The Malcolm family of Belfast,Christchurch, has the distinction of having three generations actively involved in their pipfruit growing and packing business. They also have the only pipfruit pack house in Canterbury and continue as one of the larger apple growers not far from the centre of Christchurch City, where many former orchards are now residential or commercial blocks.
Andrew Malcolm currently leads PJ Malcolm Orchards with the able support of his mother Adrienne and son Tom. Andrew explains the family’s connection to fruit growing: “My great grandfather had a small orchard in Nelson. My grandfather, who was one of 11 children, moved to Christchurch where he leased land alongside the railway lines to grow fruit. My father Peter chose to train as a dentist and also helped my uncle and grandfather in the orchards. Land on Prestons Road was purchased and more orchards developed. In time, the family benefited from the Braeburn apple boom in the 1980s. My mother, Adrienne, studied plant physiology and taught in high schools before taking over the day-to-day running of the orchards through the ‘80s.”
Andrew studied science at university but rather than working in a laboratory, decided to join the family business in the early ‘90s. “We purchased 16 ha in Belfast, including a house, so my wife Bronnie and I moved in there while the orchard was developed. Our budget was tight, so we grafted 12,000 trees in our garage which was reasonably successful.” Through this time, all Malcolm family-grown fruit was packed under contract at various packhouses before being exported. “As people know, there was a sudden drop in apple prices in the early ‘90s. One year we couldn’t get packing capacity anywhere so converted a shed into a coolstore. We got better money for the second-grade fruit that year.”
More coolstores were added, and the family then bought a share in a packhouse, focusing on domestic market supply. “About 25 years ago, I stepped away from the business for a while. It was good for me to be exposed to different food businesses with corporate owners, global markets, managing staff and food safety requirements. I saw how understanding your return on investment in new technology, the right components for expansion, underpinned decision making for growth. “That changed how we thought of things with our family business when I returned. We built our own packhouse in Belfast which now supplies direct into Woolworths supermarkets seven days a week.”
They’ve invested in several significant technical upgrades for the packhouse which Andrew describes as game changing. “The sorting accuracy is outstanding." Both Andrew and Adrienne enjoy putting their science backgrounds to use, exploring ways to improve energy efficiency. Recently, they installed a large solar array on the Belfast site and will double the size of this again this year. “Solar is ideal for coolstore energy. There’s probably a five to six year payback period but if you can invest in energy efficiency in the good years, the aim is to reduce the cost of production to help in the leaner years. It’s also a way to make the business more sustainable, offering both economic and environmental gains.” Along with Tom joining the business once he finished his commerce degree, the other recent change was the purchase of 8 ha of vineyard land in Waipara.
“We’ve just finished pulling out 30,000 Pinot Noir vines and planting 20,000 apple trees. We’ve opted to utilise the existing grape infrastructure which means trees are planted in 2 m rows, 1.5 m apart. We’ll keep the trees a bit shorter and branch numbers lower than usual for a 2D structure. We appreciate this close planting may have its challenges, but it was a relatively inexpensive way to redevelop the site and could easily be replicated on other unproductive vineyards.” The three Malcolm family members work alongside each other well, utilising their unique skills. Tom runs most of the office tasks, organising staff for the orchard and packhouse. “He’s a million miles an hour and great with numbers and analysis. His university contacts help with staffing and we’re only ten minutes to the CBD. Adrienne turned 80 in August and continues doing most of the tractor work across our 34 ha in Belfast, and I tend to take the overall strategy role and also practical, fix-it tasks.”
Several Fruitfed Supplies Representatives have worked with the Malcolms over the years. “Our current rep, Rob Wards is one of the best we’ve ever had with a strong background as a grower himself. We get good advice on the best products needed for a specific purpose. What sets Fruitfed Supplies apart is the technical support. Back in the day, Ken Jeffery of course and now Kevin Manning is excellent.”
