Kate Hellstrom – CEO
With the 2023-24 harvest now underway, it’s great to see early season nectarines and cherries on supermarket shelves. We look forward to what we hope will be a bumper season and success for all our growers and exporters.
Looking back over 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle was the major event of the year, which has shaped our work plan particularly in the first & second quarters of the year. Our thoughts remain with affected growers. We hope that the phenomenal recovery effort that has gone on in Hawke’s Bay will lead to an even more resilient and successful industry.
A high-point of our year was successfully delivering Summerfruit NZ’s conference in winter 2023. We look forward to holding our next conference in Auckland in 2025.
In August 2023, Summerfruit NZ became a shareholder in Horticulture Executive Services Ltd (HESL), in order to access shared services such as biosecurity expertise, communications and administration support. This has strengthened our working relationship with other product groups. We continue to look for ways to work collaboratively and efficiently to deliver the services that the summerfruit sector requires from us.
In the employment/labour space, I’m pleased that employers are reporting high numbers of job seekers for seasonal work. The Handpicked Crew campaign is underway for the harvest season.
At Summerfruit NZ’s AGM held in early November, Trudi Webb, Producer Board member, stepped into the role of Chair of Summerfruit NZ, while Roger Brownlie stepped back into the role of Vice-Chair.
I’d like to warmly thank Roger for everything he has done for the industry during his time as Chair. Also, a big thanks to the rest of the Board and to the team for all their efforts this year.
While we hope to take a break during the statutory holidays, as usual, the Summerfruit NZ team will be available throughout the summer for urgent queries, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need to. Contact us - Summerfruit NZ
Raj Singh – Business Manager
With (almost) a year under my belt as Business Manager at Summerfruit NZ, I have spent considerable time with growers and industry collectives to further my understanding of our industry. These learnings have equipped me with the tools to efficiently deliver Summerfruit NZ’s operational requirements, to enable growers to build successful and sustainable businesses.
I look forward to connecting with more growers over the next few months and continuing to learn about different ways of growing and marketing our fruit bowl.
Richard Mills – Technical Advisor
Thinking back though the year, it is the people that you meet and get to work with who are the major highlights.
Summerfruit NZ’s involvement in A-Lighter-Touch (ALT) brings us into contact with passionate people from other product groups, which then flows onto shared solutions. Under the ALT programme, we have developed new agrichem products and have more in the pipeline.
Growers may be thinking about orchard floors in a different way because of the understory project. We have deeper contacts with some of the people at Plant & Food Research (PFR), which benefits the industry in the long term, as well as in the projects with which we are involved.
The Agchem manufacturers and retailer reps continue to be a significant part of keeping the industry running. I thank them for being open to answering my questions. Our R&D programme is now much stronger than it has been for a few years.
Cyclone Gabrielle’s effects are well known, but there have been some positive outcomes, with product groups sharing knowledge and resources, then acting in a coordinated manner. The Horticulture Advisory Group (HAG) is now seen as a go-to group in Hawke’s Bay for regional and national bodies to consult with.
It has been a big year for Summerfruit NZ. Now we trust that the sun will shine on your trees and that there will be some yummy summerfruit for summer.
Andrew Bristol – Communications Manager
I’ve joined the Summerfruit NZ team via HESL. Some of you will know me from my time as Communications Manager at HortNZ. 
It’s great to be supporting an industry that has proud traditions and has a bright future ahead.
If the media contacts you, please ask them to call me on 021 021 62 021, and I will confer with the media and come back to you and together, we can respond. This approach is particularly important in times of crisis, whether it be weather, biosecurity, health and safety, or food safety related.