
Hail Nets Go Up in Little Sydney Valley
There’s a new layer of protection going up over our latest block in the Little Sydney Valley, Riwaka. Hail net cloth is being installed over trees that are reaching production next season.
The Drummond family began farming 80+ years ago with a tobacco, hop, and sheep grazing farm down the Riwaka valley & incorporating the Takaka hill. In the 1980s Chris & Lyn Drummond transitioned the farm into a successful apple & kiwifruit orchard, becoming premium fruit growers and eventually developing their own packhouse operation.
Orchard work includes seasonal jobs such as fruit picking (apples & kiwifruit), packhouse jobs including graders and machinery operators, orchard hands, and orchard supervisors. You’ll also find more permanent positions including truck drivers, forklift drivers, orchard supervisors and orchard foremen. Click below for our latest orchard jobs in Motueka.
Our main focus is to produce high-quality fruit for the international and local markets. The way we do this is by adopting and integrating the latest technologies and sustainable practices into our daily orchard work. Producing a healthy and premium quality crop of both apples and kiwifruit is crucial to our orchard’s well-being and long-term sustainability. We strive to support regional growth with local job opportunities in the Motueka community.
Here in Riwaka in Tasman Bay, our region boasts some of the highest sunshine hours in New Zealand, temperate cool winters, and generous rainfalls that create the ideal growing conditions to flavour and ripen our apples & kiwifruit to perfection. At Fairfield Orchards we grow eight varieties of premium quality apples and gold kiwifruit.

There’s a new layer of protection going up over our latest block in the Little Sydney Valley, Riwaka. Hail net cloth is being installed over trees that are reaching production next season.

At Fairfield Orchards, we know that a well-supported team starts with strong leadership on the ground. We sent two of our team members, Diana Palei (our Head QC) and Lexi Firth (Hort Cadet), along to the the Supervisors Course run by Effective Influence.

There’s a new apple coming out of the Fairfield Orchards packing shed, and it’s already turning heads well beyond our own gate. Meet Crunchi: sweet, juicy and, true to its name, made to bite.

Growing great apples is a year-round commitment. Even on the frostiest mornings, our team shapes next season’s crop.