New Zealand Apples & Pears

What New Zealand Apples & Pears does

New Zealand Apples & Pears (NZAPI) is the incorporated society and statutory industry body representing Aotearoa New Zealand's apple and pear sector, founded in 2001 after the deregulation of the former NZ Apple and Pear Marketing Board. Headquartered in Hastings, Hawke's Bay (the region producing 65% of national crop alongside Tasman, Tairāwhiti, and Central Otago), NZAPI serves orchardists, packhouses, coolstores, and exporters through membership tiers (Grower, Exporter, Packhouse/Supply Group, Chemical company, Consultant, Researcher, Education). Its revenue model rests on statutory levies under the Horticulture Export Levies Act 2000, supplemented by conference registration (Member $299-$499; Non-Member $399-$599) and government co-funding (e.g., $888,630 from MPI's Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund for the bronze beetle project).

NZAPI's core technology stack spans research-driven post-harvest and orchard systems rather than consumer software: proprietary apple and pear varieties developed through its Prevar joint venture and managed via VentureFruit (including Hot Climate Partnership cultivars); applied AI for pest detection during grading that generates market-access pest maps; Raman-based detection of latent bull's eye rot; PCR detection of Monilinia brown rot; fluorescence detection of apple leafcurling midge cocoons; hot water drenching post-harvest treatment; E-water sanitiser for food-borne pathogens; advanced 2D trellised growing systems; and a sector-wide Life Cycle Analysis baseline. Member-facing infrastructure consists of a gated Member Portal (members.applesandpears.nz) with digital tools for registration, pest/disease management, weather monitoring, crop protection, market access resources, and online training, alongside the EXPO annual conference, quarterly R&D Field Notes newsletter, and international trade delegations.

NZAPI's strategic priorities center on driving the sector from $1B+ orchard gate revenue (achieved in 2024) toward a $2B export target by 2035, underpinned by biosecurity protection of the clean-green reputation, expansion into India via FTA 'world-first' provisions, the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workforce scheme employing 11,000 peak-season Pacific workers, and co-funded R&D with Plant & Food Research, the Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI), and Lincoln Agri Labs. Its moat rests on regulatory entrenchment as the sole statutory body, proprietary varietal IP, an integrated post-harvest technology stack, and a coordination role across 13,500+ jobs and a $2.5B total economic impact footprint.

Name

New Zealand Apples & Pears

Legal name

New Zealand Apples & Pears Inc

Website

https://applesandpears.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

New Zealand Apples & Pears (NZAPI) is the statutory industry body representing Aotearoa New Zealand's apple and pear sector — serving orchardists, packhouses, coolstores, and exporters across 10,727 hectares of orchard producing $1B+ orchard gate revenue and $892M+ in exports through levy-funded R&D, biosecurity, and market access services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Hastings

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Industry Levies: NZAPI collects statutory levies from growers, packhouses, and exporters in the apple and pear sector. Levies fund industry services including R&D, market access, biosecurity, safety and quality programmes, and advocacy.
2. Export Revenue Through Industry Growth: As the industry grows its export revenue (surpassing $1 billion in orchard gate revenue and $2.5 billion total economic impact), NZAPI's relevance and services scale with the sector. The industry goal is to reach $2 billion in exports by 2035.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NZAPI is an incorporated industry body representing Aotearoa New Zealand's apple and pear sector — from orchard owners to packhouses, coolstores and exporters. It delivers industry representation, research and development (Smart & Sustainable programme co-funded with the Ministry for Primary Industries), market access and trade facilitation, biosecurity management, and advocacy, funded primarily through statutory grower levies under the Horticulture Export Levies Act 2000.

Product overview

New Zealand Apples & Pears (NZAPI) is an industry body, not a product company. Its offerings consist of: a gated Member Portal with digital tools (registration, pest/disease management, weather, crop protection, market access, training); the Smart & Sustainable R&D Programme co-funded with the Ministry for Primary Industries focused on pipfruit market access and sustainability; and industry representation services. NZAPI also partners with Prevar and VentureFruit for apple and pear variety development and commercialisation, and provides biosecurity resources including the Biosecurity Business Pledge. No consumer-facing product, SaaS platform, or API product is offered.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NZAPI Member Portal
• Member Tools
• Smart & Sustainable R&D Programme
• Prevar Variety Development
• VentureFruit Plant Variety Management
• Biosecurity Resources and Biosecurity Business Pledge
• NZAPI EXPO Annual Conference

Quantifiable outcome

• $2.5 billion total economic impact to New Zealand economy
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature10 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• World Food India / Government of IndiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025NZAPI made inaugural attendance at World Food India in Delhi as part of New Zealand's Partner Country status alongside NZTE, NZ Institute for Bioeconomy Science and other sector groups. Followed by delegation to Himachal Pradesh State Government Department of Horticulture and YS Parmar University Horticulture Department.
• PrevarcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrevar is a joint venture between NZAPI, The New Zealand Institute of Bioeconomy Science, and Apples and Pears Australia Limited. It develops and commercialises new apple and pear varieties for global licensing. This is a core strategic partnership as it provides proprietary variety development that differentiates NZ apples in global markets.
• VentureFruitcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVentureFruit is a New Zealand-based plant variety commercialisation and management business with a portfolio of apple and pear varieties including Hot Climate Partnership cultivars (with Spain's IRTA, The New Zealand Institute of Bioeconomy Science, and Fruit Futur). This partnership supports NZAPI's strategy for warming climate adaptation.
• Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMPI co-funds NZAPI's Smart & Sustainable R&D programme. MPI also provides $888,630 funding through Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund for the bronze beetle project ($598,370 co-investment from NZAPI). MPI biosecurity team provides incident management and market access support.
• Plant & Food ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrincipal sponsor of NZAPI EXPO 2025 and key research partner. PFR scientists conduct R&D including hot water drenching, AI grading, E-water sanitiser, PCR detection of brown rot, and other post-harvest and orchard research. Mark Piper is Transition CEO of Bioeconomy Science Institute.
• Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBSI is a co-founder of Prevar and conducts research for the apple and pear industry. Dr Vaughn Bell (BSI Senior Scientist) leads mealybug monitoring research. BSI collaborates on post-harvest and market access research alongside PFR.
• Future Focused Orchards PartnersStrategic or Co-development PartnerVision developed in partnership with local growers, international leaders across the global food system, and local mana whenua (iwi/hapu). Co-designed to deliver ecosystem health, reduce harm, and deliver prosperity to the industry with improved environmental, social and economic outcomes.
• Biosecurity Business Pledge (BBP)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNZAPI is a member of the Biosecurity Business Pledge, a pre-competitive network of over 150 businesses committed to biosecurity. Provides tools, resources, webinars, and two-way communication with government on biosecurity risk management.
• Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHortNZ co-hosts the annual Young Grower competition and national final. Michelle Sands (GM Policy and Strategy) presents on climate resilience. Collaborates on advocacy, policy, and workforce development.
• New Zealand Government / Immigration New ZealandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNZAPI is Aotearoa's largest employer of permanent and seasonal RSE workforce. Government policy changes to the RSE scheme (lifting pause on accommodation cost increases, averaging hours, adjusting 10% above minimum wage requirement) significantly impact industry viability. NZAPI advocated for these changes.
• MartinJenkinsminorOthersMartinJenkins conducted the Economic contribution of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Industry 2024 research, revealing $1.96B total revenue impact in 2023.
• ScarlattiminorOthersDana Carver (Principal Research Manager, Scarlatti) presented on labour efficiencies and human behaviour observations from 25 years' experience in the wellbeing space, based on Scarlatti's workforce research findings.
• EXPO 2025 SponsorsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSponsors include Plant & Food Research (Principal), Grochem, Bayer, Fruitfed Supplies, Horticentre Charitable Trust, Landkind, T&G Global, 5+ A Day, Farmlands, Horticentre, Hawk, Hill Labs, Prevar, and Syngenta.
• Rockit / Turley Farms Joint VentureminorOthersRockit and Turley Farms joint venture in Canterbury - planting Rockit apples on Turley Farms land. Rockit commercial GM Tom Lane; Turley Farms is South Canterbury's multi-crop operation. Goal of 600ha of Rockit in Canterbury region.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Apples and Pears Australia (APAL): APAL is Australia's peak apple and pear industry body and a Prevar joint-venture partner with NZAPI. It is the most direct trans-Tasman peer — comparable membership model, R&D agenda, biosecurity role, and export market-access focus.
• US Apple Association: The US national apple industry association, with comparable membership-based advocacy, R&D promotion, and market-access roles. A direct international peer given the US is one of NZ's main premium apple competitors and reference markets.
• Zespri International: Zespri is the New Zealand kiwifruit industry's single-desk marketer and industry body — directly comparable to NZAPI as a national incorporated society that collects levies, invests in R&D, manages biosecurity, and drives export market access on behalf of growers.
• Washington Apple Commission: US state-level apple marketing commission representing one of the world's largest apple producers. Comparable to NZAPI in mission (export promotion, market access, R&D advocacy), though a state mandate rather than national.

Broad incumbents

• Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ): HortNZ represents the broader New Zealand horticulture sector (including apples, kiwifruit, vegetables) and co-hosts the Young Grower competition with NZAPI. Comparable as a levy-funded advocacy body, though broader in scope than NZAPI's pipfruit focus.
• World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA): WAPA is the international umbrella body for apple and pear producing countries. It is comparable to NZAPI in mission (industry data, trade advocacy, market intelligence) but broader in scope, covering multiple national producer organisations across Europe, the Americas and Oceania.

Others

• Plant & Food Research: PFR is NZAPI's principal R&D partner and EXPO sponsor, conducting the post-harvest, AI grading and disease-detection research cited throughout NZAPI's technology stack. An enabling peer rather than a direct competitor.
• Milford Private Equity / Bostock JV (M A Orchards): M A Orchards is a PE-backed (~100ha organic Honeycrisp) joint venture between Milford Private Equity and Bostock NZ. It illustrates the investor angle on NZ apple assets that NZAPI represents — adjacent rather than a direct competitor.

Regional players

• British Apples & Pears Limited: UK national apple and pear industry body. Operates a similar grower-representation and domestic-market-promotion model to NZAPI, but its focus is the UK domestic market rather than international exports.

Emerging players

• Fruit Futur: Spanish consortium developing Hot Climate Partnership cultivars jointly with NZAPI's VentureFruit partner. An emerging peer with partial overlap on variety commercialisation and climate-adaptation R&D for premium apples.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/new-zealand-apples-and-pears
• Facebookfacebook.com/nzapplesandpearsnz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about New Zealand Apples & Pears