Plant Pass biosecurity scheme launched
The movement of plant material is the highest risk pathway for spreading pests and pathogens between orchards and therefore growers should always purchase nursery and shelter belt plants from suppliers that meet the requirements of the industry’s new Pathway Management Plan, providing confidence that biosecurity and movement risk is being managed.
Certification is a simple means for suppliers to demonstrate they have met the requirements and KVH has operated a Kiwifruit Plant Certification Scheme (KPCS) since 2015 for this purpose. There is now another certification option available for nurseries, Plant Pass.
Plant Pass is a new national plant production biosecurity scheme that was launched last week. The result of three years of work, Plant Pass is one of many similar industry certification schemes already operating in Australia, Britain, Europe, and the United States. It is funded and organised jointly by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and primary sector industry bodies - including KVH - through the Government Industry Agreement (GIA).
Plant Pass complements our existing KPCS and provides an alternative certification option which may be attractive to nurseries which are less focused on kiwifruit and produce multiple plant types including shelter plants. KVH has put in place a system where equivalence can be recognised for Plant Pass nurseries and will continue to list all certified nurseries meeting Pathway Plan requirements on our website.
KVH sees this as an excellent initiative to encourage biosecurity uptake across a wider range of nurseries at a level comparable to our own efforts.
Plant Pass is also supported by the associated new Plant Buyers’ Accord that commits buyers (such as retailers) to encourage their plant producers to participate in Plant Pass. Alongside MPI, KVH has signed the Accord, as well as three others so far: New Zealand Avocado, the Department of Conservation and Auckland Council.
Read more about the KPCS here and see the list of Plant Pass certified nurseries for shelter plants here.
