Zespri global sales top $5 billion for 2024–25 season amid strong demand
Zespri says global sales for the 2024-25 season topped $5 billion on the back of strong demand and market returns.
Despite the wet weather, kiwifruit vine killing bacteria Psa has surprisingly been less active so far this spring.
Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) chief executive Barry O’Neil says while they have seen some Psa it certainly isn’t at the levels of previous years in most orchards.
“Obviously there are some exceptions and we have visited some properties where Psa is showing quite significant presence,” he says.
“But in general we are seeing less than last year and to some extent that’s a surprise because we would have expected the wet spring to support Psa disease symptoms.
“We are wondering whether the mild winter, when we had less frosts, may have resulted in less disease.”
The frost seems to cause damage to the plant, he says. Sometimes a hard frost will crack the vine and Psa takes advantage of the damage.
“That is one possibility,” he says. “The other possibility is that as growers we are becoming much better at managing Psa so it has become more routine for growers to do the right thing in their management of Psa, whether it’s the spray protection being used, how they manage their vines, etc.
“All in all I think at this stage it is a good-news story.
“In previous years we have seen that, after Labour Weekend, if we had a storm we have often seen significant leaf spotting in the green varieties and that sometimes results in flower infection.
“So it is still early days in what could happen this spring and we obviously still want growers to be active with their management of Psa
risk.”
The properties where Psa is showing significant presence are often those more “challenged”.
“It could be very low lying areas, it could be wetter areas; so the properties where it has been bad are where we have seen significant Psa in previous years.”
Following a recent overweight incursion that saw a Mid-Canterbury contractor cop a $12,150 fine, the rural contracting industry is calling time on what they consider to be outdated and unworkable regulations regarding weight and dimensions that they say are impeding their businesses.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
A landmark New Zealand trial has confirmed what many farmers have long suspected - that strategic spring nitrogen use not only boosts pasture growth but delivers measurable gains in lamb growth and ewe condition.
It was recently announced that former MP and Southland farmer Eric Roy has stepped down of New Zealand Pork after seven years. Leo Argent talks with Eric about his time at the organisation and what the future may hold.
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RaboResearch, the research arm of specialist agriculture industry banker Rabobank, sees positives for the Alliance Group in its proposed majority-stake sale to Ireland's Dawn Meats.