Roadmap set to double hort exports by 2035
It's critical that the horticulture sector works together as part of a goal to double the sector’s exports by 2035.
Fruit and berry grower Julian Raine has been elected president of Horticulture New Zealand.
Raine is Nelson based and has 30 years' experience in the industry. He takes over from Andrew Fenton who has been president since HortNZ's inception in 2005.
Raine has extensive experience both in growing and wide-ranging roles in industry organisations.
"Julian has been a director of the New Zealand Boysenberry Council and Nelson Seasonal Employers Inc, is chair of the New Zealand Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust and a trustee of the Massey Lincoln Agricultural Industry Trust," says Fenton.
"He is very well respected in the industry and the ideal person to help steer the organisation through the next stage of its journey towards the goal of becoming a $10 billion industry by 2020."
Raine has been a grower since the early 1980s. He is a partner in Wai-West Horticulture, which grows apples, boysenberries and kiwifruit on 140ha, and in Hinetai Hops, which grows blackcurrants and hops on 70ha. He is also chairman of Berryfruit Export NZ Ltd.
He was elected to the HortNZ board in 2011.
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It was recently announced that former MP and Southland farmer Eric Roy has stepped down of New Zealand Pork after seven years. Leo Argent talks with Eric about his time at the organisation and what the future may hold.
It's critical that the horticulture sector works together as part of a goal to double the sector’s exports by 2035.
RaboResearch, the research arm of specialist agriculture industry banker Rabobank, sees positives for the Alliance Group in its proposed majority-stake sale to Ireland's Dawn Meats.