Ag-Steel framing for kiwifruit success

Sustainable steel beams, posts, poles, braces and wires – that’s Ag-Steel’s secret to success for kiwifruit growers.

Ag-Steel products, produced by leading industrial tube manufacturer Industrial Tube, have been used in New Zealand’s horticulture sector for more than 30 years to help grow its capacity as one of New Zealand’s most valuable export commodities.

Ag-Steel’s key account manager Mike Posa says Ag-Beam in particular is renowned for enabling kiwifruit growers to better plan for future crop-laden vines.

“Ag-Beam was originally launched in the market as a strong, organic-friendly, insect and fungus resistant alternative to a timber structure. It’s certainly achieved that, and has gone one step further in helping New Zealand’s kiwifruit growers to transition from green to gold kiwifruit,” Posa explains.

“Ag-Beam is the one product in the market that ensures growers have a support structure that will bear the weight of the gold kiwifruit variety,” he adds.

Posa says Ag-Steel’s range of products has continued to develop and advance over time to meet changing grower and sector requirements.

“Growers want systems that are easy to install, so that’s what we’ve created with our full Ag-Steel range. At the same time, growers need peace of mind that the structure’s load strength will keep their crops supported and protected from New Zealand’s weather conditions. We’ve achieved that with Ag-Beam, Ag-Tri-posts, Ag-Brace and Ag-Wire,” he says.

Stringing Poles were recently added to the Ag-Steel product range, which are manufactured from the same high-grade steel as the Ag-Steel range and can be easily swapped out with traditional timber poles.

“Orchardists we spoke to wanted to be able to easily remove the pole when the canes are lowered. We’ve since developed a bracket system to achieve this and are really happy with the result,” Posa says.

Posa and his team offer technical advice for growers setting up new developments or preparing for the growth and weight that comes with grafting golden or red kiwifruit varieties onto green kiwifruit vines in their existing orchards.

“With stringing poles added to the mix, it’s fantastic that we can now deliver a complete advanced canopy support to growers,” he says.