Three weeks on from the discovery of bacterial disease Psa in a kiwifruit orchard in Te Puke, New Zealand, a new business is reportedly being established to manage the industry's ongoing response to the outbreak.
The special-purpose organisation, which is due to be in place by Monday, 29 November 2010, will be overseen by a new board comprising representatives from export marketer Zespri, post-harvest suppliers, industry body New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).
Zespri's director of corporate and grower services, Carol Ward, confirmed work was underway to finalise the name, structure, rules and membership of the new organisation.
'Affected growers are understandably seeking details regarding their eligibility for financial assistance,' she said, 'so we anticipate that one of the new organisation's first priorities will be to confirm the details of the financial assistance package, including eligibility requirements and the application process.'
For its part, she said, Zespri had put in place a team of dedicated technical, grower relations, management and communications staff to project manage the transition to the new organisation.
'We'll continue to be heavily involved and supportive of the Psa industry management strategy,' she added.
With 80 orchards now confirmed as having the Psa infection, Ms Ward said the industry was learning more about Psa every day.
'Obviously it's very disappointing news as more growers receive positive test results for Psa and we're working very closely with those affected growers to ensure they have access to the right people and information to support their orchard management decisions.
'In addition, there is a large amount of research work underway to attempt to answer some of the questions we still have on Psa.'
Testing times
According to Ms Ward, over 600 orchards have now been assessed and 459 test results have been received to date.
'Approximately 80 percent of test results have come back negative, and the affected orchard area is still anticipated to be less than 1 per cent of the total industry orchard area,' she explained.
In addition, around 95 per cent of infected orchards are apparently only showing the initial symptom of leaf spotting, and have not progressed to the more severe symptoms which indicate vine health is impacted.
'These orchards are being monitored closely,' Ms Ward said. 'So, while we've got some urgent challenges ahead as the industry adapts to cope with Psa in the future, we're not anticipating any significant impact on production and sales next year.'
Just over three-quarters of Psa-positive orchards are within a 23km area south of the Te Puke township.
However, one of the latest positive test results was from Gisborne in north-eastern New Zealand – the first in that region – while other areas with orchards that have confirmed cases of Psa are Hawke's Bay, Tauranga, Whakatane/Edgecumbe, Waikato, Golden Bay and Motueka.
Zespri is working closely with MAF to develop a process whereby restricted place notices can be removed from orchards, Ms Ward said.
'This is likely to happen towards the end of next week (48) and does not affect the obligations on all orchards regarding the spread of organisms.'
Further information regarding the transition will be communicated with affected growers and the wider industry during week 48.
Recognition
In the company's latest grower newsletter, The Kiwiflier, Zespri chief executive Lain Jager recognised the immense amount of work that had gone on in the three weeks since the outbreak was confirmed and thanked those involved.
'Thank you to the Industry Advisory Council, the Minister of Agriculture the Hon David Carter, the teams from MAF, Zespri and Plant & Food Research, post-harvest operators, orchard contractors, the artificial pollination industry and beekeepers, and kiwifruit growers across the country for the urgency and tremendous effort that has gone into addressing the Psa issue over the past three weeks,' said Mr Jager.
'We all realise that there is much we do not yet understand and this means that the industry's response strategy will be necessarily dynamic over the coming year, as we learn more about the extent and impact of Psa in New Zealand.
'By working together and applying specialised and focused resources through the new Psa management organisation, we will ensure we are monitoring the situation closely, learning quickly and, importantly, are configured to react in a coordinated and rapid fashion if change is necessary.'
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