By Iain MacIntyre
New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research chief operating officer Bruce Campbell is urging the New Zealand wine industry to proactively engage in further research and development to unleash its considerable potential for growth.
“Having built a good platform, the industry needed to now take the next leap forward. Good examples in the past have been where there has been a focus on sustainability, yield forecasting models or viticultural techniques to enhance wine flavours or styles that have really added benefits,” he says.
“The challenge is to grow more scale but at the same time maintain the price premium that is there – the premium people are willing to pay for New Zealand wine because it offers something more.”
Mr Campbell says his message was well received when delivered to the recent New Zealand Winegrowers’ Romeo Bragato conference in Auckland.
“Plant and Food, through the way Crown entities are funded now, has the opportunity to invest its core funding into partnerships with industry to be able to create more value.
For more information:
New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research
Tel: (09) 925-8652
Visit: www.plantandfood.co.nz
