Grow IT July 2025 read the latest and greatest

new season navel oranges on a packing line

With mid-winter upon us we’re talking all things off-season. We’ve recently celebrated Matariki (Māori new year) in NZ and in true new year’s fashion we’re making plans for the future. Read on for what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Sharon

What we do in the off-season

What happens when we’re not focused on supporting you through harvest? Truth is, like you, it’s never really quiet for us either. We carry out post-season reviews and roll out enhancements so you’re ready for the next season. Behind the scenes, we’re busy maintaining security, provisioning resources, managing storage, databases, and infrastructure health to ensure our systems remain fast and reliable. It also gives us an opportunity to tackle bigger projects and deeper improvements. Here’s a glimpse of what we’re working on:

ABCpacker

We’re exploring new deployment options for ABCpacker, and our mandate is clear; to deliver powerful, secure software on modern frameworks that perform brilliantly today and stay future proof for many years to come.

ABCgrower

We’re rolling out a significant security upgrade which will see the entire system move onto a brand-new platform. Existing customers will be migrated one-by-one to minimise disruption.

We’ll keep you updated as these projects progress. In the meantime, we hope you can sit back, relax, and enjoy whatever downtime the off-season brings!

Fresh features

Workers doing quality control on oranges being packed

ABCquality

Larger report photos for better visibility of defects. Addition of a new Measurement Type for any values to be recorded against a sample, and a bunch of small things that add up to a better user experience

Your quarterly read 

How do you manage winter work?

It’s a constant balancing act between quality and labour cost. Click here to find out how digital tools can help.

Real stories, real results

A worker decanting a lug of cherries into a bin at Koala Cherries
Watch now

Koala Cherries

Hear Chris Nealon and team talk about how ABCgrower and ABCpacker help to comprehensively manage productivity and workflow during the cherry season.

“ABCpacker’s 100% accurate data integrity follows through to invoicing, dispatching, all our reporting post-season.”

Chris Nealon, COO, Koala Cherries

Employee spotlight

Nicola Thompson

Since joining us Nicola has improved our office space and taken on many and varied business support tasks, easing the load on the team. You might have come across her on the end of the phone or email as she manages the support tickets that come in (and keeps those developers in line!).

A picture of Nicola in an apple orchard

What’s coming up

We’re close to home this quarter with Alison having just returned from a successful Summerfruit NZ conference and Bri and Sharon looking forward to exhibiting at the NZ Apples & Pears and Blueberries NZ conferences. Look out for Bri at the Hort NZ conference alongside our Jenkins partners.

NZAPI Conference logo

NZAPI Expo 2025

30-31 July

Nelson

Horticulture Conference logo

RSE & Hort NZ

26-27 August

Wellington

Blueberries NZ logo

Blueberries NZ

25-26 September

Hamilton

Grow IT in November 2025 with the best in horticulture

Growing grapes in WA

With our SaaS security upgrade complete, we’re ready to support you through the busy season. Thank you to all our clients for working with us through this. Some of our team and I have been on the ground in Australia where it’s inspiring to see how people are using our software to solve challenges and find new efficiencies. I’m constantly reminded how much innovation and hard work you all bring to this industry. 

Sharon

We’re growing with you

We’re always working to make our software better, whether that’s developing a function you’ve requested, responding to industry changes, or adding new features.

We know it can be hard to keep up with updates when you’re flat out running your business and already have a process that works. That’s why we make it simple to stay informed. Every ABCgrower release includes detailed release notes with links to the updated sections of the Help manual, and we highlight key enhancements by email.

Looking back at recent updates, there’s been plenty of progress, and there’s more on the way! Below are a couple of highlights of what’s in development. We’ll also be sharing a summary of this quarter’s major enhancements with our clients soon, so keep an eye on your inbox.

ABCgrower fresh features

Info-only on a timesheet

Info-only records

We’re improving the way you record work offered but not taken, e.g. when someone is rostered on but is a no-show or takes unpaid sick leave. You’ll be able to record it as intra-day time (consistent with paid activities), streamlining your process.

Commission

You’ll be able to choose whether to include commission paid to contractors on the Block Cost Report to give you a true labour cost. And you’ll also be able to see the commission on the Pay Run reports.

Your quarterly read 

Buy or build?

With some organisations’ software coming to end of life we’re hearing them ask should we buy an off-the-shelf solution or build our own in-house? Both paths have pros and cons, and we explore the key factors to consider in our latest blog.

Real stories, real results

Watch now

Fruitico

Western Australia table grape growers talk about how ABCgrower and ABCspray allows them to efficiently manage a large and diverse workforce.

“The system is easy to use. We have people who don’t like tech and people where English is a second language, and it’s no problem.“

Kevin Dell’Agostino, Farm Labour and Harvest Manager, Fruitico Farms

Employee spotlight

Dylan Anderson

We welcome another superb addition to the team from the EIT internship program. Smart, savvy and super nice, Dylan is a proving himself to be a pretty snappy developer too!