The plant is scheduled to cease operations on January 31, 2027, after the year’s processing and packing season.
Green MP Steve Abel said food-processing facilities should be protected for the broader national good.
Photo / Marty Melville
During a recent visit to Hastings, Greens MP and Primary Production Committee member Steve Abel was asked what the Greens would do about food-processing plants closing in Hawke’s Bay and nationwide.
He said food resilience and security were a high priority for the party.
“We are not averse to the idea that there are instances where strategic assets, such as a food-processing facility, should be protected for the broader national good, and if that means some public investment, so be it.”
Abel said the party didn’t have a specific policy yet, but said it was top of the party’s mind.
“The challenges that we’re facing with loss of mills and food-processing facilities with the energy price issues – we have specific strategies to address all of those things.
“It would be a failure of politics if we can’t protect local food production, local jobs associated with that, and the ability of us as a nation to simply feed ourselves.”
Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd, left, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo / Annaleise Shortland
When asked about Abel’s comments, National Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd had a blunt response.
“The Green Party was part of a Government that banned oil and gas exploration, reduced domestic energy supply and significantly drove up energy costs for households and businesses across New Zealand,” she said.
“Now Mr Abel is talking about taxpayer-funded solutions to fix problems his party helped create.”
Wedd said the Government had committed $50,000 for the first stage of a feasibility study to assess what is actually required for a grower-led purchase of the site to be “commercially viable”.
They were regularly getting updates on the “complex and challenging situation”.
Dan Scott, Labour’s candidate for Tukituki.
Photo / Labour Party
Dan Scott, Labour’s candidate for Tukituki, said food processing had been the source of secure jobs in the region for generations.
“The closure of the McCain’s vegetable-processing plant, just weeks after Wattie’s announced similar plant closures, is devastating for Hawke’s Bay workers, and a damning indictment of this Government’s jobs record.”
He said power prices had been crushing energy-intensive industries and had been a key reason for several companies closing.
“The answer is to invest in home-grown renewable generation, which means affordable, reliable power and lower bills for households and businesses.”
NZ First candidate Taine Randell and his family ran an energy-intensive freeze-drying business in Hawke’s Bay.
He said in 2022, it was consuming over one million kilowatt-hours per month at about 8c per kWh.
Former All Black Taine Randell will be contesting the Tukituki electorate for NZ First this election. Photo / Adam Pearse
When rates went up last year, Randell said the price had risen to more than 23c per kWh.
He said there was no point in any Government acquiring any businesses if the power price was going to make those companies “basically uneconomic”.
“The energy sector is the key issue with food processing, with manufacturing in Hawke’s Bay.
“We consume per capita well above the national average in terms of energy because we’re such a manufacturing and food-processing hub.
“No point in being able to produce the best food in the world if we can’t process it, and ultimately that’s come down to a failure in our energy sector.”
Randell said NZ First would break up the four gentailers and build renewable electricity resources with the back-up capacity to make it viable.
The Opportunity Party’s candidate for Tukituki, Rachel Ward.
Opportunity Party (TOP) candidate Rachel Ward said all parties should come together on diagnosing, mitigating and future-proofing food-processing security.
“The cost of energy has come up time and time again with factory shutdowns,” she said.
Ward said TOP had an “Abundant Energy policy”, which she said would bring energy prices down in the medium term.
The party was supportive of developing a national food security strategy to properly develop a plan for issues Hawke’s Bay processors were facing.
Kaleb Hawkins has announced he will run as an independent for the Tukituki electorate.
Independent candidate Kaleb Hawkins said the current Government “moved too slow” when food-processing plants started announcing closures.
“McCain’s and Watties might not have had to close if I was involved,” he said.
Hawkins proposed a dedicated local task-force committed to identifying risks to domestic food production and processing.
The general election will be held on Saturday, November 7.
Greens Tukituki candidate Mark Longworth agreed with Abel and said growers and processors were the lifeblood of Central Hawke’s Bay and the Heretaunga Plains.
“These redundancies aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet; they are the livelihoods of skilled workers and their families who have been completely blindsided by this move.
“This is what it looks like when multinationals are allowed to run roughshod over our communities.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.