Fruit and vegeable growers have been told not to apologise for high produce prices because the cost is out of their control.
The message was delivered by Horticulture New Zealand president Andrew Fenton at the group's annual conference in Rotorua on Tuesday.
The conference was told that while prices are usually high in winter, they're even higher this year because of bad weather in Australia and New Zealand, the rise in GST and high on-farm costs.
Mr Fenton said growers need to make a profit to remain sustainable, and if they don't make a profit, it's inevitable New Zealand will have to import more produce from other countries.
