The head of Horticulture New Zealand says customers are going to have to get used to paying more if they want to buy fresh fruit and vegetables grown in New Zealand.
President Andrew Fenton told growers at their annual conference in Auckland that the biggest challenge facing them is to provide quality fresh produce at profitable rates.
Mr Fenton said the industry is facing an unprecedented assault from cheap imported fresh and processed food from offshore.
If growers are unable to grow profitably, then he said it will not be long before New Zealand imports all of its fruit and vegetables from lower cost producers.
