Kia ora
Greetings to all our members and supporters of HBFA
The year has started off in full swing, summer has given us some excellent fine days and so I imagine everyone has had an enjoyable break.
Picking is well underway with Royal Gala strains, Rockit, Piqa®Boo pears to name a few. Early indications show good pressures and SPI’s although as we know these measures can drop very fast especially with the hotter days. Colour development has also been slower due to the heat. This last week has seen a drop in temperature at night which will be great for increased stronger colour.
The 2026 Industry Awards: A Night of Excellence
Early February HBFA in conjunction with EIT and PITO held our 2026 Industry Awards, a highlight of the HBFA calendar. Coming together at the start of the year serves as a vital reminder of the calibre of people we have in our region.
· NZ Diploma in Horticulture Production, Level 5, Fruit Production: 2 graduates
· NZ Diploma in Horticulture Production, Level 5, Post Harvest: 1 graduate.
· NZ Certificate in Horticulture, Level 4, Fruit Production: 17 graduates
· NZ Certificate in Horticulture Production – Level 4 Post Harvest: 1 graduate
The Fred Horrocks Memorial Award is awarded to the topmost outstanding graduates at level 4 – this year’s recipients were Kevin Kooijman from EIT and Laurie-Ann Newton from ITO.
Scholarships
The Hawkes Bay Fruitgrowers Charitable Trust in conjunction with the Horticentre Charitable Trust, provides scholarships to our local students. This year we gave out 19 scholarships to our years 1, 2 and 3 – studying fruit production. We awarded 8 diploma scholarships in fruit production and post-harvest.
There were also 12 HortNZ Industry Trainee Scholarship awarded.
Well, done to all our recipients
The night also consisted of HBFA’s industry awards for 2 categories. 1 – Emerging Achiever Award – This award recognises an individual who has demonstrated their ability to positively impact horticulture and who shows effective, values-driven leadership — strengthening relationships within their workplace, their teams, and across the wider industry. We were pleased to announce the winner of this award went to Malandi Fourie. Assistant manager at T&G Global
2 – Fourneau Award is an accolade that celebrates innovation in the fruit-growing sector—innovation that drives efficiency, enhances sustainability, and improves safety
within our industry – this year’s recipient of the Fourneau Innovation was awarded to Wade Taylor, the owner of Brimar Vegetation Services.
I want to thank all our sponsors and supports who made this night such a success.
We are keeping a close eye on the water allocation situation – Richard Pentreath is a member on the water group and will give us an update in next month’s newsletter. I encourage you to read Charlotte Drury’s update as she is HORTNZ’s representative in this space.
I had time with our newly appointed Mayor Wendy Schollum early in the month to share about what HBFA does, how along we have been around and our concerns namely protecting prime horticultural lands and of course water. By all accounts she seems very supportive and understands the importance that the fruit growing industry contributes to our local economy. I have invited her to speak at our HBFA young grower competition dinner on the 19th of June.
All the best to everyone who grows fruit, stay safe and have a productive and profitable harvest.
Kia kaha Brydon Nisbet
President Hawkes Bay Fruit Growers Associatio
