AUCKLAND, 21 June, 2022: As the country prepared to lockdown in March 2020, the small team of just five staff at United Fresh New Zealand
Incorporated quickly realised the impact that a nationwide shutdown would have on the country’s $6 billion horticulture
industry.
Their immediate actions to redirect hundreds of tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables to food banks and community
organisations, ensuring the country’s most vulnerable had access to nutritious food, has resulted in a place in the
finals of the Primary Industries New Zealand Awards.
United Fresh General Manager, Paula Dudley, says the Fruit and Vegetable Box Project was the culmination of years of
work for the team.
“We’ve been supporting and promoting the fresh produce industry, working with the entire value chain, from seed producer
and grower to consumer for 30 years. The relationships and networks established in that time gave us a platform to move
with speed in an unprecedented situation,” she says.
The Fruit and Vegetable Box Project offered a solution to two distinct problems resulting from the lockdown.
“With hospitality outlets and independent retailers forced to close, thousands of tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables
were at risk of being wasted. Crops destined for restaurants, tourism outlets, cruise ships and airline catering were
already planted, picked, or packed and our grower and wholesaler members needed alternative channels to move this
produce quickly or face financial hardship,” says Dudley.
“At the same time, school closures meant the fruit and vegetables destined for our Ministry of Health-funded initiative,
Fruit & Vegetables in Schools (FIS), could not be delivered. This amounted to over 120,000 pieces of fruit or vegetable
servings every school day with over 120,000 tamariki set to miss out on vital nutrition.”
Within days, the small team had sought Ministry of Health approval to divert FIS funding, presented a funding proposal
to the Ministry for Primary Industries for further assistance, and liaised with United Fresh member, Foodstuffs, to
secure a donation of 700 boxes of fruit and vegetables.
“We contacted foodbanks and City Missions to gauge demand for fresh produce amongst their communities. As word spread, a
number of smaller organisations asked to be included in the project. The most efficient way to move produce out to
communities was to work with large foodbank organisations that in turn distributed the produce to smaller groups,” says
Dudley.
The United Fresh team managed to mobilise their members to get the project up and running on 6 April 2020 – less than
two weeks after the first lockdown was announced.
“Getting the project going was just the start. We knew that we had to establish a system of protocols to monitor the
deliveries. We created databases, developed quality control systems, put in place controls to enable suppliers to adjust
deliveries in line with demand, liaised with our FIS school staff, set up financial and reporting systems,” says Dudley.
“Carrying out a project of this size would be quite an undertaking in normal circumstances. To manage it all under
lockdown with our team split into two bubbles taking turns in the office was certainly a challenge,” she says.
“While the United Fresh team set up and managed this project, its success was due to the cooperation of United Fresh
members and professionalism of the food distribution centres. We were proud to work alongside our members and take care
of our community at such a difficult time.”
The Fruit and Vegetable Box Project Statistics:10 regions25 food distribution centres125 satellite organisations294,000 boxes delivered in 202050,000 boxes delivered in 2021