The interim Fruit Fly Council established to develop the Operational Agreement for fruit fly under GIA has met monthly and made good progress in clarifying the approach to be used. 

The majority of the agreement is expected to be completed by the end of September. The remaining issues to address will then be finalising the cost shares between government and industry and agreeing how the industry shares will be calculated.

This work is progressing with a subcommittee made up of KVH, Pipfruit NZ and NZ Wine growers meeting with MPI. The objective is to have this completed before the end of October; and the goal is for the Operational Agreement to come into effect early 2015.

Since February 2013 KVH has recorded 93 orchards as abandoned.  Of these, 75 orchards have been removed or returned to a managed state.  Of the remaining 18 orchards; 10 have removal underway but not yet completed (for example, the removed vines are yet to be burnt) and one is being pruned and returned to management. 

KVH is working with the owners of the remaining seven orchards to ensure that National Psa-V Pest Management Plan requirements for their orchards are met.  This means vines must be pruned and tied down by 1 October each year.  Fruit must be picked by 1 July each year and KVH approved products, effective against Psa-V, must be applied to reduce the effects of Psa-V bacterium.

If growers are aware of any further abandoned or unmanaged orchards, anywhere in New Zealand, then please contact KVH on 0800 665 825 or email info@kvh.org.nz.  It is important that abandoned orchards do not harbour Psa-V disease and present an inoculum source infecting neighbouring orchards.  Psa-V can move via wind movement, especially during wet and stormy weather events, for up to 10 kilometres from the infected orchard.

The Psa-V Seasonal Management Guide for Spring/Summer 2014-15 is now available on the KVH website – please click here. The Guide helps growers manage Psa-V through spring and summer and provides assistance when updating Psa-V Orchard Management Plans.

Spring is an important time for growers to review their existing Psa-V Orchard Management Plans and consider making any changes to protection strategies based on seasonal orchard observations and new research information.

This season the Guide is also complimented by the Psa-V Seasonal Management Guide Wall Chart which growers should be receiving by post this week, if they haven’t already. The Wall Chart is a great reference tool for placing in staff rooms to support staff and visitor education.

Any changes to the Psa-V Seasonal Management Guide, including updates to the Recommended Product List, will be made to the online version and highlighted through the weekly KVH Bulletin.

This project has shown leaf spots continually produced inoculum between November 2013 and March 2014. Under humid conditions, even ‘old’ leaf spots were capable of producing ooze at the edge of the lesion, containing large numbers of viable bacteria. Thus, leaf spots are a continual source of Psa inoculum during the spring and summer seasons.

• Click here to view the report

Last week, the National Biosecurity Capability Network (NBCN) published some interesting facts about the number of border and post border interceptions occurring in New Zealand. These figures show the pressure that occurs at the border on a weekly basis, and the amount of incursions that would occur in New Zealand if we did not have a comprehensive biosecurity system.

In just a single week in February, New Zealand had:

• 35 new notifications of pests, diseases or organisms and 156 on-going incursion investigations or responses.
• 115,082 international air passenger arrivals—resulting in seizure of 3,079 risk items and 126 infringement notices (2.7% of passengers with risk items).
• 13,634 sea containers arrivals into New Zealand—233 required decontamination (1.7 % of containers contaminated).
• 4,296 cargo lines, of which 792 were inspected and 276 items were seized (6% of cargo lines contained risk items).
• 500,000 mail items at the international mail centre—635 items required further inspection, 103 risk items treated or destroyed (0.02% of mail items contained risk items).
• 212  used vehicles or machinery items were imported—52 required decontamination (24.5% used vehicles or machinery contaminated)

As a proportion of total goods entering by each pathway, used vehicles and machinery have a much higher rate of risk items requiring treatment. To determine how this pathway is managed and the level of risk this pathway presents, KVH will profile this pathway in the coming weeks as part of our border profile series.

• Click here to read previous items from this border profile series.

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) is causing significant impacts in the USA, and there are concerns regarding the effects this pest could have on horticultural sectors in New Zealand. KVH, along with other horticultural sectors and MPI, have been working to strengthen the border to keep BMSB out, along with developing a surveillance and control programme to detect and eradicate it should it arrive. 

In addition, KVH has meet with New Zealand researchers to agree the focus of the R&D efforts, which include improving our detection technologies at the border, lure and kill approaches, and biological control options that may be available. 

This pest has been assessed by KVH as one of the top five priority pests facing our industry, and there are reports from China (where it is a native) of it causing damage to kiwifruit.

• Click here to read more information about the BMSB.

Growers in Exclusion and Containment regions are reminded their mandatory montioring reporting is due by 10 September 2014. A summary of growers from Containment and Exclusion regions who have reported their monitoring to KVH is outlined in the table above.

An online reporting tool is available on the KVH website. This allow growers to submit monitoring results directly to KVH. Click here to access the online reporting tool.

If you do not have access to a computer contact KVH 0800 665 825 for assistance.