Kiwifruit Vine Health submission

Matt DyckBiosecurity Manager

Kiwifruit Vine Health

• Grower funded organisation representing biosecurity interests of kiwifruit & kiwiberry sectors

• Est. Nov 2010 to manage Psa incursion

• Governed by representatives from New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated, ZESPRI, and postharvest organisations

New Zealand kiwifruit industry

• Over 2500 growers

• Regional importance especially to Bay of Plenty and Eastern Bay of Plenty communities

• Māori investment BOP alone >$300m, 2500FTE

• Zespri’s goal of doubling global sales of kiwifruit revenue to $4.5b by 2025

• By 2030 (Waikato IBR 2017)

• BOP industry employment to 25,000 (↑133 %)

• Northland industry employment to 866 (↑133%)

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

• Significant biosecurity threat – very high risk

• Major pest of kiwifruit.

• Pierces fruit, resulting in fruit drop or subsequent rot

• Losses up to 30% on heavily impacted blocks

• Impacts both green and gold cultivars

BMSB impacts to Hayward

Chemical control unsuitable

• Requires regular and repeat applications of broad spectrum insecticides

• BMSB recover within a week

• Broad spectrum insecticides result in secondary pest outbreaks

• No effective control products available for New Zealand kiwifruit growers

• High rates result in residues that not meet both local and export market MRL’s for kiwifruit

Significant research investment

• New Zealand

• Offshore

• And industry specific

And many more…

The male and female Samurai Wasp (Jo Poulton, Plant and Food Research)

“At the end of the day, this is a landscape scale pest that utilisesso many hosts and habitats that there is no possible way that you

can hope to manage those populations with insecticides, or traps, or other human tactic.

Biological control, especially by the egg parasites, represents the ultimate solution for bringing this pest to economically acceptable levels”. Chris Berg, Professor Entomology, Virginia Tech

Cornell researchers trapping, rearing and releasing wild samurai wasps in New York, as a biocontrol agent on 24 farms in 32 agricultural sites (July, 2018):

“As a biocontrol agent, the wasp is not only very effective at reducing the population of brown marmorated stink bugs, but [it is] the least environmentally damaging of all the options for controlling this pest in both the urban and agricultural system”

Peter Jentsch, Director Hudson Valley Research Laboratory, NY

Thank you

KVH support the application to release Trissolcusjaponicus as a biological control for BMSB, should it arriveand establish in New Zealand