1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:00,200
Speaker 1: Now.

2
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:03,800
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, it's another blow for vegetable growers. Today, McCain, the

3
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:07,040
Speaker 2: world's largest manufacturer of frozen food, is closing its vegetable

4
00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,160
Speaker 2: processing plant and Hastings. Company won't say how many jobs

5
00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,520
Speaker 2: are affected, but it does employ about twelve hundred people

6
00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:16,079
Speaker 2: in New Zealand and Australia process vegetables. In z Chairman

7
00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,959
Speaker 2: David Hadfielders with us. Hi, David, Hello, David, did you

8
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,639
Speaker 2: know this was coming or was this a shock to you?

9
00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:27,360
Speaker 1: A shock? Yes, definitely. But we suspected round our board

10
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,680
Speaker 1: table that once one week the others might follow.

11
00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:34,320
Speaker 2: Soap who are the others? So there's Waes.

12
00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,440
Speaker 1: There's and Telly's.

13
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:38,600
Speaker 2: Is Tally's going to do something similar?

14
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:46,040
Speaker 1: I don't think so. They're not as big and more

15
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,040
Speaker 1: targeted than what they do. They are also across potatoes

16
00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,680
Speaker 1: as well, same as McCain's, but all out of the

17
00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,240
Speaker 1: brand new esh button factory and they're a New Zealand company.

18
00:00:57,920 --> 00:00:59,280
Speaker 2: So do you think that we can say this is

19
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:01,960
Speaker 2: the end of the bad news for the vegetable grows.

20
00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,040
Speaker 1: I would hope say there's not much left of the industry.

21
00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,160
Speaker 1: That the loss of mccains is about twenty one percent

22
00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,240
Speaker 1: of the industry, and the loss of what he is

23
00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,160
Speaker 1: was about thirty percent of the industry. So that's more

24
00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,280
Speaker 1: than just over half the industry. Gone.

25
00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really does some grim, doesn't it. Now since

26
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,199
Speaker 2: you found out, which is a couple of hours ago,

27
00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:25,720
Speaker 2: you've been talking to vegetable grows and what have they

28
00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,759
Speaker 2: been telling you?

29
00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:33,080
Speaker 1: None of them knew anything was happening. Was shocked to them.

30
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,360
Speaker 1: One of them I spoke to was a very large

31
00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,600
Speaker 1: graph for mccains and it was news to him. So

32
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,880
Speaker 1: they didn't let anybody know that this was happening.

33
00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:45,399
Speaker 2: What do these growers do? Do they do they have

34
00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:46,839
Speaker 2: the option of dairy conversion?

35
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,279
Speaker 1: Well, Hawks Bay guys probably don't to the same extent

36
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,800
Speaker 1: as the Canterbury guys do, but basically that's what's happening

37
00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,320
Speaker 1: in Canterbury. You're either cell your land for subdivision or

38
00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:03,080
Speaker 1: you convert a dairy farm. And ironically I was on

39
00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,360
Speaker 1: a subdivision. We have got the news.

40
00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,160
Speaker 2: What happens if you're in Hastings or yeah, in Hawks Bay?

41
00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 2: What are your options.

42
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:17,680
Speaker 1: Growing more wearable crops or livestock? Really or you or

43
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,640
Speaker 1: you put apples or kiwi fruit or wine and wine

44
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,200
Speaker 1: as I understand, it isn't that great at the moment,

45
00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:28,280
Speaker 1: but yeah, apples or kiwi fruit.

46
00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:30,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, and either way you're facing a massive cost down

47
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,520
Speaker 2: You what does this do to the cost on the

48
00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:35,400
Speaker 2: shelves that we're paying for? I mean, not that this

49
00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:37,600
Speaker 2: is your primary concern, but what happens to the cost

50
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,040
Speaker 2: of frozen stuff on the shelves.

51
00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,399
Speaker 1: Well, there's all the important stuff that's coming in, and

52
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,040
Speaker 1: you know that's coming from countries with subsidies or you know,

53
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,239
Speaker 1: you don't know the quality. At least New Zealand food

54
00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,600
Speaker 1: has a set quality standard that we have to meet

55
00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,840
Speaker 1: and we're ordered to do on. So yeah, we've been

56
00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:01,519
Speaker 1: some of the best producers the world and we're having

57
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 1: the rug pulled out from under us. And I don't

58
00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:08,560
Speaker 1: entirely blame the processes either. I've seen some of their margins.

59
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,960
Speaker 1: They don't make a lot more than the grower. The

60
00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,760
Speaker 1: money is made further down the track. And with all

61
00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,960
Speaker 1: this imported stuff and the New Zealand producers getting squeezed

62
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,280
Speaker 1: out of freezer space for the home brand and imported product,

63
00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,679
Speaker 1: And you've got to look at rest homes and hospitals, etc.

64
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:35,160
Speaker 1: Who use large volumes of processed vegetables, frozen vegetables, those

65
00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,200
Speaker 1: markets have dried up for the local companies and cost

66
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,400
Speaker 1: productions very high.

67
00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 2: Do you think we just need to accept that this

68
00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:44,920
Speaker 2: is what is going on in New Zealand now, that

69
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,360
Speaker 2: we just are not able to compete with the cheapest

70
00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,360
Speaker 2: countries in the world for making food and products, like we.

71
00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,760
Speaker 1: Can't compete with them, and we can't compete with countries

72
00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,640
Speaker 1: or subsidies. But New Zealand has to think about food security.

73
00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,000
Speaker 1: Just you know what happens if we have a spat

74
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,080
Speaker 1: with China. That's the end of the dairy industry, don't we.

75
00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,320
Speaker 2: If we have a spat with well, food security and

76
00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:11,480
Speaker 2: economic income are different things, right, If we have a

77
00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,480
Speaker 2: spat with China, we're just gonna have a lot of

78
00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:16,320
Speaker 2: milk that we're going to have to drink. But what

79
00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,320
Speaker 2: do we do? I mean, even if we don't have

80
00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,800
Speaker 2: the frozen production here, we still have the fresh stuff, right,

81
00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,039
Speaker 2: We're actually probably got sufficient to live off.

82
00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:29,960
Speaker 1: We're getting important to fresh vegetables as well coming in.

83
00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:38,000
Speaker 1: So that's driving out local production and housing is encroaching

84
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,040
Speaker 1: on a lot of the good growing land. So and

85
00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,480
Speaker 1: I do not blame the people who own the land

86
00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,440
Speaker 1: for selling us to a developer. It's their land. They

87
00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,240
Speaker 1: can do what they like with it. But at a

88
00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,600
Speaker 1: higher government level it is causing quite a problem that

89
00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,200
Speaker 1: the good productive land is being gobbled up for other youths.

90
00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:58,920
Speaker 2: I'm actually glad you raised that because I did want

91
00:04:58,920 --> 00:04:59,920
Speaker 2: to say something about that, David.

92
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:00,280
Speaker 1: Thank you.

93
00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,679
Speaker 2: David Hadfield Process Vegetables and Zin Chip.

94
00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:07,239
Speaker 1: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

95
00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,840
Speaker 2: Listen live to news Talks it B from four pm weekdays,

96
00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:13,080
Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.