The decision is a huge blow to the industry in Hawke\u2019s Bay, where the impact is being felt widely from growers to contractors, and mechanics to factory workers.<\/p>\n
Alistair Setter has been farming in Central Hawke\u2019s Bay for decades, and told RNZ the closure has come as a shock, and with no warning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, oh gosh … have we really grown our last crop of peas?\u201d Setter said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy father grew peas back in the 70s, and it\u2019s an important business for us, but it\u2019s also an emotional thing as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great thing to be part of that pea-growing business \u2013 you think you\u2019re doing good for the world and everything else. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs the days go by, it kinda sinks in, and it really feels like a loss on quite a few levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
He owns 180 hectares near Ongaonga, growing crops over the warmer months and grazing cattle in winter. <\/p>\n
About a quarter of his income comes from supplying peas to McCain\u2019s, so the financial hit is substantial.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be significant, and we will have to think of alternatives … but they won\u2019t pay as much, and it will put risks on other cropping programmes … so yeah, we\u2019ve got challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are wider issues at play here about how we handle food security as a nation … when the industries go, they\u2019re very hard to get back,\u201d Setter said.<\/p>\n
One of the alternatives could be a group of growers taking over the current McCain factory site and processing their crops themselves.<\/p>\n
Since the closure was announced, several meetings have been held between ministers, mayors, and growers to see if anything can be done to save the industry in Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n
Alistair Setter says it’s emotional thinking he may have grown his last crop of peas. Photo \/ RNZ: Alexa Cook<\/p>\n
Setter said there were a lot of people keen to see the pea, bean and corn cropping industry survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of desire among farmers like myself and other industry participants to have a go at trying to save it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big thing to try and organise, and it\u2019s a big business, but there is a lot of will out there. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe farmers we know around here, a lot of them are really capable business people, so sometimes when there is a will and a need … maybe there is a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alistair Setter owns 180 hectares of cropping land in Ongaonga. Photo \/ RNZ: Alexa Cook<\/p>\n
One of those farmers is Hugh Ritchie. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s been growing peas for McCain for more than 30 years and said that for it to work, there must be more scrutiny of the food production chain. <\/p>\n
He said to understand why big companies like McCain can\u2019t make it work, everyone\u2019s margins, from growers to supermarkets, must be analysed.<\/p>\n
Hawkes Bay farmer Hugh Ritchie. Photo \/ Horticulture NZ<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t solve this problem and really understand why it\u2019s happening, then it\u2019s just going to be the start of a downward spiral on the domestic production of food,\u201d said Ritchie.<\/p>\n
Central Hawke\u2019s Bay Mayor Will Foley is also keen to find out the cause of the McCain decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem right that we can\u2019t produce that food and sell it locally and for export \u2013 all at a success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we want to get to the bottom of what is going on here, and can we take it on ourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n
Central Hawke\u2019s Bay Mayor Will Foley.<\/p>\n
However, the pressure is on because McCain is only using its Hastings factory until January; after that, the machinery could be packed up and sent overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of urgency because any businesses involved that are thinking there is no more business going forward, they are needing to dispose of their assets, otherwise it\u2019s just a cost to them,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if we lose those assets and have to start again, the cost to start up will be so much more than if we can take over what is already there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Minister for Agriculture, Todd McClay, said he had a constructive and informative meeting with the region\u2019s mayors last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a huge amount of optimism in the region, and the Minister is looking to meet with growers over the coming weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
McCain told RNZ it has received \u201cpotential interest in the plant and its equipment from several parties and is continuing discussions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Massive\u2019 flow-on effect<\/p>\n
Many growers, especially for crops like peas, beans and sweet corn, would normally get a contract in mid-year and then start planting crops through August and September.<\/p>\n
The impact of McCain closing is rippling through the region, from growers to factory workers, to companies selling seeds and chemicals, contractors and machinery engineers.<\/p>\n
Fogarty Spraying in Ongaonga sprays about 1500ha of McCain crops each season, and employs three people to help run the operation.<\/p>\n
Owner Stuart Davies told RNZ that with McCain\u2019s shutting up shop, he\u2019s looking at scaling down by cutting one worker and possibly selling one of his spraying machines.<\/p>\n
He said that while others were much harder hit than him this was the kind of impact that was being felt widely in the region.<\/p>\n
Fogarty Spraying owner Stuart Davies. Photo \/ RNZ: Alexa Cook<\/p>\n
\u201cThat whole economical side of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all singing and dancing until all of a sudden the big red button\u2019s been hit and that\u2019s it \u2013 she\u2019s all stopped. It has a massive flow-on effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davies said that, luckily, there was currently a lot of confidence in other farming sectors such as red meat and dairy, but it would still be a tough time for growers.<\/p>\n
The news came out of the blue for most, and Davies said McCain could have done a better job at communicating its closure, as there was no notice that it was even being considered.<\/p>\n
Stuart Davies says that with McCain’s shutting up shop, he’s looking at scaling down by cutting one worker and possibly selling one of his spraying machines. Photo \/ RNZ: Alexa Cook<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t quite expect the rug to be pulled just like that. It would\u2019ve been nice to have some warning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the feel around the place \u2013 that the rug was pulled pretty abruptly rather than maybe a softly softly \u2018hey guys this is happening in 18 months\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCain declined RNZ\u2019s request for an interview, saying in a statement that the business informed key stakeholders of the closure on the same day as its Hastings team was told.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe indicated to our stakeholders that we are available to answer any questions about the closure and are also available to discuss the impact the closure may have on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The decision is a huge blow to the industry in Hawke\u2019s Bay, where the impact is being felt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4193,1561,1040,17163,4194,23361,5194,1976,183707,140299,111,43,139,69,4885,26592],"class_list":["post-425864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-alexa","tag-bay","tag-bid","tag-closure","tag-cook","tag-growers","tag-hastings","tag-hawkes","tag-mccain","tag-mull","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-plant","tag-takeover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}