Federated Farmers arable sector chairwoman and Wairarapa cropping farmer Karen Williams said the four years have proved well worth the effort.
“There were some dark days early on and a few testy conversations but I’m proud of the way the farming community and the public responded to this crisis,” Williams said.
“It is fantastic to be able to celebrate a win like this one.”
The complete eradication of the pea weevil from Wairarapa required a four-year ban on growing of peas, not just for commercial growers but for all gardeners.
Williams said Federated Farmers has been involved in helping growers work through the processes around the biosecurity response and eradication since the beginning of the response.
The pea weevil was found in a Masterton vegetable seeds’ store early in 2016.
In a leap of faith the industry, Wairarapa community and government put a growing ban on and started the hard yards towards eradication of the pest.
The first two years of nationwide surveillance determined the weevil was contained in Wairarapa.
The weevil grows on the pea flower so Williams said the message was simple to growers and home gardeners – no peas no weevil, starve them out.
With a two-year extension to the ban yielding zero weevils the battle was won.
Williams said the pea industry is worth $130 million to NZ and the weevil threatened to put a major dent in that.
“Wairarapa growers and farmers were initially aghast at talk of a ban on growing but we realised we needed to pull together and we’d need the support of the government and the support of the wider community, which we got.
“It’s been a long four years with ups and downs but we have achieved the ultimate result.
“The decision to eradicate was hard on local pea growers so it is extremely pleasing to see their efforts rewarded,” Williams said.
In that four years the industry and government worked with Wairarapa growers on alternative crop options to assure growers of financial sustainability during the ban.
That extended to an industry commitment to homegrown grains that fitted for some growers in the area while some also opted to grow more barley and ryegrass seed.
The next step for the industry is to work with seed companies to bring back pea contracts, Williams said.
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor said after two complete seasons of no new finds Biosecurity NZ is confident there are no pea weevils remaining in Wairarapa or NZ.
“To our knowledge this is the first time a pea weevil population has been successfully eradicated anywhere in the world.
“This just goes to show what can be achieved when government, industry and communities work together,” O’Connor said.
“It also shows that eradications can be achieved.
“This Government is committed to attempting eradications wherever possible and in this situation we had a good shot at it because the destructive little insect was detected early and in a region with mountain ranges providing some natural borders.”
More importantly, there was an outstanding level of awareness and support in the community for the approach to ban the growing of pea plants and pea straw.
“In doing this we removed the pea weevil’s only food source, which caused the population to die out. It was straightforward and effective,” O’Connor said.
Biosecurity NZ has been working with Wairarapa farmers since March 2016 to contain the weevil.
A network of trap crops was set up to flush out the pest so it could be destroyed before it completed its life cycle.
Its last detection was in late 2017.
