Snack-Sized Apple Business Rockit Global Is Expanding Into The South Island To Build Its Growing Base

Snack-sized apple business Rockit Global is expanding into the South Island to build its growing base. The Hastings company has combined with the Turley family in South Canterbury’s Rangitata to put in an initial 20-hectare orchard, expanding to 100ha over the next two years, with apple growing eventually scaling up in the region to more than 500ha. Rockit has a base of about 850ha planted in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne under company ownership or via a licence to other growers. Commercial general manager Tom Lane says the apples are grown in nine other countries, mainly for domestic supply with the largest plantings in the Washington state of the United States. He says with climate change and extreme weather events over the last couple of years they’ve been very focused on the next 10 to 15 years and when the climate models showed Canterbury really came up trumps.