Wednesday, 25 October 2017 13:36

O’Connor to head agriculture

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Damien O’Connor.

Labour’s West Coast MP, Damien O’Connor is the new Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity, Food Safety and Rural Communities.

He is also the Associate Minister of Trade and Export Growth.

The new Cabinet line-up was announced in Wellington today by Prime Minister-elect Jacinda Ardern.

Horticulture NZ says it looks forward to working with the new Labour-led coalition Government and O’Connor.

HortNZ president Julian Raine says access to land, water and labour are the key components to keep horticulture growing and to enable access to healthy, fresh, affordable fruit and vegetables for all New Zealanders.

"Horticulture is essential to New Zealand. It is a $5.6 billion industry, with exports totalling $3.4 billion and New Zealanders being fed with the remaining $2.2 billion earned - that is, delivering fresh fruit and vegetables to New Zealanders every day to ensure a healthy diet.

"The new Government has expressed a desire to drive for better outcomes for New Zealanders and we look forward to working with them on delivering jobs and healthy food to contribute to that. We are particularly pleased to see planned investment in regions where horticulture has great capacity for growth," Raine says.

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