In making the announcement Fenton says he is "very proud of what HortNZ had achieved over the past eight years and it was now time for new leadership.
"It has been a real team effort and we could not have achieved what we have without the strong support of our grower members.
"We started with a strong foundation established by the Fruitgrowers Federation and Vegfed and have built on that in a very positive and powerful way for growers."
Fenton will continue to serve on the board (his current term expires in 2015) to support the new president who will be elected by the eight grower board members following the AGM on July 30.
