At their 30 September meeting partners of the Plant Pass biosecurity scheme signed off on Plant Pass getting underway (as an OA under GIA), and Scheme Manager, NZPPI has begun work on the rollout.

Plant Pass is a voluntary certification scheme that recognises plant producers with good biosecurity standards and helps them improve their practice by identifying, controlling, managing and avoiding biosecurity hazards.

Plant Pass is designed to protect producers and plant buyers in our domestic and export fruit and vegetable sectors, vineyard, forestry, amenity and garden, built and natural environment markets. It helps lessen the likelihood of a high-risk organism establishing in a nursery and being inadvertently spread by the domestic plant trade.

First up we’ll be touching base with producers who’ve worked with the scheme over the last three years and getting them into Plant Pass.  Work will also shortly begin on promoting Plant Pass to other producers. Alongside this, work will continue with MPI, lead signatory of the buyer’s accord, to secure other signatories who can encourage and support plant producers to register and achieve Plant Pass certification. 

You’ll hear more over the next few weeks and months as we build this aspirational and positive initiative towards a celebration and formal launch early next year.

In the meantime, you can read more at www.plantpass.org.nz and contact Plant Pass at office@nzppi.co.nz