Conference Programme

This year’s conference theme is RESET, GROWTH, AMBITION.

The theme reflects the challenges and opportunities facing our industry, and our ongoing commitment to building a more sustainable, productive, and inclusive food sector.

Monday 29 July

3.00pm	Delegate registration \| Afternoon Tea
4.00pm	Annual General Meeting, New Zealand Apples & Pears Incorporated
5:30pm	Welcome Reception
7.00pm	End
Tuesday 30 July
8.30am	Welcome
8.45am	MC Introduction and housekeeping
8.50am	Principal Sponsor Address: Mark Piper, CEO, Plant & Food Research
9.05am	Keynote speaker
9:30am	SESSION 1 RESET: How we move forward from the current landscape
	Making the strategy real! Karen Morrish, CEO, NZAPI Following the 2023 strategic review, a high level look at how NZAPI will shape it’s service delivery going forward, to enable industry to do what it does best, in times of reset, growth and ambition.
10.05am	Economic update Cameron Bagrie, Bagrie Economics
10.30am	Morning Tea
11:15am	Geopolitical / trade update
11.45am	Advocating in 2024: Being heard and influencing the things that matter GJ Thompson, Director, Thompson Lewis Being heard in 2024 is more complex than ever before, but the fundamentals of communication and advocacy remain the same: Be clear about your strategy, objectives, and messages. Relentlessly execute your plan, but don’t mistake activity for progress. Be prepared to adapt your plan to ensure success. Top down/bottom-up engagement is always best to build support. GJ’s presentation will look at how best to advocate in 2024 – the do’s, don’ts and watchouts he’s learnt after more than 20 years working on challenging issues and advocating for organisations large and small.
	SESSION 2 CHALLENGES: Adapting to moving goalposts
12.15pm 12.30pm	RSE – developing a robust scheme meeting all stakeholder needs Ian Palmer, Chair, National Labour Governance Group RSE has continued to be a cornerstone of the pipfruit sector. With the scheme now 17 seasons in, is it fit for purpose in the post Covid world, and do we meet the needs of all involved? The National Labour Governance Group has been reformed to assist our horticultural sector to work in the RSE space. What is our role? Grower Panel Will discuss labour challenges and suggest solutions.
1:05pm	Lunch
2:05pm	Moving goalposts and managing crises, a grower's view on paddling up shit creek Natalya Egan, Gisborne Grower Cyclone Gabrielle and its impacts have quite rightly captured the attention of our industry and the wider community - part of this presentation will be sharing the results of a review conducted by PFR on the effectiveness NZAPI’s response to that crisis. Cyclones aside, growers have had, and will continue to have, a range of crises that effect their business and Natalya will be discussing her experience of managing moving goal posts and responding to a multitude of crises as a Gisborne grower.
2.30pm	Biosecurity
	SESSION 3 *GROWTH: Supporting our industry ambition*
3.15pm	Productivity
3.55pm	Where will all the apples go?
4.30pm	Day One Concludes
6:30pm	Conference Dinner and Awards Assembly Ballroom, Municipal Building, Toitoi
Wednesday 31 July
8:45am	Welcome back to Day 2
9:00am	SESSION 3 GROWTH: Supporting our industry ambition (cont)
	Building trust is everyone's responsibility Penny Clark-Hall, Founder & Chief Executive, Social Licence Consulting The business community plays a pivotal role in leading systemic solutions to not just our local challenges but global ones. Building trust among a broad range of stakeholders allows collaboration to happen at pace which means - transformation and innovation #solutions. It’s time to take accountability for the role we all play in building trust in our business and industry. We are only as strong as our weakest link.
9.25am	Climate Resilience
10:00am	Morning Tea
10:45am	SESSION 4 FUTURE: Unlocking opportunities for all
	Business succession Todd Charteris, NZ CEO, Rabobank
11.10am	The future of advanced breeding
12pm	Reimagining the future of our orchards Louise Nash, Founder & CEO of Circularity Last year Circularity worked with NZAPI to deliver the vision and concept 'Future Focused Orchards'. This was developed by partnering with local growers, leaders across the global food system, and local iwi/hapu to co- design an industry vision that explores key practices and opportunities for redesign to deliver ecosystem health, reduce harm, and deliver prosperity to the industry; improving environmental, social and economic outcomes. In this session, Louise Nash will introduce the vision and concept, followed by a grower panel (incl. Louise) that will share with us what they see as important, what is already happening, and what still needs to be done.
12:45pm	Conference Close
1:00pm	Lunch