Newsmaker

Banking on a career change

Taking his banker’s hat off and putting on his grower’s gumboots has been a welcome midlife move for Colin Bond, the new head of the country’s kiwifruit growers’ group, NZKGI. Richard Rennie reports.

COLIN Bond comes to New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated having spent the bulk of his working life in the banking sector, most recently as ANZ’s Bay of Plenty regional manager for commercial and agricultural clients.

The past three years in that role has had him in close contact with growers, in a sector experiencing exponential growth in both crop volumes and orchard values, driven on the back of the SunGold fruit’s success.

The section’s optimism is shared by Bond at a level extending beyond his role as chief executive. He and wife Michelle purchased a small SunGold orchard near Te Puna six years ago, just as the sector started to enjoy a resurgence in its pre-Psa optimism.

“The Psa period really hit home to me, when you saw the impact it had upon the mood of growers and the whole regional economy, after what had been such a positive start for the new gold crop at the time,” Bond said.

But for Bond what was even more memorable was the way the sector had rallied around to solve what appeared an insurmountable problem, dealing with an airborne bacteria that was laying waste to hectares of orchards, almost overnight.

“It was a pretty inspiring endorsement of the people and the community, the way the sector pulled together and turned itself around,” he said.

A desire to offer his young family a rural lifestyle closer to what he had enjoyed growing up in Canterbury partly prompted the purchase of a small orchard, and ultimately the move out of the banking world and into the grower group.

In assuming the chief exec role, Bond maintains a background in modern primary sector banking, where relationships and longterm horizons are vital, will lend itself well to a role that can be pushed into the spotlight frequently given the sector’s highvalue, high-earning contribution at a regional and national level.

The most pressing, and perennial, issue facing the sector for the past four years has been labour shortages at harvest time, and covid has done nothing to diminish that pressure.

The sector traditionally relied on almost 50% overseas workers for its 20,000 peak labour demand, of which half are backpackers and half RSE workers.

Bond accredits the timely work of his predecessor Nikki Johnson for getting the sector re-engaged with local workers three years ago, as it started to face the first wave of new SunGold plantings, going in at a rate of 750ha a year.

Today the local workforce comprises 60% of staff employed seasonally.

“We recognised the need early and really worked on a labour attraction strategy from there,” he said.

The group has taken a broad look at how seasonal work can fit into individuals’ lives.

Leveraging off the higher proportion of retirees in the Western Bay has meant offering flexible shorter shifts, while shifts that fit with school hours has helped draw in parents keen to work around family needs.

The net result has been that in three years the NZKGI campaign has drawn in an additional 3500 locals to the sector.

But Bond acknowledges the local labour pond has almost drained dry, and there is a deep sense of concern for what the coming seasons will hold as labour demand ramps up to 28,000 workers by 2026.

“To get through that demand we are going to need more RSE and backpacker workers, and more of a policy that looks out further to growth over 3-5 years,” he said.

“The concern is that we have managed to get through last season, and ultimately this season’s harvest, but the numbers of RSE and backpackers has been dropping as they head home.”

He intends to advocate strongly in coming months to the Government for increased RSE numbers and greater provision of certainty that overseas workers will have their existing visas extended.

With the industry now paying the living wage as a minimum, and firmly shutting down criticism of exploitative pay rates, Bond’s role will also involve maintaining the industry’s social licence to operate in other areas.

That includes helping growers navigate their pathway through the growing demands of environmental regulation, climate change implications and food safety expectations.

“We do have quite an advantage in achieving this, as an industry that has proven it can collaborate well, and having a single desk seller, we are in a strong position,” he said.

It was a pretty inspiring endorsement of the people and the community the way the sector pulled together and turned itself around.

Colin Bond NZKGI

CHALLENGED: New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated’s new chief executive Colin Bond sees labour supply as the most immediate challenge growers face in the coming three years.

Bremworth signs up to NZFAP

BREMWORTH has signed up to the New Zealand Farm Assurance Programme (NZFAP), signalling its support for and adoption of a national wool standard.

The NZFAP provides assurance to consumers about the integrity, traceability, biosecurity, environmental sustainability and animal health and welfare of NZ’s primary sector products.

Bremworth joins 20 other wool industry members to transition towards sourcing their wool from 6800 accredited sheep farms across NZ that meet the standards set by the NZFAP.

By signing up to NZFAP, Bremworth can prove its wool has met traceability, authentic origin and animal welfare standards.

Chief executive Paul Alston says “our long-term vision is to be a global leader in designing and creating desirable, highperforming, safe and sustainable interior products”.

“Ensuring that this starts on the farm is very important to our business and we look forward to working with New Zealand’s wool growers to build a successful future for the New Zealand wool industry,” Alston said.

“NZFAP provides value-chain assurances we need around land management, origin, traceability, animal health and welfare,” National Council of New Zealand Wool Interests chair Craig Smith said.

“We now have 21 New Zealand wool companies and 6800 certified wool growers across key points in the supply chain signed up and we expect more to follow. We welcome Bremworth to this important programme.”

Bremworth has commenced sourcing NZFAP accredited wool and is transitioning towards sourcing 100% of their wool from accredited sources.

We now have 21 New Zealand wool companies and 6800 certified wool growers across key points in the supply chain signed up and we expect more to follow. We welcome Bremworth to this important programme.