Growing discipline through total quality management in a New Zealand horticulture region

Abstract

Horticultural activity in New Zealand is changing through an intensified search for higher value, customer-oriented production. This paper examines the transformative influences of quality management initiatives in the horticultural complex of Hawke's Bay, a major producing region for apples, wine grapes, tomatoes, asparagus and squash. The paper identifies specific initiatives in each sector, explores the nature of the context in which growers operate and examines strategies growers have followed in response to structural pressures and an emerging understanding of quality management in the region. The paper concludes that the quality management initiatives represent a new governance dimension in the horticultural scene which has the potential to completely refashion the organisation of sectoral production systems.