THE ACTIVE KIWIFRUIT ORCHARD: ORCHARD/ORCHARDIST INTERACTION

The Agriculture Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS) research programme is comparing the sustainability of different management systems required on KiwiGreen (integrated pest management) 'Hayward' ("Green"), KiwiGreen 'Hort16A' ("Gold") and organic 'Hayward' orchards at 12 different sites. As part of this interdisciplinary programme, social researchers interviewed owners, managers or lessees of 35 kiwifruit orchards in New Zealand in 2004. It is suggested that one way of seeking to understand the impact of different management systems on an orchard's sustainability is to explore the interaction between an orchardist and the orchard. Several different types of 'active' orchard are emerging in the analysis of interviews with ARGOS participants. These could be described as the wild orchard, the challenging orchard and the needy orchard, each of which contributes in its own way to the orchard as provider. What an orchard looks like, feels like, smells like, sounds like and how its fruit tastes is indirectly and partially influenced by an orchardist’s perception of the orchard and the response to that perception. This paper considers the palpable features of orchards as the products of orchardists’ responses to these perceived orchard types.