Latest updates from the KNZ office.
Kiwifruit New Zealand has released its new Statement of Intent (SOI) for the 2026–2029 period, and a Funding Statement showing how KNZ was funded for the 2023-2026 period.
The SOI sets out Kiwifruit New Zealand’s key objectives, work programmes, and performance targets, ensuring the organisation continues to support a strong, sustainable, and well-regulated kiwifruit industry.
Growers and stakeholders can now view the Statement of Intent 2026–2029 and the 2023-2026 Funding Statement on the Kiwifruit New Zealand website by using the following links.
When nominations for the election of a grower-nominated Director of Kiwifruit New Zealand closed on Monday, August 4th 2025, only one nomination had been received, which was for Debbie Robinson.
As there is only one nomination, an election was not required, and Debbie Robinson will replace Peter Ombler on the Board.
Peter will retire from the Board on 31 October 2025, and I would like to thank him for his sage and valued contributions over the last six years.
Debbie Robinson will start her first 3-year term from 1 December 2025. This start date allows Debbie time to stand down from the positions she holds with various industry groups.
I welcome Debbie to the KNZ Board, and I am sure her extensive industry knowledge will be of great benefit to KNZ.
Samantha Sharif
Chair
Kiwifruit New Zealand received a complaint in December 2024 questioning if Zespri had applied a discriminatory and unfair test regarding accepting kiwifruit from orchards affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Under Regulations 9 and 10 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999, Zespri must not unjustifiably discriminate among suppliers in respect of a decision on whether to purchase kiwifruit or the terms of the purchase contract, unless that discrimination is justified on commercial grounds.
The KNZ Board considered the complaint in accordance with the process laid out in the Export Authorisation, and the KNZ Board reached its final decision in September 2025.
A summary of the decision can be found below.
This decision helps clarify Zespri's ability to set its purchase terms for New Zealand-grown kiwifruit and how it acts when a natural disaster affects a region or a group of orchards.
Geoff Morgan
Chief Executive
The Kiwifruit Innovation Award was established in 2015 by former KNZ Chairman of KNZ, Sir Brian Elwood, on his retirement.
The aim of the award is to recognise people who have demonstrated exceptional innovation through initiatives that have made a real difference to the kiwifruit industry by solving a problem or creating lasting value.
In the decade since the award was introduced, the Kiwifruit Innovation Award has celebrated some outstanding achievements. This has included;
- Zespri’s Kanako Inomata for the creation of the KiwiBrothers, which have been very popular around the world,
- Dr Annette Richardson for her work on improving budbreak,
- Dr Steve Green who changed the approach to water and nutrient management,
- Cathy McKenna for her work on pest management, that has helped preserve market access, and
- Russell Lowe, for his plant breeding work, including the first commercialised red kiwifruit cultivar.
The judging panel for the award comprises of the Chair’s of Kiwifruit New Zealand, New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated, and Zespri Group Limited.
This year the award was presented to Brett Wotton at the annual Zespri Industry Dinner on 21 August. The KNZ Chair Samantha Sharif, was overseas so the presentation was made by KNZ Chief Executive, Geoff Morgan.
Brett is an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, and the award is for his work in lifting fruit quality across the industry.
His initiative was to develop the use of covers for picking bags, which improve handling practices and helps prevent fruit damage at harvest time.
The cover acts as a protective bib at the top of the bag, supporting good practice picking, while also shielding just-picked kiwifruit from any soft, damaged or overripe fruit which may accidentally fall into the bag. It ensures a high-quality product is delivered to packhouses, which will then store well, before being delivered to customers and consumers around the world by the Zespri team.
This simple yet effective solution has been widely adopted by the industry, with post-harvest service provider EastPack’s orchard management arm, Prospa, making the use of bag covers compulsory.
Both picking bag manufacturers in New Zealand now also offer a covered bag option.
Tracy McCarthy (Zespri), Geoff Morgan (KNZ) and Brett Wotton
The 2024-25 KNZ Annual Report is now available.
This report covers KNZ's activities for the 2024-25 financial year, and also provides some additional information on the Information Disclosure, Non-Discrimination, and Non-Diversification & Core Business.
If you would like to receive a hard copy of our annual report, please contact [email protected] and one will be posted out.
To read our annual report, please follow the button below.
Regulation 15 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999 requires KNZ, to disclose publicly within three months after the end of each season;
1 the identity of each CM approval holder
2 the volume marketed by each approval holder
3 financial information to enable an assessment to be made, if the net returns for each arrangement were greater than if the arrangement had not been approved.
This information is contained in a report located below.
Regulation 40 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999, requires KNZ to prepare financial statements that comply with generally accepted accounting practice, have them audited by a qualified auditor, signed by the Board and disclose publicly, within three months after the end of the financial year.
KNZ has complied with this regulation and financial statements can be found below.
Zespri has held a producer vote under Regulation 11 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999 ('Regulations') relating to the expansion of the ZGS programme to increase the planted hectares of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit by 420 hectares per year for six years in five designated countries. The voting for the producer vote took place from 11 November to 5 December 2024. The results have been confirmed by electionz.com and Zespri published the results on 10 December 2024 (see results below).
Under the Regulations, for Zespri to carry out any activity that is not core business, it must obtain "at least 75%" agreement by those producers who vote by both number voters, and by volume (weight) of production. Zespri obtained the required proportion of votes with 90.60% producer support, and 93.29% by volume of production.
KNZ will now update its monitoring plan for ZGS activity to incorporate the increase in hectares planted in the Northern Hemisphere and the commitments made by Zespri to New Zealand kiwifruit producers.
Newly appointed KNZ Chair - Samantha Sharif
The Chair of KNZ is appointed by The Minister of Agriculture for a term of three years.
On the 23rd October 2024, Samantha Sharif was appointed as the new Chair to the KNZ Board.
Samantha Sharif is a professional director with extensive global leadership experience in infrastructure, resources, safety critical industries, as well as investment and capital markets.
Having experience as a Board, and Board Committee Chair, Samantha is also a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors and has experience as a CEO and practiced as a senior commercial lawyer, with post-graduate legal and finance qualifications.
The KNZ Board look forward to working alongside Samantha.
Please follow the link below to view Samantha’s bio.
Zespri has announced that it will undertake a producer vote on the extension of 12-month supply activities. Zespri’s voting pack will include an executive summary of KNZ’s report.
The report sets out KNZ’s role in relation to the producer vote and how it will monitor and enforce Regulation 11.
The full report can be viewed by clicking below.
KNZ became aware in December 2023 that Zespri was undertaking a Coolstore Update Project (Project) that targeted carbon emissions reductions in relation to refrigerant use in the post-harvest sector.
The Project included engaging an external agency to gather data on refrigerant gas inventory and historical leaks from each participating post-harvest supplier and report back to participants with an anonymised report including the data and options for upgrading systems. The intention was that the report would assist post-harvest suppliers applying jointly for government funding to assist decarbonisation.
The non-diversification rule in regulation 11 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999 (Regulations) prohibits Zespri from carrying out activities that are not core business or do not support core business unless a producer vote is taken giving Zespri approval to carry out the activity. Zespri did not undertake a producer vote because it considered the Project was core business.
KNZ advised Zespri of its concerns regarding the Project, and following receipt of this, Zespri advised that it had withdrawn from the Project and that post-harvest sustainability leaders had taken the lead.
The Board determined that the Project did not meet the definition of core business in the Regulations and gave Zespri notice of an investigation into whether Zespri had failed to comply with the non-diversification rule.
While a full assessment was unable to be undertaken in these circumstances, the Board considered it was likely the Project would have supported core business and therefore Zespri would not have been required to undertake a producer vote in accordance with regulation 11. This meant that the investigation did not find a breach of the non-diversification rule.
Zespri was reminded of the need for strict compliance with the prior notice rule in regulation 10A if there is any doubt as to whether an activity is core business. The Board recorded that Zespri’s processes for evaluating whether activities are core business are important for compliance with the Regulations and KNZ will continue to engage with Zespri to ensure compliance.
4 September, 2024
Kiwifruit New Zealand received a complaint in February 2024 questioning if Zespri's grades and size standards for RubyRed kiwifruit breached the non-discrimination rule.
Under Regulations 9 and 10 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999, Zespri must not unjustifiably discriminate among suppliers in respect of a decision on whether to purchase kiwifruit or the terms of the purchase contract, unless that discrimination is justified on commercial grounds.
The KNZ Board considered the complaint in accordance with the process laid out in the Export Authorisation, and the KNZ Board advised its findings to Zespri and the complainant on the 5th April 2024.
A copy of the redacted decision can be found below.
This decision helps clarify Zespri's ability to set its purchase terms for New Zealand grown kiwifruit as outlined in the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999 and the Export Authorisation.
Geoff Morgan
Chief Executive
Zespri has held a producer vote under Regulation 11 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999 ('Regulations') relating to the expansion of the ZGS programme to increase the planted hectares of Zespri Sungold kiwifruit and any new kiwifruit variety in overseas countries (excluding Chile and China). The voting for the producer vote took place from 28 July to 24 August 2022. The results have been confirmed by electionz.com and KPMG, and Zespri published the results on 1 September 2022 (see results link below).
Under the Regulations, for Zespri to carry out any activity that is not core business, it must obtain "at lease 75%" agreement by those producers who vote by both number voters, and by volume (weight) of production. Zespri has not obtained the required proportion of votes for this producer vote, therefore Zespri cannot carry out the proposed activities described in the two resolutions.
Zespri can continue to carry out the 12-month supply ZGS activities as approved in the 2019 Producer Vote and can continue its core business under the Regulations, which includes:
- the marketing of New Zealand-grown kiwifruit; and
- the market development for New Zealand-grown kiwifruit; and
- research and development relating to kiwifruit.
KNZ received a complaint from the Certified Organic Kiwifruit Growers Association (COKA) in respect of the decision made by Zespri to exclude Organic SunGold kiwifruit from the China market in the 2021 season. Under Regulations 9 and 10 of the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999, Zespri must not unjustifiably discriminate among suppliers in respect of a decision on whether to purchase kiwifruit or the terms of the purchase contract, unless that discrimination is justified on commercial grounds.
A KNZ committee was formed to consider the complaint and, in accordance with clause 6.1.3 of the Export Authorisation ('EA'), the committee decided to conduct a preliminary assessment to assess whether there were sufficient grounds to justify an investigation under the enforcement procedure in clause 6.2 of the EA. The committee considered the information provided in the context of the Regulatory framework and sent a letter dated 24 May 2022 advising Zespri of the preliminary assessment decision. A copy of the letter was provided to COKA and can be found below.