The apple industry body is not impressed with Turners & Growers who, it says, sold the interests of its own growers down the river in order to make a quick buck.

Pipfruit New Zealand chairman, Ian Palmer, told Country 99TV that Turners and Growers decision to vote down the industry’s move to adopt the Horticultural Export Authority Act for Australian exports, was made for short-term financial gain.

Mr Palmer says Turners and Growers were intimately involved in developing the HEA proposal which went to growers then turned around and shot it down at the final hurdle.

"They’ve been part of the process the whole way through. They were part of formulating the documents, have been part of the whole discussion and suggestions that it was watered down are incorrect.

"It just shows you they have different drivers in this business and they’re very different from their growers." 

More than 70 percent of the apple industry’s growers voted in favour of the HEA which would have brought in an industry marketing plan and quality controls.

However, exporters like Turners and Growers voted it down.

"Well Turners and Growers is a publicly listed company that is for sale right now.  It has to worry about its share price; I’m not sure that it really understands or is necessarily interested in its growers."  

Attempts to contact Turners and Growers for its take on events were unsuccessful although CEO Jeff Wesley has told media that Pipfruit NZ watered the HEA proposal down making it useless.