Hawke's Bay summer fruit trees begin to bloom and some New Zealand growers -faced with having to lose their trees due to biosecurity fears- have been given a glimmer of a lifeline. Four Hawke's Bay companies took part in a legal challenge to a previous MPI directive wanting to see tens of thousands of plants destroyed due to biosecurity concerns.
That resulted in a High Court Judge ruling the directive unlawful and instructing parties to try to find a solution.
"MPI held another productive conference call with affected nurseries and industry on Friday," an MPI spokeswoman said. "We talked through the high level testing plan which was shared with affected owners last week, and we await their feedback. Detailed individual testing plans are being developed for each owner and will be finalised later next week.”
"These detailed plans outline the testing that will need to be completed in order for the plant material to be released if no pests or diseases of concern are found. Once this is done, we're hoping to be in a position to release the apple plants in the near future. For stone fruit plants, spring and summer testing will be required so the process will be longer.”
"MPI will also be writing to affected owners early next week to explain the process for submitting the costs and losses they have incurred as a result of destroying or containing their plant material. We intend to offer one-on-one meetings with affected owners to talk through this process."
