The Country 12/06/25: Kate Scott talks to Jamie Mackay

Horticulture NZ's chief executive, on an impressive season for the sector, after a "tough couple of years".

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
She's the new relatively new Chief Executive of Horticulture in
New Zealand, Kate Scott. Horticulture export revenue grew by an
impressive nineteen percent, reaching eight point five billion Kiwi fruit,
three point nine billion apple and pears over a billion. Now,
I reckon, if we're to double our export income in
the next decade, Kate, you guys at horticulture are going

(00:22):
to have to do some fairly heavy lifting.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah. Look, it's a pretty exciting celebration for horticulture today
to recognize all the hard work of our growers over
what has been a tough couple of years. So we're
really proud of the hard work that they do every
day going out to grow New Zealand's fresh fruit and vegetables.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Is the sky the limit for Kiwi fruit? And I
asked that because we've produced a hell of a lot
more trays than we did last year. Admittedly last year
was a bit of an aberration, but we've found a
home for all that keiw We fruit.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I know, isn't that impressive? So well done to Zespri
and all the Keiwi fruit growers. I think, not only
producing that much extra fruit, but finding the home for
it is actually the hard part, and you know, they've
obviously really hard to find markets and a home for that.
And look, everyone loves Kiwi fruit absolutely. Look at the
new varieties that are out there. You know who loves
a red Kiwi fruit? I love a red Kiwi fruit.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Now I'm I'm a gold guy. I used to like
the green, but now I've transition.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, gold's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, it's pretty good. A couple of those for breakfast
keeps the doctor away. What's the next big thing in horticulture?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Look, I think we've got so many wonderful crops in horticulture.
So we talk about our big ones Kiwi fruit, apple
and pears, but we've also you know, our vegetable exports
were up at seven seventy million this year, which is great.
Onions do a great job of export in that space.
But also when we look across crops such as cherries, avocados,

(01:42):
they've all actually had a pretty good uplift in the
last twelve months, and I think, you know, that's fantastic.
What's the new Look, there's so much work going on
in that plant variety space. I think everyone's looking for
a new but look, we've had some wonderful in seasoned
Personmon's on our stand, and so if you haven't tried
a pers them, you might be able to find one
or two left on the horticulture stand.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
There we go, Kate Scott, Chief Executive of Horticulture in
New Zealand. It also helps that he didn't have a
cyclone Gabrielle