3 minute read
President’s Word: Déjà vu
Déjà vu
We were extremely lucky to be able to hold a successful Horticulture New Zealand conference at Mystery Creek at the end of August, with over 700 people attending.
By Barry O’Neil President : HortNZ
The conference was a fantastic opportunity to engage on key policy changes that are being rolled out, with some great speakers and interactive sessions highlighting this. The focus on well-being and mental fitness was a timely reminder of how important it is to be looking after ourselves and supporting each other given the challenging times. Not only with Covid-19 lockdowns, but with the environmental pressures, regulations and the government’s change-agenda – which can feel difficult and overwhelming.
It wasn’t long after that we were reminded of the importance of well-being and resilience once again, as the government announced that the country would plunge into yet another Level 4 lockdown. While lockdowns are now too familiar territory, it felt different this time. We knew exactly what we were facing, especially with the more contagious Delta variant.
While we can all grumble and politic about the time it has taken to get our vaccine programme happening at pace, it is now full on and as a country, in the interim, we have managed to continue to live a relatively normal life since our first lockdown. Importantly, let’s not forget that only 27 people have died of Covid-19 in New Zealand, compared to Ireland, a similar size country, where 5,160 people have tragically passed away.
I absolutely have no time for the blatant rule breakers, for the anti-vaxxers and their whoopy conspiracy theories and even with the people who refuse to wear a mask with no justification. People that fit this category to me are not dissimilar to the Donald Trumps, the Jair Bolsonaros, or the Alexander Lukashenkos of the world and their looney ideas. To me the one matter that should be at the top of people’s – and growers’ – minds is vaccinations, for themselves, their family, their workers and their communities. Those who are unvaccinated are 30 times more likely to be hospitalised with Covid-19. And it’s encouraging to see countries around the world, such as Denmark, which has over 80% of its eligible population vaccinated, removing restrictions with life returning to normal. In New Zealand, less than 45% of the population is fully vaccinated and we still have 25% that are unvaccinated. Rural regions in particular continue to have poor vaccination rates.
Lockdowns come at huge costs to our well-being, to our whānau, to our connectedness and to our livelihoods and businesses. I don’t ever want to see another Level 4 lockdown in New Zealand and it’s up to us to make sure this doesn’t happen. The vaccine is here and freely available so we must do better than this if we are going to get out of this déjà vu.
...the one matter that should be at the top of people’s – and growers’ – minds is vaccinations, for themselves, their family, their workers and their communities
It has been fantastic to see our growers stepping up, operating throughout alert levels and continuing to be the backbone of our nation – supplying communities with fresh fruit and vegetables, even in challenging times like these. Product groups have been working hard, collaborating with Nadine and the rest of HortNZ to support our growers through the lockdowns, particularly with the new challenges that a Level 4/2 border created. While we didn’t get everything we argued for, we did a heck of a lot better than if we had gone our own ways. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) really lifted its game as well, so many thanks to Ray, Penny and the MPI team for their continued support.
Please look after yourselves and each other during these difficult times and a big shout out to our Auckland colleagues who have done it really hard over the last month, making big sacrifices so the rest of New Zealand was able to get back to business sooner.
Kia kaha.
Kioto®
apricots
Orion®
nectarines
