Displaying items by tag: BARRY O'NEIL

"We urgently want more government support and certainty."

The Hawke’s Bay and Tairawhiti horticulture industries say they urgently need more Government direction and support if they are to recover to pre-cyclone levels of growth within the next decade.

The role of the banks is a critical component in the overall recovery plan for Hawke's Bay, according to the HortNZ chair Barry O'Neil.

Frustration and anger has reached boiling point among Hawke's Bay horticulturists at the lack of action by the Government in dealing with the Cyclone Gabrielle recovery operation.

"We're not in a good place and some growers will have to just walk away from their land.”

The cost of Cyclone Gabrielle will run into the billions of dollars over the coming years

HortNZ chair Barry O'Neil believes there is a huge opportunity for growing vegetable crops under cover - similar to what the large commercial grower Leaderbrand is doing in Gisborne.

Hort NZ chair Barry O'Neil has been growing kiwifruit since 1984 and says this is one of the worst year he's had.

Horticulture NZ's chair has hit back at claims that the RSE workers are being treated like “slaves” and that the ill treatment of them is “systemic”.

The cost of producing tomatoes is pushing smaller growers out of the industry.