Labour shortage declared in Hawke’s Bay
The Government has declared a seasonal labour shortage across Hawke’s Bay.
Two hundred industry participants are expected to attend the conference which is considered an important networking opportunity and planning meeting for the growing season ahead.
The conference will be opened by Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Alan Pollard and the Leader of the Opposition, David Shearer.
A feature of day one of the conference will be a panel session entitled; global diversification. Industry participants Murray Tait, Hamish Davis, Darren Drury and Jono Wiltshire will be facilitated by chair, Peter Beaven. With the focus on growing emerging markets, panel members will tell of their experiences in their specialist areas of export.
Pollard says PNZ needs to capitalise on its world leading production systems and high quality fruit to supply the burgeoning markets in Asia and the Middle East as well as our established traditional markets.
"The New Zealand pipfruit industry must continue to adapt to meet changing customer preferences in order to maintain and ultimately improve our position in the international market".
The afternoon session of day one will include guest speakers; Declan Graham, Plant & Food Research business manager, Nick Tuffley, chief economist ASB Bank; and, Bryan Travers, 'business performance excellence' consultant who will speak on the topic 'What is the Value Proposition?'.
Day two of the conference will be tailored to pipfruit growers. The technical workshop presents the results from the previous season's research programme and a discussion on planned projects for the 2012-13 season.
The conference dinner on the first night will be hosted at the Rutherford Hotel. This year's guest speaker will be Gary McCormick.
