• $1.6b
    Fruit industry contribution to GDP in 2022–2023
  • $4b
    Export Revenue for Fruit industry year ending March 2023
  • $4.2b
    Export Revenue forecast for Fruit industry year ending June 2024
  • 25,990
    Individuals worked in Fruit industry across 2021

Overview

When Māori arrived in Aotearoa, they brought their knowledge of food growing and a variety of plants that continue to grow today, such as kūmara and tī pore (Pacific cabbage tree). They may have also brought fruits with them, including banana, breadfruit and coconut. However, these crops did not successfully grow in this country’s cooler climates and they learnt to utilise the fruit from native trees such as Poroporo and Karaka. Some fruit had other uses such as flavour enhancement or hair oil. When the missionary Samuel Marsden arrived in 1819, he brought with him apples and pears. In 2008, a pear tree from this original planting was still growing in Kerikeri. Although initially for domestic consumption, fruit exports started from Christchurch to Chile in 1888.

By June 2023, Aotearoa export revenue for fruit was valued at $3.7 billion. In 2021, we counted 25,990 people in the workforce with 17% of employees on work and work holiday visas. The Fruit industry workforce is highly diverse. In 2021, approximately 19% of the workforce were Pacific peoples, 21% Māori, and 12% Asian, with an estimated 10% of businesses being Māori-owned.

Like other industries within the food and fibre sector, labour shortages continue to provide challenging conditions for growers, compounded by the seasonality of the work. In 2006, Central Otago locals received funding to trial bringing people from Vanuatu to work in the fruit and viticulture industries, and what later became the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme began, officially coming into effect when the government picked up the scheme in 2007.

The RSE scheme continues today, but it has not completely solved the ongoing labour shortage challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the fragility of an industry that is heavily reliant on an overseas workforce, and the need to upskill locals in the industry. However, the future is bright. New technologies provide an opportunity for innovation within an industry that still relies heavily on a manual labour force. The Fruit industry is ripe and ready for a highly skilled, and tech-savvy labour workforce to disrupt the industry, increasing productivity and export potential.

Find out about our work to assess the quality of programmes delivered by providers for this industry here.

A snapshot of the Fruit workforce development plan is available for download here. Please note that this reflects a point in time (July 2024). The most up to date information is on the workforce development plans website.

2025 Investment Advice

Muka Tangata provides advice to TEC on investment in vocational education to influence funding decisions that considers industry needs, to help match skills and workforce demands with supply.

Learn more

Projects

Opportunities

We highlight the current key priorities and opportunities for each industry. These opportunities will be updated on an ongoing basis as our understanding of the industry evolves and deepens.

This is our plan to address the opportunities that arose from our engagement, research and analysis. It includes real actions that we are committed to delivering – these are both industry specific and cross-cutting actions across all industries in the food and fibre sector where common themes emerged.

It includes broader areas or dependencies where external parties will need to provide input into solutions with Muka Tangata support; for example, advocacy, engagement, collaboration, and provision of specific expertise or data. We will work in collaboration with those who will need to take the lead in this area. This section will test potential solutions that we’re working on and seek feedback and input into them.

Highlights