Changing Chairs – A Passion for Biosecurity Entices Kiwifruit Industry Leader to AFB Trust

The Trust tasked with helping beekeepers eliminate American foulbrood (AFB) in New Zealand has a new independent chairperson. Simon Cook, a kiwifruit grower with a passion for biosecurity, enters the role at New Zealand Bee Health and Biosecurity (NZBB) having recently vacated the top chair at Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH).

Simon Cook steps out of the top chair at Kiwifruit Vine Health to take on an equivalent role in the beekeeping industry, that of independent chairperson of New Zealand Bee Health and Biosecurity. Photo: Jamie Troughton.

“I was sitting there looking at our industry potentially falling over,” Cook says, thinking back to 2010 as the virulent strain of kiwifruit vine killing bacterium PsA took hold in the Bay of Plenty, threating destruction of the entire industry.

“I lived about half a kilometre from the first orchard that got found with it, and being a spray contractor I was contracted by MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) to spray those first orchards as we found them. So that was my first taste of a response.”

It was the start of a passion for biosecurity that has seen Cook go from his contracting business and family’s third-generation plot of Te Puke land, and kiwifruit orchard, to a Nuffield Scholarship in 2018 which saw him travelling the world to assess and report on biosecurity practices. More recently its landed him the chairman position with KVH, plus directorships with Horticulture New Zealand and kiwifruit grower representative group Trevelyan Growers.

“When I saw this role come up, given my background with KVH and everything else I've done in biosecurity, it was just a natural fit and I couldn't not apply for it,” Cook says of his new role with NZBB.

NZBB is the successor organisation to the former AFB Management Agency. Last year it was controversially moved into a Trust with the existing board taking up the role of trustees. Following a recruitment process run by an executive recruitment agency the existing trustees signed off on Cook’s appointment, replacing Christchurch non-commercial beekeeper and consultant Mark Dingle who had served six years in the top chair.

Christchurch beekeeper and consultant Mark Dingle has vacated the top chair at NZBB having spent a busy six years in the role

“Simon’s application stood out due to its relevance and the working relationship between NZBB and the kiwifruit industry,” says NZBB chief executive Niha Long.

“I have always said pollination is our biggest blind-spot, in terms of AFB control. So, with Simon’s networking and connections within the kiwifruit industry it will certainly help us make some progress there.”

While NZBB might be operating under a name that suggests a role in biosecurity wider than just AFB, the Trust’s mandate is only to help beekeepers tackle that disease. There is a need for “someone” to take up a wider biosecurity role for the beekeeping industry though Cook believes, affirming that as his “personal position”, and that it is ultimately his fellow trustees and the beekeeping industry who need to drive any change to NZBB’s mandate.

He’s seen that in practice though, having witnessed KVH go from a PsA-specific group to an organisation dedicated to a wider biosecurity role for kiwifruit over the past 15 years.

“There are other risks out there past AFB, and so the industry needs to be working towards protecting itself, not just from AFB, but from any other potential threat,” Cook says.

While NZBB trustees receive a small honorarium for their contributions, there is a significant aspect of altruism required for someone as qualified as Cook to offer their services, especially beyond their core industry. His acceptance of the role is not entirely without personal interest for the kiwifruit grower though, and it is also a natural flow-on from his KVH leadership he says.

“Within the kiwifruit industry, for a long time we’ve been concerned about once we got past PsA and we got into that wider biosecurity role, it was really looking at what the possible threats are to our industry. There's obviously a number of threats that are kiwifruit related, but also pollination is absolutely critical to our industry. So, any threat to the pollination industry is also of huge concern to kiwifruit. It's something that we've been looking at from our side of the fence for a long time – what we could do to support and help biosecurity within the beekeeping industry.”

Simon Cook, a kiwifruit grower from Te Puke with such a passion for improved biosecurity that he “couldn’t not” apply for the independent chair position at NZBB. Photo: Jamie Troughton.

Cook will join fellow trustees Lubomir Dudek, Jody Mitchell, Brian McCall, Murray Elwood and Trent Profitt, the latter two recently having their tenures extended into 2029 as deputy chair Val Graham leaves alongside Dingle. Graham’s seat at that table remains unfilled and the Trust reports “a low number of applications for the vacancy created”, thus resolving “to carry the vacancy for the time being” and that “recruitment for a new Trustee will follow at a later date”.