While kiwifruit growers outside of the Bay of Plenty region may be celebrating the news that they don’t in fact have PSA – for those in the Bay of Plenty the nightmare continues.

And there is now a significant argument brewing, about the wisdom of spraying a new antibiotic on vines.

Associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Otago, Russell Poulter, says that a new antibiotic, streptomycin, is proving highly successful in combating PSA-v.

However, he is publicly questioning why Kiwifruit Vine Health has brought the drug into its subsidized spraying programme when, he argues, injecting the antibiotic would be far more efficient.

Kiwifruit Vine Health is the official government/industry body established to battle PSA-v.

Further, Professor Poulter says moves towards getting growers spraying streptomycin have not gone down well with the region’s beekeepers.

“The beekeepers are worried that if you’re unlucky and the spray goes in the wrong direction, then bees could either collect pollen or, more worryingly, collect nectar containing streptomycin, because this will knock their honey exports for six.”  

Beekeepers in the region were threatening not to pollinate the orchards if kiwifruit growers sprayed the drug according to Professor Poulter.

National Beekeepers Association chief executive Daniel Paul told Country 99TV that the kiwifruit industry has still not supplied beekeepers with any technical information relating to the antibiotic.

“We appreciate the position that they’re in. Although it would fair to say that when you’re looking to spray things which may have an impact on other species or other products, like bees, then you probably need to consult with the industries that may be affected.

And I think the feeling is that the bee industry didn’t get the consultation that it felt it deserved.”

Mr Paul says it should be basic professional courtesy to let others who will be affected by your actions know what’s going on.  

In response to the controversy, Kiwifruit Vine Health, announced a freeze on the use of streptomycin earlier this week while it developed what it said were 'robust protocols for the use of this product'.

Kiwifruit Vine Health board member, Peter Ombler, says the industry is working through a process to ensure it minimises any risk.

“It’s a very effective product for controlling PSA and we’re working through a process at the moment just to make sure we ring-fence any risk, to both ourselves and to anybody else to make sure the product is used responsibly.”