The Green Party says the Government's failure to move quickly to support Hawke's Bay growers has contributed to the region being left without a facility to process their vegetables.
"The Government failed to act fast enough to keep this factory in local hands. There were people ready to buy it and keep frozen vegetable production going in Hawke's Bay, but the Government's foot-dragging on financial support means New Zealand has lost more local food production and processing," says Green Party agriculture spokesperson Steve Abel.
Growers confirmed yesterday they have withdrawn their bid to buy the McCain factory. They are currently considering their options for a grower-owned food processing facility in the region.
"We are losing food growers and processing plants across the country, and every closure makes it harder to feed ourselves from what we grow here. If we want local food production, food security and resilience, we have to be willing to intervene to protect strategic assets like the McCain facility."
"New Zealanders do not want us as a country to lose our ability to feed ourselves with our own locally grown produce and are dismayed that frozen peas at the supermarket will now not be New Zealand grown, but imported."
"The Government found up to $60 million for a cement factory but couldn't find a couple of hundred thousand dollars in time to scope a growers' co-operative taking over the factory."
"I am concerned that McCain may have asset-stripped the facility by selling the machinery. Questions need to be asked whether this is anti-competitive behaviour used to stop it being sold as a viable processing facility."
"The Green Party will keep pushing until this Government treats growing and processing our own food as seriously as it treats pouring concrete," says Abel.