After producing glossy booklets slamming kiwifruit regulations and also monopoly exporter Zespri, Turners and Growers has now gone mainstream to assert its opinion.The fresh produce grower, processor and exporter is at loggerheads with Zespri because it w
After producing glossy booklets slamming kiwifruit regulations and also monopoly exporter Zespri, Turners and Growers has now gone mainstream to assert its opinion.
The fresh produce grower, processor and exporter is at loggerheads with Zespri because it wants to the ability to market and sell its own kiwifruit varieties overseas.
However, kiwifruit regulations prohibit other parties like Turners and Growers exporting of the fruit beyond Australia.
This week the company is erecting a 13m high billboard on the side of the Custom House Building on Whitmore St in central Wellington, designed to highlight the need for changes to the regulations.
Another billboard has already been installed at the entrance to Wellington airport (pictured).
Turners and Growers chief executive said the regulatory regime establish in 1999 was designed for an industry that had just one commodity to sell.
“The kiwifruit export regulations simply haven’t kept up with the growth of new varieties and have become a handbrake on innovation and export earnings,” he said.
Last year the company lodged a statement of claim against Zespri at the High Court in Auckland.
It was claimed Zespri was seeking to tie growers, suppliers and post harvest operators into exclusivity contracts; attempted to take control of the supply of kiwifruit for export to Australia; and was attempting to take control of new kiwifruit cultivars.
Further claims by Turners & Growers suggested Zespri had unlawfully discriminated among suppliers of kiwifruit by paying more for fruit supplied by growers who were prepared to sign exclusivity agreements with the company.
The company published three booklets and distributed them to kiwifruit growers last year containing statements in support of its claim.
Turners and Growers claim is expected to be heard at the High Court next year.
