Plant & Food Research's Chief Operating Officer Dr Bruce Campbell. Photo / Warren Buckland
A research team that helped the New Zealand kiwifruit industry claw its way back from the brink of destruction has won the 2017 Prime Minister's $500,000 Science Prize.
Plant & Food Research's Chief Operating Officer Dr Bruce Campbell spoke to The Country about how his multidisciplinary team battled the potentially
devastating Psa outbreak in 2010 and helped get New Zealand's kiwifruit industry back on track.
The threat of Psa meant kiwifruit was facing its most serious challenge but now the industry is on target to double globals sales to $4.5 billion by 2025.
Dr Campbell says the Kiwifruit industry was "a massive opportunity for New Zealand and the whole area of plant-based foods and that's why it was so important for us to be able to get on top of this disease."
Listen below:
