Grower support for, and confidence in Zespri, is unshaken if the warm applause from the 400 shareholders who attended Wednesday's annual meeting at Baycourt in Tauranga is any guide.

Zespri AGM at Baycourt - see video below

Despite the issues of prosecution over customs duties in China and the impacts on grower incomes of the vine disease Psa-V, growers loudly applauded an unofficial motion put by grower and shareholder David Underwood that the Zespri board and staff be complimented on how they had handled the two issues and 'looked after business on growers' behalf”.

Earlier Katikati grower Ross Hart said that many growers were concerned about Zespri governance and control but were too scared to speak out about their concerns, to which many in the audience responded by calling out 'rubbish”.

Zespri chairman Peter McBride responded by saying Zespri never moved to shut down grower debate.

Ross also asked if there were any other litigation cases against Zespri growers did not yet know about and if so how much were they expected to cost growers.

Katherine Evans, Zespri General Counsel says at the moment there were no unknown litigation cases against Zespri on shore or off shore but the realities of doing business internationally was that there was no guarantee there would not be other 'bumps in the road” in future.

Zespri was also asked what lessons had been learned from the court case in China. CEO Lain Jager says an independent review had identified a number of issues which, in combination meant Zespri's oversight of the actions of its former importer were not sufficiently robust. 'We could have done better.”

Peter says the company must work through the historic customs issues 'in a deliberate and considered manner”.

However, those customs issues would not impact on Zespri's future in China, the Zespri reputation and brand remains strong and the opportunities in the future are significant.

Peter also signals that the board is reviewing grower ownership of Zespri, in light of concerns growers have around retaining grower ownership and control of Zespri.

'When Zespri was corporatised in 2000 shares were allocated to growers according to production. This mean at that point Zespri was in effect a co-operative.

'However, over time this cooperative ownership has been skewed by the fact that Zespri was corporatised under the Kiwifruit Regulations. These regulations drafted by Treasury do not allow for a pure cooperative. This is despite industry leaders at the time wanting a cooperative.”