Cook, who was based near the Te Puke farm where Psa was first detected, was contracted by the Ministry for Primary Industries during the initial response to spray infected vines.<\/p>\n
He saw an industry under existential pressure, with customers cutting vines back to stumps and some facing the loss of their properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realised that I can be the best spray contractor in a failing industry, or I can help lift the industry so that my little business survives alongside it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook said the lesson from Psa was blunt: New Zealand had been \u201chorribly unprepared\u201d.<\/p>\n
He saw the same complacency overseas during his Nuffield scholarship, from citrus greening in Florida to banana disease in Queensland.<\/p>\n
Too often, industries put \u201cthe walls up\u201d only after the threat was inside, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of biosecurity investment as insurance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour house may not have burnt down, but you know there\u2019s a risk it could, so you get insurance \u2013 it\u2019s the same with biosecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook said New Zealand had strong border biosecurity, but growers and farmers must also understand the risks and manage what moves on and off their own properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be your own border control.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the Government had a key role in border protection, rapid responses and working with industry through the Government Industry Agreement framework.<\/p>\n
He pointed to brown marmorated stink bug as an example of where more risk management had been pushed offshore, including heat-treating vehicles before they arrived in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Once a threat gets past the border, speed matters, he said.<\/p>\n
Biosecurity priorities<\/p>\n
Drawing on these experiences, Cook supports Horticulture NZ\u2019s call for stronger early detection, rapid responses and regulatory settings that allow quick approvals during emerging threats.<\/p>\n
He said New Zealand had a sound science-based system for assessing these tools through the Environmental Protection Authority and Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines.<\/p>\n
Cook said the challenge was that New Zealand\u2019s small market could make it uneconomic for companies to register newer chemistry here, especially for minor crops.<\/p>\n
\u201cA new chemical registration can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take years, even when similar information has been accepted by trusted overseas regulators.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may be manageable for kiwifruit as a strong industry, but not for smaller crops such as tamarillos, strawberries, passionfruit or avocados, where sales may never justify the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook said that could leave growers using older, broader-spectrum products because newer, softer and more targeted alternatives were not available here.<\/p>\n
Cook said one of Horticulture NZ\u2019s election manifesto priorities was practical: protect New Zealand from pests and diseases that could devastate crops and ensure growers could access the tools they needed to produce healthy food responsibly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the biggest protectors of our environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need policies and rules that allow us to manage our environment and work in that environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cook, who was based near the Te Puke farm where Psa was first detected, was contracted by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[95,5432,13432,31698,4194,11662,273,3273,22220,85476,111,139,69,90,280292,5679,46601,6653,1519,98897,147,12975,6037,8690,67015,210,3551],"class_list":["post-569265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-and","tag-between","tag-biosecurity","tag-chainsaws","tag-cook","tag-difference","tag-environment","tag-future","tag-going","tag-horticulture","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-orchardist","tag-psa","tag-puke","tag-reflects","tag-risks","tag-robust","tag-science","tag-sector","tag-simon","tag-te","tag-thriving","tag-through","tag-vines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}