Fruit industry questions future as deadline approaches

The clock is ticking on the High Court deadline (5pm today), and apple and stonefruit industry members are still waiting to hear from MPI regarding proposed directives.

Following a meeting last Friday, the first and only meeting since the High Court sent this group of orchardists and nursery owners and MPI back to the drawing board, there has been some limited communication from MPI.

The Judge had instructed MPI to engage with the affected industry members to seek alternative directives for the management of over 48,000 apple and stonefruit plants.

According to Kerry Sixtus of Pattullo’s Nurseries, “MPI recently shared a draft testing plan with us which is a critical element of how we propose to manage the plants that are in containment, and sets the scene for how long it may take for these plants to be released. Until we have clarity on the testing plan, we are unable to prepare for any commercial activity.

“At first glance, the proposed testing plan does not incorporate critical actions that were agreed with the MPI representatives at the meeting on Friday. We are working on our response at the moment, and hope to engage again with MPI next week.

“There has been no discussion about the revised directives with MPI. We can only remain optimistic that MPI will take on board the court order and narrow the original directives,” added Kerry.

Whilst all actions are focussing on the directives for the 48,000 plants in question, the orchardists and nursery owners are also starting to raise questions about the future of the apple and stonefruit industry.

“MPI has not moved forward with any pace to re-accredit the CPCNW facility in the US, which leaves us at a loss as to how we will access innovative plant varieties to future-proof our industry and maintain a globally competitive industry position,” said Kerry.

“MPI talked about accessing material through other channels such as Canada or France, but MPI has yet to publish their audit reports or indicate whether they will issue import permits for plant materials from these facilities.

“Not all facilities have the same stock. It is not like shopping for groceries, where you have a choice of retailers. We are dealing with unique and limited plant varieties. For that we need to go to specialist stores and build long term relationships to ensure we have access to the right products,” said Kerry.

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