Paul Paynter

A Hawke's Bay fruit grower is labelling the government's loan scheme for weather-effected farmers and growers a 'bail out for the banks.'

As a method to help those impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle… Audio

Cyclone Garbrielle has wiped out fresh produce from our powerhouse growing region -- Hawkes Bay. Fruit and vegetables worth millions of dollars have been destroyed and hectares of lush horticulture… Audio

Paul Paynter's company Yummy Fruit is a major provider to the domestic market. He says there are horrific scenes in parts of the Esk Valley, with orchards and vines underwater and silt, dead animals… Audio

Moves to shield fertile land from the growing urban creep has come as sweet relief to apple growers. A newly released national policy statement now requires councils to identify, map and manage… Audio

Tourism Minister Stuart Nash is looking at ways to get more students into seasonal jobs, including shifting the university year by six weeks. Jesse speaks to a fruit grower about the proposal. Audio

The government has extended the freeze on releasing any new MIQ vouchers as cases in the Covid-19 Delta outbreak go into quarantine.

In Auckland two hotels normally used for returnees have been or… Video, Audio

RSE workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will soon be allowed into the country, quarantine free.

Paul Paynter is the general manager of Yummy Fruits and says it is good news but there are still some… Video, Audio

RSE workers are coming back to New Zealand, but not until the new year.

Growers will be able to bring the workers to NZ in January, provided they pay a living wage and the cost of managed isolation.

Farmers and growers say if agriculture is to drag the country's economy back into shape, they'll need help to fix labour shortages.

While urban New Zealand went into a strict lockdown in April and… Audio

Fruit growers and dairy farmers say a shortage of workers will hamper agriculture's role in reviving a punch-drunk economy.

Yesterday New Zealand went officially into its first recession in a decade… Audio

Horticulturalists say they won't be able to harvest crops, unless they can find about 60,000 people to fill jobs normally done by international workers.

Covid-19 restrictions means those workers… Audio

A leading Hawke's Bay apple grower is describing this year's seasonal labour shortage as the worst he's ever seen and says he's seriously considering cutting down trees as a result. Audio

A leading Hawke's Bay orchardist says a decision by a US company to stop selling fruit trees to New Zealand could cost the industry billions of dollars. Last month the Ministry of Primary Industries… Audio