Vegetables NZ Inc

Antony Heywood : Vegetables New Zealand Inc. general manager

Vegetables New Zealand Inc (VNZI), working with Potatoes NZ, Onions NZ and Horticulture New Zealand, is undertaking work to get to the nub of grower issues and concerns.

The project, called Vegetable Sector Policy Strategy, aims to:

1 Engage with stakeholders on grower issues and what needs to be done to address these issues

2 Develop a strategy to address the issues, linked to a communications plan 3 Undertake a stocktake of evidence and research to support the strategy and communications 4 Conduct a gap analysis to identify the new research or evidence gathering that needs to be done to support the strategy and communications plan. James Morrison has been commissioned to develop the strategy and uncover the root causes of the issues facing growers. Once problem definition has been completed, a framework will be required to deliver beneficial growerbased outcomes. Grower interviews have developed four areas of work for the framework to capture:

1. Engagement with internal stakeholder framework 2. Engagement with external stakeholder framework 3. Developing objective policy analysis 4. Managing vegetable sector data.

Under each area will be a body of work to build confidence in the framework, and then for that framework to deliver to the communications plan. Underpinning the framework will be plausible data or evidence to support policy positions. If there is not a plausible data set, resource will be developed to fill this data gap.

James Morrison is an agriculture consultant with more than 20 years’ experience in advising agriculture and horticulture businesses

The desired outcome of the work will be to build a vegetable sector that has a credible and honest reputation in the policy environment.

James will complete his report by the end of July, with sector groups looking to implement the recommendations by August. It is hoped the framework will start to deliver on its outcomes by the end of August. The final product will form a communications plan that the industry can use as part of a manifesto leading into next year’s General Election. The Vegetable Sector Policy Strategy framework will be an enduring resource, through which all vegetable stakeholders get benefit from a planned, consistent and resourced approach to policy action.

If you would like to give feedback into this body of work, please email me: antony.heywood@

• Agree on policy framework • Agree on policy priorities • Inform with objective analysis

• Consult with related parties on mutual objectives • Engage with policy makers to form relationships • Formal submissions • Support policy positions with robust evidence

• Build reputation as an honest broker for vegetable policy and communication • Allocate resources appropriately to policy priorities

• Develop a common information systems platform • Manage / curate accurate, reliable data