Turley was responding to comments from New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc president Neil Trebilco (Rural News, March 6) that banks need to back growers as they'll miss at least one production season to graft new Psa-V resistant varieties.
"Our aim is to be best positioned as we go through this whole Psa issue to support the growers once there is clarity from KVH (Kiwifruit Vine Health), the Government, Zespri and other stakeholders around a recovery pathway," says Turley.
However, he stopped short of outlining any particular financial breaks the bank might be offering growers, such as an interest holiday on loans, saying only that growers' circumstances are individual and the bank is working through these with customers, one-to-one, daily.
Turley says ANZ banks about 40-50% of the
sector and has a long history with it. It's faced challenges before and come through them.
The current situation remains fluid, he adds.
"We are unable to predict how different cultivars will respond to Psa-V infection and the methods applied to control it...
"ANZ NZ has invested in a working group of experts from across the bank to ensure the bank is abreast of what is happening in the orchards and with the growers."
In response to the PSA V threat ANZ NZ has become a Gold sponsor of Zespri and KVH's PSA Research and Development Programme.
The bank's also collected information on kiwifruit growers' demographics and reliance on Gold fruit incomes to further Lincoln University's analysis of a business case for a government assisted recovery plan for growers with infected orchards.
It has also created a specific role, director kiwifruit, to ensure it has an overview of ANZ NZ's involvement with the kiwifruit industry across rural, commercial, retail, business banking and institutional sectors.
Turley says there may have been one or two foreclosures but they were not for Psa – the disease may have been the catalyst but they were going to happen anyway.
He adds there may still be more casualties, unfortunately, because everyone reacts differently in situations.
