The following has been emailed to all fresh tomato growers but is relevant for all greenhouse growers and outdoor tomato growers as Tomato Brown Rugouse Fruit Virus can affect crops no matter what the growing environment is.

20th August, 2024

Dear Growers,

As some of you will already be aware, Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV) has been detected at 2 properties in Australia. This is not currently in New Zealand and we would like to keep it that way. ToBRFV was the topic of our mini conference a few weeks ago, so we know that our best defence against this highly destructive virus is to keep it out of New Zealand. The second best defence is having strict hygiene measures in place to try to stop this virus from entering your property IF it does arrive in New Zealand.

Some key messages for you:

• If you see anything unusual in your plants or crop, please contact MPI (0800 80 99 66) or TomatoesNZ
• Shut access to your greenhouses so that only you and your employees can enter
• You and your employees should have dedicated clothes and shoes to enter your greenhouse
• Keep all personal possessions out of the greenhouse
• No tomatoes (e.g. in packed lunches) to be brought onto the property
• Thorough hand washing, sanitising and foot baths are all essential
• Tools (knives etc), machinery (pipe rail trolleys etc) and crates are all items that can harbour viruses. Crates should not enter your greenhouse. Tools and machinery should be sanitised regularly, at least after each row.
• If you have more than one property, movement of employees between sites should stop.

The following / attached resources are available for you:

• The factsheet on ToBRFV (below - includes photos to help you identify it but please report anything, even if you’re not sure it looks the same)
• Report a pest information and best practice hygiene poster (below)
• A recording of the presentation on hygiene given by Dutch specialist Jasper Verhoeven given to TNZ 8^th August available here
• The slides used by Jasper in his presentation below

Please share this email with your employees and other growers in your networks so that we can aim to reach every greenhouse grower in New Zealand.

I am working with MPI and other industry partners to access the most up to date information coming from Australia and will provide more updates as they come to light. If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Dinah