Kiwifruit Claim Seeking Questions From Growers
The Kiwifruit Claim is seeking questions from growers and says it will answer them all within two working days.
The chairman of The Kiwifruit Claim, John Cameron, said it had held its first grower meeting in Te Puke on Wednesday,
which was attended by around 200 people.
“It was a good meeting and growers have lots of questions which is fair enough and good to see,” he said. “We’re now
setting up a new section on thekiwifruitclaim.org where anyone can ask any question they want and we’ll answer as soon as possible and within two working days.”
Mr Cameron said The Kiwifruit Claim could not provide legal advice to growers considering signing up to the claim, who
should seek their own independent legal advice before making a decision on whether or not to sign up.
“At the same time, we want to be as helpful as possible so we will get all our answers signed off by our legal team
before putting them up on the website.”
Mr Cameron said some “tough words” had been exchanged around Te Puke over the last two weeks but growers were now
working their way through their decision-making process.
“It’s not compulsory to be part of The Kiwifruit Claim and if some growers think it’s not worth putting $500, $1000 or
$1500 into it, that is absolutely fine. But if you are not part of the claim, you can’t share in any settlement or award
of damages that eventuates.”
For family-owned orchards, the decision was purely a personal one, Mr Cameron said.
“The only exceptions are if an orchard is owned by a company or a trust. In those cases, directors and trustees have a
legal obligation to make sure their decision is in the best interests of the company or beneficiaries, so it might take
them a bit longer to be sure they are acting within the law,” he said.
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