The food sector is a significant industry in Taranaki with a burgeoning base of innovative companies.
The four successful projects are now confirmed as follows:
- Kaitahi: Next generation product development
- Egmont Honey: Value–add honey project
- NZ Quinoa: Value-added products
- Green Meadows Beef: Value-added Taranaki meat export project
There are also three smaller projects which will be supported and are listed below:
- Freeman Farms: Taranaki’s market garden
- Juno Gin: The Great NZ Juniper Hunt
- Maison Aotearoa Artisan Charcuterie: Transforming local produce into high-value meat products for the local, national and international market.
The Major Regional Food Opportunities is a priority initiative in the Future Food section of the Tapuae Roa Action Plan which seeks to accelerate this growth through identifying a long list of major regional food opportunities to four initiatives which offer significant regional development growth prospects.
To develop the long list, Venture Taranaki initiated a call for proposals late last year, and since that time they have been assessed by a panel against benchmark criteria.