Meadow Mushrooms

I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.   Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the afternoon (sign)

I specifically greet you: Hon Philip Burdon, Chairman of the Board of Meadow Mushrooms Ltd, and your wife Ros; Lucy Giles, widow of the late Roger Giles, co-founder of Meadow Mushrooms, and your children, Emma Steel and Ryan Giles; Roger Young, Chief Executive of Meadow Mushrooms, and your wife Kay; Peter Townsend, chief executive of Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce; board and staff members of Meadow Mushrooms, Members of Parliament, Mayors and Councillors, ladies and gentlemen.

It has been a great pleasure for my wife Susan and I to accept the invitation to attend this ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of Meadow Mushrooms – and the completion of work which has greatly expanded the enterprise.

The Governor-General role has provided a number of opportunities to see successful and flourishing New Zealand businesses, and this is a particularly interesting example – a New Zealand enterprise devoted to commercial growing of the agaricus bisporus the meat of the vegetable world - the mushroom.

A century ago, this region produced sheep and wheat.  The idea that Canterbury could produce mushrooms on a commercial basis might have been regarded as, at best, fanciful.

In fact, Philip Burdon has been quoted as saying that when Meadow Mushrooms began here in Prebbleton in 1970, the enterprise was “mocked as a ridiculous pipedream”.

But Philip Burdon and Roger Giles were already experienced in the growing of mushrooms having operated a similar enterprise called Mattamore Mushrooms half a world away from here: in Cyprus.

I understand that the idea had come from Roger, who had bought 10 acres of land near Nicosia in Cyprus, on which were disused sandstone quarries that had once provided the building blocks for Roman forts and Crusaders’ castles.

He had decided that the great underground caverns beneath would be perfect for mushroom growing.

Philip Burdon, according to his biographer, Edmund Bohan, “did not particularly like mushrooms and knew nothing whatsoever about growing them”.

“But,” Bohan added, “the novelty, the challenge and the sheer adventurousness of the idea” attracted both Philip and his wife Ros.

They took part in the venture – with a stipulation that they would set up a branch in New Zealand once the Cyprus operation was firmly established.

The Prebbleton operation was initially housed in four sheds that Roger Giles and Philip Burdon worked on themselves as they could not afford to employ building labourers.
 
Forty years later, in a much expanded operation, the workforce, I am told, has grown to as many as 500, making Meadow Mushrooms one of the larger employers in the South Island.

Edmund Bohan writes that Roger Giles and Philip Burdon had “a unique combination of complementary abilities”. Giles “supplying the focus and commitment to production and technology, and Burdon the marketing, administrative and strategic skills”.

I note that this country has since seen those skills of Philip Burdon’s at work in his career in public life, including time as Minister of Trade and of Commerce, and also in contributions to organisations such as the Asia New Zealand Foundation, of which he is the chairman and with which I have had a long and valued association myself.

I would like to end by congratulating all those who have been involved in Meadow Mushrooms, and wishing the company all the best for the next 40 years.

I want to close in New Zealand’s first language, wishing everyone good health and fortitude in your endeavours.  No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.