About us:

In the late 1980s the Department of Conservation visited a school in the tiny Rangitikei settlement of Whangaehu and showed the kids how to plant kowhai trees. Intrigued, young Nathan Fletcher went home from school, scratched the end off a seed and sowed it. It took months for the seedling to come up but the resulting tree is still going strong at his parents' place. This was the small beginning of a life dedicated to working with trees, and a decision at age 21 to invest all his savings in a small business growing 1ha of organic avocados. By sheer luck there was an orchard for sale in Whangaehu (population <500), which had a handful of avocado trees alongside citrus and nashi pears, and so Nathan and his wife Naomi took the plunge. Soon afterwards, their first child Korrie was born.
 
A few months later, Whangaehu Valley suffered its largest flood in 50 years. And it didn't stop there. The fledgeling orchard experienced more floods in 2007, 2011 and 2015, along with a lahar from the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu. This wasn't great for the young couple's confidence but, knowing how productive and nutrient-rich such flood plains can be, Nathan and Naomi decided to replant the whole orchard in avos.
 
Persea Valley Orchard is now thriving in the silt loam brought down with these floods. Nathan and Naomi are confident they can survive anything the Whangaehu River throws at them, and even benefit from it, and in 2019 they began the formal process of organic certification through BioGro. Certification was approved in 2023.