{"id":438280,"date":"2026-05-21T11:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438280\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T11:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:45:13","slug":"hawkes-bay-mayors-ask-mccain-to-pause-plant-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438280\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawke’s Bay mayors ask McCain to pause plant closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Central<\/p>\n

\nCentral Hawke\u2019s Bay mayor Will Foley and Hastings mayor Wendy Schollum will be meeting with McCain representatives to discuss the reasons for the company\u2019s closure.
\nPhoto: LDR\n<\/p>\n

Hawke’s Bay mayors have written to McCain asking the international company to pause its closure of the Hastings processing plant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More than 100 growers are impacted by McCain closing its frozen vegetable factory in Hastings, a decision the company said it made after reviewing operations and being “unable to identify a sustainable pathway under the current model”.<\/p>\n

However, a group of growers are now looking at whether they could take over the processing operation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hastings District Mayor Wendy Schollum and Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Will Foley wrote to McCain Foods requesting an eight-week pause on any major changes to the company’s Hawke’s Bay processing plant while growers explore the potential for an independent feasibility study into the future of the sector.<\/p>\n

The proposed study would assess whether a viable pathway existed for a grower-owned processing operation that could retain large-scale food manufacturing capability in Hawke’s Bay, and protect the wider economic ecosystem built around McCain’s long-standing presence in the region.<\/p>\n

Schollum said the request was intended to allow time for the study to be completed before decisions are made that could limit future opportunities.<\/p>\n

“We are asking for a short period to complete the work while the facility remains substantially intact. This will help to determine whether there is a credible commercial pathway forward for the sector,” she said.<\/p>\n

It follows a series of meetings between mayors, growers, government ministers and members of parliament.<\/p>\n

Foley said the mayors respected McCain’s commercial position and were seeking a constructive and pragmatic process.<\/p>\n

“We acknowledge the realities McCain is working through and this request is not intended to challenge the company’s right to make business decisions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“However, given the significance of this industry to Hawke’s Bay, we believe there is value in allowing this assessment to be completed before key infrastructure or processing capability is lost.”<\/p>\n

The proposed feasibility study would examine infrastructure requirements, market opportunities, logistics, energy and water considerations, workforce needs and overall commercial sustainability.<\/p>\n

Government support<\/p>\n

Foley and Schollum said government support would be critical to ensuring the work could be undertaken quickly, independently and with the level of commercial and technical rigour required.<\/p>\n

“This is a significant piece of work with potentially important implications for Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand’s wider food production sector.<\/p>\n

“Government support would help ensure growers have access to the expertise and analysis needed to properly assess whether a sustainable long-term future remains possible for the sector,” Foley said.<\/p>\n

And they are hopeful, after meeting with central government and MPs from across Parliament in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

“These discussions extend well beyond a single processing site. They go to the future of regional manufacturing, grower confidence and New Zealand’s broader food resilience and security,” Schollum said.<\/p>\n

The mayors confirmed they remain committed to working collaboratively with growers, government and McCain Foods as discussions continue.<\/p>\n

McCain has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Hawke\u2019s Bay mayor Will Foley and Hastings mayor Wendy Schollum will be meeting with McCain representatives to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-438280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438280","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=438280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}