Produce or Horticulture Industry?
What comes first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken, of course. No need to debate this; everyone knows that chickens lay eggs. So where does the chicken come from then? From the chicken farm, of course; …. where it probably hatched from an egg! We all know that old argument, don't we? But the argument is not just applicable to our feathered friends. The question for us is : "Are we the Produce or Horticulture Industry?"
Horticulture equals Production
So let's bring the argument into our industry then. Are we the horticulture industry or are we the produce industry? Or are we both? Can we be both? What defines us if we are different? If we are different that is…
I have thought about this long and hard over the years as my career took shape and I moved through various components of the value chain, long before it was called that. I have resolved in my mind that produce and horticulture are not the same, are not interchangeable terms and have to be treated as unique and defined elements of the same value chain. Here is where I am at with this. The focus of horticulture is production.
Horticulture and produce are the two heavily interdependent drivers of the wider fruit & vegetable chain.
Without growers producing, harvesting and making their harvests available to be sold, there would be no need to have wholesalers, brokers, merchants or supermarket buyers. And produce departments, fruiterers, greengrocers and farmers markets would also not be opereating.
Conversely, growers would struggle without structured, capacity-rich, timely and reliable pathways to reach the millions of consumers who take their ability to buy fresh when its suits them and where it suits for granted.
Produce has a Consumer Focus
The focus of produce is the consumer. I am not on my own with this view. Wikipedia suggests that "horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings", whereas "produce is a generalised term for a group of farm-produced goods, not limited to fruit and vegetables. More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as when they were harvested. In supermarkets, the term is also used to refer to the section where fruit and vegetables are kept. Produce is the main product sold by greengrocers, farmers' markets and fruit markets."
New Zealand as a country is focused on agricultural production and Wikipedia is dead right - produce can mean all sorts of things, but we also fit the next part of the definition. Our supermarkets have produce departments not horticulture departments and produce is exactly what is sold by the other consumer distribution channels such as greengrocers and farmers' markets. In the US and Canada the attribute fresh is added and the individual in charge of fruit and vegetables in the supermarket environment is known as the fresh produce manager, working in the Fresh Produce Department.
Produce or Horticulture Industry
On that basis then, all growers are part of the horticulture industry whilst merchants, wholesalers and retailers are participants in the produce industry. And as the produce industry's purpose in life is the movement of horticultural product from the farm gate to the dinner plate, the horticultural industry is actually a part of the wider produce industry as well.
Indeed there are some industry participants who are permanently wearing two different hats at the same time, like the apple grower, for example, who is managing his own export programme!
The other issue we have is that when Government decides to engage with the horticultural industry through its industry body Horticulture New Zealand or its affiliated product groups, for example, the consumer driven side of the equation otherwise known as the produce industry does not necessarily consider itself addressed - or even worse, does not know at times what is going on around it.
Before we selectively get precious though about we belong to the produce of horticulture industry and which one we would rather not be a part of, we might just as well remember that we are lucky enough in New Zealand to have a truly pan-industry body - United Fresh New Zealand Inc. United Fresh members come from the entire spectrum of the combined horticulture and produce industries, including Horticulture New Zealand and most of the affiliated product groups, as well as product group that operate independently from Horticulture New Zealand, such as the mushroom industry association, for example.
The entire fresh produce value chain is reliant on the cooperation of , in one way or the other, the value chain elements that are both upstream and downstream. Easier said than done, but here is the critical driver that makes the ability to cooperate in the pursuit of optimised consumer experiences absolutely essential: PERISHABILITY.