We grade, pack and store kiwifruit for growers across the Waikato using the same packhouse we run our own fruit through every season.

Packing started as something we did for ourselves. It was a way to manage our own harvest before anyone else got involved. Decades later, it's grown into a big part of what we do at Whitehall. We've been putting our own fruit through this packhouse every season since 1984, so there's not much about the packing to exporting process we haven't seen.

The way we pack has changed a lot over the years. Hand grading has given way to automated lines, and that shift is part of why the packhouse has grown. What hasn't changed is how much care goes into handling each tray.

Plenty of growers around us send their fruit through our packhouse; it’s a responsibility we never take for granted. All fruit packed here gets the same care and attention. You don’t have to grow with us to pack with us, either. It's this ethos that pushes us to keep our packing-to-export service as good as it can be.

That care looks a bit different depending on what's coming through the doors. Organic fruit needs its own kind of handling, and it's something we understand from our own orchards. We grow organics ourselves, so our lines are set up to look after it properly. Organic or not, if your fruit's coming through our packhouse, we'll treat it the way we'd want ours treated.