Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association president Brydon Nisbet said he didn’t know how many people would be affected but there were concerns about job losses.
He said it came off the back of the difficult Covid pandemic and post-Cyclone Gabrielle, which many growers were still recovering from.
“It’s never nice when companies go into liquidation or receivership, and it just means there’s often job losses and families that are affected.
“It’s hard nowadays with the increasing cost of labour and compliance, and also the uncertainty of export returns, [which] all make it an industry that’s not easy to navigate, so it’s just really unfortunate that this has happened.”
Nisbet said the industry was still doing well, though,…