Adding kiwifruit orchard properties to the Hazardous Activities and Industries List should not have major implications for most owners, says Doug Brown, chairman of the Kiwifruit Growers Inc.

With more than 3000 kiwifruit orchards already on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council list, this means the majority of properties are recorded, he says.

Kiwifruit growers have led the way in the reduction of chemical use says Doug Brown, chairman of the Kiwifruit Growers Inc.

This week council is contacting orchard owners throughout the region about their property being added to the Hazardous Activities and Industries List, known as the HAIL register.

'NZKGI became aware of the list last year and ran a seminar with a lawyer to look at any potential legal implications but there didn't seem to be anything significant.

'It is more around what might happen if there is a change in land use in future. However, kiwifruit growers already have good orchard practices around chemical use under the requirements of Zespri and EuroGAP and are audited regularly.

'With the introduction of the KiwiGreen integrated pest monitoring programme in 1997 kiwifruit growers led the way in the reduction of chemical use,” he says.

Ministry for the Environment developed the HAIL database of activities as a way to help identify potentially contaminated sites.

Orchards have been included on this list because of their use and storage of bulk pesticides (including organic orchards). Pesticide spray residues can affect human health when they accumulate in soils.

Regional Council has a responsibility under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) to identify and monitor potentially contaminated land, says Project Implementation Officer Emma Joss.

'To fulfil these obligations, we are required to register all sites that are potentially contaminated. This doesn't mean their land is contaminated, just that it might be. Overall this won't affect land owners unless they plan to repurpose the land in the future. If this happens we would want to ensure the land was suitable and safe for this new purpose and the site would need to be investigated.”

Landowners will receive a letter, site report outlining the information held on their site as well as a FAQ sheet. Landowners will have a month to respond if they disagree with the information contained within the report. Once the landowner and the Regional Council have agreed the information is correct, this record will from part of the Land Information Memorandum (LIM) for the site.

For more information visit www.boprc.govt.nz/orchardproject