International price setter research at Massey University's FoodPilot

FoodPilot at Massey University.

COUNCIL MATTERS!| Manawatū at the centre of NZs future food sector
Mayor Grant Smith

A couple of weeks ago, I accompanied Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson through facilities that are part of Manawatū's best kept secret – FoodHQ.

Many won't be aware that the Massey side of the Manawatū River is home to a world-class cluster of food science and innovation.

Here, many of the best food scientists on the planet are engaged in projects that seek to transition our primary sector products from being price takers to international price setters.

Spread over more than 40 sites on both sides of Tennent Drive, the cluster forms the largest concentration of food-related science activity anywhere in New Zealand.

Included are Massey University, Plant & Food Research, Agresearch, ESR Research, Fonterra's Global Research centre, Riddett Institute and Cawthron Institute, NZ Food Safety Science & Research Centre, b.linc and The Factory,.

It has the potential to be one of the world's top five food-focused science and innovation parks, an ambition that is behind a recently updated campus and investment plan.

Astride this is FoodHQ, a collaborative partnership that includes most of New Zealand's leading food science and innovation organisations.

With a focus on delivering high value food products, FoodHQ aims to help our farmers and growers get better returns for their produce through collaboration with research and commercial interests.

Help is available for businesses to access the right facilities and expertise, and to accelerate new development by sharing knowledge and facilitating connections.

Headquartered in Manawatū, FoodHQ works throughout New Zealand, and with connections to similar entities overseas and is recognised as one of the top organisations of its type in the world.

A highlight of my FootHQ facilitated tour was Massey University's FoodPilot, which has the largest collection of pilot-scale food processing equipment in the Southern Hemisphere.

It's a live test kitchen where boutique food and beverage lines can be formulated for larger scale production without compromising recipes, processes, nutrition, taste, texture, or quality.

We also got to see researchers and students showing off several ground-breaking food projects.

FoodHQ has a surprisingly small operating budget and reaching its potential for fully benefiting New Zealand's primary sector is going to take further investment from central government.

I impressed this on the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, who were taken with what they saw and experienced.

As civic supporters, the city council and Manawatū District are backing FoodHQ's bid to create a campus hub where start-ups and innovative ideas can come for appraisal and be directed to product development assistance from its partnership connections.

New Zealand farmers and growers deliver top quality food and beverage products, while the organisations affiliated with FoodHQ have the expertise, ingenuity, capabilities and resources to enhance what those products earn from international markets.

A way forward for our economy lies in capturing extra value from the quality produce the primary sector excels in.

The Manawatū food science and innovation cluster is already helping pioneer value-added products for our primary producers, and FoodHQ has huge promise as a key enabler for New Zealand's food future.

We now need the Government to back it.