Rt Hon Winston Peters

Member of Parliament for Northland

New Zealand First Leader
19 NOVEMBER 2015

Speech to officially open the Mattamore Building,

Meadow Mushrooms

Hornby, Christchurch

4pm, Thursday, 19th November 2015

It is a genuine pleasure to be at a 100 per cent New Zealand-owned success story, which Meadow Mushrooms is. We need many more companies like this if we are to have that brighter future we all hope for.

Your success story reads like a real-life version of Corporate Survivor - from the Philip Burdon and Roger Giles mushroom farm in Cyprus in the 1960s, to the Cypriot war and partitioning of the island, leaving the business in the demilitarised zone and losing the market of Beirut, which back then was the Paris of the Middle East, to focus on Canterbury and the peace and security of New Zealand - is a great history of New Zealand entrepreneurship.

None of this could have been easy.

In contrast, since 1995, the value of listed private and publicly owned NZ companies lost into foreign control is immense - at about $24 billion. It is a tribute to the owners of this company, that they have not only kept it in New Zealand ownership, but have nurtured and grown it.

Only a few years ago, Edmund Bohan wrote, “Burdon: A Man of Our Time,” or six decades of time. Having known Philip and Roz for a few years it is hard to disagree with that title.

This company helped to pioneer airfreight to export markets and when the quality of spawn wasn’t of good enough quality, a lab was built, named after Philip’s eldest daughter.

As you may know, there are those uncharitable types who consider that some politicians treat the whole of New Zealand as “mushroom country”, by keeping us in the dark on so many issues….

Well, right now it is pleasing to be in actual “mushroom country”.

Meadow Mushrooms represents the type of business that must be supported and encouraged if we are to build a prosperous New Zealand.

In fact, we could even go so far as to say Meadow Mushrooms provides a template of the sort of business we want to see “mushrooming” across New Zealand!

The attributes Meadows has are:

• An outstanding product

• Success over the long term (40 years since start up)

• Entrepreneurial spirit and innovation

• Providing stable employment, and it is

• Kiwi owned!

These are characteristics that exemplify the type of agri-businesses that New Zealand must foster.

If events of recent years have taught us anything it is how dangerous it is for an economy to put all its eggs in one, or even a few, baskets.

The sudden collapse in dairy prices has been a salutary reminder that a resilient economy needs to be diverse with opportunities for companies like Meadow Mushrooms to grow.

So the expansion of Meadow Mushrooms sets an example that we need to see happening throughout the regions of New Zealand.

The opening of the Mattamore Building is the latest expression of a can-do attitude, a demonstration of confidence in our great primary industries and a show of strength in Canterbury.

In saying that, every one of the over 500 people employed by Meadow Mushrooms, wherever they may be in New Zealand, should be very proud too.

As that great Scotsman Thomas Carlyle once noted, “Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom."

Mushrooms have long been celebrated as a source of nutrients. There is no doubt mushrooms can help New Zealanders in combatting what is an obesity epidemic.

Our consumption of mushrooms is a third less of what it is across the Tasman. So there is considerable headroom for growth and growth of course means jobs and profits.

That “art” Carlyle mentioned, further extends to our forests with Landcare Research estimating there are upwards of 24,000 different fungi species in New Zealand, with barely one-third of them so-far discovered.

We know mushrooms are a pharmacological wonder. Mushrooms need antibacterial and antifungal compounds to survive in the wild so it is unsurprising that we could find something world-beating. We may even have antiviral mushrooms and mushrooms capable of treating tumours.

Yet how will we access this potential without ambitious R&D investment, or supporting small and medium sized companies to grow into the likes of Meadow Mushrooms?

Philip is far better to comment but other exporters tell me that they too often find government is the living embodiment of Ronald Reagan’s warning, that the ten most dangerous words in the English language are “Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.”

Five years ago, a planning concept called “reverse sensitivity”cost 160 people their jobs in Morrinsville, when NZ Mushrooms were forced to close. This again struck three years later at Zealong Tea Farm’s former Borman Road property, near Hamilton.

Relatively new neighbours complaining about existing activities which they knew about before they settled there.

New Zealand needs to back sensible reforms and have real plans to supercharge growth in companies.

The challenge we face in New Zealand is to harness talent, and enterprise to build businesses on a much wider scale – in that way many smaller businesses can be turned into large success stories like Meadow Mushrooms.

It is also worthy of acknowledgement is that Meadow Mushrooms is not just a major employer in Canterbury but is also supportive of many cultural activities in the region.

Finally, let us acknowledge all those who have contributed to the success of Meadow Mushrooms. In fact, it’s inspiring in a world where inspiration is in short supply these days.

Being realistic there are no “magic mushrooms” because success is the result of hard work, commitment to quality and a willingness to innovate.

Today this is deservedly Meadow Mushroom’s day, it is a day for the people of Christchurch and Canterbury. It is a day for the owners and staff of this fine New Zealand company.

Above all it is a day for Philip and Roz Burdon because this business is an outstanding tribute to an outstanding New Zealand family.

Ladies and gentlemen it is common at this type of function to hear effusive phrases and adulatory language.

What’s special about today is that all of the fine sentiments expressed, happily, just happen to be true.

ENDS

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