KVH attended the Biosecurity New Zealand Forum in Auckland earlier this week. The forum included the awards dinner and ceremony mentioned above. Many of the awards went to Bay of Plenty organisations which was an excellent outcome for the region, but the supreme winner was Environment Southland which won for its Fiordland Marine Regional Pathway Plan, developed to reduce the risk of pests entering Fiordland. This pioneering project has created the first biosecurity pathway plan in New Zealand, which Environment Southland is using to protect one of New Zealand’s most unique areas from pests entering on local and visiting vessels.

The theme of this year’s forum was “Biosecurity: Partnering to protect” which underlined the need for us all to connect and align our efforts to ensure our biosecurity system remains world-leading.  A number of keynote presentations looked to the future and how we can take action to achieve a necessary level of protection.

The challenges ahead are significant. Lyn O’Connoll, the Deputy Secretary of Australia’s Agriculture and Water Resources, said biosecurity risk to Australia was expected to increase by over 70% in the next 20 years given the volumes and complexities of modern trade, changes in climate and environment, businesses’ focus on short-term profits, and the spread of pests and diseases around the world. If this increase were to occur, investment in biosecurity would need to triple just to maintain Australia’s current level of protection. These were sobering thoughts from Australia and described a scenario which is likely to apply here as well.

However, there was plenty of inspiration as well. A common theme was that biosecurity seems to have entered a new era – there were many exciting new projects and innovative approaches on display and recognised at the awards night.

The second day of the forum was dedicated to taking action, starting with the launch of the Biosecurity 2025 Implementation Plan and a series of workshops to identify how we transition ideas into tangible actions.

The forum was opened by the new Director General of MPI, Ray Smith, who stayed throughout the event to understand the challenges and opportunities for MPI in managing biosecurity risk to New Zealand.

You can find out more about the biosecurity winners here. 

We’re running a short survey about the ways in which we share information with you, and how often.

We’re working to raise awareness about good biosecurity practice, the benefits these can bring, and the potentially devastating impacts of another incursion on our orchards. In doing this, we need to learn more about the ways you prefer us to keep in touch with you and how we can get important information under your nose.

This survey will give us a clearer picture of what we should do more of and what we should do less of so that we’re better serving growers by providing the information and resources needed.

Your views are important. Please take part (it will only take around four minutes to complete) and help us work together to continue protecting New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry from unwanted pest and disease threats. Complete the survey here.

The survey closes 5pm Monday 3 December 2018. All responses are anonymous and will be kept confidential to KVH. 

Last week, KVH staff monitored 10 orchards in the Whangarei Controlled Area. These orchards included three of the region’s four Psa-positive orchards, and those surrounding them. Staff also monitored three orchards outside the Controlled area.

Infection is well controlled on the positive orchards and the only symptoms observed by KVH were minimal spotting on some Bruno suckers. Samples were taken from some orchards during this round, but no Psa positive sites were identified.

Growers in the Whangarei region, particularly those in the Controlled Area, have been regularly monitoring their vines and taking samples where there have been concerns over symptoms.

AgFirst Motueka will be completing an independent monitoring round of a selection of South Island orchards in the last week of November, to confirm the region is still Psa Not Detected.

Contractors are out in force over the next few weeks collecting flowers for pollen milling. It’s important to select flowers for milling that are as clean as possible, to reduce the risk of spreading Psa via pollen.

For the past 3 years, KVH has been collecting pollen samples from Recovery regions and had them tested by Hill Laboratories for Psa.

Last year, Psa was detected in all 11 samples tested and all 33 sub-samples. The levels of Psa detected were all high. Live Psa bacteria was found when culturing 28 of the 33 sub samples.

Please refer to KVH Protocol: Artificial Pollination for further details on requirements for pollen mills and flower collectors.

It is a requirement under the National Pest Management Plan (NPMP) that all growers of Not Detected orchards in all regions monitor their orchards annually and report their results to KVH by 31 October.

KVH has so far received about 40% of these results. If your orchard is Not Detected and you have not monitored or reported please do so ASAP using the online form (or by phoning KVH) to ensure you are compliant. View reporting results by region here. 

If you are unsure whether your orchard is recorded as Psa positive or Not Detected please call us at KVH 0800 665 825 and we can clarify this for you.

We are happy to you assist with entering your monitoring results electronically.

There has been a significant increase in the number of pampas seeds detected on fruit in the 2018 packing season. Any seed attached to fruit is a reject factor and may cause market access issues if found within a shipment or container.  Pampas seed “finds” went from 50 in 2016 to 543 in 2018. Almost all seed contaminating fruit was found to have been from the very invasive South American grass-like plant known as pampas (Cortaderia selloana, C. jubata).

Pampas is well-established in most regions where kiwifruit is grown and will be in full-flower in February-May. The seeds (more than 100,000 per flowerhead) will be dispersed by strong winds - any pampas growing in or adjacent to kiwifruit orchards can cause problems. If pampas is growing in your orchard or shelter belt, destroy it now - before it flowers. Plants can be dug out or removed by a digger; mulched by a heavy mulching mower; or sprayed with glyphosate herbicide at 1 part to 100 parts water. Adding an additional amount of surfactant/spreader will assist translocation of the herbicide into the pampas leaves. Follow all precautions to prevent spray drift. Do not attempt to spray pampas in an orchard if fruit has formed on vines. If fruit is present in the orchard, then cut the flower heads from pampas plants and destroy by burning or burial.

Above: Pampas

Below: Toetoe

Pampas is different from the native toetoe in that:

• pampas has an upright growth habit rather than the more prostrate toetoe;
• pampas flowers in late summer-autumn – toetoe flowers in early spring;
• pampas has a different shaped, larger flowerhead: it is upright and cone-shaped rather than the limp-flag flower of the native toetoe; 
• pampas generally grows faster than toetoe;
• pampas is very invasive, is a declared pest plant in many regions and is causing problems for kiwifruit;
• toetoe is a native plant and not often found adjacent to orchards.  It is not causing any problems to kiwifruit.

KVH is talking to road and rail authorities to request pampas control in the transport corridors.

Email John Mather at KVH if you would like any further information: john.mather@kvh.org.nz