Presidents Report
I want to start this report with congratulating Grace Fulford currently working at T & G Global for winning the 2024 National Young Grower of the year competition held on the 10th of October at Toi Toi. Grace also took out the winner of the young fruit grower section and the overall practical section of the competition. Well, done Grace we are all so proud of you. Later next year Grace will compete in the supreme “New Zealand Young Horticulturist of the year which will be held in Auckland. This competition includes other young growers from the Wine industry, NZ Arborists, Master landscapers, Amenity, Florist & Flower & NZ young plant producers. The past 2 winners of this competition have been won previously from our own National Young Grower’s competition. Our own HBYFG event is planned for early next June, so I encourage all our employers out there to encourage your standout employees and rising leaders to consider entering our comp. Details will be available early next year.
HBFA turns 125 this year – 1899 – 2024. To celebrate this, we are gathering many past presidents, executives, life members, dignitaries and key people who have been involved in our association to a cocktail event to celebrate this milestone. There is also a book getting written which will cover the last 25 years of the fruit growing industry in HB. This follows on from the first book written which covered the first 100 years of HBFA. This book will be made available to all our members once it comes out.
11th of November will see our annual Fishing competition get going. This is a standout event with over 100 keen fishermen from our industry enjoy a great day out and compete for outstanding prizes supplied by our sponsors – we so appreciate their willingness to support our industry.
As I drive around HB, I note the orchards are looking great. My blocks are currently around 20 days earlier than last year and I’m sure many other orchards are in a similar situation. This is good news, with everything pointing to early thinning and harvest windows. It’s shaping up to be a year where we will be needing to irrigate – “foreign” considering the last few years of very limited irrigation needed on most orchards.
I note the report put out by NZAPI in the media shows just how valuable the apple and pear industry are not only to our region but also to the national economy. This is great for NZ but as growers we need our orchard gate return (OGR) to significantly increase to make for happy growers. Currently our on-orchard and post orchard costs are so high that our margins for profitability are very narrow. This to me is the most important issue we are facing as growers, and we need to work together with industry and Govt to find solutions.
Take care – enjoy your time off this labour weekend.
Kia kaha
Brydon Nisbet
President HBFA