David Easton also dismissed generic advertising as a waste of time unless product quality is consistent when he spoke at a two-day conference organised by the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers and supported by the Marden Fruit Show Society held last week.

Easton, who is a director of the five-strong grower group Heartlandfruit(NZ) has rebuilt sales with with local supermarkets following deregulation. However on the international scene he is highly critical of general quality. 'This fundamental lack of consistency in the final eating quality of apples despite a set of objective measures is the fruit industry's biggest Achilles heel,' he told delegates.

'A lot of the world's apple production engenders a long-lived negative response because either fruit is too mature, too green, picked incorrectly, damaged or diseased, or even the wrong variety with no potential to become an amazing product,' he added.

'The ultimate insult is when the variety is right and consumers like it, but we produce it in the wrong region or climate and give consumers the negative reactions they need to turn them off.' Heartlandfruit has built up a niche market with a Red Braeburn strain known as Mariri Red. Red Braeburn had been planted significantly in the industry and is substantially different from its parent being 75 per cent or more block red. It retains a consistency of eating quality for up to 10 months, but the variety has struggled internationally, he claimed as harvest management was 'botched' by the industry.

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