Understanding approaches to kiwifruit production in New Zealand: report on first qualitative interviews of ARGOS kiwifruit participants

Abstract

Kiwifruit growers (or orchardists) comprise a diverse group of individuals with a variety of perspectives on and approaches to sustainable production. This diversity is the product of a broad range of social, cultural, economic, and ecological influences and experiences. It is also possible, however, for commonalities to emerge among the orchardists based on their (possibly) shared experiences with similar social and environmental contexts in New Zealand's kiwifruit industry. One of the goals of the ARGOS programme is to determine if the adoption of a particular management system (in this case the different panels – KiwiGreen Hayward, KiwiGreen Hort 16A, or Organic Hayward) is influenced to any degree by the social characteristics of orchardists. Towards this end, a suite of social methods or approaches (including semi-structured interviews, quantitative surveys, participant observation, and interactive activities) have been proposed as means to study the social lives of participants and to draw out any relations between these and management practices – especially those that impact on sustainability. This report documents the first in a series of qualitative interviews with participants in the kiwifruit sector of the ARGOS programme.