In a crucial lobbying effort for the region, Hawke’s Bay mayors have taken the region’s food sector concerns directly to Wellington, seeking Government support for an independent, grower-led feasibility study following the recent processing plant closure announcements affecting the region.
Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Will Foley and Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum met with Government Ministers, Opposition MPs from across Parliament, and members of the Primary Production Select Committee to discuss the future of vegetable processing in Hawke’s Bay (impressive full meeting list below).
The Mayors said discussions focused on the strong desire to explore options to retain large-scale vegetable processing capability in the region, with an independent feasibility study seen as an important next step in assessing potential pathways forward, including grower cooperative options, potentially at the existing McCain Foods processing site.
“We are seeking Government support to help growers undertake the independent analysis needed to properly assess whether there is a viable long-term pathway forward for the sector,” Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum said.
The proposed study, requested by growers, would assess the commercial viability of future processing models, including infrastructure requirements, market opportunities, energy and water considerations, logistics, workforce needs and overall commercial sustainability.
If the Government can spare $18 million to support an attempted resurrection of the failed Ruataniwha Dam, surely it can afford some cash support to explore the viability of continuing to process vegetables in Hawke’s Bay at a profitable scale.
Quixotic? We’ll see. Any examination must be as hard-nosed as the analyses McCain and Heinz Watties have made, not wishful thinking.
Mayor Will Foley said it was important growers had access to credible, independent information before major decisions are made. “This work needs to remain grower-led and commercially grounded, but there is a strong case for Government support given the wider regional and national implications,” he said.
Mayor Schollum said the meetings highlighted broad recognition of the significance of the issue beyond Hawke’s Bay. “These closures are not just a Hawke’s Bay issue – they raise important questions about New Zealand’s future food production capability, regional manufacturing resilience and economic security,” she said.
The Mayors said discussions also reinforced broader challenges facing regional food production and manufacturing, including energy affordability, water security, infrastructure pressures and compliance costs.
They also welcomed the upcoming Primary Production Select Committee briefing into the closures and confirmed they have requested the opportunity to present alongside growers.
“It is important that Hawke’s Bay growers, workers and communities are heard directly as these discussions continue,” Mayor Foley said.
Meetings included:
- Hon Mark Patterson, Minister for Rural Communities and Associate Minister of Agriculture
- Hon Todd McClay, Minister of Agriculture and Minister for Trade and Investment
- Mike Butterick, MP for Wairarapa and Associate Minister of Agriculture
- Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Resources
- Rt Hon Chris Hipkins, Leader of the Opposition
- Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, Labour MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti
- Hon Ginny Andersen, Labour MP
- Hon Jan Tinetti, Labour MP
- Chlöe Swarbrick, Co-Leader of the Green Party
- Steve Abel, Green MP
- Members of the Primary Production Select Committee, including MP Miles Anderson and MP Suze Redmayne.
Looking of the list of meetings, someone at ‘our’ side clearly knows how to shake the political tree, especially this being an election year. I truly hope this initiative will work – it probably will require some ‘fresh’ and innovative thinking how to add more value to our veges (in particular for end-users) so we don’t have to compete on price only. A good shake-up for this industry might do wonders….who knows.
With Shane Jones involved I would think the chances are fairly low – he prefers mining and dams to stuff like food production for the masses – the rich and “sorted” will be okay so no worries. That might be a touch cynical but anything that comes out of any NZFirst rep should be carefully checked for PoliSpeak! The others may all be fair and unbiased (although they are politicians?) but do we really have another 2 – 5 years while they make up their minds which seems to be about the time frame Wellington uses for decision making. Good on them if there’s a positive result but don’t hold your breath! I would be rapt to be proved wrong.
Make no mistake, Energy cost and uncertainty killed thd frozen food industry. The blast freezers are the biggest power consumer in these businesses. Electricity is the most expensive energy source. Gas, which is what they mainly use, is becoming more expensive and supply looks uncertain. The new import terminal will make gas at least double the current industrial price at about $18.50/KJ, if and when it is built.
Biomass is a good option but takes a lot of up front investment that best occurs at the end of the life of their existing gas system. We also have the Gabrielle impacts fairly fresh in their minds.
The big advantage this country should have is energy, but we’ve completely messed it up.
Nailed it Paul. Do our leaders not see that increasing whole electricity prices by over 8x in 10 years is a disaster for industry? I talked to an engineer down south and the business he worked for was paying 8.2 million a year for electricity 10 years ago, last year it was 32 million.
It doesn’t help that the mayors can hardly control spending in their own councils let alone try to resurect a business that was losing 17 million a year.
Sounds like engineers may be in there already getting plant ready to move.