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Meet Duncan Park

Job: 

Market Access & Compliance Manager – T&G Global.

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Job description: 

Lead the design and implementation of the NZ and Global Pipfruit quality governance, policies and processes, ensuring customers receive products that meet or exceed their expectations. I work on creating a quality culture throughout T&G Pipfruit both in NZ and Globally.

Work background: 

I have worked on orchards – spraying, thinning and harvesting across summerfruits and pears. I have had 15 years experience as a lab rat then I was a manager of postharvest laboratories covering maturity and storage trials, DNA analysis of Insects, fruit mineral analysis, chemical residue analysis, packaging trials, new variety assessments & development of post-harvest storage regimes.

I have had over 20 years experience in technical specification development for end to end quality across the horticultural sector – maturity, grade standards, post-harvest treatments and coolchain, amongst many other things. I have also had to manage a lot of different staff.

Favourite part of job: 

Every year is different, so determining optimum windows to harvest fruit then the best storage regime for that fruit.

Least favourite part of job: 

Non-compliance root cause determination and charging.

What I am working on now: 

Shifting plastic-based fruit labels into a fully industrial compostable label.

A quick story about a job well done: 

All our fruit leaves the country containerised. So the more fruit we can fit in a container the better. Working alongside collagues from Carter Holt Harvey we were challenged to optimise this process. We ended up taking 1mm of the height off each tray – this allowed us to add a further two layers of trays per pallet – effectively adding a whole pallet per container – free.

A (humorous) story about a job that went badly and what you learned: 

I spent a lot of time cutting fruit – assessing for storage disorders and eating quality – I had a favourite weapon (knife). One day four of us were finishing a large trial that had taken us many hours assessing over many weeks. A staff member had bought us a large chocolate cake to celebrate – which we were hacking into with our knives when in walked the Prime Minister of NZ.

Qualifications: 
  • B.Sc in Plant Physiology
  • New Zealand Postharvest Course UC Davis USA
  • Numerous on going job skills and refreshers – fire warden training, First Aid, Dale Carnegie courses, HACCP - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points for food safety, pest identification, packaging food contact law, computer courses.
Interests outside work: 

Wife, two teenage daughters and Sam the dog. Keen sportsman – triathlons, ocean swims, biking (road or mountain bike) and I enjoy puzzles.


Duncan Park is the Market Access & Compliance Manager at T&G Global. Image: Supplied.

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