Huge gratitude to Grey Lynn folk

The Pipfruit NZ team about to go door knocking in Auckland. From left, chief executive Alan Pollard and directors Peter Beaven and Andy Borland. Photo / Doug Laing

Pipfruit New Zealand is sending members of its Hawke's Bay leadership fraternity to join in as the fruit and vegetable industry walked the streets of Auckland in a big thank you for helping save the $6.4billion industry during this year's fruit fly scare.

Chief executive Alan Pollard and directors Andy Borland and former CEO Peter Beaven will be among a group of 12 from Pipfruit NZ, Horticulture New Zealand and Kiwifruit Vine Health who visit dozens of residents in the suburb of Grey Lynn thanking them for their patience during the scare that put a block on movement of fruit and produce in and out of the area.

It started when controls were put in place by the Ministry of Primary Industries after the finding of a Queensland fruit fly in Grey Lynn in February.

Traps put in place to stifle any infestation and test the seriousness of the find caught 14 fruit flies before the alert was called off two weeks ago, when authorities declared New Zealand fruit fly-free on December 4. Throughout the alert, people had been unable to take fruit to school or work outside the area, just one of the impacts of the scare. No fruit was able to be taken out of the zone.

The group will be delivering a gift card to every household in Zone A of the Queensland Fruit Fly Controlled Area, the cards being redeemable with retailers who had also had their lives and movements disrupted by the restrictions.

Mr Pollard said the door knocking will be a way to meet and shake hands with those residents whose daily lives were impacted the most and who had the greatest responsibility of protecting growers' livelihoods and New Zealand's horticultural industry.

"We are looking forward to personally thanking Grey Lynn households and families who for the past 10 months have played a critical part in protecting our industry from an insect that put our $6 billion industry at risk," he said.

HortNZ president Julian Raine said the New Zealand industry owes a deep debt of gratitude to the residents and retailers in the affected areas of Grey Lynn. "We can't thank these people enough for their concern and vigilance," he said.

Kiwifruit Vine Health chief executive Barry O'Neil said the community support had been essential and eradication would have been "far more difficult" without it.

Those in Zone A had opened their backyards to have pest control teams set and monitor traps on their properties, working day and night.

Simple things that other Kiwis took for granted, like packing whole fruit into the school lunch box, had been prohibited.

The risk to the industry had been two-fold, with the possible closing of international markets and the cost of destruction, control and eradication.