KVH joined the action at the recent AgriFutures Clash of the Colleges competition held for the first time in the Bay of Plenty and hosted at Kenna’s Kiwifruit Orchard in Katikati.

Thirty-four teams of four students, representing eight secondary schools, competed across 17 agriculture and horticulture modules designed to showcase the practical, fast-paced nature of New Zealand’s primary industries.

As part of the KVH activity, teams were challenged to identify pest images retrieved from surveillance traps and determine which pests were already present in New Zealand and which represented potential biosecurity threats that should be reported to Biosecurity New Zealand.

Amongst the common New Zealand huhu beetles, butterflies and shield bugs, many teams quickly identified and reported the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) and fruit piercing moth, two of the “most unwanted” featured on KVH’s pest ID cards, a well referenced resource at the event.

AgriFutures Clash of the Colleges was first launched in 2019 and was brought to the Bay of Plenty through the support and encouragement of local organisers who are already planning for an even bigger competition next year.

Image: Students taking part in the KVH biosecurity activity at Clash of the Colleges.