Horticulture lobby groups working together

Vegetable growers say Horticulture New Zealand, a new umbrella group for the nation's 7000 commercial vegetable, fruit and berry fruit growers, will be a cornerstone of the industry's future expansion.

Horticulture has been a "quiet achiever" in the agriculture sector, growing from $200 million in exports in 1980 to $2.2 billion today, said Horticulture NZ inaugural president, Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower Andrew Fenton.

Much of this growth had been based on innovation and technical advances, said Mr Fenton, executive chairman of Te Puke co-operative Satara.

"We now have the opportunity to capitalise on this with a united industry structure that is better suited to information sharing and addressing industry-wide issues," he said.

Officially launched last night, Horticulture New Zealand combines the former NZ Fruitgrowers Federation, the NZ Vegetable and Potato Growers' Federation and the NZ Berryfruit Growers Federation.

Mr Fenton said the previously fragmented representation of the industry had tended to mask the significance of horticulture's overall contribution to New Zealand. The industry as a whole was worth $4.7 billion a year.

He said the recent decision of Olives New Zealand to become the first group outside of the three federations to join Horticulture NZ indicated the interest there was in being part of a united body focused on horticulture industry-wide issues.

- NZPA