About Us

Fruition Horticulture Hawke's Bay is built around the idea of using expertise and innovative technology to help improve on-orchard performance. We partner with leading firms globally to provide the best technology and services to the New Zealand market.

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Collaborations & Partners

There’s no way we can do all this ourselves. Our modus operandi is to work with good people who have complementary expertise to create innovative services and mutual value.

In 2019, Green Atlas and Fruition forged an exclusive New Zealand Partnership Agreement. The Aussie Founders of Green Atlas, Steve Scheding and James Underwood have built the Cartographer from over 10 years ‘hard yards’ research & development out of Sydney University. They are world leaders in machine vision and field robotics and Fruition HB provides the specialist crop knowledge and desire to apply and develop the technology for horticulture on our home turf. With our complimentary skills, the rate of progress continues to exceed expectations.

Green Atlas introduced us to Xavier Blasco, Director of Barcelona based Waatic which is part of the larger Estel Group in Spain. We are excited to form a relationship with Waatic because their specialist technology provides a great solution for variable rate applications. The Green Atlas and Waatic technologies are natural partners that fully complement each other and we are excited about their combined potential for Smart and Sustainable precision orchard management.

Our involvement with HortPlus stretches back 30 years ago when they first launched weather based disease models. We’ve come a long way since those early ‘dial-up data’ days. Mike and the HortPlus team have built our Portal, software application and website and we keep adding to the ‘to-do’ list.

Fruition’s relationship with Sentek has been going strong for 23 years. Sentek’s full service design, development, manufacture and support of instrumentation for measuring and managing soil moisture gives our clients ‘best in class’ technology. Their international reach and ongoing in-house research and development underpins the continuous improvement of their services.

Dr David Manktelow has always been a ‘big vision guy’ across plant pathology and spraying technology. David has been passionate about scanning technology from its infancy and saw the potential of Green Atlas early on. With the widespread adoption of planar canopies and the coming of age of precision horticulture, we’re set for exciting challenges.

We’ve partnered up with Stu Mawley and Jason Bennett at Te Mata Contractors who  have the Precision Ag expertise and the GPS enabled gear for specialist tasks. These guys turn insight into action.

This puts you in the decision making driving seat. Once you have made the prescription map Te Mata Contractors are just a phone call away for selective root pruning, variable rate fertiliser application or GPS informed accurate canopy trimming.

Our Team

Jack Hughes

Horticultural Consultant | Managing Director

• B.Hort.Sci (1980) Lincoln University

• Certificate in Sustainable Nutrient Management in NZ Agriculture (2013)

My main focus is the management of crop and canopy for maximum performance and profitability. This involves optimising the inputs of orchard system design, labour and technology. Precision Hort sums it up. My background in commercial horticulture, research and consultancy helps me to provide expertise across a broad range of horticultural subjects.

Svetlana Drinnan

Technical Services Manager

• B.Bus (marketing)/B.Econ (2001), The Academy of National Economy, Russian Federation

• NZ Certificate in Sustainable Horticulture, Level 3 (2016), EIT

I am very passionate about all living plants and trees, and love spending time in orchards and vineyards observing constant changes in the field. I have a varied role at Fruition that extends across the provision of technical services to our clients, research, lab work and design.

Angus Bews

Irrigation Services Manager

• B.Agri.Sci (2017) Massey University

At Fruition my main focus is Soil and Water. This role is analyzing weekly moisture data gathered from Neutron Probes and providing accurate irrigation advice. Monitoring of soil moisture is also completed via Sentek continuous probes. I also complete site assessments and due diligence on potential properties for clients.

Mike White

Precision Horticultural Manager

• M.Hort.Sc (1995) First Class Honors in plant physiology, Lincoln University

• Advanced sustainable nutrient management in New Zealand Agriculture (2013)

• Sustainable nutrient management in New Zealand Agriculture (Orchard & Arable) (2013)

My roots and heart are heavily invested in horticulture, having grown up on an orchard and then experience managing them. I have an extensive background in crop nutrition, research, plant physiology and precision agriculture. I am highly motivated to apply these skills to make positive change in horticulture and enabling businesses to leverage the full value of new technology.

Alex Hoek

Precision Hort Technician

• B.Agri.Sci (2020) Massey University

My role at Fruition is to support our precision horticulture services. This involves the operation and data processing for our Green Atlas cartographers for both commercial and R&D work. I also help to provide spatial analysis of data when a deeper-dive is required. I enjoy the challenge of applying new technology into orchard management systems and making sure data collected is presented in a form where it is beneficial to clients.

Katelyn Gillies

Horticultural Technician

My role at Fruition is to work within Technical Services as part of the Pest and Disease team. Having grown up around the horticulture industry I have a background working in: orchard, packhouse and vineyard roles. I am passionate about pest and disease and hope to learn a lot within my role and to develop my skills and knowledge.

Larry Morgan

Precision Horticulture – Viticulture

• B. Hort. Sc (1979) Massey University

• Dip Teaching (1980) Christchurch Teachers’ College

• PG Dip Spatial Science (2021) Massey University

All aspects of viticulture interest me, but my focus over the last few years has been in practical applications of precision viticulture technologies.  Recent advances in remote sensing and data handling have meant that things which were once only research tools can now be integrated into daily vineyard activities.  With over 50 years involvement in Horticulture and 35 years of experience in the NZ Viticulture industry, I am well positioned to assist growers to make the most of these new and emerging technologies to ensure efficient, cost-effective production.

Catherine Scott

Office Manager

• B.Agr (1991) Massey University

I keep the business and admin wheels turning and make sure the office runs smoothly. I like to interact with clients and keep everyone on their toes. For variety and fresh air, I help out with some extra auditing, sample collection and soil moisture monitoring jobs. I’m responsible for maintaining everyone’s favourite - our Health & Safety system.