Following a pathway review carried out after last summer’s two Queensland Fruit Fly detections in Whangarei, KVH and HortNZ advocated for changes to the way biosecurity is managed on yachts and cruise ships.

As a result MPI have increased the level of intervention on these pathways and are using detector dogs more frequently. Incoming yachts are now under much closer scrutiny, particularly through the high-risk summer season when the number of yachts entering New Zealand increases.  Biosecurity detector dogs are being used for the first time on yachts coming in to Opua and Whangarei.

The use of detector dogs on yachts has already shown its value with dogs detecting fruit that had been deliberately concealed on two yachts this year. Concealed fruit would have been unlikely to have been found without the use of dogs, and is an action that puts New Zealand’s horticulture industry at risk. KVH strongly supports MPI pursuing prosecution for these deliberate actions.

• Click here to read the article from the Northern Advocate

Symptomatic leaf samples taken from wild kiwifruit growing in a Te Puke gully have tested Psa-V positive.  The wild kiwifruit infestation was found in a gully between Te Puke’s No 1 and No 2 Roads and reported to KVH.

Wild kiwifruit is controlled in the Bay of Plenty through a collaborative programme funded by KVH, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and landowners.  Any wild kiwifruit plants growing near producing orchards are prioritised for control.  This reduces risk of transmitting Psa-V inoculum back into commercial orchards. 

Thousands of plants are controlled annually, mostly by professional contractors who work methodically through often steep and difficult-to-access infested areas, including native bush and pine forests. 

The wild kiwifruit management programme has been a successful example of government and industry cooperation.  Fortunately, through previous years of intensive control work, the wild population was significantly reduced when Psa-V was first detected in 2010.  This reduction limited the harmful effects of the bacterium establishing in wild plants. Contractors will continue to destroy wild kiwifruit, including in the area where the positive leaves were detected.

People are encouraged to report suspected wild kiwifruit locations to KVH or their local regional council.
 

Pukekohe
Friday 12th December at 3pm at Counties Inn, 17 Paerata Road, Pukekohe

Te Puke, Tauranga and Katikati
Tuesday 16 December at 10am Club Mount, 45 Kawaka Street, Mount Maunganui

Kerikeri
Friday 19th December at 10am at The Centre, 43 Cobham Road

Whangarei
Friday 19th December at 2.30pm at A'Fare, 197 Lower Dent Street

Pipfruit NZ has signed the GIA Deed for biosecurity readiness and response, becoming the fourth signatory to the Agreement.

Alan Pollard, Chief Executive of Pipfruit NZ, commented, “We are committed to working with government to deliver the best biosecurity outcomes that we can to protect our growing pipfruit sector.”

Pipfruit NZ has been a key partner, along with KVH, MPI and other horticultural sectors, in developing an Operational Agreement for fruit fly which is expected to be finalised early next year. This operational agreement will set out how readiness and response for fruit fly is managed, by whom and how the costs are shared.

Pipfruit NZ was also involved in the recent response to the recent Yellow Spotted Stink Bug. During the response both KVH and Pipfruit formed part of the Response Strategic Leadership (RSL) group as joint decision-makers with MPI. This response was a good example of how industries will work together with MPI under a GIA agreement.

KVH was the first industry signatory to sign the GIA Deed in May this year. Other signatories to the GIA Deed are the Ministry for Primary Industries and NZPork.
 

This week KVH held a full day workshop to establish KiwiNet, the team that will coordinate the kiwifruit industries’ biosecurity readiness and response activities going forward (see below for an explanation of KiwiNet).

The workshop opened with a presentation of the Sapare Review – Lessons learned from the Psa-V response. This presentation set the scene for the day by providing recommendations of how we as an industry can improve our readiness for the next biosecurity incursion; establishing KiwiNet and developing readiness plans are key steps in achieving this outcome.

The main part of the workshop was about how KiwiNet will work—the responsibilities of the group and the roles of KiwiNet Coordinators within each industry organisation.

As a signatory to GIA (Government Industry Agreements for Biosecurity Readiness and Response), the industry will work closely with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other industry signatories in preparing for, or responding to biosecurity incursions going forward.

The workshop covered how this partnership will work, how the industry will make decisions in a response, the roles we need to play across the industry and relative to others and how we will deploy and fund capability for readiness and response activities to match the industry best interests. 

Finally, a fruit fly simulation was held to provide a practical context for the discussion. This simulation covered market access at a strategic level with Zespri providing guidance on decisions to consider in a response, and a second part that simulated KiwiNet deploying industry capability into the response.

Click here to view a selection of KVH presentations from the workshop and a copy of the KiwiNet Handbook.

The workshop was attended by members of KVH, NZKGI, Zespri, AsureQuality, MPI, Plant and Food Research and KiwiNet Coordinators from post-harvest organisations. The following post-harvest organisations have nominated a KiwiNet Coordinator:

• Aongatete
• Apata Group Ltd
• Birchwood Packhouse
• Cold Storage Nelson
• Cooper Coolpac
• D & M Satherley
• DMS
• Eastpack
• Hume Pack N cool
• Jackall Holdings
• Kerifresh / T&G
• KiwiProduce
• Mount Pack N Cool
• NZ Fruits
• OPAC
• Punchbowl
• The Pines
• Thomas Bros
• Trevelyan's
• Waimata Horticulture
• WE MJ Stevens

What is KiwiNet?
KiwiNet is the team of people selected from right across the kiwifruit industry (marketers, post-harvest, growers/NZKGI, key service providers associated with the industry and KVH) who will champion biosecurity readiness. And they will coordinate the deployment of kiwifruit industry resources into biosecurity responses.

KiwiNet exists to reduce the impacts on our industry if/when we face our next major biosecurity incursion, to retain the key lessons from our Psa-V experience and to build on this and to enable a pan-industry approach.
 

KeyStrepto™ is permitted between 15 December and 28 February on non-producing blocks but growers are advised to take extreme caution to avoid any fruit contamination in neighbouring blocks. Non-producing vines are defined as a non-producing block with shelter or barriers with a low risk of spray drift and must not contain any vines with fruit that will be harvested.

Permission to apply KeyStrepto™ on non-producing blocks will only be given to North Island growers to use on discrete blocks where drift is actively managed to ensure  excess spray does not leave the block. KeyStrepto™ cannot be used on non-producing blocks between 28 February and 13 June.

• You need a Justified Approval (JA) to apply KeyStrepto™ to non-producing blocks after 15 December.
• A Site Inspection Record must be completed before and after each application
• If using KeyStrepto™ causes residues on fruit on adjacent producing blocks (either on your orchard or a neighbouring orchard), you will be liable for all costs associated with residue testing and recalling product. The affected fruit will not be accepted into Zespri inventory.
• You can apply up to four applications of KeyStrepto™ per season.
• Only two consecutive applications of KeyStrepto™ are permitted, then an alternative Psa protectant must be applied to help prevent resistance occurring with Psa bacteria.
• You do not have to register an ‘Intention to Spray’ on the Canopy or KVH website.
• Fruit with any level of antibiotic residues will not be accepted into Zespri’s inventory. To reinforce this policy, Zespri has a comprehensive residue testing programme throughout the season, which tests for over 300 different products on every orchards supplying Zespri with fruit.

More information is provided in the KeyStrepto™ User Guide on the Canopy and KVH website.