The second round of consultation finished in Hawkes Bay this week, thanks to all the growers that attended the latest meetings.
The meetings discussed the outcomes of the first round of consultation including the material which has been available for review on the levy area on our website. There were no new issues raised in the second round discussions. The growers were also updated on the next steps in the referendum process.
At the end of the consultations we had met with 99 stakeholders, many of them more than once, only two orchards were supportive of a change to a per hectare calculation method and one orchard was supportive of a change to a per kiliogram calculation method.
The wider group supported the status quo, therefore no change is proposed to the levy calculation method or the addition of a cap on levies.
The ballot is proposed to run from 16 October to 8 November with the results being available within a few days of the vote closing. Voting will be by postal vote or online, we encourage all growers to vote and to do so online where possible to avoid any possible delays with postal returns.
Results of the ballot will be published on the Summerfruit NZ website and the next issue of Prunings following closing of voting.