Paul Heywood and Leo Mangos have been recognised for their work in establishing a single point of entry for New Zealand kiwifruit exports. The pair were named joint winners of the Fresh Carriers Hayward Medal at an awards ceremony in the Bay of Plenty overnight.
The chairman of the pan-industry award’s judging panel, Paul Jones, said Heywood and Mangos worked as a team during the late 1980s to win the support of growers and government for the single-desk model. It came after a stock market crash in 1988, which triggered a steep drop in kiwifruit prices in the industry’s core European market. This caused significant fragmentation amongst growers, packers and exporters, who were at odds over how to recover from its slump.
Both recipients held senior positions within the powerful Fruitgrowers’ Federation at the time of the collapse, with Heywood acting as the industry’s group’s president, while Mangos was the director of the federation’s Bay of Plenty section. Mangos also served as chairman of the Labour Party’s Primary Producers’ Council, which set policy for the primary sector.
““With their very different personalities and philosophies, Leo and Paul were both committed to having their industry run by growers and cooperative marketing,” Jones said. “The group spearheading this was set the Herculean task of getting 80 percent grower support to establish a single desk exporter – something no one thought possible. “They did it. Leo and Paul succeeded in persuading 84 percent of growers to back their call for a Kiwifruit Marketing Board with statutory powers to buy all export kiwifruit – a precursor to the Zespri of today.”
The Hayward Medal was set up in 2012 to honour the dedication, knowledge, excellence and passion of the New Zealand kiwifruit industry’s leaders. Former recipients include the former chair of the Kiwifruit Marketing Board, John Palmer and kiwifruit breeder, Russell Lowe.
