Business Central February 2021

| 35 Four Seasons PGF a boost to horticultural training Karen Phelps Plenty on: Four Seasons’ managing director, Elliot Callender, right, with operations manager Marc Ferris. EASTLAND’S LOCALLY OWNED COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PACKAGING SUPPLIER www.baytrade.co.nz · Packaging and industrial products · Health and safety equipment · Forestry harvesting · Silviculture equipment · Cafeteria supplies · Cleaning and hygiene products 21 Banks Street, Awapuni, Gisborne • william@baytrade.co.nz • 06 867 9550 65 Thames Street, Pandora, Napier T 06 833 6650 | F 06 833 6656 E saleshb@thepalletcompany.co.nz www.thepalletcompany.nz HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRIAL EXPORT For all your Industrial & Engineering Supplies Proud to be supporting local industry Ph 06 868 8214 | 6 Tupaea St. | sales@tradezonegisborne.co.nz 16 Innes Street, Gisborne, New Zealand. Ph. 06 863 0060 Fax. 06 863 0059 E: accounts@ims.net.nz Specialising in: Industrial Plant Maintenance • Industrial/Commercial/Electrical • Automa�on • Laser Alignment • Conveyors and Bel�ng • Thermal Imaging • Specialists Welding/Fabrica�on • Project Management www.ims.net.nz IMS team thank Four Seasons for being a valued customer F our Seasons in Gisborne is halfway through a two year horticultural training programme supported by the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF). The programme aims to train 50 full-time employees and address skills shortages in the horticulture sector as well as provide an ongoing benefit to the community. From six full time staff in November 2019 the business already employs 37 plus 54 on casual con- tracts or fixed term agreements. Managing director Elliot Callender says that the programme has been a big success and helped the company to move from a harvest- ing/packing operation for just squash to also develop a citrus packing division for domestic and export markets. The PGF has also allowed the company to diversify into the kiwifruit industry, hiring a kiwifruit manager and managing blocks for kiwifruit growers. Additionally the business supplies labour for picking, pruning and main- tenance of citrus crops. This aspect of the business alone employs about 70 people and Elliot predicts this will double next year. “In Gisborne there has been a lot of kiwifruit development and apple orchards so there is a lot more work out there. “As an independent packhouse Four Sea- sons can harvest, pack and supply as well as complete all the logistics for customer require- ments so growers are looking to use us - we tick all the boxes,” he says. Workers are all local and Four Seasons has recruited via a number of methods including facebook and other channels. Each full time worker through the PGF train- ing programme is given a training pathway and can complete qualifications such as level 2 horticulture as well as given specific in-house on the job training. Elliot says the programme has identified key issues that often prevent people from working to their best, one being that a high rate of absenteeism was discovered. Four Seasons has addressed this by picking REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT people up in its own vehicles so everyone has the ability to get to work, as well as providing access to full time pastoral care. Part of the drive has been for Four Seasons to secure a stable workforce. Typically every season the company goes on a recruitment and training drive, which is both time consum- ing and expensive. “Our product is our staff and we see in coming years there will be a huge amount of strain on labour. “So we are very focused on training people to be part of our team. We’ve said to people come and join us and we’ll train you. We’ve had a lot of uptake and this programme will be critical going forward to recruit and retain staff.” With regards to its buttercup squash operation Four Seasons also provides com- plete traceability from planting through to its customers. It is GAP NZ approved, an MPI approved or- ganisation (MAO), as well as Zespri GAP com- pliant for vine maintenance and harvesting of kiwifruit, which ensures that best practices are in place for the production, packaging and distribution of New Zealand fresh produce. Seasonally the business packs and exports approximately13,000 tonnes of squash to Japan, South Korea and China. From a small business concentrating on squash to now operating 12 months of the year across a variety of crops Elliot says the future is looking bright for Four Seasons. “The sky’s the limit.”