On-orchard biosecurity plans
Kiwifruit growers can strengthen biosecurity plans through a KVH-produced poster and helpful template booklet.
Implementing on-orchard biosecurity is the responsibility of every person working on or visiting an orchard. With several high-profile pest and disease introductions into New Zealand over the last decade, including Psa, kiwifruit growers and orchard workers need to be biosecurity aware to protect themselves and surrounding businesses.
The 5-step on-orchard biosecurity plan booklet is a set of measures designed to protect a property from the entry and spread of pests and diseases and have been developed to provide guidance, help identify risks, and how to address them.
By using the booklet to develop your own orchard biosecurity plan, you will identify and prioritise biosecurity practices that are relevant to your orchard and property and be able to treat biosecurity planning in a similar manner to quality assurance or risk planning such as Health & Safety or emergency preparedness.
It's a document that outlines how you manage your orchard and how you will respond to a pest or disease outbreak. It describes your processes on-orchard and how you are addressing biosecurity risks.
It can be as short, or long, as you need - the 5 step booklet is designed to be used as a template, with tips and suggestions for customising a biosecurity plan that works for your operation and that can be built on over time.
Make sure that as you personalise your own plan, you involve all orchard staff and contractors so that everyone becomes engaged with the common goal of keeping your orchard and fruit safe.
Having a biosecurity plan in a biosecurity response or an emergency is critical. Early detection and reporting give us the opportunity to suppress any kind of serious disease.
As a grower or person in charge of an orchard, you need to have a plan that covers the steps you take when moving machinery, tools and plant material on and off your property, how you trace and record all these things, how you manage the risks that might already be present, and the steps you should take if you see anything unusual.
By having a plan written down you can get everybody who's involved in your business on the same page.
Investing a little time in establishing good biosecurity practices on your orchard promises a hundredfold reward, not only through the smooth operation of day-to-day business but the avoidance of financial problems, movement restrictions, and possible market access issues in the future from unchecked disease or pest populations.
To order a printed copy of the booklet email KVH or call 0800 665 825.
KVH has designed a biosecurity plan template that you can personalise and complete either on paper or online, depending on your preference. Both versions require:
the name of the person completing the plan;
the KPIN or KPINs the plan is being completed for;
a dated declaration from the person completing the plan that the information provided is true and correct in regard to actions taken to manage biosecurity risk.
You need to keep your plan on file so that you can show it to auditors and provide it to KVH if requested in a biosecurity response. If you choose to complete your plan online instead of handwriting it, a PDF copy will be available for your electronic files.
To help you personalise and complete your own plan we have a sample available here that offers some ideas and guidance.
View and download the printed plan template here.
Log-in to the KVH website and complete an online template here.
