WHAT’S NEW
HELPING RURAL NEW ZEALAND THRIVE – INTRODUCING KIM BALLINGER, ASUREQUALITY CEO Kim Ballinger has been in the chief executive role at AsureQuality since mid-December 2020. She is passionate about Aotearoa and has a vision of helping rural New Zealand thrive – now and in the future. Kim grew up in Invercargill, entrenched in the farming sector and learnt first-hand how important the primary industries are to New Zealand. “This absolutely defined me as a person” says Kim, “it led me to realise that I love our country and want to work for New Zealand, within industries that are important. I’m at a point in life where I was looking for more than just a role, for me it was about going back to my personal purpose – helping rural New Zealand thrive. AsureQuality is a very broad business which supports Aotearoa’s growers, farmers and producers, and it really ticks all the boxes for me.”
For me it was about going back to my personal purpose – helping rural New Zealand thrive This past year has presented many challenges for the horticultural sector with Covid-19 related issues, new regulatory requirements, and a world that continues to change. Environmental sustainability has become a core focus and AsureQuality is committed to supporting customers as they move towards this. There is still a lot of confusion when it comes to sustainability because the recommendations are still quite new and it’s not yet completely clear what it will all mean in practice. AsureQuality wants to offer support to navigate these changes – and not just from a customer point of view, but also at an industry level and feeding back into government. “We absolutely understand that these changes need to be sustainable for growers, and we want to help make sure that their voices are heard,” says Kim. Kim would also like to see more pre-competitive industry collaboration – with the industry coming together to work on shared challenges and where the whole industry stands to benefit. “I see a clear role for AsureQuality in bringing all of the different parties together. We are
New Zealand government-owned, and our name represents independence of the highest quality. We also don’t have any vested interests because we’re not selling the goods.” Another focus for AsureQuality is working towards the creation of an integrated assurance platform to accurately and efficiently capture, utilise and share relevant assurance-related data, information and insights to meet current and emerging needs of the food and primary industry sectors. “We’ll achieve this by implementing best-in-class systems, technology and processes which will simplify things for growers, farmers, producers, processors and their customers” says Kim. “This will ultimately help producers meet the global demand for supply chain traceability and solidify New Zealand’s reputation for an exporter of premium produce.” Consumers around the world are also driving change as they want to have confidence when making food choices. AsureQuality adds value by helping to build and protect that enduring trust in a marketplace that is increasingly filled with unsubstantiated claims. “We can verify this information end-to-end. I feel that AsureQuality is perfectly positioned to help New Zealand’s primary industries take that next step: Taking one united NZ Inc to the world. There’s a lot of opportunities ahead and I’m excited to be part of this journey.” www.asurequality.com
NZGROWER : OCTOBER 2021 79
