NZ: Success of the kiwifruit industry needs united industry structure

NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI) is a democratically elected forum of 37 grower members from a very wide representative base of the kiwifruit industry, including all growing regions and a wide variety of grower groups, according to Peter Ombler, President.

NZKGI has just held elections which were contested and any grower could have stood for election. As well as having a representative function, NZKGI is the Industry Forum made up of growers that meets 7 or 8 times a year to discuss industry issues. In many ways, NZKGI's Forum is much like the NZ parliament.

All growers are welcome to attend and speak at NZKGI Forum meetings. The matters raised by Wilkins and Hart (Independent Kiwifruit Growers Association) are important to the industry and are under active consideration. NZKGI welcomes any suggestions or input that they have.

The success of the kiwifruit industry has two essential ingredients. The first is a united industry structure and the second is a high performing marketer within that structure. This has been demonstrated to generate the best returns for growers, which in turn benefits all of NZ.

NZKGI actively protects the kiwifruit industry structure and actively monitors ZESPRI's performance. "We are not afraid to ask the hard questions and demand the best performance and as a result industry earnings have doubled in the last ten years."

Finally, in February this year an independent Colmar Brunton poll asked 500 randomly selected growers a number of questions on important industry issues. "When asked how NZKGI is performing, 87% of growers responded by rating our performance as either quite good or very good. This level of support sends a strong message to NZKGI that we are doing our job successfully."