New Zealand Apples and Pears Annual Conference

Monday 29 July

3.00pm

Delegate registration  |  Afternoon Tea
 

4.00pm

Annual General Meeting, New Zealand Apples & Pears Incorporated
 

5:30pm   
          

Welcome Reception 
 

7.00pm  

End

Tuesday 30 July

8.30am     

Welcome

MC Introduction and housekeeping

Principal Sponsor Address:
Mark Piper, CEO, Plant & Food Research

SESSION 1
RESET: How we move forward from the current landscape

Making the Strategy Real!
Karen Morrish, CEO, NZAPI

Following the 2023 strategic review, a high level look at how NZAPI will shape it’s service delivery going forward, to enable industry to do what it does best, in times of reset, growth and ambition.

Looking for light at the end of the tunnel
Cameron Bagrie, Managing Director, Bagrie Economics, + Independent Director, NZAPI Board

How the economic situation forces us to evolve as we navigate this inflation mess.  Cameron will outline the influencing economic factors that impact our overall recovery (covid, weather events, cost of production, etc.) and the economic reset we are experiencing. What they are, how they are tracking, and what might we expect over the next couple of years.    

10.05am

Keynote speaker 

Minister Nicola Grigg, Assoc. Min of Agriculture (Horticulture)

10.30am  

Morning Tea

RESET: Geo-political, trade, and consumer update
Stephen Jacobi, Executive Director, NZ International Business Forum

These remain challenging times for growers. Markets are picking up but moving from survival to resilience has been a key concern.   The global economy remains fragile – geo-politics dominates, protectionism – with a few exceptions – is on the rise, consumers are more discerning.  What does the industry face in coming years?  Where do we need to focus? 

Advocating in 2024: Being heard and influencing the things that matter
GJ Thompson, Director, Thompson Lewis

Being heard in 2024 is more complex than ever before, but the fundamentals of communication and advocacy remain the same:

• Be clear about your strategy, objectives, and messages.
• Relentlessly execute your plan, but don’t mistake activity for progress.
• Be prepared to adapt your plan to ensure success.
• Top down/bottom-up engagement is always best to build support. 

GJ’s presentation will look at how best to advocate in 2024 – the do’s, don’ts and watchouts he’s learnt after more than 20 years working on challenging issues and advocating for organisations large and small. 

SESSION 2
CHALLENGES: Adapting to moving goalposts

RSE – developing a robust scheme meeting all stakeholder needs
Ian Palmer, Chair, National Labour Governance Group

RSE has continued to be a cornerstone of the pipfruit sector. With the scheme now 17 seasons in, is it fit for purpose in the post Covid world, and do we meet the needs of all involved?  The National Labour Governance Group has been reformed to assist our horticultural sector to work in the RSE space. What is our role?

Retaining and growing permanent staff
Maurice Windle, Head of Orchard Operations, T&G

Having good people in your organisation is critical to business success. Managing staff into leadership positions supports good outcomes, creates a pipeline of talent, and provides a succession plan for your business.

Labour efficiencies
Dana Carver, Principal Research Manager, Scarlatti

Based on Dana’s human behaviour observations from 25 years’ experience in the wellbeing space, this presentation will also draw on Scarlatti’s workforce research findings

Lunch

Moving goalposts and managing crises, a growers view on paddling up shit creek
Natalya Egan, Gisborne Grower

Cyclone Gabrielle and its impacts have quite rightly captured the attention of our industry and the wider community - part of this presentation will be sharing the results of a review conducted by PFR on the effectiveness NZAPI’s response to that crisis.   Cyclones aside, growers have had, and will continue to have, a range of crises that effect their business and Natalya will be discussing her experience of managing moving goal posts and responding to a multitude of crises as a Gisborne grower.

Industry in a biosecurity response
Andrew Sander, Response Manager, Incident Management Team, Biosecurity NZ

In 2015 and 2019, New Zealand once again saw the presence of a Queensland Fruit Fly in traps in Auckland. While in 2015 Industry involvement in the field was minor, the 2019 response involved our industry partners having an involvement from governance through to the field work in many various roles. This presentation will offer an insight into how Fruit Fly Responses have evolved from the 2015 response to 2019 and how industry can continue to develop their own capacity to respond to any biosecurity response in the future. A focus will be on the management of the response using the Coordinated Incident Management System and how industry can use this to develop their own skills and capacity.

Global trade and strategic considerations resulting from fruit fly detection
Bruce Burdon, Manager Market Access Liaison & Cooperation, MPI

At a high level a New Zealand trade objective following a fruit fly detection would be a return to trade with the least disruption. An importing country objective would be not to import fruit fly. In this scenario we cannot achieve our trade objective without first obtaining the acceptance of importing countries that the risk to their biosecurity is managed to their satisfaction.  There are a range of global and strategic considerations we consider in support of achieving those objectives.

SESSION 3
GROWTH: Supporting our industry ambition 

Productivity
Introduction from Ross Wilson, Horticulture Consultant, Director, Agfirst Hawke’s Bay.

What makes the perfect growing system
Lachlan McKay, GM Growing and Quality, Rockit^TM

Rockit^TM began as a tiny seed of an idea 20 years ago. While the rest of the world was super-sizing their apples, Rockit did the opposite. Challenging the normal approach to growing, packing, and exporting, Lachlan will speak from his experience on how growers can challenge the status quo in their approach to growing, while seeking increases to productivity.

Thoughts from a train window
Len Thompson, Johnny Appleseed, Yummy Fruit Co

The many challenges to production. What can we predict and what can be influenced.

Reflective paint, a sustainable innovation for productivity
Myles Hemara, Orchard Manager, Craigmore

White reflective paint and innovative machinery have the potential to significantly impact apple production by enhancing fruit quality, yield, and productivity. Myles believes adopting this innovative solution can lead to a competitive edge in the apple industry and open up new opportunities for growth and success.

Panel 
Ross Wilson, Lachlan McKay, Len Thompson, and Myles Hemara discuss how to be more productive across your business, and answer questions from the audience. 

Where will all the apples go?
Sarah McCormack, CEO, Te Mata Exports and Danielle Adsett, Market Access, NZAPI

The New Zealand apple industry is growing. National plantings of all pipfruit from 2014 to 2024 increased by 24%, and volumes are increasing as growers strive for productivity gains per hectare. If we are going to sell the increase in volume of apples above the cost of production, the question is – where will all the apples go? What markets will be profitable now and into the future? What markets will be able to absorb the premium fruit that New Zealand has to deliver? And, how can we gain strategic market access (whether new or improved) to support industry growth? 

Wednesday 31 July

SESSION 3
GROWTH: Supporting our industry ambition (cont)

A better future is everyone's responsibility
Penny Clark-Hall, Founder & Chief Executive, Social Licence Consulting

The business community plays a pivotal role in leading systemic solutions to not just our local challenges but global ones. Building trust among a broad range of stakeholders allows collaboration to happen at pace which means - transformation and innovation #solutions. 

It’s time to take accountability for the role we all play in building trust in our business and industry. We are only as strong as our weakest link.

Risk-informed planning for pip fruit: how digital tools can build resilience
Dr Tom Logan, Technical Director, Urban Intelligence

To plan for natural hazards and the changing climate, orchardists and the industry need robust and spatially-detailed information about what these changes mean for their fruit and supply-chains. What change might a particular orchard experience? What hazards is it exposed to? What action should we be taking now to reduce the risk and take advantage of these changes? Dr Logan will present existing spatial tools and how they have been used to engage with orchard managers to reflect on the opportunities and threats of climate change. He will discuss the challenges and opportunities and need for further improvements in these approaches.

Climate Resilience
Michelle Sands, General Manager Policy and Strategy, Horticulture NZ
How can we influence national policy to build climate resilience? What are the policies that have an impact, what do we want to influence, what outcomes do we want to achieve?  
Climate resilience refers to the ability of communities, ecosystems, and economies to withstand and recover from climate-related shocks and stresses. To influence national policy and build climate resilience, advocacy efforts focus on integrating climate risk assessments into all levels of planning and decision-making, promoting sustainable land use practices, and enhancing infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events. Key policies that impact climate resilience include those related to renewable energy adoption, disaster risk management, biosecurity and tools including agrichemical and advanced breeding and water resource management. Our advocacy goals aim to influence the development and implementation of these policies to ensure they are comprehensive and forward-thinking. Effective policy influence requires collaboration with stakeholders, clear communication of scientific findings, and active participation in policy-making processes.

SESSION 4
FUTURE: Unlocking opportunities for all

Looking to the future: opportunities and challenges for horticulture
Todd Charteris, NZ CEO, Rabobank

For generations, Kiwi growers have shown how resilient and adaptable they are. Through the good and not-so-good times, they have continued to produce some of the world’s finest produce. With a number of significant global and domestic challenges currently at play, it could be easy to lose sight of some of the very real opportunities on the horizon for New Zealand growers and food producers. Rabobank New Zealand CEO Todd Charteris will look into his crystal ball and explore some of those opportunities.

The future of advanced breeding

1. Professor Emily Parker, Departmental Science Advisor, MBIE, Victoria University + Deputy Director, Academic and Research, Ferrier Research Institute.
   Gene technology settings for New Zealand.
   The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is currently considering the legislation that regulates our use of gene technologies in New Zealand.  The intention is to enable New Zealand to take advantage of the opportunities that the advances in the science have enabled.
2. Tony Martin, CEO, Prevar 
   What we should know about advanced breeding. 
   The discussion around advanced breeding technologies (including gene editing and null segregants) is challenging our knowledge and perceptions. Is the New Zealand industry ready for change?  Fresh off a visit to North America, Tony will share his non-scientific version of what we should know about the technology and some of the applications for New Zealand.
3. Donald Nordeng, CEO, BioGro New Zealand 
   Gene Technology and the Implications for Organic Certification.
   While over 80 countries around the world have organic standards, gene technology is used in most of those markets. New Zealand’s natural advantage in marketing organic products is that they are free from gene technology. How will changing this status impact exporters and market perception?
4. Denise Conroy, Principal Scientist and Team leader Stakeholder & Consumer Research, Plant and Food Research
   Social science perspectives on new technologies.  
   The PFR team has guided Focus Groups in several markets (domestic and overseas) and conducted an eight-country survey considering consumer and stakeholder attitudes towards new food technologies including Closed Environment Agriculture, Robotics & Automation, and GE.  These rich and deep insights will be shared

Reimagining the future of our orchards
Louise Nash, Founder & CEO of Circularity

Last year Circularity worked with NZAPI to deliver the vision and concept 'Future Focused Orchards'.  This was developed by partnering with local growers, leaders across the global food system, and local iwi/hapu to co- design an industry vision that explores key practices and opportunities for redesign to deliver ecosystem health, reduce harm, and deliver prosperity to the industry; improving environmental, social and economic outcomes. 
In this session, Louise Nash will introduce the vision and concept, followed by a young grower panel (incl. Louise) that will share with us what they see as important, what is already happening, and what still needs to be done.

Joining Louise on the panel:

• Hannah Greaves, Technical Horticultural Representative, PGW Fruitfed Supplies 
• Grace Fulford, Quality & Compliance Manager – Growing, T&G Global 
• Liam Sykes, Apple Manager, Ngai Tukairangi Orchards
• Pip Terekia, Trainee Orchard Manager, Apata