New Zealand horticulture specialist Hortinvest and sheep and beef producers Ardgour Station have established a limited partnership to produce apricots and cherries for export in early 2023.

Hortinvests Ross and Sharon Kirk and Ardgour Station owners Bruce and Linda Jolly have joined forces to establish Ardgour Valley Orchards Limited Partnership (AVO)

Orchard and project manager Ross Kirk said AVO spanned 38 hectares within Ardgour Station, Tarras with two thirds of the orchard set aside to produce new apricot varieties. The rest has been allocated for a mix of red and white fleshed cherry production.

New apricot varieties NZ Summer 1,2, and 4 have been bred by Plant and Food Research at its Clyde site and are being commercialised for the first time. A white fleshed cherry variety will complement the stone fruit line up which also includes red fleshed cherries.

Bruce Jolly, whose family has bred merino sheep and cattle at Ardgour Station since 1955, said he became interested in diversifying after a study in 2000 found much of the property was climatically suited to stonefruit production.

Hortinvest was commissioned in 2016 to conduct a feasibility study to develop a portion of land for orchards, he said.

"This followed extensive irrigation development in which we increased the station's watered area from 90 to 500 hectares and took it from flood irrigation to pivot irrigation," Jolly said.

"The Tarras region has one of the driest climates in Central Otago with an average rainfall of 450mm. Although much of the station was deemed suitable, the site chosen has the best attributes including the nature of its contours, drainage ability and that it is frost-free."

Jolly said horticulture was one of the few sectors where the producer could maintain control of the product from orchard to consumer and he was looking forward to being part of New Zealand's horticulture success story.

"It's exciting to be producing something so sought-after and special. Apricot quality in New Zealand can be inconsistent and we're confident these new varieties will shake up the industry and appeal to global consumers."

Hortinvest will manage AVO's orchard and harvest and export operations.

AVO is the latest orchard development undertaken by Hortinvest in Central Otago. Its other developments include Tarras Cherry Corp which will harvest its first commercial cherries this summer and Deep Creek Fruits NZ LP - a significant enterprise which is developing cherry orchards at Lindis Peaks and Mt Pisa.

Kirk said the site comprised well-irrigated grasslands and mountainous high country and was ideal for summerfruit production.

"Ardgour Station is positioned in a long, fertile valley with plentiful irrigation and ideal growing degree days. It's surrounded by mountains and set on a family owned and run property in the heart of the Central Otago growing region - all key to growing fruit for export customers, particularly in Asia," he said.

Read edition 1005 of the Wānaka Sun here.