starting to be aware, okay, you can you
can grow certain trees and you can have cover so
you don't get frosts. And then I know, in the
South Island you get amazing long, hot summers. Temperatures are
higher than we get up in the far North, so
you know, those really hot, hot, long summers, they make
a really big difference for really fast growth. And then
(02:09):
it's shift about protecting them over winter.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, I was going to because I mean I've just
been through Central I mean, you look at that. I
suppose you know, the grapes through the vineyards, the long
dry summers, the challenges the winters. But when you look
at the netting and that's around, you know that there
are safeties. I suppose the key is what's the initial
setup and the cost of the setup, and what are
the returns if someone's looking to do it commercially.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, I mean, like if we if we take bananas,
for example, you can you can part them at the
spacing of one per either three or four meters apart
per hectare. It's six hundred to one thousand parts per
hectare and RADI returns just on the bananas alone, you're
(02:53):
looking at thirty one K per hecta up to fifty
five K per hectare just for the bananas. Then you
can also sell the flower, the leaves, you can sell
the honey, you can also sell in the stems. You know,
there's extras. It's not just one product.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Who's going to be the ones that educate around us
because obviously there's a lot of unknowns. But when you
look at returns. And I suppose, you know, we're just
talking about pine trees on the show, you've ben look
at sheep and beefers going down. I mean, who's the
people that can educate to show what that can be
because if they see those sort of returns, I could
imagine it going wash.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah. Yeah, And I mean like we've had quite a
few orchards, four orchards in the last year set up.
We've already got two orchards that are ready to plant
in October the shar which is the perfect time to plant.
We run banana workshops which shows people how to timeline
to set up the costs things that you might come
across and you go, oh, this is going to be
(03:48):
a problem, for example, preticos. You know, we run workshops
like that. Everything we do is basically ninety nine percent
organically grown, and we find that the after ki all
of these new species that we do is absolutely essential.
So we go out and we make sure we go
back to the orchard at least two times in the
following year, and we have you know, on online or
(04:11):
over the phone or you know messenger. You know, whenever
the people want extra help, they just give a flickers
a message and we flick back a message and talk
to them. So it's not like, oh, we're just going
to so here, here's a new species, and go for
your life. And if your failure fail, that's on you.
We you know, we provide a lot of aftercare.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
When it comes to size, taste. Will it be the
same as what we used to do. Ones that maybe
we import or ones are from the final.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, that's the thing. There's a few different varieties that
are available which are very nicer than the ones that
are imported. The ones that are imported, they don't taste great.
They taste okay. The ones that are growing in New Zealand.
I'm going like, if you talk goldfinger, they have a
lemone after taste. They are a dessert banana. They taste
(05:00):
light and fluffy. Is spectacular. We've also got ones that
are called a lady finger variety called Missy Lurky, which
is the shorter, denser banana, great shelf life. I'm going
to last way longer than the ones that you get
from the supermarket. We have dwarf candish which only grows
to two point five meters high. You know, a bunches
(05:20):
of fifteen to twenty five kgs. And then I'm like,
if we talk about pineapples, we have New Zealand grown
pineapples up to one point eight kgs, which are huge
compared to the ones in the supermarket, way tasty, really
high sugar content. So I'm going to like, fhh the range.
I'm going to like, I could to go on. We've
(05:41):
got papaya growing in New Zealand, which tastes better than
the papaya then you get from the supermarket because they're
tree ripened to the point where they're ready to be
packed rather than pick screen and scent and ah yeah,
just taking New Zone growing tropical fruit as spectacular.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And someways what you're saying is we're probably being numbed
down a little bit with our taste because we haven't
actually probably experienced what it could be at the high
end because we import a lot and we're just used
to what we used to.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh totally, And that's where we get a lot of
people coming to us going I've been to the tropics.
I want to taste the fruit like I taste it
in the tropics, and we're like, well, you're not going
to get that from the supermarket unless you get New
zeal And grown, and thankfully we have had some supermarkets
starting to sell the zial And grown bananas. And there
are some other species, some other fruit that are just
(06:33):
on the horizon coming into some New Zealand supermarkets.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Well, it's an exciting time and it's obviously going to
be a very you know, it's a time of growth
in this area. Appreciate your time this morning, Aaron. Really,
love the passion, love the knowledge, and hopefully we can
start to see more of this happening and get the
better taste in the supermarket from a local grown you know,
exotic trees and fruit and tropical fruit.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yes, thanks, look us up Funnel tropicals.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Excellent. Appreciate your time there. We go eron McLay. Yeah,
oh that sounds interesting. I love bananas, bananas, I really do,
but I'm a real snob. I don't like really ripe
bananas obviously, even what Aaron's saying there, Maybe because they're overcooked.
As soon as they get a dot or a brown spot,
I'm done. I'm done. But maybe I don't think know
what a real banana looks like or tastes like. I
have to be very very not ripe, but I just yeah,
(07:22):
Once they get too yellow, i'm done with them.
Now we're going to turn our attention to the rising
demand for tropical fruit trees. That's right, growing porporan and
vcago bananas and way ketto is not such a weird
idea idea and joining us now as I grew from
the Far North. Aaron mcloy, Good morning, Aaron.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
How are you? Oh? I'm great, Thank you. Nice to
talk to here.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yeah. Likewise, well, tell us first of all, the rising
demand for tropical trees. It's not just the Far North
that we're talking about here, is that we're also talking
about maybe the South Island.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, like we've got some temperate plants
that the acts kind of tropical, like the American purpor
and I'm like, we've had people starting to grow bananas
down in christ Church. We've had fruiting fruiting bananas. Last
year on Oriental Prague and Wellington we got we've got
(00:51):
a crazy difference in temperatures that people are starting to go,
hang on, I'm not getting hard frosted anymore, so I
can start to grow some of these more tropical species
in places that historically did get hard frost and aren't anymore.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah. I was going to ask that because I mean,
I'm from dened and so naturally I woke up this
morning I had a frost on the car. You talk
about Christitch, I mean, we normally associate with tropical fruit trees,
warm weather just about probably all year round. So what's
changed is that the weather pattern? Is it that I
suppose resilience of plants. What's made the difference to be
able to grow these sort of fruit trees and fruit
(01:24):
that we're not used to.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, I think people are becoming more aware of their
own individual microclimates. Some people. You know, we get messages
people going where I am, I don't get hard frosts
down the road. They do, and so people are starting
to be more aware of what they've got rather than going,
oh in this region, and that's made a big difference.
(01:47):
People are starting to be aware, okay, you can you
can grow certain trees and you can have cover so
you don't get frosts. And then I know, in the
South Island you get amazing long, hot summers. Temperatures are
higher than we get up in the far North, so
you know, those really hot, hot, long summers, they make
a really big difference for really fast growth. And then
(02:09):
it's shift about protecting them over winter.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, I was going to because I mean I've just
been through Central I mean, you look at that. I
suppose you know, the grapes through the vineyards, the long
dry summers, the challenges the winters. But when you look
at the netting and that's around, you know that there
are safeties. I suppose the key is what's the initial
setup and the cost of the setup, and what are
the returns if someone's looking to do it commercially.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, I mean, like if we if we take bananas,
for example, you can you can part them at the
spacing of one per either three or four meters apart
per hectare. It's six hundred to one thousand parts per
hectare and RADI returns just on the bananas alone, you're
(02:53):
looking at thirty one K per hecta up to fifty
five K per hectare just for the bananas. Then you
can also sell the flower, the leaves, you can sell
the honey, you can also sell in the stems. You know,
there's extras. It's not just one product.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Who's going to be the ones that educate around us
because obviously there's a lot of unknowns. But when you
look at returns. And I suppose, you know, we're just
talking about pine trees on the show, you've ben look
at sheep and beefers going down. I mean, who's the
people that can educate to show what that can be
because if they see those sort of returns, I could
imagine it going wash.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah. Yeah, And I mean like we've had quite a
few orchards, four orchards in the last year set up.
We've already got two orchards that are ready to plant
in October the shar which is the perfect time to plant.
We run banana workshops which shows people how to timeline
to set up the costs things that you might come
across and you go, oh, this is going to be
(03:48):
a problem, for example, preticos. You know, we run workshops
like that. Everything we do is basically ninety nine percent
organically grown, and we find that the after ki all
of these new species that we do is absolutely essential.
So we go out and we make sure we go
back to the orchard at least two times in the
following year, and we have you know, on online or
(04:11):
over the phone or you know messenger. You know, whenever
the people want extra help, they just give a flickers
a message and we flick back a message and talk
to them. So it's not like, oh, we're just going
to so here, here's a new species, and go for
your life. And if your failure fail, that's on you.
We you know, we provide a lot of aftercare.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
When it comes to size, taste. Will it be the
same as what we used to do. Ones that maybe
we import or ones are from the final.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, that's the thing. There's a few different varieties that
are available which are very nicer than the ones that
are imported. The ones that are imported, they don't taste great.
They taste okay. The ones that are growing in New Zealand.
I'm going like, if you talk goldfinger, they have a
lemone after taste. They are a dessert banana. They taste
(05:00):
light and fluffy. Is spectacular. We've also got ones that
are called a lady finger variety called Missy Lurky, which
is the shorter, denser banana, great shelf life. I'm going
to last way longer than the ones that you get
from the supermarket. We have dwarf candish which only grows
to two point five meters high. You know, a bunches
(05:20):
of fifteen to twenty five kgs. And then I'm like,
if we talk about pineapples, we have New Zealand grown
pineapples up to one point eight kgs, which are huge
compared to the ones in the supermarket, way tasty, really
high sugar content. So I'm going to like, fhh the range.
I'm going to like, I could to go on. We've
(05:41):
got papaya growing in New Zealand, which tastes better than
the papaya then you get from the supermarket because they're
tree ripened to the point where they're ready to be
packed rather than pick screen and scent and ah yeah,
just taking New Zone growing tropical fruit as spectacular.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And someways what you're saying is we're probably being numbed
down a little bit with our taste because we haven't
actually probably experienced what it could be at the high
end because we import a lot and we're just used
to what we used to.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh totally, And that's where we get a lot of
people coming to us going I've been to the tropics.
I want to taste the fruit like I taste it
in the tropics, and we're like, well, you're not going
to get that from the supermarket unless you get New
zeal And grown, and thankfully we have had some supermarkets
starting to sell the zial And grown bananas. And there
are some other species, some other fruit that are just
(06:33):
on the horizon coming into some New Zealand supermarkets.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Well, it's an exciting time and it's obviously going to
be a very you know, it's a time of growth
in this area. Appreciate your time this morning, Aaron. Really,
love the passion, love the knowledge, and hopefully we can
start to see more of this happening and get the
better taste in the supermarket from a local grown you know,
exotic trees and fruit and tropical fruit.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yes, thanks, look us up Funnel tropicals.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Excellent. Appreciate your time there. We go eron McLay. Yeah,
oh that sounds interesting. I love bananas, bananas, I really do,
but I'm a real snob. I don't like really ripe
bananas obviously, even what Aaron's saying there, Maybe because they're overcooked.
As soon as they get a dot or a brown spot,
I'm done. I'm done. But maybe I don't think know
what a real banana looks like or tastes like. I
have to be very very not ripe, but I just yeah,
(07:22):
Once they get too yellow, i'm done with them.
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