Summary of the Executive Minutes

Minutes of the combined Executive Committee and Regional Chairs
Greytown 14 & 15 March 2009

Present:
Jim Syme (chair), Steve Clark, Mark Heard, Margaret Edwards, Graham Keen, Andrew Taylor, Tony Casey, Ian Juno, Ross Legh, Roger Armstrong, Brian Milne, Judy Rae, Colin Campbell.

Apologies:
Rob Dean, Ian Manson

Introduction
The Chairman welcomed all to the combined meeting.  The Regional Chair meeting was discussed. The combined issues were deferred until later in the agenda.  The primary objective was to address the issue of the EVOO awards.

Motion Submitted by Ian Manson
Under Olives New Zealand Inc. Constitution - I refer the Executive to Rule 5.7.1 (a). 

As a financial member of Olives New Zealand Inc, I hereby request the Executive to consider the above Rule at the commencement of the forthcoming meeting to be held in Greytown, over the weekend 14th – 15th March, and vote on the issue of suspending the following members.
•    Tony Casey, and
•    Mark Heard

These two financial members of Olives New Zealand Inc. and representing those financial members of Olives New Zealand Inc., within their region, over the past period of five months have brought fellow members and the olive industry in this country and internationally into disrepute.

Therefore, as a financial member of Olives New Zealand Inc. I ask the Executive of Olives New Zealand Inc. vote on suspending the above two members forthwith with the view of terminating their membership following the required stand down period of 28-days.

This vote must be taken at the commencement of this meeting and if the vote is in favour of suspension, both parties must be asked to leave the meeting and not participate in the weekends programme.

For the purposes of this vote, I as Chairperson of Olives New Zealand Inc. Canterbury Region, pass my vote as a proxy to Graham Keen, Secretary, Olives New Zealand Inc. – Canterbury Region. 

The Chair read his response to Ian re the motion and recommended that the motion be rejected.

Put to the vote, the motion was unanimously rejected.

Regional Chairs Meeting
EVOO Awards
The EVOO discussions were summarised as follows:

1. Existing protocols are strong but there is a need to completely revamp rule 6.2
2. A Scrutineer will be appointed for all future awards.
3. The role and title of Chief Judge is to be dispensed with.
4. The/Scrutineer will report to the Executive Officer only on all findings and issues.
5. Specific agreed Instructions/Terms of Reference will need to be drafted for the Scrutineer.
6. The Scrutineer cannot be a member of ONZ or be involved in the Olive Industry

Awards Judging Panel
Ideally each panel would consist of 7 judges, 5 is the minimum and 8 or 9 being the maximum.The number of judges required depends on the number of entries and the number of days available for judging.

The Award Judges discussions were summarised as follows; and it was noted:

1. Prior to the awards judging commencing, each judge must sign a Conflict of Interest declaration including any interest in any brand.
2. A list of all Judges and any brands they are associated with will be listed on the ONZ members section the web site.
3. The Rules and Conditions and the Protocols for judging must be revised to ensure that any producer/judge’s marks will not be included if their oil is recalled to be judged for a special award- best in class or best in show
4. Both local and international judges must comply with the Rules and Conditions and Protocols for judging.
5. The rules and protocols for judges should ensure there is no perception of any collusion.
6. It was agreed that we need to review ALL our current existing rules and expand where necessary, to show the criteria, responsibilities and ALL facets of the awards process, so that any perceptions of collusion or undue influence are totally negated
7. ONZ must follow IOC standards with regard to scientific tasting procedures.

Actions

1. The rules and conditions +governing the awards are to be reviewed and amended.
2. The Executive is to approach The Australian Olive Association for their judging criteria.
3. Where necessary, ONZ will strengthen the Rules and Conditions as agreed. ALL rules and conditions and protocols and procedures will be subject to evaluation.
4. The revised rules and conditions and protocols would be placed on our web site once finalised and distributed to all members..

2008 Awards
The summarised discussions are:

1. Margaret Edwards advised she had unwittingly broken part of rule 6.2., as a protocol had not been put in place to ensure that a producer judge’s marks would not be included if their oil was re-judged for a special award.
2. Margaret advised she wished to return the Best in Show.
3. ONZ are to engage the advice of a suitable PR person to acknowledge the error made and emphasise the substantial changes that will be made to the rules and conditions to ensure this situation does not occur again.
4. There is no obligation to respond to Chen Palmer but  there are some issues in the paper that will need to be evaluated and addressed if necessary

Actions

1. ONZ accepted the apology and offer to return the 2008 award for Best in Show.
2. ONZ is to compose a suitable release in conjunction with a suitable PR person.
3. ONZ is to seek advice and guidance on the issues raised in the Chen Palmer paper.

Future Judges.
The summarised discussions are:

1. There is a  need to have international judges each year, albeit it is a costly exercise
2. International judges bring an ‘international perspective’ to the awards and ONZ should consider securing in the future judges from Australia or Spain.
3. International judges expertise should be utilised while they are in NZ. They should be given the opportunity to present at our annual conference and to run workshops.
4. ONZ look at developing a 4 year rotation for all judges. However, as it takes at least 3 or 4 years for judges to become experienced and competent, this may not be realistic, especially given the small number of people willing to train.
5. ONZ seek to attract new judges from both overseas and within NZ.
6. There are 2 potential Italian judges’, IOC accredited and recognised, resident in Hawke’s Bay and they would be ideal to use for our future awards.

Actions

1. ONZ has a strategic target of securing new judges. 
2. Regions are to nominate new or trainee judges with a view to participating in the awards judging process.
3. ONZ to investigate using the two Italian Judges from the Hawkes Bay

Commodity Levy Proposal
The discussion points were:

1. It is vital need to consult with all olive producers in the industry.
2. This is a key point in securing government approval for the proposal when finalised.
3. Amend critical success factor 7 to read “To deliver economic cost efficiencies in NZ’s production capability”.
4. The Hawke’s Bay preferred a levy on olive weight of fruit – not on volume of oil produced.
5. The main issues that were recognised during the presentation were:
   
   • The levy cost/income.
   • ONZ subscriptions when a levy is established.
6. Delete the point where the proposal stated that all oil must be certified, to read all oil produced for commercial sale only.

It was agreed that:

1. The levy could be both per kilo of fruit and per kilo of oil with the levy to apply to both depending on the choice of the grower.
2. Subscription fee for ONZ  would reduce to $60.00 plus gst per annum
3. The day to day operating costs of ONZ will be incorporated in the levy cost structure
4. It was agreed that if the levy is approved, all levy payers will be invited to join ONZ at the reduced membership fee of $60.00.

Actions

1. That all consultation meetings and presentations be made by the end of March 2009 for presentation to MAF/ Minister of Agriculture by 1 May 2009.
2. The Executive Officer seek and acquire information on the recently introduced levies in South Australia and Western Australia
3. The Regional Chairs are to provide feed back to the Executive Officer on the responses and outcomes of the meetings in their regions by 30 April 2009.
4. The Executive is to develop a strategy for presenting to the Crown in 2009, should all responses from the regions show a high proportion of negative responses.
5. A draft budget for advertising and promotion of the presentations is to be prepared by Margaret Edwards.  This will be distributed to all Executives and Regional Chairs.

Conference 2009.
The discussions are summarised as follows:

1. There is a need to capture and retain sustainability, especially under the current uncertain economic climate.
2. The Field day on the Friday was invaluable
3. The conference run over 2 days was a much better concept.
4. Include presentation on the concerns of processing costs.
5. Consider key sub groups (ie: processing, exporting etc) to bring together like minded people addressing common concerns.
6. Include an Executive meeting at the conference.
7. Develop workshops with the keynote speakers at the conference – follow on developing assistance for the local market (cottage to large scale).
8. The Village Press had experiences in the export and local markets and the associated demands.   They could be approached to provide a workshop on these demands the issues to address when developing markets the area.
9. Post the conference/awards, each region invite key buyers from the supermarkets, deli’s etc with one on one presentation.
10. Turn the conference/awards into an event, develop stories for promotion of our oils and the industry and invite industry leaders.
11. Leverage better media coverage after the awards.
12. Consider establishing additional awards for recognising people’s contribution to the industry.
13. At future conferences the sponsors (ie: CB Norwood’s) should be given the opportunity to promote/demonstrate their products at the field day.
14. Consider an awards dance.
15. It was agreed that sponsorship was a key component to the success of the awards.  Securing sponsorship will not be an easy task under the current economic conditions

Strategic Plan.
Brief discussion was held on the plan.

• Some of the figures in the plan need to be updated.
• The Asthma Trust donation is to be removed.

Action

• Each region to provide an update to the Executive Officer with revised data by 30 Apriol 2009.

Communications
Comments were sought from meeting.

1. There is a lack of communication to the members on Waiheke and this is to be rectified.
2. Amend meetings (to avoid conference calls if at all possible) and replace them with eye to eye meetings at an agreed venue.
3. Streamline the collective Executive and Regional Chairs meetings and we all meet in August and compose new rules etc having trialled collective meetings

Action

1. All regions to provide Steve Clark with information/news etc for the newsletter.
2. Steve Clark will create pages on the website for each region.

Request to Change Conference Date
The request from Kapiti to bring forward the conference date was considered, but because of harvesting issues in all the regions, the current time frame - early October would be retained.

Postal Voting
A recommendation from Paul Harris to amend our protocols and rules for postal voting  was accepted. 

Action

• The Executive Officer is to advise of our decision and thank him for his recommendation by 30 April 2009.

The Orchardist
The meeting was updated on our deal with the Orchardist – it will come out quarterly at no cost to ONZ members.  Any articles sought by the Orchardist will be requested through the Executive Officer.  He will provide the Orchardist with members best able to comment/ contribute on the subject sought.

Olive Promotional Material
The promotional balloons/badges used at the Waiheke promotion were displayed and an offer to make these available for all regions at a small cost.

Certification Red Dot
Discussion on this subject is summarised as follows:

• The ONZ initials on the label needs to changed to read “Olives New Zealand”.
• The use of the current colours needs to be reviewed to ensure that they are not offensive in certain export markets.
• Look at printing the Certification Label on each Company’s labels.

Action

1. A sub-committee is to be formed to review the “Certification Label” and submit the review to all the regions for consultation.  Time frame to be advised.

Membership
The issue of sub’s renewals was discussed and the need to ensure over due subs are chased up in accordance with good business practices and those that remain unpaid as of 31 Jan cease to be members.  It was noted that once subs are due access to the Member Section of the Web Site is unavailable until the new subscription is paid.

Financials
The financials were tabled and discussed.  The following was noted:

1. There is a need to implement the levy for our future financial well being.
2. The cost for Hort NZ Services
3. All cost for the forthcoming Processors course will be met by the SFF Maturity Index Grant.
4. The process for reimbursement of costs for the meeting was advised by the Treasurer.

Action

A motion was put that accounts be taken as read and accepted.
Carried

Processors Course 3-5 April

1. The course is proceeding over the 3 days.
2. Leandro had agreed to come across and address the course.
3. Alfa Laval would have 3 representatives attending, including Matteo Vetti from Italy and Peter Evangalista from Australia.
4. Craig Hunt from Unity Scientific -Melbourne will be attending.

Project Index Course

• An update was provided  on the ripeness research project index and its current status (3 year study on maturing index)
• The research is done under the Sustainable Farming Fund.
• The study was designed to find any issues that would impede the industry from exporting.
• Noted that there are various harvesting concerns from regions that need to be included in the research.

Action

Margaret Edward offer to compose a summary on the research and to circulate it to all the Executive and Regional Chairs by 30 April 2009 was accepted.

General Business
After discussion the following was agreed.

1. All members of the Executive and the Regional Chairs are to complete a disclosure of interest register/schedule and forward to the Executive Officer by 30 April 2009. 
2. Steve Clark to publish the details on the ONZ member’s section of the web site by 15 May 2009.
3. Biographies of the Regional Chairs are to be included on the Web Site; Steve Clark to action.
4. Correspondence received from India regarding consulting services was discussed.

Meeting Closure
The Chair thanked all delegates for attending and complimented all for participating in constructive discussions.

Thanks were conveyed and noted to Ian and Karen Juno for their work organising the meeting, venue, billets etc

There being no further business the meeting closed at 2.10pm