Displaying items by tag: BARRY O'NEIL

Hort NZ chair Barry O'Neil believes the horticulture sector will rise again from the present disastrous situation.

Murray McPhail, founder and director of LeaderBrand, has been named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to horticulture and the Gisborne region in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours List.

"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.