Talks underway over stonefruit, apple impasse

Members of the apple and stonefruit industry and MPI held discussions last Friday on the orders of the High Court.

The High Court has ordered a five-day relief to nurseries and orchardists who face losing tens of thousands of apple and stonefruit plants imported from the US; it will rule on an extension of the order this week.

A final decision regarding the future management of the 48,000 plants has not yet been reached, but the industry group was heartened by a constructive initial meeting with MPI representatives, the industry group said in a statement.

“The industry group expects further opportunities to engage with MPI to continue discussions in the coming days, in order to avoid the need to seek further rulings from the High Court.”  

Justice Francis Cooke had previously held MPI’s initial directive to be unlawful, but had issued interim orders maintaining the status quo for the plants and plant materials. These orders were set to expire at 5:00pm on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day on Friday, a teleconference was held between the parties (the industry, MPI, and Justice Cooke) where MPI sought an extension to the interim orders. 

The judge’s decision regarding an extension to the interim orders had not been confirmed by close of business on Friday but is expected very early this week.  

The industry group is cautiously optimistic that a solution which is agreeable to all parties can be achieved without the need to go back to the Court.