Quality

Agrichemical Use

The New Zealand boysenberry industry’s fundamental philosophy is to minimise pesticide use wherever possible and to use the most environmentally acceptable materials available. At the same time we recognise the need for an economically viable crop.
Our goal for this compromise is to produce products that will fully comply with every country’s pesticide regulations, by using pest and disease control systems and monitoring procedures developed over the last 20 years.

Ongoing educational programmes for growers, and supporting research programmes promote the use of integrated pest management approaches at all times. Innovative, non-chemical approaches are used wherever possible. As such, pesticide use has been dramatically reduced in recent years.

Spray Programmes, Diaries and Sampling

Throughout the growing season growers actively monitor their crops to check for evidence of pest and disease. If preventative measures are required the growers then follow an annually approved spray programme as distributed by NZ Boysenberry Council. Accurate records of everything applied to the crop are kept. Each growers spray diary is then given to a quality auditor and checked for compliance against the withholding periods and approved pesticide list. Growers also provide samples of fruit annually for testing for residue.