Psa-V will have a detrimental effect on the size of this year’s kiwifruit harvest, according to the first crop estimate of the year from Zespri. The kiwifruit authority calculates a crop of 90 million trays for 2012, a 14% decline on last year’s yield of 105 million trays.

Zespri says that poor growing conditions this season, and not just the presence of Psa-V, the kiwi vine pathogen, has undermined production this year.

As harvest gets closer, new evaluations on the likely crop will be released by Zespri.

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