Sixty years of tradition continues

For 60 years, millions of strawberry plants have flourished in the fertile soils of Katikati – but it’s not the fruit which is harvested. It’s the plants themselves which are in demand.


Harvesting strawberry plants near Katikati late last century.

In 1953, the produce company Turners and Growers identified Katikati, with its light Waihi ash soils and favourable climate, as the ideal location to grow plants for strawberry fruit growers – and approached several market gardening families in the district to grow the plants.

Among them were Charlie Taylor and Keith Rapley, whose sons still grow the plants today. The other families involved in early plant growing included Hart, MacMillan, Palmer, Hoggard, Harwood and McDonald. Today, the Rapley, Taylor and Shanley families are the only growers left in Katikati.

Pam and Keith Rapley were newlyweds in their early 20s when they began growing strawberry plants and kumara at Athenree. In 1978, aged 53, Keith died suddenly and sons Martin and Bruce took over running the business, eventually moving out of kumara, but also growing avocado and kiwifruit, alongside their strawberry plant business.

As the demand for plants grew, so did the requirements of the commercial fruit growers.

“One grower in particular wanted plants which were grown at high altitude, as it was believed they would produce better fruit when transplanted to more favourable conditions,” says Bruce.

To meet the requirement the Rapley family leased land at Ohakune to grow the plants. This proved a very demanding and unrewarding exercise, which took a toll on Bruce’s health, but from it evolved a new system of harvesting and packing the plants.

“Because conditions were so cold at Ohakune in May we couldn’t have people sitting in the paddocks harvesting plants like we could in the Bay of Plenty,” says Bruce.


Strawberry generations: from left Allan Taylor, Brue Rapley, Adrian Taylor (driving tractor) his father Keith and brother Hamish with Hamish’s son Asher (five).

Instead, after a good deal of research into operations overseas, Bruce and Martin adapted a potato harvester and conveyor belt system to remove the plants from the paddock and deposit them in bins for transport to a packhouse where staff can work under cover.

While the Rapleys no longer grow strawberry plants at Ohakune, they’ve adapted the harvesting systems used there to their Athenree operation. Today, a tractor-driven harvester removes the plants from the soil. They are lifted into a revolving cage to shake free the soil, and then onto a conveyor and into bins.

At the packhouse, bins are tipped by forklift onto large tables where staff remove dead or damaged leaves and tie the plants into bundles of 25. These move along a conveyor to the packing station, where they are placed in bins ready to be held in coolstorage until they are transported to growers.

Now there’s a fourth generation of the Rapley, family Martin and Bruce hope the strawberry plant-growing tradition will continue well into the future.

Keith Taylor, son of Charlie, says his parents began growing strawberry plants at Beach Rd, later expanding to Westbank Drive, just south of Katikati.

“Dad grew up in South Canterbury and was a dairy farmer at Putaruru before serving for three years overseas during World War II. When he returned home he decided to follow his desire to grow things and came to Katikati.”

Keith and his brothers, Allan and Ray, have continued the family tradition of growing strawberry plants – but Allan now works for the Rapley family. However, in truth the families work closely together as they have since the start, sharing knowledge, resources and equipment when needed.

Keith’s sons Hamish and Adrian are also involved and there’s a fourth generation showing interest too – Hamish’s six-year-old son Asher.

The Taylor harvesting operation is closer to traditional methods, with plants loosened from the soil by harrows, and pickers sitting in the paddocks, cleaning and tying bundles of plants.

“It’s piece work – they get paid on performance, and can make very good money.

Although we are harvesting at the same time as kiwifruit, we don’t have to compete for staff because most people can make better money harvesting strawberries than kiwifruit – and it’s more consistent work,” says Keith.

Harvesting for generations
Employment in strawberry plant growing and harvesting is a tradition for many Katikati families, including Tamiora Snow, who has been part of the Taylor family strawberry plant operation since he was a child.


A potato harvester has been adapted by the Rapley brothers to remove strawberry plants from the fields.

“I remember coming here with my mum when I was a kid and pinching the string used to tie up the strawberries for the bows I made out of sticks, so I could play bows and arrows round the trees,” says Tamiora, who is now a parent himself.

Sitting in the freshly-turned soil, Tamiora and others work steadily through the piles of plants, cleaning and tying them into bundles.

“It’s not really hard work and you can make good money at the end of the week if you do a good job and prepare plenty of bundles,” says Tamiora, who works on avocado orchards once the strawberry harvest is over, finding plenty of employment within Katikati’s horticultural industry.


Harvesting strawberry pants on the Taylor farm is done by hand, the way it has for decades.


Tamiora Snow at work on Taylor family strawberry plant farm.

Victor Bryan, who works at the Rapley strawberry plant operation at Athenree, is the third generation of his family to do so.

His grandfather George worked for Keith Rapley when he started growing the plants in the 1950s, and in turn his daughter Maggie (Victor’s mother) worked for the family too.

Another long-time employee is Kathy Hauraki, now in her 70s, who has been part of the Rapley operation for most of her adult life.  

The locals, with decades of knowledge of the industry, are joined each season by backpackers from around the world.

The names of many who’ve earned holiday money processing strawberry plants are written on the wall of the Rapley packhouse.


Kathy Hauraki (70) and Victor Bryan both have long family histories with the Rapley strawberry plant harvests.


Sorting of plants is done inside in the Rapley packhouse.


Bins full of strawberry plants are delivered and tipped by forklift, onto sorting tables at the Rapley packhouse.


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