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Hyundai Country Calendar - Season 61 Episode 11 - Black Beauties
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00:05Proudly celebrating 60 years of rural New Zealand.
00:09Hyundai Country Calendar.
00:16The backyard berry that they've turned into an international business.
00:22We're actually just as much in the food industry as we are actual farmers now.
00:27Mmm, that's good.
00:31It's superfood, it's organic, it's from New Zealand.
00:59About one o'clock in the morning, the harvest operator starts.
01:03The main crew will come in probably around two o'clock to start processing it.
01:08And the reason we do that is because the fruit in the heat of the day will go soft and
01:13mushy.
01:14If you want to make a really good free-flow blackcurrant, you need to get the fruit off the bushes
01:18really early in the morning.
01:20And then by one o'clock in the afternoon they're knocked off.
01:23So it's still a big day, it's still a 12-hour day.
01:26From start to finish it's about four weeks, but it's really about a two-week period right in the middle
01:31when it's really intensive and we're just going seven days a week.
01:37It's the busiest time of the year for Tony Howie and his team on the family farm at Pleasant Point
01:43near Tsimaru in South Canterbury.
01:46There are 120 hectares of blackcurrants to be harvested.
01:51The volume we're doing this year is around 400 to 500 tonne, but we've got a lot of new production
01:58coming on stream.
01:59So next year we're hoping for 600 to 700 tonne and eventually we want to get up to 1500 tonne.
02:11Today is a nice fine day. We can still harvest in the rain and we're going to get rain in
02:16a couple of days' time, but it won't stop us harvesting.
02:19In some ways it's actually better harvesting in the rain than it isn't really hot weather.
02:31The machine that's operating at the moment is a grape harvester that's been modified to harvest blackcurrants.
02:43It shakes the bushes and you can set how strong you want that shake to be.
02:46And then the blackcurrants fall down and then there's cups on the bottom that hug the plant and move at
02:52the same speed as the ground speed.
02:54And then blowers take the leaves and stuff off and then it goes into the bin.
03:00But they shake off real easy.
03:02Yeah, yeah.
03:03So what have you got the machine set on?
03:044.30.
03:06General Manager Quivi Duplicy is in charge of day-to-day operations.
03:11He's on the job early.
03:15I get up at 12 midnight and have a quick shower, cup of coffee, have another cup of coffee.
03:23It is early in the morning.
03:24And then me and Loa, the harvest driver, we're away and we get the first load ready for the crew.
03:31That usually arrives half an hour later.
03:34So 10 days going straight now with a good crew working flat out and we've probably got another 10 days
03:42to go.
03:42So it's a short and sharp harvest.
03:45It just takes your biological clock a little bit of adjustment to get used to it.
03:50Yeah, a lot actually.
03:54Where's that one coming from?
03:56It's coming right there.
03:56Isn't these bushes remarkable?
03:58Just the way they bounce back.
04:02It's certainly not like the hail we had in 2004.
04:05It just ripped everything.
04:07It looked like a nuclear bomb had gone through.
04:09What did the SSSA say?
04:11A hundred and?
04:12It's 160 percent long.
04:13A hundred and sixty percent long.
04:15So 60 percent on the next year's harvest too.
04:20We want to get our fruit, when it's at the optimum, off the bushes in the best condition we can.
04:26And this is the best way we think we can do it.
04:30It is a weird time of the year, but like I said, it's short and sharp.
04:34You just go with it and don't fight it.
04:37And hopefully nerves and machines not breaking and we can get through it without too much drama.
04:45It's a very dynamic business.
04:47You wouldn't think of just growing blackcurrants and harvesting them and, you know, getting them sold.
04:52There's that involved, but there's so much going on in the background.
04:55So it's been a real good learning curve for myself.
05:00I really enjoy it.
05:01There's never a dull moment.
05:04We hire three little trucks with stainless steel bins on and then they go to our wash facility on our
05:12main farming operation.
05:28Tony and his Iranian born wife Afsaneh bought the farm with 50 hectares of blackcurrants on it in 2004.
05:36Yeah, they're looking really good.
05:38It was a big change for Tony, who'd been growing grain and vegetables for nearly 20 years.
05:44They look amazing.
05:45Look at this.
05:46Lots of berries.
05:48Are you sure?
05:48How they are?
05:49Beautiful.
05:50Let's taste them.
05:52Mmm.
05:54It's so sweet and juicy.
05:57We didn't know anything about blackcurrants.
05:59We went to some blackcurrant conferences and we learned about all the health benefits of blackcurrants.
06:04And we thought, oh, this is an amazing crop.
06:08Good for eye health, brain function, inflammation in the gut.
06:12Great for muscle recovery, sports performance.
06:16And it's because of their dark skin, they're higher in antioxidant than other berries.
06:23All berries are good for you, but blackcurrants got that much better level of antioxidant.
06:28And vitamin C in them, that makes them such a super food.
06:34It's very satisfying growing something healthy.
06:40They turn the blackcurrants into frozen berries and powder and sell them under the brand Viberry.
06:47And there's something really great about growing something and then actually taking it to market
06:51and actually having that direct relationship with customers.
06:54That's something we didn't have when we were growing grain and seed.
07:00It's just that really great relationship of, you know, selling something that people use every day.
07:05So that's really satisfying.
07:09Yeah, the size is pretty good.
07:12And the strigs, or these buds here, when they change colour, it's just the right time to harvest.
07:19These ones here, this shows there's a growth.
07:22And this is all next year's production.
07:24There's no fruit on there, but that's where all the fruit will be set next year.
07:27And there's really good buds.
07:28And the colour of the leaves is really good and green.
07:31So we want to retain that greenness for as long as we can.
07:34And so we'll be, after harvest, we'll be irrigating them and keeping weeds under control.
07:44All of the retail products is all organic.
07:48It's really important not just to sell something that's really healthy,
07:52but it's also really important to sell something that's really pure.
07:55So this is going to yield pretty well.
07:56I would have thought this is going to do at least 10 tons of heat here.
07:59I'm hoping for more.
08:01Really good amount of fruit everywhere, really.
08:12We have three little trucks that feed the wash.
08:17The main advantage of the wash is it separates the leaves and the twigs and little sticks.
08:22And they tend to float while the black currants sink to the bottom.
08:25The twigs and the leaves float off and come through this trommel and go to waste.
08:30And then the black currants sink to the bottom of the water bath.
08:33And then we can regulate the speed on that as well.
08:39Then it goes through different conveyors and weighers.
08:43It weighs the product and gets sealed and goes through a metal detection
08:46and also two sets of magnets.
08:53At the moment we're harvesting and packing to 20 kilogram cardboard cartons
08:58and then they're stacked.
08:59And from there they go to the freezer and they go to the market.
09:06And it's the blackcurrant powder that's helped the business go international.
09:18On Vaibary Farm near Te Maru, they watch the temperature closely during the annual blackcurrant harvest.
09:28General Manager Quivi Duplessis will call a stop to harvesting if it gets too hot.
09:35It's 10am now.
09:37It's probably around 17 degrees.
09:39It's getting warmer.
09:41The fruit's still in good condition to harvest.
09:43But we probably only have a couple of hours left before they start going soft and squishy.
09:48And that just makes it a lot harder when we're processing it through the wash.
09:56Sometimes it stays cloudy and we can go on comfortably for a lot longer.
10:00When it gets too hot, our machine just doesn't handle it that well.
10:04We don't capture it as well as we like.
10:08I'd prefer nice and steady weather throughout the whole harvest period, but can't control it, so we'll just have to
10:14box with it.
10:22The blackcurrants are taken in crates to a nearby factory where they're frozen into blocks.
10:30When they come back, they're in a 20 kilogram crate, and that crate gets quite solid, so we need to
10:37bash them up a little bit.
10:41We have the room set at minus 32.
10:43As if we don't, and it comes in even at minus five, it's not cold enough, and I'll turn to
10:49mush.
10:50They'll need to be like little marbles.
10:53It goes up a conveyor, and then the conveyor has an icebreaker at the top.
10:57So any ice that's formed there breaks it all up and then goes into what we call it the strigger,
11:01which takes the strig off and any leaves or anything and makes it into a free-flow blackcurrant.
11:09And then it goes through into another room, and that's important because our workers are in another room,
11:14and they don't really like working at minus 20.
11:17In that room, we've got a colour sorter, so that takes a photograph of every berry
11:22and has a look to see if it's the right size and shape, and if it's not a berry, it'll
11:26reject it.
11:28Then it goes on to an inspection belt, and then it gets weighed, goes through a metal detector, and then
11:34it gets packed.
11:38The blackcurrants are also processed and sold as a powder.
11:43This came about through customers talking to Vibery's sales and marketing director, Hafsene Howie.
11:50We did a lot of shows, expos, and we met customers face-to-face and see what they really want.
12:01First we had frozen, then freeze-dried, and then we felt some people don't use freeze-dried or frozen,
12:09and they were always asking us about powder.
12:13It was actually the customer who made us make the powder for them,
12:18because they see powder as a health supplement.
12:23And it's easier to consume for them.
12:26They can add it to smoothies, yogurt, or sprinkle it on their breakfast.
12:32Customers, they say, your product has done this for me, that for me,
12:38things that we never heard of.
12:40And we're quite happy and satisfying to see that our product is making a health difference in people.
12:52We have organic and we have non-organic product.
12:55The only thing we retail is organic.
12:57Our biggest organic market is in Japan, much bigger than New Zealand,
13:00and mostly for powder.
13:03Our marketing in New Zealand is really important,
13:05and my wife, Hafsene, is probably the lead on that.
13:09She taught me how to market.
13:11We have a bit of a competition.
13:13We have an EFPOS machine each at some of these expos,
13:15and we see who sells the most.
13:17We have a bit of a competition, a bit of banter between us.
13:20It's all good fun.
13:23I'd never like to sell something that I didn't think was good for people,
13:26but this is really good.
13:28The people of New Zealand understand the health benefits of blackcurrants,
13:31and they're our best customers in a way,
13:34because if you're not successful in marketing in your home market,
13:37you can never be successful selling to an export market.
13:42They're now aiming to expand into the European market.
13:46Their son Riaz lives in Berlin and is home for a holiday.
13:51He's one of a team based in Germany
13:53and helping to fine-tune the website.
13:56Hi Maddy, how are you Emily?
13:58How are things in Berlin?
14:00Yeah, kind of snowy. How's summer there?
14:03Very good.
14:04Our whole marketing effort is to try and expand our market
14:08into international markets,
14:09and at the moment Japan is going really well for us,
14:11but we really want to get more into Europe and into the US.
14:15Up until this point, but I guess we wanted to just refresh
14:18and put some more sort of video elements
14:20when you first enter the website.
14:22Are you able to do that?
14:24We're a long way from the market.
14:26It's always been sort of an ambition of ours
14:28to grow something that you can put in a pack
14:31and sell it anywhere in the world,
14:33and the actual freight cost is a small component of the total price.
14:37Technology has been really good for us
14:39because we can take all the water out
14:41because the water weighs a lot,
14:42and it allows us to go into any market.
14:45Yeah, we're going to make some smoothie for you guys today.
14:48Let's put a banana here.
14:50And Afsaneh takes time out from working on the farm
14:53to help recently arrived refugees.
14:56We put some blackcurrant.
15:08As well as looking after sales and marketing
15:10for her family's blackcurrant business,
15:13Afsaneh Howey teaches English to new arrivals and refugees.
15:18She herself came to this country as a refugee
15:21during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
15:27The situation was not very good for the Baha'is in Iran.
15:33I belonged to the Baha'i faith,
15:34and there was a lot of persecution at that time.
15:38So my brother was in New Zealand,
15:41and he sponsored me to come to New Zealand.
15:45I'm ever so thankful that New Zealand opened its door
15:49for me to come.
15:52I felt like I embraced New Zealand culture so well,
15:57and it's really good to pick up good things from each culture,
16:03and then makes you feel more comfortable
16:07living in a different country.
16:11I'm going to visit a Syrian family.
16:17Hi, Zahra.
16:19Hello.
16:19As-salamu alaykum.
16:21As-salamu alaykum.
16:21As-salamu alaykum.
16:22Yeah, how are you?
16:23Good, good. Come in.
16:25She came with six children to Temeru.
16:29Unfortunately, before they left Syria,
16:33her husband got sick with cancer and died.
16:36So, a solo mum with six young kids.
16:40I have been building up friendship with her.
16:44I'd like to be able to help her with her English,
16:47as well as I am teaching her children in a primary school.
16:54Afsaneh and husband Tony have donated an exercise machine
16:57to Zahra and her family.
17:00Since the school holidays,
17:02I decided the machine was sitting at home and not being used.
17:07I thought it's a good idea to bring it
17:09so the children can play and enjoy it.
17:11But it seems that they really are enjoying themselves.
17:18Yeah, we're going to make some smoothie for you guys today.
17:23It's wonderful to have them here.
17:26They add so much flavour to our community
17:30and it's so good for our little city of Temeru.
17:34I think we should welcome them and make them feel at home
17:39because, after all, it's just like a garden
17:43with different types of flowers in it.
17:45And it adds to the beauty of the garden.
17:48So, no matter what race, colour we are,
17:52we should really be accepting of each other
17:55and learn about each other's culture.
17:58And that's how we make us tolerant towards each other.
18:02But it was like ice cream.
18:12In recent years, the company's developed
18:15a sweeter range of blackcurrant products
18:17as a way to introduce the berry to more people.
18:25We have four, two dark ones and two white ones.
18:31Blackcurrants are a bit tart in taste,
18:34so we came up with the idea of rolling them in dark chocolate.
18:38Dark chocolate is good for you.
18:41It's one of the many jobs done by staff member Anna Ledger.
18:46Normally it takes between four and a half, five hours to roll,
18:51but we are so great at our jobs
18:54that we normally roll two lots a day,
18:56so that's like an eight-hour job.
19:03We're too busy to just roll chocolate,
19:05because we're also packing all the other exciting products as well.
19:10The blackcurrants have already been freeze-dried,
19:13which hold all the nutrients and so forth,
19:15and we just add the extra sweetness by adding all the chocolate to it.
19:19It does all go to your thighs, but not to worry,
19:22you can always walk it out when you drink the powder as well
19:25and you add it to your smoothing.
19:29We always say it's a treat.
19:32Our story is about using our blackcurrant to get healthier,
19:37but alongside that you can have a little bit of treat as well to enjoy it.
19:42My favourite is actually the noir,
19:45which is the soft-dried blackcurrants coated in the dark chocolate.
19:50Yeah, that is really, really delicious.
20:06We are lucky really to have such a good team working with us
20:11and, of course, without them,
20:13we wouldn't be able to manage to achieve what we have achieved so far.
20:18And that's really the most important part of the business,
20:23having good people behind working for youth.
20:34It started as a semi-retirement project,
20:37but it sort of got a bit bigger than that.
20:42With any systems, you need scale.
20:44You know, scale is so important.
20:46If you've got good scale,
20:48you can weather the downturns much better.
20:51It's very rewarding at the end
20:53when we see the customers are happy
20:56and they use it and they love the product.
20:59That gives us satisfaction.
21:12It's a perfect direction.
21:15Hutch is a crack shot.
21:17Pilot Doug Maxwell's expertise makes them a deadly combination.
21:21Not many get away.
21:27The helicopter's a last resort in John Perrion's Rabbit Control.
21:31Control that costs him $120,000 a year.
21:36To see the rest of this classic episode and more gems from the past 60 years,
21:42head to TVNZ+.
22:17Country Calendar was proudly brought to you by Hyundai New Zealand.
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