A Record-breaking Day for Kiwifruit Samples
Hill Labs is a key service provider to Zespri and the kiwifruit industry, providing time-critical sampling and maturity testing services seven days a week. Zespri has strict maturity criteria that all orchards must pass before harvest to ensure consumers receive the best quality kiwifruit expected from the Zespri brand. Emily Heslop is based at our Bay of Plenty laboratory and supports the Pukekohe and Tauranga sampling teams as a Team Leader. She offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to keep things moving and deliver when the pressure is on.
On Friday afternoon, we got the call from Zespri.
They’d had a surge in sample requests for Saturday - more than all labs combined could handle. With Cyclone Vaianu on the way, the expectation was for Zespri to go back to growers and say we need to reduce volumes. Instead, we said ‘how can we help you?’
What happened next?
While most people were winding down for the weekend, the call went out to all available samplers, and our team started gearing up for a big one. Zespri allocated the samples across our five key regions: Eastern Bay of Plenty, Te Puke, Tauranga, Katikati / Coromandel and Auckland. By around 7pm, our operational team had assigned samples across 52 samplers. From there, it was a quick turnaround - planning routes, mapping orchards, contacting growers - with alarms set for early the next morning.
In parallel, we worked with the lab to lock in start times, drop windows, and the runner plan.
And then we did it
On Saturday 11 April, we collected and processed record sample volumes. By 9am, while most people were enjoying their first coffee, we’d already collected over half the samples. Across the day we collected around 47,000 pieces of fruit - just under 1,000 fruit per sampler, individually picked.
What it looked like on the ground
Samplers were on orchard at first light, many walking 10-15km and carrying up to 15kg of fruit. Best description of the day: “I feel like pregnant Santa Claus” - one bag on the front, one over the shoulder.
And when people finished? They called Ops and asked, “Where else can I help?”
The lab team picked it up from midday and worked right through, finishing testing before midnight. A few early dry outs helped free up enough capacity to get everything done. Then on Sunday morning, the team were back to the lab, Vaianu knocking at the door - and had the final samples wrapped up before 9am.
What stood out?
It was how quickly everyone leaned in. No hesitation - just a clear “right, let’s get this done.”
You could see it across the board:
Anyone can push volume. Doing it properly is what builds trust.
Why it mattered
At this point in the season, growers are relying on these results to make harvest calls. Add a weather event into the mix, and timing becomes even more critical. Stepping up here meant giving growers clarity when they needed it most.
A proper team effort
There’s no single part of the business that makes a day like that happen. It’s the field teams getting through it, the coordination behind the scenes, and the lab turning it around at pace. It’s a good reminder of what this team can do when we need to. And also - that when we say, “We’ve got this,” we actually mean it.
