NEWS
SNIPS
Vayego – an
insecticide that
kills coddling
moths, leafrollers
and other pests
in apples, pears,
stonefruit and
grapes – may
be used for
the first time in
New Zealand if
approved by the
EPA
Massey
University’s
Professor Sally
Casswell is
representing
New Zealand in
an international
group drawn
from academia
and international
agencies such as
the World Bank,
UN and WHO,
which is calling
for taxes on
sugar, tobacco
and alcohol
A landmark
decision released
by the High Court
has found that
the Ministry of
Primary Industries
(formally MAF)
was negligent
in allowing the
deadly PSA
disease into New
Zealand in 2009,
which devastated
the kiwifruit
industry
Horticulture New
Zealand’s Board
is asking growers
to vote to renew
the levy funding
that keeps the
organisation
going, with voting
papers out now.
WATCH OUT,
FONTERRA
Greenpeace says Fonterra should get
ready to have its international reputation
pounded again, this time over
rainforest destruction and cow feed. A
recent investigation has shown that the
New Zealand dairy giant’s key supplier
of palm kernel expeller (PKE) has
links to a huge expanse of Indonesian
deforestation…and Greenpeace says
it condemns the practice for its effect
on climate change and the habitat of
endangered animals such as orangutans.
Greenpeace says Fonterra
imports PKE, a product made by the
palm oil industry for supplementary
feed, with New Zealand the world’s
largest user. “After public outcry two
years ago, Fonterra agreed to adopt an
industry standard to ensure its use of
PKE wasn’t leading to deforestation,”
Greenpeace’s sustainable agriculture
spokesperson Gen Toop says. “Now,
embarrassingly, its main supplier of
PKE – Wilmar - has been linked with
the mass destruction of rainforest on
Papua in Indonesia. The international
reputation of New Zealand’s dairy
industry is seriously on the line here
and so are the world’s last remaining
rainforests.” Toop says Greenpeace’s
investigation shows the concessions
on Papua belong to a business called
Gama, which appears to be run by
senior Wilmar executives and members
of their family. “This revelation
again implicates New Zealand’s dairy
industry in deforestation in Indonesia,”
Toop says. PKE is also one of the main
drivers of dairy intensification in New
Zealand. PKE fuelled the expansion of
industrial dairy farming here. We now
have way too many cows polluting
our rivers and warming our climate.
We’ve got to ditch PKE, re-focus
onto pasture-based dairying and farm
fewer cows. These are the first steps
towards transforming our dairy industry
to regenerative farming which is the
direction we need to be going.
IMPOSSIBLE POSITION
WINE AWARD REFRESH
Changes to the way New Zealand’s two
top wine awards will run will refresh the
celebration of this country’s wine. The
New Zealand Wine of the Year will replace
the Air New Zealand Wine Awards
and the Bragato Wine Awards later this
year, becoming the official national wine
competition. New Zealand Winegrowers
Board chair John Clarke says the new
awards will incorporate the best components
of each previous competition,
focusing on grape grower and single
vineyard wines alongside championing
New Zealand wine excellence. “The opportunity
to recognise the achievements
of our grape growers and winemakers
in one competition is exciting,” he says.
Judging of the wines will take place in
the first week of October in Auckland,
led by Hawke’s Bay winemaker and Air
New Zealand Wine Awards chair Warren
Gibson, and Marlborough winemaker
and Bragato Wine Awards chair Ben
Glover. The new competition will refresh
the wine awards scene, Gibson says.
“The New Zealand Wine of the Year
Awards 2018 is more than an amalgamation
of the previous two; it is the development
of a new, fresh and exciting
format. The focus is strongly towards
celebrating the entire New Zealand wine
industry, with a particular focus on vineyard
excellence and regionality.” Entries
open on August 1, with the winners announced
on November 3 in Wellington.
www.nzwine.com/events
Air NZ – which has just announced it is
offering Impossible Burgers on its popular
Los Angeles-to-Auckland routes
– could be providing genetically-engineered
vegan food that has escaped
food safety regulations. GE-Free NZ
says the burger has been developed
and tested by Impossible Foods and
contains fake GE blood – derived
from yeast Pichia pastoris genetically
engineered with a Soy Leghemoglobin
Protein (SLH) - so the burger sizzles.
It is not clear whether SLH is safe for
consumption, and soybean is one of the
most common allergenic foods. “Offering
it on an aircraft sidelines the approval
framework required of consumer food
safety,” GE-Free NZ president Claire
Bleakley says. “It is concerning that Air
New Zealand is using its passengers as
guinea pigs to trial the burger. The consumer
preference for plant-based eating
is based on ethical and genuine sustainability
reasons.” Bleakley says whilst
DUBAI-BOUND
Kiwi food and beverage companies are
being urged to contact New Zealand
at Expo 2020 if they would like to
showcase the best of this country’s
NEWS
Warren Gibson
/events
