Why I Now Support the ‘NZ Flower growers Association’

By Ben Kosterman of ‘The Kiwi Flower Company’

Hi,

 My name is Ben Kosterman and like many flower growers in NZ I never thought the ‘New Zealand Flower Growers Association’ [NZFGA]  did anything much that really helped the growers. I’ve now changed the way I think about the NZFGA and become a member – here is my story.

We have a flower growing business at Wellsford north of Auckland and we grow bulb crops mainly indoors. This means that we are importing containers of bulbs several times a year. Usually this goes smoothly but early December 2015 MPI refused to release a container of Lily bulbs from quarantine at Mangere on the basis that a Penicillium species was detected on some bulbs.

I referred this back to - ‘Onings BV’ - our bulb exporter.  They discussed it with the Netherlands inspection services who were upset with the situation as no notification had been made from NZ bio- security and Penicillium is not on the pest list. They felt a mistake had been made and expressed this to the bio- security officers involved and asked for clearance of the container to prevent losses for me. It was also suggested that if only a portion of the bulbs in the container were affected then those could be destroyed so the rest could be released.  This had no effect and there was no release from Mangere. I was given the option of dipping all the bulbs. There were major problems with this – first the cost as the hourly rate for bio- security staff is very high but mostly because the bulbs would need to be thawed prior to being dipping and they would all then need to be planted quickly. This would have been no more possible than it would be for me to harvest and market all the flowers at once.

I was at a loss and did not know what to do, there were demeurrage charges of $200/day, the loss of the bulbs would cost me $35,000 and 140,000 bulbs harvested at a $1/stem when they are ready is a lot of money lost.

Every now and then I have contact with the NZFGA Executive Officer Chris Smellie.  I told him the problem and he suggested he could help by putting me in touch with the right people. He sent an email to the NZFGA -‘GERMAC’- [Germplasm Imports Action Council] representative Andy Warren. Andy rang me and after discussing the situation with me then proceeded to take my case to Shane Olson, bio- security manager for plant imports. To demonstrate how helpful Andy was I would like to copy in the email he sent to Shane Olsen.

Hi Shane

Thanks for your help

Some issues

1. Cant find any reference to  a harmful penicillium in the NZ IHS for Lilies ( let alone any penicilium)so Dutch exporters understandably grumpy when they have completely followed the regulations - see attached phyto  - They have met the MPI requirements!

2. delay from PHEL report getting back to grower of 6 days by MPI is unacceptable - evidently Ben was told they had "lost" them  - at demeurrage charges of $200 per day this is plain not fair 3. If no harmful penicillium has been found by the lab  notwithstanding 1 above then I have some serious empathy for the grower 4. Note that the shipment is frozen so dipping the bulbs without unfreezing is nigh on impossible then all would have to be theoretically planted immediately to save them 5. I understand even though these bulbs have come from a certified pest free area it is likely to be only one variety affected ( 35-40 crates) which the importer would agree to dump if forced rather than the whole container

As its Christmas in three days given the above, on behalf of the grower Ben Kosterman,  I appreciate your urgent attention to this 

Thanks! 

Andy Warren

Obviously Shane Olsen acted very quickly on our behalf and we much appreciated this as the container was released from Mangere just in time for it to be delivered to me at Kaiwaka before the Christmas shutdown.

Shane Olsen also sent an email to me outlining the situation from a bio security perspective. A Penicillium species was detected and needed to be identified, -;  it was thought that it could be P hirsutum, a plant pathogen of some concern, but further tests revealed it was not P hirsutum.  Penicillium spp are not listed on the specific pest list for Lilium nursery stock. But on the ‘Bio security Organisms Register For Imported Commodities’ [BORIC] - where all organisms associated with plants or plant products are registered as regulated or non regulated. Penicillium spp. Is listed  as regulated and so may require action.

Shane also mentioned that there would be a follow- up with Operations Staff over the delay in clarifying the status of the shipment.

Without the input from Andy Warren via the NZFGA  the container would probably not have been be released until January. If that had been the case I would have asked for the bulbs to be destroyed as the build up of daily expenses would have been too great.

Chris has since told me that NZFGA have been funding Andy Warren to go to four ‘GERMAC’ meetings a year but are at present considering cutting these as the association’s funds are shrinking annually.

So if you are a flower grower who, like me, thought the NZFGA was not much use to growers, I hope you will think again and realise that the Association cannot continue forever without more support from its grower base.

Thanks

Ben Kosterman