MOUNT MAUNGANUI, NEW ZEALAND - It’s that time again, kiwi lovers. The Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal judging panel is once again calling on the kiwifruit industry to nominate their finest leaders for the 2015 award.
“Our industry is set for strong growth and on track to double export revenue by 2020. We simply wouldn’t be in this position today without world-class people and the Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal has been set up to acknowledge and celebrate our great people,” Industry Advisory Council (IAC) Chairman Paul Jones says. “We’re once again calling on our colleagues to nominate the people they think have made a defining contribution to the industry success we see today.”
Set up four years ago by the kiwifruit IAC, the Hayward Medal is designed to honor the people who have led the industry. One company that may be a success story, according to a press release, is New Zealand exporter Zespri Kiwifruit. According to Zespri, the company sold more than $1.57 billion worth of kiwifruit last year.
Takao Takeshige, President of award sponsor Fresh Carriers, says that when the company started carrying New Zealand’s kiwifruit to Japan about 30 years ago, not many people could have expected the industry to be as successful as it is today. “This success and the continuing growth is thanks to the great efforts of all the people working in the kiwifruit industry,” he says. “We are very honored to present the Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal to the winner and are looking forward to meeting them at the Hayward Medal Dinner.”
Last year, Zespri growers Paul Heywood and Leo Mangos were jointly awarded the Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal for their work in establishing the grower-owned structure of the industry. In 2013, the ex-chair of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board, John Palmer was awarded the Medal for his efforts to bring the kiwifruit industry through the fiscal crisis in the early 1990s. The inaugural award in 2012 went to Plant & Food Research Plant Breeder, Russell Lowe for developing and helping commercialize the gold kiwifruit variety Hort16A, adding over $3 billion to the industry and New Zealand.
Nominations close in three weeks on September 18th, and the winner will be announced and presented with the award at the Hayward Medal Dinner which follows the Kiwifruit Industry Symposium on October 29th.
