Richard Moore's Straight Talk Columns

Orchard communities facing financial abyss

16/11/2010

THE kiwifruit orchards of Te Puke and the town's economy are standing on the edge of a financial abyss and there is a strong likelihood they will fall into it.

Already vines on one orchard have had to be destroyed - courtesy of the Psa bacteria - and those on 10 others face the same fate.

It is a massive storm cloud threatening a billion-dollar industry.

In a little over a week Psa has gone from spots on leaves to having vines produce a red sap and canes dying.

It is horrendous.

The disease is virulent and its further spread would be disastrous for both the Bay of Plenty's economy and also New Zealand's economic health.

We know this because vines in Lazio, Italy, suffered the same blight and there up to 50 per cent of vines on some orchards were destroyed.

No one yet knows how this terrifying bug got into the Bay but it goes to show that everyone needs to be vigilant.

Keeping the Psa under control will be very difficult. It can be carried on any surface and floats along on the winds. Infected vines cannot be burnt on bonfires, or mulched, as either method may spread the bacteria.

Some growers, already struggling to keep going, could go to the wall and the flow-on effect would hit coolstores, packhouses, jobs, local shops and possibly even house prices.

We can only hope that Zespri and the Ministry of Agriculture can react swiftly and decisively enough to limit the damage.

That may include destroying entire orchards.

If they are unable to, then this region is going to be hit by a financial disaster not seen since the Great Depression. A former orchardist said to me: ``It will be a catastrophe. People don't realise how bad it could be. ``Te Puke will be absolutely dead.''

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CRIKEY, there has been a great white shark scare off the Tauranga coast ... what a surprise.

The previous afternoon I'd watched from the Mount foreshore as a fishing boat headed for the harbour gutting fish as it went in. The figure sitting at the stern of the vessel and the flock of gulls following it was a dead giveaway.

And this was but a kilometre off our main summer-time tourist beach.

Those selfish fishermen may as well sound the dinner gong saying ``Hiya white pointers, there's tidbits here but lovely tourist bodies just a bit closer to shore.''

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CALL me cynical, but I'm a bit worried about the police war on drugs.

I back cracking down on the pusbuckets growing/making drugs but I reckon we need to keep things in perspective.

For example, the Prime Minister Jonno Key reckons we're doing really well in dealing with methamphetamine, or P, with a big jump in seizures of the nasty stuff. And yes we've had a 25 per cent increase in the amount the coppers are taking off the bad boys.

It sounds great, but how much does a quarter represent?

Well, it's five kilos of P.

I'm not sure how many hits that is but, quite frankly, spending massive amounts of police resources to go from 20kg to 25kg doesn't seem very cost-effective to me.

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ONE of the great heroines of the world has to be Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

She's been locked up by the military leaders of Burma, also known as Myanmar, for the better part of two decades.

She was unable to leave to go to the funeral of her husband and hasn't seen her children for 10 years.

Well, the generals have finally released her from house detention and, hopefully, she will stay free. The candle of democracy is glowing brighter.

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NOW this is just the type of thing we need to entice more tourists our way.

Tracey Rudduck-Gudsell, the chief of Creative Tauranga, has come up with a fabulous idea of creating a statue trail for the beloved Hairy Maclary and his mates.

There would be bronze statues of Hairy, Bottomley Potts, Schnitzel von Krumm and all the gang, including my fave Scarface Claw the terrifying tomcat.

What better way to get a bit more culture into this city - not to mention visitor interest - than by celebrating local author Lynley Dodd's marvellous characters with a series of bronze statues.

Well done Tracey.

richard@richardmoore.com..