Red Kiwi Makes Plea For OE In T&G Campaign

Red Kiwi Makes Plea For OE In T&G Billboard Campaign

Turners & Growers Latest Billboard At Wellington Airport : “Pity the poor little bugger isn't allowed to go overseas and make his fortune.”

The big OE is a right of passage for thousands of bright young kiwis each year and one red-hearted kiwi is making a very public plea for the chance to head overseas with his mates and earn valuable export dollars for New Zealand.

The world’s first commercialised red kiwifruit, ENZARed is making its bid for export freedom in Turners & Growers latest Billboard to highlight the need for an overhaul of New Zealand’s outdated Kiwifruit Regulations.

The 12 metre-long billboard, which has just gone up at Wellington Airport features a picture of the ENZARed kiwifruit with its distinctive red starburst centre alongside the words “Pity the poor little bugger can’t go overseas and make his fortune.”

Turners & Growers Managing Director, Jeff Wesley says the new billboard message is timely given the comments of MFAT Chief Executive, John Allen yesterday. Mr Wesley said MFAT officials are in a difficult position trying to hold the party line on a company’s monopoly that is ultimately doomed in the cut and thrust of free trade negotiations. “They’re trying to talk tough, for an international audience, but ultimately free trade is just that and you can’t have one commercial company with this type of competitive privilege.”

“In the commercial world if New Zealand is serious about its push for innovation and doubling the value of its exports, it has to recognise the proprietary rights of those who own kiwi fruit varieties. Proprietary varieties do not need government regulated SPE’s they have them by default – just as Zespri does with its own Gold variety.

Mr Wesley said Turners & Growers is one of New Zealand’s export success stories and the company’s concern at the need for future focussed changes to the current regulatory environment to encourage investment, R&D, exporting and innovation is echoed by business leaders in today’s “Mood of the Boardroom Survey”.

“We take New Zealand’s best from the soil to the world plate – it’s what we do. We have successfully taken more new fruit and vegetable varieties to the world than any other company in New Zealand. We need Kiwifruit Regulations that recognise the world has moved on since 1999 and New Zealand risks being overtaken.”

“T&G/ENZA’s work in New Zealand and international markets to develop, promote and sell new kiwifruit varieties in international supermarkets has delivered a significant boost to global interest in the kiwifruit category.”

Mr Wesley says the so-called “collaborative marketing” system set up over a decade ago was now a licence for anti-competitive behaviour.

“That system was set up in the days when Zespri was a grower cooperative and we only had green kiwifruit. Owners of new varieties are now up against what is an ordinary company, owned by shareholders but protected by an extraordinary market position. It is not in the commercial interest of that company to promote a competitors products – nor is it in the interests of competitors to hand over their valuable IP and investment to Zespri,” he said.

“The situation we have where Zespri as the owner of one PVR (Plant Variety Right) variety can exercise control over the commercial destiny of PVR varieties owned by others is ridiculous,” said Jeff Wesley.

Turners & Growers, the country’s leading exporter of premium fresh produce kicked off its high-profile billboard campaign last month at prominent sites in Wellington. The company estimates that its new kiwifruit varieties could earn New Zealand up to half a billion dollars per year in export earnings.

ENDS

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