On 1 October 2016 new conditions around buying and selling kiwifruit plants will come into effect when the Kiwifruit Plant Certification Scheme (KPCS) becomes mandatory.

This means only KPCS-certified kiwifruit plants may be bought or sold after this date. However, growers will still be able to ‘grow for their own use’ up to 1000 kiwifruit plants for movement between their own properties within the same Psa-V region.

In the March Kiwiflier growers will have received an information sheet about the KPCS, outlining their options and requirements from 1 October – click here for the online version.

It is important growers are not only aware of their options from 1 October, but they also need to order kiwifruit plants for the upcoming season well in advance (at least one year) to enable nurseries to anticipate demand.

The KPCS has been in place for almost two years and some nurseries have already joined the Scheme and are producing certified plants in several regions – click here for the list of these nurseries.