Growers around Nelson and Motueka in New Zealand's South Island have reportedly rejected calls by export company Turners & Growers for the country's kiwifruit industry to be deregulated, with several of them taking down signs bearing T&G's Enza brand in protest at what they see as a misguided and potentially damaging move.
According to an article by Elaine Fisher published this morning in the Bay of Plenty Times, growers in the region who produce apples and kiwifruit say they are extremely wary of moves to dismantle marketer Zespri's current export monopoly given the damage many say has befallen the apple sector following deregulation 10 years ago.
'We know what will happen if the kiwifruit industry is deregulated. We've seen it all before with apples,' Rod Fry told the newspaper.
Mr Fry, chairman of Mainland Kiwi Growers, estimated that kiwifruit growers would be earning half what they do now if the Kiwifruit Export Regulations set up in 1999 were to be scrapped, an estimate based on his experience with apples post-deregulation.
He also suggested that none of the growers he knew were in favour of a change in the way the New Zealand kiwifruit export industry was structured.
Somewhat ironically, T&G chairman Tony Gibbs fought against scrapping the single-desk export system for apples, arguing that it would 'send growers to the wall'.
However, his company is now pursuing a legal case through New Zealand's High Court in which it claims that Zespri has abused its export monopoly and contravenes the country's Commerce and Bill of Rights Acts.
According to the Bay of Plenty Times article, the group has also mounted a 'concerted campaign' to win over growers by sending them information in support of its case.
'I put 'Return to sender' and stick back in the letter box any of the information T&G sends out to kiwifruit growers,' said another grower based just north of Motueka, Andrew Drummond. 'I don't want to read it. I don't want to discuss it. The apple industry today is one third what it was before deregulation.'
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