YOUR INDUSTRY
NZAPI UPDATE
Introducing Terry Meikle Sarah Cameron : NZAPI
Terry joined NZ Apples & Pears Incorporated in December 2021 as chief executive officer. He came to the organisation with an impressive background of strategic management, international agriculture diplomacy and trade relations through roles including Agriculture Counsellor at the New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City, regional manager North America for Beef + Lamb NZ, and First Secretary Agriculture and Trade for the New Zealand Embassy based in Washington DC. How are you finding the role, especially in such a difficult Covid-induced environment? A I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting out and meeting members around the country. I’ve spent a lot of the first few months listening to what they see as the highest priorities for the industry. Q
I am excited by the number of international touchpoints of this industry, having spent most of my career in international markets focussed on building deeper collaboration between public sector agencies and laying the groundwork for private sector commercial outcomes. There are plenty of opportunities, whether that is about safeguarding and improving the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, developing and expanding markets for our apples and pears, deepening research and development partnerships to fasttrack innovation and automation, or designing leadership programmes to support Prevar ambition. And while I am excited by the potential, I’d be lying if 50
The ORCHARDIST : JUNE 2022
I didn’t say it’s been a challenging first few months! hat are the biggest W challenges you see facing the industry right now? A While Covid-19 was nothing new to the sector in late 2021, Omicron established itself in New Zealand shortly after I took the reins. Then the Pacific Islands followed suit, which affected our ability to receive RSE workers. Next thing, the underwater volcano erupted off the coast of Tonga, adding an additional layer of complexity to an already tricky balancing act. A few weeks later, Putin invaded Ukraine. On top of that, China’s ongoing Covid elimination strategy continues to cause port congestion and container shortages worldwide, while driving the price of freight to ridiculous levels. Q
The icing on the cake is the current global inflationary environment, which is raising input costs, combined with a slew of domestic legislation and consultation (Income Insurance, the Fair Pay Act and Modern Slavery and Worker Exploitation). In that context, it is sometimes hard to pick one! But I would say the biggest challenge in the current operating environment is to safeguard the RSE scheme for the future. While it’s recognised globally as a benchmark temporary migration scheme, there is unfortunately a groundswell of negative publicity building. This is not helped by this government’s current drive to bring back varying degrees of unionisation. These
regulatory sticks are combining to create more bureaucracy, inefficiency and pressure on the system. Adding to the concern, we are also witnessing Australia drawing increasing numbers of Pacific workers, which is creating a brain drain from the Pacific Islands. At the same time, we have the government convinced about the ability of our industry to transition from RSE to local labour and more automated production systems. If we can’t get our fruit harvested, it is difficult to invest in innovation. All of these things combine to make safeguarding the RSE scheme the top priority. This will continue to be a major focus for the team and me in the coming year. ow can we overcome H these challenges? A We are fortunate that a number of relatively new fruit sector chief executives have come with a mission to try to build deeper collaboration across our sector body groups under the umbrella of HortNZ’s leadership. Q
This is fundamentally important for growers paying multiple levies. The mission we are on is to deepen collaboration and partnership between industry and government. The key for driving greater collaboration is trust. We are currently spending far too much time dealing with day-to-day operational issues across multiple government departments. Instead, we need time to focus on looking out to the horizon and planning for a brighter future. In this context, it is in the interests of our industry to fast-track the RSE review and sit down with all
