Between the lines: Opposites agree on approach to apples

It is a balanced argument - certainly a persuasive one - when there is agreement between people who are usually diametrically opposed.

The phenomenon can be witnessed right now in the apple industry.

Long-time proponent of grower-owned monopoly marketers Leo Mangos has urged the Government to immediately remove Enza's almost sole right to export the $600 million apple crop because it is now run by investment firms Guinness Peat Group (GPG) and FR Partners.

Mr Mangos, chairman of Labour's Primary Industries Council, argues that such monopolies are warranted only when they are run by growers, for growers and accept all their produce.

The same call has come from free-marketer Rex Graham, chairman of the ardent Enza critic Independent Pipfruit Growers, and of exporter FreshNZ.

Mr Graham regards it as "diabolical" that two major corporates control Enza, which growers are locked into supplying.

GPG and FR's successful raid on Enza was the unanticipated result (at least by growers) of the former Government's railroading producers into a new industry structure.

Denied the co-operative they really wanted, growers were forced to vote on unsatisfactory alternatives.

But Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton has said growers "got what they voted for" and it would be unfair to GPG and FR to review the structure so soon.

Mr Sutton points out that Enza is still owned by a grower majority but in reality these nickel and dime shareholdings carry little weight against GPG and FR's near-40 per cent ownership.

Growers, fearing that product returns will be sacrificed to shareholder returns and their cut of both will be unable to sustain them, are being urged to amalgamate their shareholdings into a voting trust.

The plan is to preserve assets, including coolstores, that add value to their crops. The long-term plan is to, as one grower put it, "when the big boys have had enough of playing, take back the company that you as a grower built in the first place."

Acting co-operatively may be growers' only chance to influence their industry.

However, kiwifruit growers, who risk finding themselves in the same position, may still have the opportunity to form an actual co-operative.

Two growers have already gained enough backing to challenge Zespri's capital-raising plans which they believe could open the door wider to raiders.

Their next step is likely to be to lobby for a co-operative.

With Mr Sutton promising to honour any calls from a majority of producers, there seems no better time than now to rally support.

The speed of the GPG/FR move suggests there will be no other time.