HortNZ re-elects Alistair Petrie and Doug Brown to board
Horticulture New Zealand’s Board has welcomed the re-election of grower-elected directors Alistair Petrie and Doug Brown.
The 2026 New Zealand Horticulture Conference is set to see more than 900 growers, employers, service providers and industry stakeholders gather in Wellington in July.
Tickets are now on sale for the two-day event, hosted by Horticulture New Zealand at Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre on 28-29 July.
Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Kate Scott says the conference will deliver high-quality content with strong commercial relevance for growers and the wider sector.
“The conference promises to be stimulating and informative, featuring horticulture-focused speakers and sessions with real industry and business value," Scott says.
“This year we’re bringing together the Horticulture Conference and the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Conference as one integrated two-day event.
“I know from the feedback we received following the conference last year that this unified format will prove very popular, and Tākina is a fantastic venue for bringing the sector together.”
The conference will feature three dedicated streams - strategic, RSE and technical - designed to appeal to a wide range of attendees.
A dedicated forum for Recognised Seasonal Employers and countries involved in the scheme will be held on the day prior to the conference, providing the opportunity for targeted engagement.
The event will also celebrate excellence across the sector through the Horticulture Industry Awards.
“As an industry, we love recognising our people,” says Scott.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating the individuals and teams who have made outstanding contributions to horticulture.”
The conference is organised by Horticulture New Zealand on behalf of the more than 4,300 growers it represents.
The Horticulture New Zealand Annual General Meeting will also be held during the conference.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.

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