Seen something unusual? MAKE A REPORT
Seen something unusual? MAKE A REPORT
There are eight organisms identified as the biggest biosecurity threat to New Zealand's kiwifruit industry.
26/08/2024
KVH will be at the Port of Tauranga over the coming weeks, highlighting frontline efforts to ensure a pest-free environment. There are many enthusiastic people who work on and around the Port who know biosecurity is a critical issue, affecting everyone in some way. With hundreds of people operating on the frontline of the Port community daily, we have lots of eyes constantly on the lookout for unwanted pests. The Port deals with millions of tonnes of cargo each year, and around 100 cruise ships over every summer, so we all need to be ready, vigilant, and watchful. Biosecurity matters at Ports because it is also a significant business risk. The frontline staff we’ll be meeting with and talking to - such as stevedores, and straddle/crane drivers - are the best placed to initially notice and report anything unusual. Our key message is if something happens, there will be a cost to you, your job, or your business, and you need to know what you can do to stop it. As the organisation responsible for leading biosecurity preparedness on behalf of the kiwifruit industry, KVH partners in this initiative alongside the Port of Tauranga and the local Biosecurity New Zealand team. Other activities with the Port community include staff from Biosecurity New Zealand visiting transitional facilities across the Bay of Plenty to share up-to-date information about managing risk and distribute useful collateral such as the ever popular 12 most unwanted pests calendar produced by the partnership, and both Biosecurity New Zealand and KVH taking part in pre-cruise season briefing sessions for the Port’s security staff. You can see online versions of the resources we’ll distribute this year here: Annual pest calendar September 2024 - August 2025"Most unwanted pests” playing cardsSpot it, snap it, report it frontline lunch bags
Read more26/08/2024
What are the top five things you need to do if you are part of the kiwifruit growing community in New Zealand, to ensure you are following biosecurity best practice and managing risk? We’ve created a video – it’s only two minutes long – running through all five easy to follow steps. It’s specifically designed to help with training, and for use at places like reception areas and events so if you’d like a copy let us know. Thank you to the team at Trevelyan’s for the support in producing the video, including the sites and wonderful talent! Watch it here.
Read more26/08/2024
The KVH Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held Wednesday 21 August, and we thank all those who were able to attend, and those who voted. All Resolutions were passed at the AGM: That the minutes of the 2023 AGM be approved. That the Chairman and Chief Executive’s reports be approved. That the financial report for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024 be approved. Approval of the Biosecurity (Readiness and Response) and the Biosecurity (Kiwifruit National Pathway Management Plan) levy rates. For the year ending 31 March 2026 the Biosecurity (Readiness and Response) levy continues at the rate of eight tenths of a cent – 0.8c - per tray equivalent on all commercial varieties of kiwifruit except Actinidia arguta, exported to all markets other than Australia, and the Biosecurity (Kiwifruit National Pathway Management Plan) levy continues at the rate of six tenths of a cent - 0.6c - per tray. That the budget for 2025/26 be approved. That Directors fees increase by 3% for the 2024/25 financial year. That BDO be reappointed as the auditor for the 2024/25 financial year. That Liarna White is re-elected as a Grower Director, and Fiona Carrick is re-elected as an Independent Director, both for a term of three years. If you have any questions about the results, please contact KVH or speak to a KVH Director. All AGM documents, including Resolutions, financial statements and budget information are available to reference on the KVH website.
Read more26/08/2024
Recordings of the great presentations at our Biosecurity Symposium are now available to view on our YouTube channel here. The most viewed since we put them up late last week are Danny Le Feuvre’s reflections from the Australian Varroa Mite response, and the governance panel discussion about the kiwifruit industry’s journey in biosecurity; what biosecurity means to them and the organisations they represent; and how they support the theme of the Symposium – ensuring we continuously build resilience. The panel said it is critical that we all (as individuals, organisations, and within our growing communities) protect grower and business returns by taking responsibility for understanding biosecurity risks and have plans and processes ready and in place as routine practice, before a new threat arrives. Ensuring we keep up with basic biosecurity practices and don’t become complacent in this space is something we’ll be discussing further in future Bulletins with examples of real life personal and community impacts of biosecurity incursions.
Read more26/08/2024
Frank Sinatra famously sang that if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. And that’s just what worries some scientists who have been studying a particular species of ant. This ant, nicknamed the ManhattAnt, first turned up in the city in 2011. Back then, no one knew where it came from, and for years it was mostly ignored. But this ant has flourished in the Big Apple, so much so that it’s now vying with a species called the pavement ant for being the most common ant in the city, and what’s more, ManhattAnts have started to spread beyond their namesake island, expanding their territory at a rate of about a mile a year. Scientists are now trying to figure out why it has been so successful, in order to better predict whether it’s likely to threaten native insect species or damage trees and other plants, as ants are well known to have ripple effects through ecosystems that lead to unexpected consequences. Yet another real-life and current example of the importance of always keeping up with good biosecurity practices and not allowing things to creep in around us – it can happen so easily! Image: ManhattAnts are managing to live in a planter in Times Square. Credit Rebecca Senft.
Read more26/08/2024
Planning, capability building, and training, are all well underway as the industry builds its new Emergency Response Management (ERM) framework. With KVH at the helm, operational capability across the industry is being identified and trained, aimed at ensuring there is expertise ready to jump in, in the event of a significant adverse event that affects vine health on-orchard. We have an industry event coming up showcasing this and you’re invited. Taking place Wednesday 30 October at Club Mount, Mount Maunganui, all are welcome to join our interactive scenario, learning more about how we would all work together to respond to a fictional summer extreme weather event that will take place in Northland. You’ll learn about the response framework and see how the response team works together in their different functions, with the opportunity to provide input into activities. All your questions about who does what, how, when, and why, will all be answered. At the end of the day, you’ll go away understanding how the industry ERM framework operates and how you or your organisation can be involved to support the industry. When: 9.00am - 3.00pm, Wednesday 30 October Where: Club Mount, 45 Kawaka Street, Mount Maunganui RSVP: Online here If you have any questions, please get in touch.
Read more27/08/2024
Do you have a tertiary student in your home or business, studying in the primary industries? Do they like getting out in the orchard and supporting growers to improve business performance? A number of On Farm Support Scholarships are available again this year, worth $5,000 each, for students interested in working as advisors in the primary sector. They are on offer for the 2025 academic year to enrollees in relevant agriculture, horticulture, science, or viticulture degrees. Applicants must be studying at certain institutes and have completed their first year of study. Read more about the scholarship application process here.
Read more20/08/2024
The KVH Annual General Meeting (AGM) takes place 9.00am, Wednesday 21 August 2024,. at Mercury Baypark in Mount Maunganui. You can join online via Microsoft Teams (Meeting ID: 473 431 776 709 Passcode: SWeHxD). Grower member documentation has been distributed and can be referenced on the KVH website here. This is a public meeting and anyone who is interested is welcome to attend. Special guest Dr Jacqueline Rowarth will be joining us to speak about precision breeding, followed by the NZKGI and then Zespri annual meetings.
Read more19/08/2024
Issued by Onside Monday 19 August 2024 Agri-tech company Onside is delivering new biosecurity technology that is transforming biosecurity practices and helping the primary industries better prepare for and prevent biosecurity incursions. Onside’s mobile app for rural risk management has mapped more than 16,000 rural properties and logged over 2.6 million movements across New Zealand and Australia. When contractors and visitors check in to rural properties, movement data, including plant material, people, machinery, and equipment, is collected to make it easy to manage health and safety and biosecurity risks—helping farmers and growers stay compliant. In the last six months, Onside’s new biosecurity tracing software, Onside Intelligence, has identified at least 1,000 check-in movements that presented a heightened risk of spreading a biosecurity threat. Onside’s technology uses data from various sources to create an intricate map of rural interactions and potential disease pathways to support biosecurity management activity – making it easier and faster to detect and respond to outbreaks of pests and diseases. Ryan Higgs, CEO, Onside, says, “As a country, we face the growing risk that an increasingly diverse set of pests and diseases will cross our borders and impact our all-important primary sector. Time matters in a biosecurity response, and fast access to accurate traceability data is critical for preparing and responding efficiently to a biosecurity incursion. “MPI’s investment in our technology has been instrumental in getting it into the hands of industry partners working hard to protect farmers and growers. With recent additional support from MPI, we’ve also set up a dedicated science group comprising some of the top minds in biosecurity to tackle the ever-evolving challenges presented by global biosecurity risks.” Biosecurity New Zealand deputy director-general Stuart Anderson, MPI says, “Biosecurity is crucial for safeguarding our primary sector and economic security. It’s great to see the development of this tool and industry uptake growing for Onside.” The Onside and MPI partnership was established in 2022 to fast-track the development and adoption of Onside’s biosecurity app through a $9m multi-year project co-invested in by the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFF Futures). Industry Partners Adopt Onside's Biosecurity Technology Biosecurity New Zealand, Kiwifruit Vine Health, New Zealand Winegrowers, NZ Pork, Aquaculture New Zealand, and New Zealand Avocado are the first industry partners to utilise the technology to enhance their biosecurity readiness and response, and quickly carry out traceability exercises. Adoption rates of Onside Intelligence in the kiwifruit and viticulture industry are growing beyond 30% as growers continue to understand the benefits of digital traceability to protect their industry and livelihoods. In some industries like salmon, adoption has grown rapidly to more than 80%. One of the first industries to deploy Onside Intelligence was New Zealand Winegrowers, the country's grape and wine sector organisation, which sought to test the system to improve traceability in the $2.3bn viticulture sector. Sophie Badland, Biosecurity Manager, New Zealand Winegrowers, says, "From a production perspective, a large number of grapes must be of the right quality for export-quality wine. An incursion of a new pest or disease, like BMSB or Pierce's disease, could affect both grape quality and quantity, posing a significant challenge for our growers." One way unwanted organisms can be transmitted between vineyards is through the extensive use of machinery and equipment. Badland says, “Having a traceability system like Onside Intelligence potentially saves primary industries and the government a lot of time and money in the event of a response. By having movement data readily accessible, we can get ahead of any new damaging pests and diseases, which gives us the best chance of eradication.” Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH), a biosecurity organisation dedicated to protecting New Zealand kiwifruit growers from pest and disease threats, was also one of the first to implement Onside’s technology to help protect the $4 billion kiwifruit sector from future incursions. The kiwifruit industry faced its first big biosecurity challenge just over a decade ago when the bacterial canker Psa spread across orchards and growing regions in the North Island. The Psa response cost the industry an estimated $1 billion in production and profitability, with added social and psychological stresses. Leanne Stewart, CEO of Kiwifruit Vine Health, says, “This is an important project for KVH as we help ensure industry preparedness for biosecurity to protect orchards, businesses, and livelihoods. Onside is adding great value to growers by improving day-to-day best biosecurity practices in a simple, innovative way.” The industry partners that have already deployed Onside’s technology are part of the Government Industry Agreement for Biosecurity Readiness and Response (GIA), a formal partnership between the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and 23 industry organisations. Investing in Science to Boost Biosecurity The SFF Futures partnership has additionally invested $100,000 in a dedicated science program, which aims to ensure Onside’s traceability platform remains world-class and meets the ever-evolving challenges presented by global biosecurity risks. This includes the development of specialised network algorithms that are aimed at providing insights on where incursions might show up and how to respond in the most impactful way. Higgs says, “Onside has leveraged some of the world's leading scientists to support technology development that provides insights to improve the efficiency of readiness and response. The goal is to detect new incursions as early as possible and minimise impact and cost.” The science program is governed by an Advisory Committee that includes Dr Mary van Andel, Chief Veterinary Officer at MPI; leading network scientist Professor Santo Fortunato from Indiana University; Dr Hautahi Kingi, a data scientist at Google; and Higgs, who himself is a Fulbright scholar with a PhD in Animal Science from Cornell University. About Onside Onside is a Christchurch-based technology company with a vision to power the world’s biosecurity. Onside’s biosecurity tracing software, Onside Intelligence, provides interactive tools to explore movement data and other industry-specific biosecurity insights, including real- time traceability exercises. Onside also offers a mobile app that supports on-farm biosecurity, digital visitor management, geospatial property mapping, health and safety compliance and contractor management. www.getonside.com Image above: Onside Intelligence movement dashboard.
Read more12/08/2024
Ever heard of fake fruit like the pieces in this bowl? They looked very much like fruit and vegetables but were made from edible casing with a broad bean paste filling. The only thing that was real was fresh leaves. A passenger arriving from Thailand declared the fake food to officers at Auckland Airport in June, avoiding a fine. The passenger was horrified to learn the items were phony and was quite happy to have them disposed of. Border officers were amazed by the level of skill and patience that went into making the treat and looking at the photo, so are we!
Read more12/08/2024
An early heads-up from a baggage handler at Christchurch Airport resulted in the speedy seizure of a 10kg box of bananas in early July. The bananas were moved straight from the air container to the airport’s transitional facility. One of Biosecurity New Zealand’s officers alerted the passenger, who was waiting at the baggage collection area to pick up the box. Arriving from the Philippines, the passenger had declared the fruit, which had been grown on her own property. A baggage search did not unearth any more risk goods. The ripe bananas were found to be contaminated with mealy bugs and spiders, but, thankfully, not fruit fly. They were destroyed.
Read more12/08/2024
KVH, Biosecurity New Zealand, and many others who operate across the biosecurity system take an educative approach to the management of biosecurity risk and always strive to encourage the very best biosecurity practices. However, there are times further action needs to be taken and at KVH we noted recently a hefty fine for parking uncleared sea containers in a paddock which resulted in charges laid under the Biosecurity Act. This should send a clear message about the need to follow biosecurity rules. The company (Auslink International New Zealand Limited) and its logistics manager were sentenced in June on eight charges each. Auslink was fined $16,250, and the manager was fined $12,000. Compliance investigators found that, between December 2021 and April 2022, Auslink was required to conduct biosecurity checks for 15 sea containers at its approved transitional facility. None of the biosecurity checks were done in full. In the end, 13 of the 15 sea containers were sent to a paddock at a farm. While no exotic pests were found in or on the containers, Biosecurity New Zealand argued the defendants took an unacceptable risk.
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Phytophthora is present around the world, including New Zealand, in a wide range of hosts. There are over 100 known species of Phytophthora, with thoughts there could be up to 500 more yet to be identified.
There are many reports of different Phytophthora damaging kiwifruit vines in different regions globally, such as P.drechsleri, which has caused significant impacts to the kiwifruit industry in Korea.
It is considered highly likely that under certain conditions (i.e. wet soils) kiwifruit would be susceptible to several Phytophthora species. Predicting which species will impact which cultivars, and under what conditions, is difficult if not impossible to predict. Because of this, KVH is undertaking readiness planning and research for invasive Phytophthora species as a whole, as opposed to focusing on one specific species.
Pest ranking based on the KVH risk matrix
View risk matrixThe biosecurity threat of Phytophthora to the New Zealand kiwifruit industry is largely unknown. It could come from the introduction of a new Phytophthora species, or from a species already here that may not yet have been exposed to kiwifruit.
Management practices, cultivar susceptibility and the environment may also play key roles in any future outbreaks. Phytophthora are Oomycetes (or water moulds), so wet, soggy soils are an ideal environment for them to thrive. As such, low-lying land, poorly drained orchards and additional irrigation are more susceptible to infection.
One of the difficulties with detecting Phytophthora disease symptoms is that they are variable and often are not distinct from those resulting from other plant pathogens (such as Armillaria root rot which can sometimes be misdiagnosed as Phytophthora root rot).
The other difficulty with Phytophthora symptom detection arises from asymptomatic plants, where the pathogen can lay dormant for long periods until conditions change and symptoms are expressed. There are many types of symptoms associated with Phytophthora species that may occur singly or in combination.
Phytophthora usually infects kiwifruit vines from root wounds or the root tips early in spring. During the warmer summer months, vines may rapidly decline or alternatively show gradual decline in productivity over several seasons. Symptoms include reduced shoot growth; small, chlorotic leaves; and an open canopy. Vines with the graft union below ground level or mechanically wounded trees are easily infected. Infected root and root crowns commonly show a red brown rot that is easily observed when cutting into the outer layer of tissue. Generally, there is observable margin where healthy, white tissue meets infected, discoloured tissue. Infected roots become dark and feeder roots are often black, decayed and few in number (see image below).
KVH investigates reports of unusual symptoms to identify and manage any biosecurity risks.
26 Aug 2024
KVH will be at the Port of Tauranga over the coming weeks, highlighting frontline efforts to ensure a pest-free environment. There are many enthusiastic people who work on and around the Port who know biosecurity is a critical issue, affecting everyone in some way. With hundreds of people operating on the frontline of the Port community daily, we have lots of eyes constantly on the lookout for unwanted pests. The Port deals with millions of tonnes of cargo each year, and around 100 cruise ships over every summer, so we all need to be ready, vigilant, and watchful. Biosecurity matters at Ports because it is also a significant business risk. The frontline staff we’ll be meeting with and talking to - such as stevedores, and straddle/crane drivers - are the best placed to initially notice and report anything unusual. Our key message is if something happens, there will be a cost to you, your job, or your business, and you need to know what you can do to stop it. As the organisation responsible for leading biosecurity preparedness on behalf of the kiwifruit industry, KVH partners in this initiative alongside the Port of Tauranga and the local Biosecurity New Zealand team. Other activities with the Port community include staff from Biosecurity New Zealand visiting transitional facilities across the Bay of Plenty to share up-to-date information about managing risk and distribute useful collateral such as the ever popular 12 most unwanted pests calendar produced by the partnership, and both Biosecurity New Zealand and KVH taking part in pre-cruise season briefing sessions for the Port’s security staff. You can see online versions of the resources we’ll distribute this year here: Annual pest calendar September 2024 - August 2025"Most unwanted pests” playing cardsSpot it, snap it, report it frontline lunch bags
Read more26 Aug 2024
What are the top five things you need to do if you are part of the kiwifruit growing community in New Zealand, to ensure you are following biosecurity best practice and managing risk? We’ve created a video – it’s only two minutes long – running through all five easy to follow steps. It’s specifically designed to help with training, and for use at places like reception areas and events so if you’d like a copy let us know. Thank you to the team at Trevelyan’s for the support in producing the video, including the sites and wonderful talent! Watch it here.
Read more26 Aug 2024
The KVH Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held Wednesday 21 August, and we thank all those who were able to attend, and those who voted. All Resolutions were passed at the AGM: That the minutes of the 2023 AGM be approved. That the Chairman and Chief Executive’s reports be approved. That the financial report for the 12 months ending 31 March 2024 be approved. Approval of the Biosecurity (Readiness and Response) and the Biosecurity (Kiwifruit National Pathway Management Plan) levy rates. For the year ending 31 March 2026 the Biosecurity (Readiness and Response) levy continues at the rate of eight tenths of a cent – 0.8c - per tray equivalent on all commercial varieties of kiwifruit except Actinidia arguta, exported to all markets other than Australia, and the Biosecurity (Kiwifruit National Pathway Management Plan) levy continues at the rate of six tenths of a cent - 0.6c - per tray. That the budget for 2025/26 be approved. That Directors fees increase by 3% for the 2024/25 financial year. That BDO be reappointed as the auditor for the 2024/25 financial year. That Liarna White is re-elected as a Grower Director, and Fiona Carrick is re-elected as an Independent Director, both for a term of three years. If you have any questions about the results, please contact KVH or speak to a KVH Director. All AGM documents, including Resolutions, financial statements and budget information are available to reference on the KVH website.
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