Availability NZ KiwiBerry is harvested from late February through to early-mid April. Fruit is air freighted during this time and stocked in most leading NZ supermarkets. New Zealand Growing Regions The majority of plantings are in the Bay of Plenty of New Zealand located on the east coast of the north island. There are small plantings in Canterbury, Nelson and Auckland At present approximately 22 hectares is in commercial production.

Planting and Growth Habit NZ KiwiBerry is grown on a pergola system with each plant growing in a 5 metre by 5 metre canopy area. The plants are dioecious, which means separate male and female vines are required in the orchard for pollination to occur. KiwiBerry requires well sheltered land that is free draining and frost free in spring. Cropping Grown under optimum conditions, 23 tonnes of fruit per hectare can be produced. Unfortunately the costs involved with harvesting and handling such a small fruit are high. NZ KiwiBerry Growers Inc will continue to develop improved postharvest handling systems to reduce the labour component required.

Harvesting and Packing
Currently fruit is hand picked into small containers and then transferred to cartons of up to 10 kgs before transport to a packhouse. After grading fruit is packed into clear plastic clamshell punnets weighing 125-175 grams for display in supermarket produce departments.

Picking, packing and packaging costs are high for KiwiBerry compared to other Kiwifruit varieties as it must be air freighted to the international markets.

It needs to be stored in a refrigerator like other high value berry fruits. It has a 3-10 day shelf life at room temperature but can be stored up to 2 months at 0 degrees.