increase font size
The Primary Industries Good Employer Awards are now open for nominations. Photo Credit: Paul Sutherland Photography.
Entries have opened for the 2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards.
The awards, which are run by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust (AGMARDT) celebrate exceptional primary sector employers.
“The Awards provide the opportunity to recognise and celebrate outstanding employers across the primary sector that may otherwise fly under the radar,” says MPI director of investment, skills and performance Cheyne Gillooly.
“The sector has been resilient throughout the pandemic and the hard mahi of farmers, growers and processors is leading our export-led recovery from Covid-19.
“Revenue from food and fibres exports is predicted to hit a record $50.8 billion in the year to 30 June 2022.”
The primary sector employs approximately 367,000 people, representing close to 14% of the total workforce.
“Since the Primary Industries Good Employer Awards were launched in 2018, nine employers – ranging from transport companies, to environmental guardians and agritech innovators – have received accolades,” says Gillooly.
“We're on the lookout for employers, both large and small, who go above and beyond by creating productive, safe, supportive, and healthy work environments for their people.”
Rewi Haulage, a Māori-owned log transport company based in Rangitukia north of Gisborne, took out the Māori Agribusiness Award in 2021.
“We treat our employees and drivers as whānau and we’re supporting a lot of locals to be owner-operators and have businesses of their own,” said Rewi Haulage director Chubb Rewi.
“In an increasingly competitive labour market, great employers are more important than ever to help attract and keep staff in the sector, and I’d encourage people to enter.”
All food and fibre sector employers and the businesses that service them are eligible to enter the Awards.
Entries are now open and close at 5pm on 25 March 2022. Winners will be announced in June.
A blockbuster year and an exciting performance: that's how Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General, Ray Smith is describing the massive upsurge in the fortunes of the primary sector exports for the year ended June 2025.
A group of meat processing companies, directors and managers have been fined a total of $1.6 million for deliberately and illegally altering exported tallow for profit.
Movement controls have been lifted from Mainland Poultry’s Hillgrove Farm in Otago, after the successful eradication of H7N6 strain of high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The recent East Coast Farming Expo, held over two days at Wairoa, offered an insight into the current state of agriculture on the east of the North Island, at a time when the locals are remembering the second anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.
OPINION: At last, a serious effort to better connect farmers and scientists.
As electricity prices soar, farmers appear to be looking for alternative energy sources.
There is an appeal to New Zealanders to buy local citrus fruit.
Avocado growers are reporting a successful season, but some are struggling to keep their operations afloat following years of bad weather.
It's time to start talking up science again, especially as a career for young people. That's one of the key messages from the Prime Minister's new chief science advisor, Dr John Roche.
Horticulture and commercial vegetable growers in particular stand to be major beneficiaries of radical proposals by government to make sweeping changes to RMA regulations.
Chinese textile company Saibosi has partnered with Wools of New Zealand to put the 'farm to floor' story of New Zealand wool rugs on screen for its customers.
OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding…
OPINION: Did former PM Jacinda Ardern get fawning reviews for her book?
