Kiwifruit growers have the power to change their industry if that's what the majority wish, says the president of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc.

Sun shines through the vines of a kiwifruit orchard.

'The current structure of the kiwifruit industry has been chosen by growers – the majority of growers. If the majority of growers want to make changes to their industry, they can and will,” says Neil Trebilco.

He is responding to calls from the Independent Kiwifruit Growers Association Inc that NZKGI endorse its call to stop what IKGA describes as 'the continued privatisation of public good funded kiwifruit varieties and to seek to have those varieties, along with the Zespri brand, put into a trust for the benefit of all kiwifruit growers and NZ Inc”.

Ross Hart of IKGA says: 'Taxpayer funding was responsible for establishing the kiwifruit variety breeding programme that produced the successful Hort 16A [Gold] kiwifruit variety. A further $35.7 million has been given by the Government to a joint venture between Plant and Food Research and Zespri to breed new kiwifruit varieties”.

'If the kiwifruit industry is deregulated those kiwifruit varieties could end up in foreign ownership, as happened with apple varieties when the Germans took over ENZA,” say Ross.

'We think that the exclusive licences that we understand Zespri has, in respect of each of its new varieties, should be put into a trust for growers – and not held by Zespri.”

But Neil says growers have the chance to have a say on the shape of their industry's future through the current Kiwifruit Industry Strategy Project.

'This project is far reaching in its scope as we look to how the industry, including our marketer, needs to be focused for the future to maximise grower returns. During the consultation phases of the Kiwifruit Industry Strategy Project, I would encourage all growers to make their views known,” says Neil.

'New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc is the mandated grower body, which represents the more than 2600 growers in the New Zealand kiwifruit industry, who voted overwhelmingly [87 per cent yes vote] to fund NZKGI with a levy to represent their interests.

'To the best of my knowledge, Mr Hart and Mr Ted Meade [also of IKGA] have no mandate to speak on behalf of the industry. As with all growers, their views will be listened to – but claims they have wide industry support are not backed up,” says Neil, who also says all growers 'are encouraged to make submissions to the Kiwifruit Industry Strategy Project”.

But Ross says that as far as IKGA is concerned, the Zespri brand is held on trust by Zespri for New Zealand and New Zealand growers – not for the exclusive benefit of Zespri shareholders.

'Did growers who have paid about $1 a tray each year for the development of the Zespri brand through promotional spending – that is about $100 million each year – think that they did not have ownership of the brand?”

Ross says that, based on figures in Zespri's annual review and report, 25 per cent of growers own 75 per cent of the shares in Zespri.

'There are 895 of the 2700 New Zealand growers [30 per cent of growers] who have no shares in Zespri but are compelled by law to export through Zespri and have no say in the way that their fruit returns are dealt with by Zespri.

'It is simply wrong, in our view, that Zespri shareholders – and not growers – own both the Zespri brand and taxpayer-funded kiwifruit varieties. With deregulation of the kiwifruit industry is a future possibility these valuable intellectual property rights could be lost to New Zealand and New Zealand kiwifruit growers forever,” says Ross. 'Growers, not Zespri shareholders, have paid for the Zespri brand and taxpayers have funded the Zespri kiwifruit varieties.”