Hort News 5 December 2023

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HORTNEWS DECEMBER 2023, ISSUE 40

Vegetable grower pioneer still driven to succeed – Page 9

ISSN 2624-3490 (print) ISSN 2624-3504 (online)

WWW.HORTNEWS.CO.NZ

How hort fared in 2023

For the country's horticultural sector, it's been a year that started off with the worst weather imaginable. It also had plenty of drama and intrigue and ended up with us getting a new tri-party government that has collectively promised to fix everything! Peter Burke reports. HORTICULTURENZ’S DR BARRY O’Neil describes the past year as being “huge”. He says growers had to deal with too much significant policy change that was being pushed by the outgoing government. O’Neil says the most conten-

tious issues were Labour’s reforms, with totally unnecessary costs being imposed on employers. “In addition, there were the environmental freshwater reforms that significantly restricted what could be grown and where, and pricing for emissions being imposed before technology

is available to mitigate.” O’Neil says if that wasn’t enough, then there was Cyclone Gabrielle, the impact of which will be with NZ for years to come – especially in Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti. He says it’s heartbreaking to still see the destruction that Gabrielle caused. However, he adds it is also wonderful what a difference spring can make and seeing apples in flower in lovely warm Hawke’s Bay weather. “This is a wonderful sight and I am very proud of the work that the industry and HortNZ did in supporting growers in the immediate aftermath,” he told Hort News, “as well as the ongo-

ing work in securing government support to assist growers in getting back on their feet.” O’Neil says for him a really positive highlight of the year is the success of a programme of work called ‘A Lighter Touch’. This he says is about changing the hort sector’s approaches to crop production, with a transition from agrichemical pest management to agroecological crop protection. O’Neil adds that there is some really exciting work happening across multiple product groups in finding ways of growing that require fewer agrichemicals. As the year wraps up, O’Neil believes it’s a good time to be thinking

of what 2024 will deliver. Hopeful for a better growing season, O’Neil is also keen for the new government to have a greater focus on horticulture. “In any country there is only so much taxpayer funding that can go around, and there will always be tensions with what is the highest priority,” he explains. “Health care, law and order, education and welfare support are all very important but they also are big users of the taxpayer dollar. But getting our economy working for NZ has to be the number one priority for the new government, so we can continue to afford and deliver what our country needs.”

WE HAVE LIFT OFF!

Murray Turley in the rows of his new 50,000-tree Rockit apple orchard on his farm near Rangitata in South Canterbury. The orchard is a joint venture between Turley Farms Limited and the owners of the Rockit brand, Hawke’s Bay-based Rockit Global. With about 50,000 trees recently planted on a 20ha plot on Turley’s 1150ha Rangitata property, the orchard is expected to be produce its first commercial quantities of Rockit apples by 2025. PHOTO: NIGEL MALTHUS.

– See more page 7

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Hort News 5 December 2023 by Rural News Group - Issuu