When a major employer closes and another downsizes, the impact doesn’t stop at the factory gate.

In Hastings it affects workers, growers, contractors, suppliers, transport operators, local businesses, and families across our region – because when steady jobs disappear, it is felt around kitchen tables, in local shops, and across the wider community.

That is why the recent changes at McCain and Wattie’s matter to our community, and why Council has a role to play. Over recent weeks we’ve brought together growers and industry to understand the drivers and impacts, and successfully pushed for a national review of the issues that have resulted in these business decisions.

Wattie’s is not just a factory. For many families in this district, it is part of their history. Parents and grandparents worked there. Growers built businesses around supplying it. Contractors and transport operators have relied on it. It is part of Hastings’ identity as a food-producing district.

But it is also important to say this clearly: Hastings is not starting from a weak position.

We have strong growers, manufacturers, exporters and businesses that continue to play a major role in our district. Hastings is a powerhouse in primary industry, manufacturing, health and technology for the region, which provide about 60 per cent of Hawke’s Bay jobs, and we must remain focused on continued growth.

We have an opportunity and a responsibility to respond with urgency to these recent announcements.

Since they were made, I have been working with Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Will Foley, growers and industry, to advocate at a national level with one clear Hawke’s Bay voice.

This is a regional and national issue, not just a Hastings issue. Many affected growers are in Central Hawke’s Bay. Workers come from across the region, including Napier. The consequences reach well beyond one council boundary.

It is also clear that the response cannot sit with local government alone. These closures are not just local business decisions. They raise serious questions about energy costs, food security, processing capacity, supply chains, and whether regional New Zealand can keep growing and making food close to where it is produced.

That is why the Primary Production Select Committee’s decision to open a briefing into these closures matters. Following strong advocacy from this region, Hawke’s Bay now has a national forum where growers, workers, councils and businesses can put the facts on the table – what has driven these decisions, what the impacts are, and what practical steps may be needed.

There is a second part to this work as well: Hastings must keep building a stronger, more diverse economy.

Our primary industries will always be at the heart of who we are. They are a huge strength. But this moment shows why we also need to keep pulling the levers Council does have to support industrial growth, food innovation, technology, manufacturing and knowledge-based jobs.

Over the past decade, Council has rezoned land to enable industrial development at Irongate and Ōmāhu Road, supported wet industry capacity at Whakatū and Tōmoana, and supported Foodeast Haumako as a food innovation hub.

Interest in industrial-zoned land remains strong, including from forward-looking, technology-driven companies. The high uptake of Irongate land has seen pre-planning underway for the expansion of that industrial area to cater for further growth.

This is where Hastings needs to be ambitious and practical at the same time. We must back the industries we already have, while attracting the next generation of food innovation, agri-tech, high-value processing, export-focused businesses and knowledge-based employers.

That is not fluffy economic talk. It matters because good jobs give young people a reason to stay, families the confidence to build a future here, and businesses the confidence to invest. A stronger economy also helps protect the rating base, which matters when households are already under pressure from rates, power, insurance and everyday costs.

None of this removes the immediate impact of what McCain and Heinz Wattie’s have decided. It does not pay a worker’s mortgage or replace a grower’s contract tonight.

There are things Council cannot do. We cannot force a multinational company to keep a plant open. We do not control national energy prices, supermarket settings, export markets, trade policy or consumer preferences. We should not pretend local government has powers it does not have.

But we can bring growers and industry together to address issues, advocate nationally and enable commercial growth. We can support investment. And we can make sure Hastings is not passive about its future.

People across the district are already asking the right questions. Do growers and suppliers have alternative processing options? Are there new ownership or partnership models that could work? What would it take to attract the next generation of food businesses, manufacturers and agri-tech companies?

Those questions deserve serious answers. Some answers will need to come from central government. Some from industry. Some from growers, processors and investors. Council’s role is to help bring those conversations together, advocate for Hastings and Hawke’s Bay, and keep building the conditions for people and businesses to succeed here.

Hastings has come through hard economic times before. We have the people, the land, the skills and the drive to work through this one too.

The work now is to make sure we do not simply react to change, but shape what comes next for Hawke’s Bay.