NZ New Zealand Zespri Gold Gold3 G3 variety

Kiwifruit growers in New Zealand who took the decision to graft a new gold cultivar known as G3 without paying for the correct licences face fines of around NZ$50,000 (€30,330) per hectare, as the country's single-desk export marketer Zespri looks to send out a strong message to the industry.

As reported on Radio New Zealand at the end of last week, around a dozen growers in the area around Te Puke, on New Zealand's North Island, grafted G3 on to their own vines without having the necessary paperwork in place.

The cultivar, which Zespri says offers far better resistance to vine disease Psa, was made available to a restricted number of growers in June last year at a median price of NZ$25,500 (€15,468) per hectare.

Zespri chairman John Loughlin told the station that some of the growers facing penalties had been acting 'out of desperation' because their gold vines had been devastated by the Psa outbreak.

Growers faced with the fines will apparently have the alternative option of pruning new growth back to just two buds above the graft.

Zespri recently announced that it planned to make G3 licences available to all gold kiwifruit growers affected by Psa at NZ$8,000 (€4,853) a hectare.