Operational partners

DMS Group is a locally owned kiwifruit and avocado orchard management and post-harvest operator. Established in 1989, it currently leases and manages over 500 hectares of kiwifruit orchards in Bay of Plenty, making it one of the largest kiwifruit management companies in New Zealand. 

The company’s focus is on assisting orchards to increase productivity and grower profits. DMS is based in Tauranga and has two pack-houses at Te Puna and Te Puke.

EastPack is New Zealand’s largest kiwifruit packhouse operator, processing 25% of New Zealand’s kiwifruit crop and employing over 3700 people during the season. The grower-owned cooperative has invested heavily in automation and robotics and is single-mindedly focused on efficiency to drive value for growers across its six sites in Bay of Plenty

EastPack’s orchard management subsidiary, Prospa, currently manages around 1300 hectares of kiwifruit orchards.

Seeka is one of New Zealand’s largest kiwifruit and avocado growers, packers, and exporters. Founded in 1987, the company operates across multiple regions, including the Bay of Plenty, Northland, and Waikato. Seeka provides a range of services, from orchard management to post-harvest operations, for the MyFarm KiwiFruit orchards based in Northland. Seeka is listed on the NZX and also has operations and investments in other crops and regions, including Australia.

Misty Cove is a rapidly growing Marlborough wine maker currently producing around four million litres per annum and exporting to 52 countries. 

Its major markets are North America, Europe and Scandinavia. The company was founded by Andrew Bailey in 2008 and is a family owned collective of likeminded people passionate about producing conventional and organic wines. To meet growing demand and ensure certainty of future grape supply without tying up capital, Misty Cove has partnered with MyFarm to purchase suitable vineyards and lease them back from syndicates.

Hortus is a viticulture and horticulture management company and one of the leading providers of contract labour in Marlborough. Its reputation for looking after the pastoral needs of workers means the company consistently attracts the cream of the RSE labour crop. 

The company operates nationwide. Its core business is the provision of vineyard labour, machinery, qualified machinery operators and viticulture management to complete key tasks such as planting, winter pruning, hand harvesting and other such tasks. 

In addition to vineyards the businesses share their workers with other RSE employers in the Kiwifruit and
Apple sectors in the Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay and top of the South Island.

Tegel was established in 1961 and is New Zealand’s market-leading poultry producer. In 2016, the major firms in the poultry industry were Tegel, Inghams, Brinks and Turks. More recently, Tegel and Inghams represent and control 90% of the poultry production market in New Zealand.

Tegel has a vertically integrated economic model that starts with quarantine breeding units through to processing, marketing, sales and distribution of poultry products across New Zealand and to select international markets. Products include frozen chicken, a range of fresh chicken products, prepared foods and small goods. Tegel was acquired by Bounty Fresh Foods in 2018 and ‘taken private’.

Tegel Foods farms are independently audited to ensure that they meet or exceed the requirements of the New Zealand Animal Code of Welfare.

Founded in 1995, New Zealand-based Freshmax is one of the largest fresh produce marketers and distributors in the Pacific. 

The company has expanded its global activities through regional platforms in the US, Canada and Peru, and become one of the most diverse fresh produce companies in Australia since registering there in 2006. In New Zealand, Freshmax’s business is focussed on pipfruit. An integrated supply chain enables it to oversee all operations within the production process, from growing, harvesting and packing to cool storage, shipping and marketing.

Rockit Global is a Hawkes Bay-based exporter and marketer of Rockit™ – the world’s first commercially successful miniature apple.

Rockit™ apples are packaged in a tube and sold globally into high value markets where they are positioned as a premium priced snack food.

Rockit Global retains full control over planting volumes, distribution channels, and volume allocations to specific markets. It approves all growers, distributors, importers and retailers, and retains a tight rein on quality control. The company’s priority is to continue building supply relationships with high end international retailers and expand the supply chain back to licensed Rockit™ growers.

Comvita is New Zealand’s only listed natural healthcare company whose core business is the export of high-value Manuka honey products, mainly to China, North America and the UK. 

The company is a founding member of the Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association and now accounts for around 50% of all honey carrying the UMF trademark. It is also New Zealand’s largest beekeeper. Comvita is a pioneer in the development and application of medical grade Manuka honey in wound dressings, which it markets in New Zealand and overseas under the Medihoney brand.

NZCF is one of New Zealand’s leading experts in permanent carbon forestry, with 100,000 ha of forestry assets either owned or leased by the group.

Primary Partners is an asset management and advisory firm specialising in large-scale New Zealand primary sector assets. It was established in 2013 in response to investor and institutional demand for independent expertise in sourcing and fully managing large scale New Zealand sheep and beef farms.

Primary Partners has built a strong reputation for robust investment strategies and taking an analytical approach to managing and extracting value from farm assets. Over time its portfolio of assets under management has expanded to include dairy and forestry and the firm is regularly engaged to provide strategic guidance to external parties.

Afforestation Partners is the forestry management and advisory subsidiary of Primary Partners. The team currently manages approximately 3,000 hectares of forestry for high-net-worth investors.

Hop Revolution was established in 2014 by plant scientist, Dr Susan Wheeler. Two years later, Susan was joined by the late Terry McCashin, founder of McCashin’s Breweries. 

Having secured licences to grow New Zealand hop varieties protected by PVRs held by Plant and Food, the company plans to expand production by growing hops in other regions, away from the traditional hop growing heartland of Nelson. By working directly with brewers overseas, it aims to increase garden gate returns to growers and develop new hop varieties for which it will own the rights to global supply.