Nadine Tunley is Horticulture New Zealand's new chief executive

Nadine Tunley. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand's primary industries are going through another period of change and challenge, says new Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Nadine Tunley.

This has led to a "significant impact on the way we grow and farm, and our social license to operate," Tunley said.

Tunley has been involved with the apple and pear industry since 2000, and was chair of NZ Apples and Pears from 2012 to 2018.

She is also a director of Scales Corporation Ltd, Plant & Food Research, Strong Wool
Action Group, Te Pitau Ltd, two Mānuka Honey entities, and was a member of the Primary
Sector Council.

In 2013, Tunley was an inaugural Manawa Nui (associate governor) for Ngāi Tahu, having a year at Ngāi Tahu Holdings Board, followed by a year with Ngāi Tahu Seafood.

Tunley has also been a Director for QualityNZ, a start-up company shipping meat into India, B.linc Innovation and New Zealand Food Basket.

Tunley was chosen after an "extensive recruitment process," HortNZ president Barry O'Neill said.

"We are very pleased to have been able to appoint a candidate of Nadine's calibre, with her level of horticulture and wider food and fibre sector experience."

Tunley said she was looking forward to starting in the HortNZ chief executive role.

"I have always had a very strong connection with the food and fibre sector, having grown up in rural New Zealand."

She said her role would be to facilitate and advocate on growers' behalf for policies that would enable better outcomes and keep the horticulture industry "at the forefront of continued success".

Tunley will replace current chief executive Mike Chapman on June 14, who will stay at HortNZ until June 25 to assist with the handover.

Chapman had led HortNZ and the horticulture industry through challenging times over the past five years, and his leadership through Covid-19 was "outstanding," O'Neil said.

"He brought the industry and government together to immediately find practical solutions to the challenges that Covid posed. This ensured that growers, packhouses and the rest of the industry could continue to operate and get food on New Zealanders' tables, as well as to export."