Across New Zealand's diverse growing regions, a quiet revolution is taking place. Forward-thinking horticulture businesses and researchers have been embracing HortPlus’ industry-leading digital MetWatch platform to make smarter decisions about how they care for their crops and plan for the future.

The results speak for themselves. Recent survey data from MetWatch users reveals more than 70% of them save at least 52 hours a year by using the platform, while nearly two thirds say the insights it provides have increased their business’ profitability through more efficient crop-management decision-making.

Localised weather data and plant pest and disease risk models developed by leading scientists also help businesses to optimise the timing and effectiveness of chemical spraying, with more than a third of survey respondents confirming their agrichemical use would increase without access to MetWatch's pest and disease forecasting capabilities.

Here are five examples of how MetWatch is helping New Zealand agri-businesses and research organisations grow smarter and maximise crop yield.

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McCain Foods Timaru’s Data-Driven Potato Production

International food producer McCain has supplied Australasian customers with delicious fries and potato creations for more than 60 years, but behind the scenes the company is pioneering a thoroughly modern approach to agronomics in one of its New Zealand regions.

By combining MetWatch data with its own field data, the team at the company’s office and production facility in Timaru is estimating yields and quality of potato crops from its Canterbury growers, ensuring it can better meet consumer demand at the right times of year.

MetWatch’s pest and disease risk prediction modelling also helps McCain’s Canterbury potato growers to combat the voracious appetites of Tomato-Potato Psyllids by arming them with insights that support more informed crop-protection decisions.

McCain Foods Senior Agronomist Sarah Newton said McCain chose to use MetWatch because of its simplicity and the range of weather data it offered.

“HortPlus has all the weather-data measurements we require in easy-to-view graph and table formats, which are easily filtered by date and station location at hourly, daily or monthly intervals. This data is available to access whenever we need to and is up to date.”

Newton said the platform’s interactive seasonal weather graphs allowed McCain Timaru’s agronomists to quickly analyse seasonal variations in yield or quality and link them to weather events, refining its prediction capabilities.

McCain deploys weather data from MetWatch into its two pest and disease prediction models and shares them with its growers on a weekly basis, demonstrating how weather intelligence can strengthen relationships between processors and growers while improving outcomes across the entire production system.

“HortPlus has been good to work with developing a tool for our needs and this may develop over time as we work on how to best use the data and incorporate models,” Newton said.

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The Fresh Berry Company Supercharges Planting and Harvest Planning

New Zealand’s leading berry supplier The Fresh Berry Company has revolutionised how its growers approach harvest planning by partnering with HortPlus to develop a strategic forecasting system that allows planting to synchronise with market demand.

The Berry Harvest Planning Tool is a digital system that uses weather forecasting data from MetWatch to update harvest prediction models within minutes – analysing multiple scenarios and providing near-real-time graphs to illustrate optimal times for planting and harvesting.

The Fresh Berry Company director Dean Astill said before the system was introduced, planting and harvest planning was normally calculated on spreadsheets by its agronomists and could take hours or days.

“It saves so much time and the other beauty of it is that the models are dynamic. As the weather and forecast changes the projected harvest timing updates – it’s not static like a model created in a spreadsheet.

“It’s a great tool for our sales team and it gives our agronomists and growers the data they need to stagger planting to achieve harvest at optimum times for consumer demand, including at times of year when some berries are traditionally difficult to find in stores.

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Zespri’s Weather & Disease Portal Helps Kiwifruit Growers Thrive

MetWatch powers the Zespri Weather & Disease Portal, which includes a range of crop-specific disease models, including an invaluable Psa disease risk model. The portal, available as a resource for New Zealand’s kiwifruit growers, also includes a chill units calculator to help kiwifruit orchardists make vital calls around when to apply bud breakers to vines.

One of the users of the portal is Whanganui man David Wells, who said its weather and disease data and daily email reports had become essential to the management of his 20-hectare kiwifruit orchard at Ngaturi, east of Whanganui.

“Basically, I'm a bit of a weather nut. I'm particularly interested in the chill units and Psa risk model on the Weather & Disease Portal.”

His orchard faces unique challenges, nestling in an area with a microclimate where cooler conditions can increase Psa susceptibility. In 2021, Psa bud rot destroyed approximately 75 per cent of flower buds in his older producing block.

To better manage such challenges, Wells installed a Harvest Weather Station on his orchard, which feeds localised data directly into the Weather & Disease Portal so he can view hyper-local forecasts for his location. Since then he has been able to use more accurate weather information to make better decisions on crop protection.

“There are often quite big differences between the readings. Our nearest station in Waitōtara was recording wind gusts of up to 60km an hour during Cyclone Gabrielle but things were lighter here – our on-orchard station recorded maximum gusts of 25km an hour,” he said.

Wells' weather station was part of a one-year Zespri project connecting ten on-orchard grower weather stations to the portal to test how pinpointed local data can improve decision-making accuracy, which has proved its worth, he said.

“The technology seems to be constantly improving.”

MetWatch also powers the weather and disease portals used by industry bodies representing growers in a wide variety of other crops, including apples, summerfruit, vegetables and more.

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Supporting Fall Armyworm Research and Management

MetWatch underpins the Fall Armyworm Chat Platform, developed by HortPlus for the Foundation for Arable Research, Vegetables NZ, Process Vegetables NZ and Ministry for Primary Industries.

The website provides a one-stop-shop resource for growers to find New Zealand information about identifying and managing fall armyworm infestations that can decimate maize and sweetcorn crops. It’s designed to be an evolving resource covering everything from how to identify fall armyworm (FAW) to how to manage chemical resistance and how to monitor crops, as well as providing regional reports on infestations and current risk levels.

Foundation for Arable Research biosecurity officer Ash Mills said identification of FAW was not straightforward and the pest could easily be confused with other insects, making the Fall Armyworm Chat Platform particularly important.

“The website assists with identification as well as providing information on FAW’s lifecycle and crop damage, economic thresholds and managing chemical resistance.”

He said feedback from growers is welcome to help the platform develop.

“The plan is for it to become more interactive and include timely trapping results and observations during the growing season.”

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Modelling Climate Change Impacts for Wine and Apple Growers

MetWatch has provided the perfect platform for a pioneering digital tool that allows New Zealand apple and grape growers to peer into the future and understand how changing disease risks caused by climate change could financially impact their orchard or vineyard.

The Changing Climate: Disease Risk & Costs tool offers a significant advance in long-term agricultural planning by allowing growers to view predicted risks for Apple Fire Blight, Grape Powdery Mildew and Grape Botrytis under different climate change scenarios.

HortPlus Director Mike Barley said the tool supplied crucial information to an industry worth more than $3 billion in combined exports. “In simple terms it's a portal into the future.

“It helps with climate adaptation planning and provides easy to digest information for people in the apple and winegrowing industry who want to understand how plant disease risks are likely to change, and importantly, what the cost implications of those changes might be.”

Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit researcher John Saunders said the combination of climate mapping with disease prediction and economic analysis made the tool unique.

“The aim is to let people get a bit of an idea about what the future holds before it arrives. If you are buying a house, you would check flood maps. Why shouldn't we have rich information about the likely impact of plant diseases for horticulturalists?”

The tool helps New Zealand horticulturalists deal with today's problems and plan for tomorrow's challenges using reliable data – demonstrating HortPlus' commitment to helping the industry succeed.