Biosecurity at the orchard gate: who came in, from where, and what came with them

Pests and diseases rarely walk onto an orchard on their own. They ride in on boots, tools, vehicles, bins and plant material, often carried by people who have just come from another property. That makes the gate the cheapest place to manage the risk: ask the right questions as people arrive, keep a record of who came in and from where, and you have both a control and the starting point for tracing if something turns up later.

This guide covers why that record matters, a gate routine any grower can use, and the extra rules for kiwifruit, avocados and vineyards.

Why the gate matters

Two New Zealand stories show what is at stake.

Psa in kiwifruit. Psa, a bacterial disease of kiwifruit vines, was first detected on a Te Puke orchard in November 2010, according to Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH). It has since been found in many of the country's kiwifruit growing regions. The rules that grew out of it now sit in the kiwifruit Pathway Management Plan, which replaced the old Psa management plan and manages the risk from things moved between orchards.

Mycoplasma bovis in cattle. Not a horticulture disease, but the clearest New Zealand example of why movement records matter. In December 2022 the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said incomplete animal movement records had resulted in farms being placed under movement controls that may not have been needed if animals had been properly accounted for. MPI's programme director put it plainly: "Good NAIT records allow us to track any infection quickly, whereas poor records slow us down."

The same logic applies to an orchard. If a pest is found on your property or a neighbour's, the first questions are who has been on the orchard, when, and where they came from. A record answers those in minutes. Memory takes days, if it works at all.

The risk right now

KVH says the high-risk season for two of the kiwifruit industry's most unwanted threats, exotic fruit flies and brown marmorated stink bug, runs from about September to May, when warmer weather, trade and international travel all increase the chance of arrival. In September 2026 KVH reported that New Zealand remains free of both.

KVH calls exotic fruit flies the kiwifruit industry's "number one biosecurity threat due to the severe market access impacts they could cause". Brown marmorated stink bug is one of its highest-priority pests. Growers of other crops should check their own industry body's list of most unwanted pests; the avocado and vineyard sections below point to theirs.

KVH's advice for this season applies on any orchard: keep an eye out for anything unusual, check pest identification resources with your staff and contractors, and report anything suspect straight away. The Pest and Disease Hotline is 0800 80 99 66.

How pests travel between orchards

NZ Avocado's biosecurity plan for the avocado industry lists the everyday movements that can carry pests from property to property. They will be familiar on any orchard:

• trucks and fruit bins moving between orchards and the packhouse;
• footwear and vehicles from many properties meeting at field days;
• nursery stock moving between properties;
• pests hitching a ride with harvest contractors, crop monitors, consultants, researchers, service providers and utility companies;
• harvesting, spraying and pruning equipment shared between orchards, such as hydraladders.

The common thread is people and the things they bring. That is why the gate is the place to manage it.

A gate routine any grower can use

You do not need anything elaborate. A short routine, applied every time, does most of the work.

Before people arrive

• Have one way in. A single entry point, clearly signed, means everyone passes your checks.
• Put up clear signs. Tell visitors to stop and check in before going further, and what you expect of them.
• Tell contractors your rules before their first visit, so their crew turns up with clean gear.

As people arrive

Ask every arrival a few short questions:

1. Where have you come from today? Another orchard, especially one with a known problem, raises the risk.
2. Are your footwear, clothing and tools clean? Free of soil and plant material.
3. Are your vehicle and any machinery clean? Particularly anything that has been on another orchard.
4. Are you bringing any plant material, fruit or soil onto the property? If so, what and from where.

On site

• Keep vehicles to tracks and parking areas where you can.
• Have a place to clean footwear and tools, and make it easy to use.
• Ask people to report anything unusual they notice while they are on the orchard.

Afterwards

• Keep the record. Who came, when, from where, and what they said about their gear. If a pest turns up later, that is your tracing list.
• Review it after busy periods. Harvest and pruning bring the most movement.

Kiwifruit: the Pathway Management Plan and KVH rules

Kiwifruit growers have specific obligations.

• The Pathway Management Plan. In effect since 1 April 2022, it covers "the full range of biosecurity threats" to the kiwifruit industry rather than a single pest, managing pathway risks "such as young plants, budwood, pollen, orchard equipment and other items moved by people."
• Contractors are treated as high risk. KVH says this is because they "routinely move machinery, equipment and tools, personal effects, kiwifruit plant material, and/or compost into, within and between orchards."
• Every kiwifruit contractor needs a biosecurity plan. For contractors in Zespri's programme it is part of their CAV. Contractors who do not need a CAV must complete a Non-CAV Contractors Biosecurity Plan and present it to growers.
• Growers must check. In KVH's words: "Growers need to ensure the contractors who come on to their orchards have evidence that they either hold a current Zespri CAV or have completed a Non-CAV Contractors Biosecurity Plan."
• Plant material must be traceable. Contractors such as grafters and pollen applicators who work across multiple orchards need records of the source and destination orchards for all plant material they supply. KVH adds: "Traceability records must be maintained so that in the event of an incursion a contractor can supply information about the orchards they and their staff have visited over any nominated time period."
• Have an on-orchard biosecurity plan. KVH says growers' plans should cover "the steps you take when moving machinery, tools and plant material on and off your property, how you trace and record all these things, how you manage the risks that might already be present".

Avocados

NZ Avocado publishes a biosecurity plan for the avocado industry, which sets out the industry's most unwanted pests and diseases and the pathways above. Check NZ Avocado's industry site for its current guidance before relying on any one document.

Vineyards

New Zealand Winegrowers says the country's isolation and climate have protected vineyards from most of the grape pests and diseases found in other wine-producing countries, and that the industry joined the Government Industry Agreement for biosecurity readiness and response in 2017. It publishes a biosecurity plan template for your vineyard, best-practice guidelines and a "Most Unwanted" poster of the vineyard pests and diseases to watch for.

How GateBud helps

GateBud™ is QR visitor check-in for orchards. It turns the gate routine above into a record you can search later.

• Visitors and contractors scan a QR code at the gate and check in on their phone. No app, password or account.
• You set the check-in questions for each site. A short-answer question can ask where someone has come from today. A choice question can ask whether their footwear, tools and vehicle are clean.
• Your biosecurity rules can be a document visitors must confirm before entry. GateBud saves the exact version each person confirmed.
• The Visitor log shows who came onto which site and when, with their answers. Filter by site and date range, and export as PDF or CSV.

Be clear about one limit. GateBud records arrivals at your own sites. It does not produce a contractor's history across other people's properties, which for kiwifruit contractors moving plant material is their own record to keep under KVH's rules.

For the safety side of the same record, read Visitor and contractor sign-in on NZ orchards. For the audit side, read GAP audits: what auditors look for.

Sources

All checked on 1 October 2026.

• Kiwifruit Vine Health, Psa-V.
• Kiwifruit Vine Health, Fruit flies, including the news item "High-risk season is here: our most unwanted pests are on the move" (September 2026).
• Kiwifruit Vine Health, Brown marmorated stink bug.
• Kiwifruit Vine Health, Pathway Management Plan.
• Kiwifruit Vine Health, Contractors.
• Kiwifruit Vine Health, On-orchard biosecurity plans.
• NZ Avocado, Biosecurity Plan for the New Zealand Avocado Industry.
• New Zealand Winegrowers, Biosecurity.
• RNZ via NZ Herald, Mycoplasma bovis: MPI says poor record keeping hindering eradication efforts (12 December 2022).