If Simon Bishell, from Caythorpe Family Estate located in Marlborough began to change his central-leader cherries into a UFO design, he was in need of the complete protection of this valuable fruit from rain and birds.

Hortivate has partnered in partnership with Valente in Italy to bring their services in New Zealand. Hortivate collaborated closely with Simon at the start to make sure a solution that was appropriate for the task was designed. “Importance is laid upon the very first conversation with our customers. It’s vital to ensure that our product matches our clients’ specifications,” explains Regan French Director at Hortivate.

The main benefit for Hortivate was that Hortivate structure was the fact that it had an integrated structure that could meet the needs for trellis structures as well as birdnetting, rain cover without needing the construction of separate structures in order in order to provide the layer of safety.

Simon said “For the work we’re doing that is offering a trellis, bird nets and a rain cover for cherries, this structure could be very flexible and gave us a comprehensive solution”.

The structure was designed to accommodate Caythorpe’s brand new UFO style that is growing in popularity. The structure is designed to be future-proofed Caythorpes orchard in order to be able to take advantage of technological advancements, including robots and automation. Its design allows to plant high-density plants but still with wall-like fruiting structures that let in maximum sunlight.

The first harvest is complete this year and there being no bird problems then the next task is installing an automated rain covers that retract. The cover will be put in place to stop the common breaking of fruits due to rain.

The program has been an enormous success, and has attracted an interest from industry.

Hortivate is the first company to pioneer the concrete orchard structure located in New Zealand, partnering with Valente in Italy and bringing their world-renowned and sturdy concrete orchard structures into New Zealand growers.

For further information:

Dustin French

Hortivate LTD

Tel: +64 21 240 8753

dustin@hortivate.co.nz

www.hortivate.co.nz