On 21 December 2018, Tomatoes New Zealand signed a Sector Readiness Operational Agreement, solidifying the organisations' existing GIA partnership that has developed over the past several years.

Under this agreement, TomatoesNZ and Biosecurity New Zealand will jointly agree and fund readiness activities to improve their preparedness for incursions that are considered of major concern to the fresh tomato industry.

Barry O'Neil says that such an agreement is an important development in the protection of the fresh tomato industry and that their work on readiness will be focused on the rapid detection of pests and pathogens in order to optimise the chance of eradication.