Welcome to our latest edition of our grower update – updating you on the latest Seeka and Industry . Thank you to all of you who attended our series of Grower After 5 Roadshows over the last couple of weeks. We had record numbers attend and have been overwhelmed with the positive feedback. Growers who attended had the opportunity to meet the Zespri Director Candidates. David Jensen and Craig Thompson attended the majority of the meetings. They had five minutes to present to growers and answered your questions across a range of topics. My reflection on the candidates and process, is that while it’s great to have a contested process, you really have to want to be a Director of Zespri to go through it. It’s a huge effort, both David and Craig have made in presenting themselves to growers right across the industry. They are seeking election to the grower vacancy on the Board arising from the retirement of Peter McBride. Both have done a good job of getting out and meeting with growers, are knowledgeable about the issues and put their best foot forward in seeking appointment. The incumbent Director, Paul Jones, attended the Te Puke meeting and presented and answered questions. He is standing unopposed for re-election.
The Zespri Annual Shareholder meeting will be held at Trustpower Arena at Baypark Wednesday 24 July 2019 at 1pm.
At the After 5’s, Seeka outlined our kiwifruit OGR forecasts for the current season and the logic behind the forecasts including a number of key market assumptions. Seeka and a number of parties across the Industry have been challenging Zespri to provide more market information so we can understand and have a better appreciation of market performance and the returns you receive as growers. The analysis has given growers an insight to what drives the excellent SunGold market returns but also the insight to the lower Hayward returns. Grower feedback on this part of the presentation was very positive.
Fruit loss at Seeka and Aongatete continues to be very low and much better than the Industry average. There is an insurance claim for the fruit loss for the early SunGold fruit packed at Aongatete, and in any case the cost of this will not be borne by our growers. Overall fruit loss is very low although we still have a little way to go.
To the numbers:
Seeka
Aongatete
Aongatete fruitloss excludes fruit under the insurance claim.
Seeka Growers Council
Seeka Growers Council will be calling for Councillor nominations from Friday 9 August. Representing Seeka Kiwifruit Growers, the Council has an important role stewarding your funds transparently, monitoring post-harvest and Zespri performance, and advocating on your behalf. It is important to have strong Councillors and this is your opportunity to be involved in these appointments.
The Growers’ Council is set at 20 Councillors, currently 16 grower-elected and three Seeka appointed Councillors plus one co-opted. This year five grower-elected Councillors will retire by rotation in September.
Nominated Councillors must be either
A current supplier of kiwifruit to Seeka, or
If you know someone who could be a strong grower representative, we encourage you to consult with them soon. Nomination forms will be emailed to you 9 August and must be received by closing day 23 August.
Kind regards
Michael Franks
Seeka Key
Contacts
