The world’s largest kiwi fruit marketer Zespri has reaffirmed its annual $2 million investment in ZAG, the Zespri Innovation Fund, and is now inviting innovators with climate-resilience solutions relevant to kiwi fruit to apply.
“ZAG really stems from our mission to deliver what is best for our Kiwi food growers, and we really believe that some of the key challenges that we are facing as an industry, others are facing as well,” Jiunn Shih, Zespri’s chief marketing, innovation and sustainability officer, tells AgFunderNews.
Zespri works with more than 4,000 kiwi growers in New Zealand and globally.
“We do only one thing, which is to grow, innovate, and develop new varieties and market the world’s most delicious and most nutritious kiwi fruit,” says Shih.
While Zespri has almost tripled the size of its business and has more than $2.5 billion in revenue, it faces challenges around climate resilience, he adds.
“There is a lot more volatility in climate. For example, kiwi fruit requires a certain amount of hours in winter between two to four degrees (35.6 to 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit). We used to get plenty of that in New Zealand during the winters. Now it’s a lot more volatile, which affects bud breaks and flowering and all of those good things.”
At the same time, he adds, Zespri has public sustainability commitments including transitioning its packaging to be fully recyclable, reusable or compostable in 2025 and becoming “carbon positive” by 2035.
To that end, ZAG is also about “finding ways that we can live up to our promises and commitments,” says Shih. “That’s where we find that innovation is critical.”
ZAG at a glance. Image credit: ZAG/Zespri
Focusing on climate resilience in 2025
Of the 100-plus submissions ZAG has received since inception in 2023, 11 have moved into pilot programs, says Shih.
A notable one is New Zealand-based Scentian Bio, which makes biosensors that utilize the olfactory receptors of insects.
“What caught our attention before they actually applied is that they have been funded by, for example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for detection of tuberculosis and malaria, and are now driving this technology to detect organic compounds emitted by the fruit,” says Shih.
With such technology, Zespri could potentially “be a lot more precise in predicting the maturity level of the fruit and as well as determining optimal harvest timings.”
Another company, based in Europe, is collecting agricultural waste from kiwi orchards (from pruning and other maintenance activities) and turning that into packaging, he adds.
In general, pilots focus on the following areas (according to ZAG):
- Initiatives that are good for kiwifruit by driving superior quality and lifting on orchard productivity
- Initiatives that are good for people by promoting wellbeing through kiwifruit consumption
- Initiatives that are good for the environment by protecting and enhancing nature
- Initiatives that foster a thriving kiwifruit industry, benefitting growers and local communities
While in theory any innovator working in any part of the kiwi value chain is welcome to apply, Shih says the ZAG is “refreshing a bit of the focus” this year after some lessons learned in year one about casting the net too wide.
“Every quarter we will prioritize one area of focus, and in this first quarter of our second year of ZAG, we want to focus on climate both from a resilience perspective and also in terms of technologies that can help us decarbonize.”
“We’ve had a really positive first year with ZAG. It’s helped connect us with innovative problem solvers from around the world to address key challenges our industry faces as we meet the growing demand for kiwifruit, but this is just the beginning,” he adds.
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