Prime Minister John Key has paid tribute to Zespri and the Bay of Plenty's kiwifruit industry for its 'remarkable” ability to regroup and recover in the wake of Psa.

As part of his day-long trip to Tauranga, Key visited Zespri's Mount Maunganui office as the industry came together to thank the government for its support in fighting the bacterial disease.

Prime Minster John Key speaking to Zespri International staff. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

The Prime Minster, speaking to industry representatives and around 200 Zespri staff, deflected praise, saying the kiwifruit industry is doing well on the back of the adversity that struck when Psa was first identified in an orchard near Te Puke on November 5, 2010.

'What's been remarkable in the kiwifruit industry is the capacity to regroup very quickly and recover from that through science and innovation,” says Key.

'We need you guys, and we need to sell more from the world than we buy from the world.”

According to an independent review by the Sapere Research Group, released late last year, the industry has recovered more quickly than anticipated.

The report says the industry was well served by its integrated nature, existing governance systems and the quick decision to establish a dedicated body (Kiwifruit Vine Health) to manage the response.

Extremely skilled leaders operating under enormous pressure and their relationships with government and the banking sector were also important, as was the focus on managing the human impacts of the bacteria and not just the bacteria itself.

The industry's 'can do” attitude and ability to adapt, coupled with substantial investment in the new kiwifruit breeding programme which created the more Psa-tolerant gold variety G3, helped the recovery.

Key says: 'When you grow things, you are subject to unforeseen changes that can happen, either beneficial or incredibly negative, in this case the latter in terms of biosecurity risk.

'One of the challenges is we are just a small country with very open borders. Fundamentally, there are lots of ways biosecurity risks can come to New Zealand.

'We understand that, and it doesn't matter how much resourcing there is, something is going to slip through.”

John Key and Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller speak to the media. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

But he says with the kiwifruit industry set for strong growth, there is a wave of basic demand for New Zealand products, such as kiwifruit, washing over Asia and, to a lesser extent, the US that needs to be capitalised upon.

'And there is only two things you can do [with this wave],” he says. 'You can either ride it or get drowned by it - there is nothing in between.

'Either we are going to be the people that stand up and sell wine, and kiwifruit, and lamb, and a million others things we are good at, or alternatively someone else is going to supply it and if they do, we will miss that opportunity.”

Zespri chairman Peter McBride says it's hard to recall now just how uncertain and dark those days were, when they simply did not know how the industry could continue after the Psa outbreak

'What was in no doubt, however, was the support of the government,” says Peter.

'Within days of Psa's discovery in NZ, the government had committed $25million – matched dollar for dollar by industry – into managing the disease and grower support.

'Now volumes of kiwifruit are back to pre-Psa levels, grower returns are strong, orchard prices are back to and in some cases surpassing pre-Psa values, and our new higher-value gold variety Zespri SunGold (Gold3) is proving itself in the orchard and in the market.”

Peter presented the Prime Minister with a kiwifruit carving on behalf of the industry as a token of gratitude for the government's support.

He adds: 'Thanks to the government's strong support – together with our unified industry structure, the resilience of our growers and the support of the banks – our industry is not just back on track, we're set for strong growth.”

The Prime Minister took time to talk with industry representatives and Zespri staff at the event and was also shown around their new temporary office which will open shortly, housing around 60 people.

Earlier in the day he made stops at Oropi School, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and officially opened Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller's new Papamoa electorate office.