The high Kiwi dollar is turning what looked like a promising season for apple growers, into yet another nightmare.

And now Nelson apple grower John McCliskie says its time the industry bucked up its ideas.

Mr McCliskie says the industry needs to start talking about how it’s going to make some money, because in the last decade the industry has had only a couple of good years.

But the industry has shrunk during that time, and it’s now reached the point where there are now many growers who are under severe economic stress.

“Investments are not occurring, growers have cutting out discretionary expenditure where they can.

"The last few months and the rise in the New Zealand dollar has exacerbated the situation dramatically this year, and where we’d hoped for a reasonable year has now turned into a very rough year.“

Mr McCliske says with growers capital now exhausted, its time the industry took a long hard look at itself.

He says the debate should not be about the industry model, but about its strategy, and developing its competitive advantage offshore, and it needs to cooperate and stop leaving money on the table.

“You know we have 63 exporters. In total. Of which about 25 account for 90 percent all going to the same customers. Be it four supermarkets in the UK, I think 6 or seven in Germany and similar in the United States and so on.

“So we all beat a path to the same customers going through different agents or different importers in many cases who then, in turn around and quote the same fruit back to the same retailer, who he might be supplying through a different exporter. And that’s the sort of behaviour that must stop because we’re just eroding value for the grower."

Further, John McCliskie says the industry needs to continue researching R&D and develop a plan to access the Australian market, and not stuff up the opportunity.