KVH and other partners have signed off on the Plant Pass biosecurity scheme getting underway, and scheme manager, NZPPI has started rolling it out.

Plant Pass is a voluntary certification scheme that recognises plant producers with good biosecurity standards and helps them improve their practice by identifying, controlling, managing, and avoiding biosecurity hazards.

It is designed to protect producers and plant buyers in our domestic and export fruit and vegetable sectors, vineyard, forestry, amenity and garden markets. It helps lessen the likelihood of a high-risk organism establishing in a nursery and being inadvertently spread by the domestic plant trade.

KVH has operated a Kiwifruit Plant Certification Scheme (KPCS) since 2015 to reduce the risk of high-risk organisms being spread by kiwifruit plants. We will continue to operate the KPCS, however have supported the development of the Plant Pass scheme to reduce the risk that movement of other plants could pose to our growers (such as shelter belt plants or plants to neighbouring properties).

KVH recognises Plant Pass as an equivalent standard to our own KPCS (subject to some additional kiwifruit specific requirements) therefore providing nurseries with more options, with certification to either scheme able to meet KVH requirements. For growers there is no change and KVH will continue to list certified nurseries on our website to assist with sourcing plants for purchase.

Find out more on the Plant Pass website here.