HortNews
	Horticulture Sectors Converge For Unification Decision

CHRISTCHURCH 06/08/2004 - New Zealand's fruit, vegetable and berryfruit growers will come closer to uniting under one umbrella at a four-day national conference starting in Christchurch next Tuesday.

The plan to combine into one organisation Horticulture New Zealand (HNZ) will be top of the agenda on the first day of the conference.

Vegetable growers will show their hand, but a delay may be inevitable, with fruit growers recommending a referendum should be held for the important decision.

Merging the New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation and the Vegetable and Potato Growers Federation (Vegfed) with other groups would bring together more than 120 years of industry experience.

A referendum - possibly staged in the next couple of months - could lead to the new organisation being formed by the end of the year, said Peter Silcock, the chief executive of the fruit growers and vegetable and potato federations.

"This is an important decision because it is doing away with 87 years of history for the fruit growers' federation, and the vegetable federation has 40-something years of history, so this is one of the critical issues we will deal with next week."

He said growers were looking for a combined organisation to wield more influence and lobbying power to promote a growing industry worth $2.2 billion in exports.

"The general feeling is that horticulture is under-represented and needs a higher profile nationally with politicians and the public."

Marketing of export produce would still be done by individual exporters and groups, with HNZ concentrating on national issues such as labour shortages, and promoting free trade and market access, compliance costs and education and training. The proposal on the table was more flexible than one floated last year, and responsibilities had been clearly divided, Mr Silcock said.

Apple, kiwifruit and other product groups would be affiliated to HNZ, allowing them to retain their identity.

These groups and district associations, such as the Canterbury Fruitgrowers' Association, would nominate board members, with all growers having the right to vote.