James Blair Named 2026 Young Grower National Champion
James Blair, an agronomist for AS Wilcox and the Pukekohe regional champion, has won the 2026 Young Grower national title.
Onions NZ chief executive, James Kuperus, says this follows months of negotiations over the exports which returned $28 million in 2019.
Kuperus says with the support of key figures such as Director General Horticulture, Indonesia, Prihasto Setyanto and the Indonesian Ambassador to New Zealand, Tantowi Yahya, the regulations have been clarified and exports have resumed.’
With the $28m in exports to Indonesia in 2019 in total, our country’s onion exports rose to $172 million in 2019 – up by $83 million on 2018.
Trade between Indonesia and New Zealand is equal, with exports/imports worth $1.1 billion to each economy.
Apatu Farms joint managing director, Paul Apatu says Onions NZ has been very proactive, working directly with Indonesian government officials, and various links in the Indonesian supply chain.
“The strategy is to grow the Indonesian market, along with other markets across the world. We’re pretty confident that long-term, international demand for New Zealand onions will grow,” says Apatu.
“We were pretty nervous that there might be some international supply chain disruptions as a result of COVID-19, but reports are that things are currently going pretty well.
“On a global basis, demand for onions is high and we’ve seen export markets making decisions to secure supplies, long-term.
“Onion growers are doing a great job giving the world a really high quality, healthy and great tasting product.”
New Zealand’s horticulture industry is now worth more than $6 billion to the country’s economy.
