Silly Season
OPINION: Election years are usually regarded as the silly season, but a mate of the Hound reckons 2026 is shaping…
MPI has turned down a request from the horticulture sector to declare the recent hail and rainstorms, that decimated many orchards around the country and cost growers millions
of dollars in lost income, as an ‘adverse event’.
An increased focus on exports for New Zealand tomatoes could see the sector double its 2014 value by 2020.
Horticulture presents a major opportunity for this country, says Barry O’Neil, new chairman of Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ).
Despite the wet weather, kiwifruit vine killing bacteria Psa has surprisingly been less active so far this spring.
The kiwifruit industry has seen a resurgence of vine-killing disease Psa-V this year, but still expects a bumper crop.
A cold winter and wet, windy spring has seen a resurgence of Psa in kiwifruit vines in all affected areas.
Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) has received a Psa-V positive test result on Hort16A and male vines on a Whangarei kiwifruit orchard - the first confirmed case in the region.

OPINION: Election years are usually regarded as the silly season, but a mate of the Hound reckons 2026 is shaping…
OPINION: If farmers poured just a few litres of some pollutant into a stream, the Green Party and the wider…