Apatu Farms

Apatu Farms is a powerhouse in the Hawke’s Bay fruit bowl. Their food line includes onions, sweetcorn, pumpkins and beetroot and their processors are as big as they come in New Zealand; Heinz-Wattie, McCain Foods, Cedenco and Greenmount Foods. Operating mainly on the Heretaunga Plains near the Ngaruroro River, Apatu Farms grow about 1000 hectares of processed vegetables and export onions and have the country’s largest planted area of Envy apples for an independent grower outside of T&G. 

Ken Apatu started contract growing for Wattie’s in the Hawke’s Bay in 1966 and lived to see his innovative family business grow rapidly under his children. Ken was an innovator, buying the country’s first FMC Cascade mechanical tomato harvester for supply of his entire crop to J Wattie Canneries. 

Now trading as Apatu Farms, sons Mark and Paul manage more than 2.5 million tomato vines for supply to Wattie’s. And that’s just the start of it. In all, the business has 2500ha of freehold and leasehold across Hawke’s Bay, employing more than 280 fulltime and seasonal staff.  

Mark Apatu says the business really took off in the late ‘90s with a move into export onions for the Japanese market. After initially sending off onions for processing, Apatu Farms built their own packhouse and exported onions into other parts of Asia and Europe. 

In 2008 they got into viticulture, planting a vineyard on their own property land, buying an existing vineyard from Pernot Ricard, and then planting another vineyard at Crownthorpe in 2016. They now supply about 220 hectares of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot gris grapes to Constellation brands, Pernot Ricard, and Indevin. 

In 2018 Apatu Farms moved into apples, after seeing prime cropping land come under pressure from the pipfruit industry. “We were getting a bit of pressure from apple guys coming to bare-land blocks that we grow vegetables on, offering higher rentals for horticulture. So, we thought, what are we going to do here? Are we're going to get involved with this industry or see our land area reduce because of it?” Mark says. 

In 2017 Apatu Farms was invited on a trip to Washington State, USA, with Turners & Growers. After doing their homework they picked up and planted three varieties: 50 hectares of Rockit, 70 hectares of Envy and 30 hectares of Ju Gala. As far as varieties go, you’ve got to have it in the back of your mind that new varieties come in, and old ones become less fashionable, Mark says. “So, you need to be thinking that maybe in 15 years, you might have to graft over to a new variety.” 

Throughout all the expansion, their vegetable business has stayed steady, growing tomatoes, beetroot, and sweetcorn for Kraft-Heinz and squash for Cedenco Foods.  

In 2019 Apatu Farms employed general manager Tim Agnew to manage the growing scale and complexity of the various operations. And Pipfruit Division Manager, Jimmie Egan relishes his role in running the various crews and technology working in the orchards, ensuring the business is a happy place to work. 

However, Mark and his brother Paul remain hands-on in their different roles.  Mark has a background in agronomy, so he focuses on production, while Paul tends to the commercial side, including administration, finance, and marketing. 

Apatu Farms has a 50% stake in exporter, Harvest Fresh, expanding global reach of their onion business and further supply integration. About 80% of their onion production goes through that company. 

The fertile Heretaunga Plains of Hawke’s Bay might be bountiful, but the business didn’t escape Cyclone Gabrielle when it swept through in early 2023. Apatu Farms had 200 hectares of orchards and vineyards submerged under three metres of water. One block in the Dartmoor Valley was swamped by half a metre of silt and it took about five months to clear. “Gabrielle was definitely the biggest one for me in terms of devastation and loss,” Mark says. 

The business lost 10 hectares of orchard canopy that was just totally bowled by trees and slash from the Ngaruroro River. “But everything else is back in production and now [in March 2024] we're harvesting, so that’s relatively pleasing.” 

As for long-term vision, Mark says “you've obviously got your ongoing contracts, but you tend to be looking as to where the markets are, whether that's new varieties or new planting areas, or relationships.” 

Current challenges include inflation. “Prices on most products haven’t really haven't increased too much so there’s certainly some pressure on margins.” Timing and resources (people) and equipment are critical to a successful outcome. As with all intensive horticulture there are small windows working around weather to accommodate planting, maintenance and harvesting. “We tend to focus on scale to provide efficiencies, such as three row sprayers in orchards and vineyards. And GPS steered tractors with wide cultivation equipment in the vegetable production.” 

Apatu Farms is also a recent entrant to the dairy industry, having bought a 450ha farm in Central Hawke's Bay in 2022.