Claims Psa is causing orchard sprayers to lay-off staff is localised and relates to the sprayer's customer base according to the leader of a kiwifruit growers representative group.

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated president Neil Trebilco says any lay-offs in the orchard spraying industry relate more to a contractor's customer base than any industry down-turn.

Spraying at a Bay of Plenty Orchard

'To put things in perspective, you have to realise that approximately 1000 hectares out of 13,000 fertile hectares are affected by the Psa virus.”

It will be these 1000ha of new grafts, which will require less spraying than the rest of the vines. These new grafts will not require Hicane sprayed from large machines, but will require a more delicate approach using backpack sprays.

Some orchardists will still be producing the old strains in Psa resilient land and for them it will be business as usual says Neil.

Chris O'Dwyer from Bay Orchard Spraying says things are quiet on the orchard front, but are no worse than three-years ago.

'We haven't had to lay anyone off,” says Chris.

'We had a driver leave and won't worry about replacing him until at least next month or later when the spray season traditionally kicks off, but it's no worse than it was three-years ago.”

Chris currently employs six long-term staff and while there are opportunities to branch out into related services, he prefers to stick with spraying.

'If gold kiwifruit were around we'd be spraying, but there's no gold around to spray.”

Neil does not have statistics relating to layoffs or redundancies, but says any short term losses will be recovered in the next season when business is forecast to return to normal.