I want to start this month’s report with a huge congratulations to Regan Judd – sector manager for T&G, for winning the prestigious “Young Horticulturist of the Year” award last week. The event was held in Auckland and involved 7 outstanding individuals from all aspects of Horticulture who had each won their respective regional finals. It has been a 17 year wait for HB to win this event since Dean Astill in 2005.
Regan’s national success is testament not only to his ability but also his resilience and hard work – he is a 2x winner of the Hawke’s Bay Young Fruitgrower of the Year (2019/21). We hope that his success will inspire other young people currently employed in our local industry to put their names forward for this event which has now been running for 17 years since it was established by the association in 2005 (Dean Astill was the inaugural winner).
As I’ve touched on previously, HBFA is committed to supporting the industry to access labour – this is no easy task in a climate of record low unemployment. In early November the association led the “Pick the Bay” job expo at Tōmoana Showgrounds. This event was exceptionally well supported by employers with 23 exhibitors in attendance. While jobseeker turnout was underwhelming, it was a definitive and poignant example of the efforts our industry is putting in to attract local labour and I commend those of you who attended.
It is interesting to note that 65% of Jobseekers surveyed at Pick The Bay have never worked in horticulture before, and the same percentage were interested in receiving ongoing training and making a career from the industry. This supports the potential opportunity that exists to identify future permanent staff from your seasonal workforce.
The development of pathways for young people to enter the industry remains a key area of focus for the association. We are proactively feeding into HortNZ’s review of how the industry delivers career progression initiatives and will be advocating strongly for more investment and support to position fruitgrowing as a viable career option.
We have had a challenging spring with record rainfall in most areas. I’m hearing of ongoing issues relating to tractors, sprayers & mowers getting stuck down rows – surely things must dry our soon!
Along with crazy weather, the industry is dealing with several unique challenges spanning from staff shortages to regulatory hurdles and poor returns – it’s no wonder some people are feeling overwhelmed. We have a responsibility as an association to support the wellbeing of our members which is why we are getting behind is Mates4Life. This is a suicide awareness and prevention programme that is being delivered to workplaces and organisations across Hawke’s Bay. We are keen to build a wide network of support persons or “safety aiders”. These will be trained volunteers who will make themselves available to support anyone who feels the need to chat to someone they can trust. If you are interested in learning more about Mates4Life or would like to put yourself forward for training, please contact Dean Smith on either 027 233 9900 or manager@hbfa.co.nz
On a more positive note, early this month HBFA held our annual fishing competition – this is always a great event and I want to thank all our sponsors who give generously to make this such an outstanding occasion in our calendar. I’m advised that this year’s event attracted over 100 anglers, over 60 of whom went home with a prize.
The 2023 harvest season is now just around the corner and one thing I know after all my years in this industry is that you never get two seasons the same. I’m therefore looking forward to a great harvest for our region, with good weather, plenty of available labour and sustainable prices for our produce!
All the best,
Brydon Nisbet
HBFA President
Four things are covered in this months RMA update – TANK, the WCO decision, changes to the RMA, and replacement water permit applications
Update on TANK proceedings
In addition to our (HortNZ’s) appeal, there were fifteen other appeals lodged on the TANK decision. The appeals generally came from the ‘usual’ parties – Forest and Bird, Federated Farmers, Winegrowers, as well as a number of tangata whenua organisations and primary producers (e.g. Heinz Watties and T&G Global).
Some of the appeals are quite specific and limited in the parts of the decision they appeal, while others, such as that of Forest and Bird, are very wide ranging. Copies of all the appeals can be found here on the Council website: TANK Decision & Appeals | Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (hbrc.govt.nz)
The next step in the process is the opportunity for any submitter (or appellant) to join any of the parties as a s274 party – the reasons that you might do this is either if you support what the appellant is seeking, or if you oppose it. Becoming a s274 party means that you are part of any discussions to resolve the appeal. We (HortNZ) are likely to join most of the appeals as a s274 party – some of them because we agree with what the appellants have asked for, and in other cases, where we strongly disagree with what they have asked for. Section 274 notices have to be lodged by Wednesday 16 November. Once this happens, then the Environment Court will understand how many parties are going to be involved, and they can start to make a plan about how things will proceed. Generally mediation is the first step, to see if some of the appeals can be resolved through discussions. It seems unlikely that anything will happen before the end of this year.
In terms of impacts on your day to day operations as growers, the Council needs to give weight to the TANK decisions when processing applications – I expect this will be particularly relevant in terms of them considering ‘actual and reasonable use’. If you have used all of your allocation in 10 years 2010-2020, and you have water meter data to show that, then you shouldn’t have much to worry about. If you haven’t used your allocation, then you will need to put a bit of effort in to explaining this in any replacement water take application – why didn’t you use it – were you in a stage of redevelopment, or growing different crops? If you need help with this, please give me a call to discuss.
WCO (Water Conservation Order) Decision
The Environment Court finally released its decision on the application before it for a Water Conservation Order for the Ngaruroro River. In August 2019 the Special Tribunal recommended a water conservation order for the Upper Ngaruroro River and its tributaries. This decision was appealed by Forest and Bird (and other parties), and was heard by the Environment Court. The Environment Court have recommended a Water Conservation Order for both the upper and lower Ngaruroro River.
We have consistently opposed an order for the lower river, amongst other things because of concerns about how this might impact growers abilities to take water below minimum flows for root stock survival, and also the ability to construct dams on any of the tributaries of the lower river – which potentially will make water storage difficult. We are working through the decision to clarify our understanding, and will also be talking to the regional council. The courts recommendation still has to go through a couple of steps before it comes into force so it doesn’t have legal effect yet. The decision could also be appealed, but only on points of law (not simply because we don’t agree with it) – this is something that we need to consider further also.
In summary this is not the decision we were wanting.
Changes to the RMA
As you may have seen in the news the government is set to release the two new acts which will replace the Resource Management Act today. They are called the National and Built Environments Act, and the Spatial Planning Act. What will be interesting is the transitional provisions of these acts which should set out how we go from working under the RMA, to working under the two new acts. This will obviously take time and something I will explain when we understand what it will involve. At this point, there will be no immediate impact on you – it will be business as usual for a while longer.
Replacement water permit applications
Get them in!! If your water permit expires at the end of May next year (31 May 2023), you should have received letters from the regional council reminding you that you need to lodge your replacement application/s. If you’re not sure check.
Replacement applications need to be in by 30 November this year, which is only a couple of weeks away, so if you haven’t done so, get onto it. If you can’t get to it before then, you can apply for an extension, which would give you until the end of February next year (28 February 2023) to get your application in, but you need to have this time extension approved by HBRC before the end of November. This is a quick process – simply an email to the Consents Manager at HBRC which I can help with, so if you think you need more time, please get in touch – don’t leave it to the last minute!
Any questions, please get in touch – Charlotte Drury, charlotte@viewconsult.co.nz 027 3225595. There is a lot going on at the moment so if you think I may be able to help, please do ask.
Thanks,
Charlotte
Golly, we’ve now racked up four consecutive wet months thanks to October delivering above normal rainfall. The Heretaunga Plains, Tangoio and southern coastal parts of the region saw 40% more rainfall in October than usual and the Ruataniwha Plains an extra 30%.
River flows were all above average in October unsurprisingly and so too were the majority of the groundwater levels the Regional Council measures. Soil moisture levels have continued riding high. Spring is when we typically see a steady drop in soil moisture but it just hasn’t had a chance to happen yet. Instead we’re seeing levels either still at field capacity or at least above median levels for the time of year.
Air temperatures were a little grim during October. Daytime temperatures were 0.5°C below average, while overnight and soil temperatures were near normal. As we hit the middle of November, soil temperatures are starting to edge above average and sit between 17-19°C on the Plains, boosted by sea temperatures that recently have been rising above average.
The La Niña event, which has been the chief culprit of our wet weather along with a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, is expected to rattle on through the next few months and then wane to neutral conditions towards the end of summer. At this stage neutral conditions is the most favoured outcome of the forecast models, while an El Niño event gets second rating above a continued La Niña. But for now our La Niña influenced weather isn’t expected to change drastically. That means more easterlies and continued potential for them to bring moisture with them. Hence the seasonal forecast is for normal or above normal rainfall and near or above average temperatures. Heck, northern parts of the region have already received above normal November rainfall while southern areas are making inroads at 50-60%.
Percentage of Normal Rainfall
Dr Kathleen Kozyniak
Principal Scientist Air
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
We are now about a month into our Soil Moisture monitoring runs, and there has been some interesting results coming through following our wet winter and early spring.
The root systems have experienced flooded, anaerobic conditions, as the soils have been saturated for a long time and and only just starting to dry out. In some heavier soils, the subsoil continues to be at or above field capacity. Thus, deeper root systems may have minimal development due to being in poor growing conditions for such a long time and as a result, may not be operating at optimum coming into the growing season.
The La Nina weather system which delivered us a very wet few months, looks like it will weaken coming into the new year. Therefore, having a good overview on the behaviour of our soils as they start to dry out will be useful to ensure your trees have adequate available water.
Root systems are not at their healthiest following this winter period. Thus, coming into summer, poor development may cause drought symptoms in trees to occur more quickly than expected, as they have limited ability to access underground water reserves.
The two graphs below show a heavier and a lighter soil, where both are flooded at depth, but drying out in the top. In the two different soils, the top 200mm has been below the trigger point for almost 2 weeks. It will be interesting to note how this has changed following the showers experienced since the last readings.
Figure 1 A lighter soil, with the profile graph showing flooding at depth, but drying out in the top.
Figure 2 A heavier soil, very wet below 300mm, but drying out in the top.
Sarah de Bruin – AgFirst
I had a visit from Gaz Ingram the other day with a bit of memorabilia, some old spray programmes, that should be preserved in some way as they do help document changes in part of our industry.
The oldest is a compatibility chart put together for the 1966-67 season by The New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation Ltd. The next oldest are spray plans from the seventies by Skelton Ivory (and Trevor Ivory). I assume they were from the seventies as they have imperial measurements and we didn’t change to metric until 14 Dec 1976. The third is a Wrightson Horticulture spray plan from the eighties, dated again by assumption and familiarity. This has the pesticides down the side and pictures of growth stages across the top – very similar to a contemporary version.
I also have a 2018/2019 Pest & Disease wall chart from Horticentre Group, a Farmlands chart from the same year and then a current Summerfruit NZ MRL wall chart.
On the 1966-67 chart there are 41 products mentioned and on the Summerfruit NZ 2022-23 MRL chart there are 32 products, neither including herbicides or foliar fertilizers. The quantum is similar but the nature of the present offering is very different. In between times there has been a significant drop off in offered products, only 9 on the 1970’s Skelton chart and 22 on the 1980’s version. Some of this might be due to the offering being limited to individual company agreements.
The products that still remain today that are on the 1960’s chart include copper in its various forms, sulphur, streptomycin, mineral oil, sulphur and carbaryl. All the rest have gone and been replaced by soft, targeted products in the main. Other trends that are easily noted are monitoring before application and the use of on-orchard traps. I guess that if this comparison were to be made in a few years’ time then carbaryl will be gone as well.
What we have been advised is that there will be fewer new chemicals registered for stonefruit use in the future, i.e. the total number will go down as older chemistry is removed but not necessarily replaced. That behoves us to look after what we have got, to heed the recommendations about mixing key fungicides with protectant fungicides and to alternate product groups throughout the season.
We should be happy with the soft and targeted chemistry that we now have for insect control, with an eye to the future where other targeted products and alternative systems will be in place.
Now to find a way to preserve the old charts, and keep an eye on new developments.
The 2022 harvest season is underway with early nectarines, and cherries just around the corner. Let’s hope that the chemistry has done what we need it to through this period of wet weather – there will be a good market for fresh disease free stonefruit. The thinking is that consumers are a bit over apples, bananas and citrus. Its time for a taste of summer.
Richard Mills
Summerfruit Technical Advisor
021 632559
Last month, NZAPI CEO Terry Meikle and I lead a visit to the eastern edge of Asia, Japan. A country composed of nearly 7,000 islands, with over 127 million people sharing the Pacific Ocean with us. The visit was alongside NZ stakeholders Plant and Food Research and Lincoln University, with the company and guidance of the High Commission team based in Tokyo.
Arriving in Narita, taking the metro to our hotel in the centre of Tokyo, we could already sense the polite and friendly people, fascinating economy, technical wizardry, rich culture, active religions, and strong traditions. A country of ambiguous communities and contradictions. Indigenous culture mixed with contemporary modern culture that has strongly influenced young populations.
The aim of the NZAPI visit was to continue supporting partnerships with the Japanese apple industry, allowing our industries to go further together. The strategic and beneficial location that makes us counter-season countries, enables the opportunity to offer our high-quality produce in times when the Japanese offer is low or nil. This satisfies a busy and demanding market, while at the same time creating a beneficial and continuous supply of good apples, increasing the demand from a happy consumer who is experiencing the taste and texture of a fresh, crispy, and sweet apple with sustainable access all year round.
NZAPI went with a clear view of developing cooperation between those who carry the “know how” of our industry to help our neighbour industry thrive, as well as to explore the industry-to-industry relationships for future businesses.
In Tokyo, we had the opportunity to engage with the international division of MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) who are dealing with the lack of young workforce – aggravated by an ageing population – and the excessive cost of farmland. They are struggling to attract young forces into the primary industry when there are so many other work options to choose from in buzzing cities.
We met with the Field for Knowledge Integration and Innovation team (KFII), a new form of industry-academia-government collaboration that aligns with the way we see research combined with academia industry and government.
In the new and advanced technologies, we met with Nihon Agri, a six-year-old company with a vision on exports of Japanese fruits. The team is adopting the 2D canopy system and looking forward to connecting with NZ soon. We arrived at NARO Apple Research Station Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture Institute of Fruit tree and Tea Science, where we visited some of their apple research blocks and commercial orchards ready to be harvested. We had the opportunity to visit JA Iwate Central Fruit packing house and storage site in full action.
On our visit to Aomori (700 km from Tokyo) we experienced the spectacular landscapes during a three-and-a-half-hour trip on the bullet train to the apple capital. We visited the historic Japanese Hirosaki University, founded in 1949, with an enrolment of approximately 6,500 students. The university is situated at the northern end of Honshu Island, and we met with researchers and PhD students focused on climate change and sustainability. From the outskirts of the train station to the middle of the city, Aomori talks apples! The diversity of apple sub-products was countless, including lollies, cakes, pastries, pancakes, cider, whiskey, vodka … to gadgets, home decor, toys, art (museums of apples, sculptures, paintings, street art, billboards and neon advertisements amongst many others).
A recommended visit and experience for any apple grower.
NZAPI Int Engagement Mgr. Dr Elena Duter
Thank you to all our sponsors and local businesses for your support and participation in our annual HBFA Fishing Competition that was held on Tuesday.
The cateogry winners:
Snapper: Paul Van, 5.585kg
KingFish: Gill Wilson, 7.705kg
Gurnard: Shat T, 1.33kg
Groper: Jack Wilson, 14.70kg
Kahawai: Brendan Downey, 2.54kg
Tarakihi: Carl Fairey, 1.865kg
Blue Cod: Dylan Woolhouse, 1.385kg
Trevally: Malcolm Ingpen, 2.13kg
Red Cod: Steven Brookes, 3.12kg
Gemfish: Abe, 7.235kg
Mackerel: Larry Olive, 2.54kg
Skate/Ray: Russell Wall, 3.955kg
Other Species: Toby Goodmen, 7.37kg
Maatu Akonga is no stranger to industry competitions. In 2020 he won the inaugural Ahuwhenua Young Maori Grower Award, the 2022 Hawke’s Bay Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition and more recently he proudly represented Hawke’s Bay at the national final of the Young Grower of the Year and took home the Best Speech Award against five other exceptionally strong young horticulturists.
The national final was held in Nelson on 21 and 22 September and over two days the six competitors vied for the grand title in a series of practical and theoretical modules. The national competition has been running since 2007 and is a platform to encourage young people to challenge their horticultural knowledge against other liked- minded peers.
“The opportunities and networking that came from both our regional competition and the national final has been amazing,” says Akonga, reflecting on a whirlwind six months.
“It exposes you as an individual to the industry, to show the talent you have and how much talent there really is in the industry. Everyone goes into the competition nervous but you come out with a great bond with all the other competitors”.
Akonga is Assistant Manager in the Twyford Sector for T&G Global, responsible for over 80 hectares of apples. “It was awesome to have so much willing support from T&G, local businesses and sector organisations in the lead up to the event. Everyone is happy to help out at a drop of a hat and its really made me appreciate how close-knit our industry is. Taking part in the regional and national competition has reaffirmed my passion for the industry and it is such a great platform to extend and test your knowledge. “My advice would be to give the competition a go and after the event you ‘ll realise just how much potential you have to offer. For every young grower out there looking for a bright future in the industry, this event should be on your bucket list!”
The 2023 Hawke’s Bay Young Fruit Grower of the Competition will be held on the 30th June. Entries will open early January at www.hbfa.co.nz
This months RMA update focuses on two topics – the TANK Plan Change, and also the governments announcements and consultation about He Waka Ika Noa.
TANK
As mentioned in last months update the hearing panel issued its decision on the TANK Plan Change at the end of September. At 225 pages long the decision report took a while to get through, but we have now read and digested it. From a horticulture perspective there were a few wins – the key one being that the hearing panel has held the interim groundwater limit for the Heretaunga Plains Water Quantity Unit at 90 million m3/yr. Although this will still require some reductions in allocation, a number of iwi submitters were arguing for a reduction to 70 million m3/yr, which would have necessitated significant reductions in allocation, so the panels decision is a good result.
In terms of what the council will consider when applying to replace existing water permits, we were not successful in our argument to have reference to ‘actual’ deleted – we were seeking this because of concerns about lack of water meter data in some cases, and in other cases the accuracy of data that was available. This means that when applications for replacement water permits are made, the council will be looking at actual water use over the 2010-2020 year period. This ten year period has changed – in the notified plan change it was 2017. Changing it to 2020 means that it now includes two very dry water years (2012/13 and 2019/20), so this should mean that the actual water use of some growers is higher than it would have been otherwise so this is another win. However, growers who have never used their full allocation remain likely to face reductions – there are some provisions that allow periods of redevelopment to be taken into account, however there are a few tests that need to be met. Ultimately the council does need to reduce the existing level of allocation, and they will try to do that by reducing the allocation of water permit holders who haven’t used their full allocations for a number of years.
In terms of land use change, the framework has changed quite a lot. Arguably it is simpler, although we believe there are some parts of it that may need to be clarified further. The key thing to be aware of is if you are changing land use on 5ha+ of horticultural land, then you may require a resource consent from the regional council. Usual crop rotations are not considered to be land use change (this is something we succeeded in having recognised which is sensible).
The process from here is that anyone who lodged a submission on the plan change can lodge an appeal on the decision with the Environment Court. This has to be done by October 26 2022. We (Horticulture NZ) are considering this. Anyone wanting to read the decision themselves can access it here on the HBRC website: TANK Decision | Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (hbrc.govt.nz)
He Waka Eka Noa
Many of you will have seen media in relation to the governments recent announcements about He Waka Eka Noa – the government’s plans to price agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Horticulture NZ is wanting to hear your views about the governments recommendations and are holding Zoom meetings on Monday 31 October 12:00 – 1:00 pm, and Thursday 10 November 12:00 – 1:00 pm that any grower is welcome to join. Links to the meetings will be released in the weekly HortNZ newsletter. More information is available on the HortNZ website here: He Waka Eke Noa | Horticulture New Zealand — Ahumāra Kai Aotearoa (hortnz.co.nz)
Next month I will finally be able to advise you all of the Environment Court’s decision on the Water Conservation Order for the Ngaruroro River – the decision is going to be released by October 25 and has been over 18 months in the making! Until then, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any RMA questions, and I hope that we might see some more sunshine than we have over the last month!
As always, if you have any RMA questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me directly via email at Charlotte.Drury@hortnz.co.nz or on 027 3225595.
Dr Charlotte Drury,
View Consult, Consultant Planner on behalf of Horticulture New Zealand
I write this as more rain is falling, just when we thought it was all over – we certainly are in trying times.
It is imperative that fungicides are applied at the right times to prevent black spot from occurring, in conditions like this I feel for the organic growers who do not have access to the same chemicals that conventional growers use. In my view Organic growers and managers do an amazing job of crop protection considering the limitations they all face.
On the 21st of September we had a nasty hailstorm that came through areas of Hastings and Havelock Nth. There has been fruit damage, especially in summer fruit and I’d imagine that more damage in apples will show once they are in the fruiting stage. In addition to this we’ve also experienced some frost scares, however it seems that we have dodged what could have been another significant blow to the industry – we have certainly fared better than our friends in the Bay of Plenty. There has been extensive damage on many kiwifruit orchards further up the island – I spoke with one grower who has lost 70% of his crop. As growers these are the risks we all face each year, so our thoughts go out to everyone who has been affected.
After some long negotiations with Minister Woods (Immigration) and our Product Group and HortNZ CE’s, an announcement regarding the RSE cap has finally been made with an agreement to raise it to 19,000. This is good news for everyone in horticulture and will take some pressure off our labour concerns for the up-coming season. Housing remains an issue of course but this has been the case for some years now. I believe the CE’s have done an excellent job throughout these negotiations, especially given the additional complexities that emerged with the last-minute involvement of the Trade Unions. Sick pay to our RSE workers will now be required under this new deal, I’m told that some growers were already doing this.
There was more good news for horticulture the other week with the introduction of the “National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land” (NPS-HPL) aimed at ensuring such land can be used for growing vegetables, fruit, and other produce. Councils will now need to identify, map, and manage productive land to protect it from inappropriate use and development. This document is not airtight so it will be a priority for HBFA and the “Save the Plains Group” to keep all councils accountable. Here is a video link for a local HB viewpoint on the policy.
In a previous newsletter I mentioned I had attended a meeting with Barbara Kuriger, National Party MP for King Country and acting spokesperson for Horticulture. Last week I went to hear ACT’s David Seymour to hear what his policies are on issues that are important to our growers. I asked him 2 questions and here are his responses.
1 – “Where does ACT position itself on horticulture’s labour needs and what is their policy for our RSE scheme”.
His response was extremely positive. ACT would not put any cap on the scheme “bring in as many as what’s needed to fill our labour requirements”
2 – “What is ACT’s view of the new National Policy Statement for Highly productive Land?”
He was very clear on this in that he does not agree with the (NPS-HPL) and believes there should be no interference or mandates from Central or local Govt on land use. The ACT Party have no interest in the preservation of our precious fertile soils throughout HB and NZ. He stands by landowners’ rights do what they want with their property, if that means building houses or developing lifestyle blocks then fill your boots. To me this is extremely short sighted, as our soils are amongst our Nation’s most precious commodity’s. I’ll leave you to decide your own vote at the GE next year.
The next few weeks will be an extremely busy period for the Association, with several events coming up. Our annual Fishing Contest is scheduled for October 31st, and I understand the prize table will be fully loaded, I’d like to thank all our generous sponsors and encourage as many of you as possible to get involved. HBFA are also leading this year’s “Pick the Bay” job expo on November 3rd and the activation efforts for this will include a presence at the Hawkes Bay A&P show, where Dean (our Business & Grower Engagement Manager) and Jacqui Davis from MPi will be driving awareness for Pick the Bay.
Regrettably our inaugural Industry Family Day that was scheduled for October 16th was postponed due to the wet weather. The new date will be November 13th November – I look forward to seeing you down there.
Let’s hope we see some sunshine soon!
Brydon Nisbet
HBFA President
