The couple had a 4ha block of mature Hass avocados that reaped a two-year average of 21.7 tonnes per hectare. No strangers to success, the pair also won the Team Avocado Grower of the Year award after being nominated by their packhouse KauriPak.
Judges from the two exporters which make up AVOCO - Primor and Southern Produce - took into account production figures, export pack out achieved, fruit size profiles and growers' accuracy and timeliness with administrative issues.
However, a significant change to this year's awards meant entrants were no longer judged on their immediate past season's production. Instead, packhouses were asked to submit their nominations based on growers' average total tonnes per hectare, export percentage and fruit size profile for the past two seasons.
AVOCO technical manager Colin Partridge said all the information submitted was put into a computer program that calculated the highest orchard gate return from each orchard.
Despite more than three decades of experience under their belts, the Kauri Point couple were surprised to win.
"We were absolutely thrilled," said Mrs Robinson. "We have been in the industry for 33 years so it was really neat, and we were rapt to get the top award."
They welcomed the new judging process which fairly represented orchard productivity and seasonal fluctuations, she said.
"It recognises what's happened over two seasons as opposed to one. A lot of people can have a great crop one year and then the next season a not so great crop."
Originally planted with 150 trees of different varieties including Hass, Pinkerton and the green-skinned Fuerte, the Robinsons have replaced the poorer varieties with about 310 Hass trees of varying ages.
They were one of the first orchardists to adopt aerial spraying but at the same time, support many tried and tested practices associated with feeding their trees and protecting them from phytophthora.
"We have never had irrigation but we do inject our trees which are very big and big trees produce more fruit."
The couple aren't resting on their recent accolades and estimate they would export 20,000 avocados for the upcoming 2016-17 season.
Meanwhile, Omokoroa orchardists David and Kay Wallace, who pack with Apata, were awarded the Primor Grower of the Year trophy.
