Asparagus Production
in New Zealand – Part 1

We were recently lucky enough to partake in an asparagus study tour to New Zealand. We were interested to learn more about the industry and understand in detail, the current state of asparagus production there. We were hosted for much of our visit by Dr Peter Falloon of Aspara Pacific, a well-renowned asparagus expert both locally and internationally. Much of what we learned was from site visits and personal communication with Peter. In fact, there was so much to see that we have decided to segment this blog post into episodes, each one focusing on a different area of New Zealand asparagus.

This initial post will look at the asparagus industry in New Zealand in a broader context, examining areas such as growing regions, soil types, hectares in production and market types. Asparagus in New Zealand now covers an area of approx. 800ha with the vast majority on the North Island. This is down from circa. 3500ha in the mid 1980s as the industry has faced strong competition from imported produce. It is thought that the production volume could increase again in the near future as market conditions have improved. This could result in a doubling of the current planted area.

Climatically, New Zealand might not be the optimum production environment for asparagus and it can suffer from high amounts of rainfall. Some areas of the west coast for example can experience up to 12m of rain

per year! Standard rain volumes in the main asparagus regions would be around 700mm and most of this falls during the winter. The crop is grown on a range of soil types and these depend on the specific locations. Deep sands, similar to the majority of global asparagus production, predominate in the main production areas.

Green asparagus accounts for the greatest volume of New Zealand asparagus production and there are smaller areas of both purple and white culture. Demand for the purple asparagus is growing but still only accounts for around 1% of the total volume. White asparagus is produced on a very small scale in tunnel houses using a purple variety that results in very sweet spears with a low fibre content.

Asparagus produced in New Zealand is distributed through a range of channels into varying market types. Current figures intimate that 70-75% of the crop is sold domestically as a fresh product with 5-10% for processing and the balance for fresh exports. In the past, the processed percentage was as high as 60%. Recent free trade agreements with countries in Asia could see the export volumes increase in the upcoming years.

That’s it for part 1 of this blog post and we’ll be back soon to look at further aspects of asparagus production in the country.