Avocado grower and Avocado Growers Associaton Representative Tony Ponder has been elected as the New Zealand Avocado Growers Association and Avocado Industry Council Chair.
NZAGA Grower Representative Linda Flegg has been elected as the Vice Chair of the NZAGA.
“It’s an exciting time to be in the New Zealand avocado industry, with an incredible increase in value and the positive collaboration throughout the industry,” says Ponder.
Ponder has replaced Ashby Whitehead who stepped down as Chair at the Annual General Meeting in August. Ashby served as Chair since 2013 and as a Representative on the NZAGA Executive and AIC Ltd Board since 2006.
Ponder has been one of the eight grower-elected directors on the NZAGA & AIC Board since 2005. He and his wife Nicky have an 11-hectare avocado orchard investment in the Coromandel district, and more recently have purchased a 26-hectare property in Tauranga with existing avocado, berry and kiwifruit. Tony also has commercial kiwifruit interests acting as an independent director for a large family based avocado and kiwifruit orchard and packing company in the Bay of Plenty.
Ponder’s day-to-day responsibilities include Director & Chief Executive Officer of avocado, berry and kiwifruit exporter Southern Produce Limited.
“The New Zealand avocado industry is experiencing a period of impressive growth – a huge part of that being due to the work being undertaken to achieve Primary Growth Partnership Go Global goal of quadrupling sales and trebling productivity by 2023,” says Ponder.
Did you know?
New Zealand currently produces just 2% of the global supply but is the ninth largest international avocado exporter. There are over 4,000 hectares of avocado trees planted in New Zealand, primarily in the Bay of Plenty and Northland.
For more information visit www.nzavocado.co.nz
or follow them on social media @NZ_Avocado @Jen_Scoular
