Hawke's Bay farmers take fresh leap of faith

Hawke's Bay's Apatu Farms has acquired a 50 per cent interest in Harvest Fresh, a global exporter of fresh produce based in Auckland.
Apatu Farms' core business is vegetable production and they are one of the largest onion growers in New Zealand.
Managing Director of Harvest Fresh, Guy Hilson, said the introduction of Apatu Farms would better position his company to meet international strategic objectives. "This partnership together with the other valued quality suppliers will ensure procurement certainty during a period of increased consolidation within the New Zealand onion industry," he said.
"Harvest Fresh is constantly looking at ways to make the business more robust, more diversified and more dynamic, and the acquisition by Apatu Farms ticks all those boxes."
From its supply bases in New Zealand, Australia and the US, Harvest Fresh annually exports 30,000 metric tonnes from its three main product categories: onions, carrots, potatoes.
"Each customer has their own specific set of requirements, and matching these has been the key to Harvest Fresh's continued success," Mr Hilson said. "Working with Apatu Farms, another well-established New Zealand-based business, means we can use the synergies we have in conjunction with our other suppliers to deliver high-quality product and customer care in a time of further expansion."
The partnership took effect on July 18 with no change in day-to-day operations. Paul Apatu of Apatu Farms said it was was business as usual, "just with increased stability in supply."
"We've worked closely with Guy and his team at Harvest Fresh since they started five years ago. We've seen how well they've retained their focus on quality, reliability and service through their expansion and we wanted to be a part of that."