https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Permaculture/boards/view/viewthread?thread=50498263
"Dr. Iago Hale, Assistance Professor of Speciality Crop Improvement at UNH, has issued a CALL TO ACTION in response to a proposal from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resource to place hardy kiwi on the restricted/prohibited plant list for the state. Comments must be made in person at the hearing on January 10 or emailed by 5 PM on the 10th. See his letter for further details."
==================
https://paradiselotblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/05/call-to-action-hardy-kiwi-may-be-illegal-to-grow-in-new-england/
The Massachusetts Invasive Plant Advisory Group (MIPAG) has voted to designate a locally-produced species of kiwifruit (Actinidia arguta; a.k.a. the kiwiberry) as “likely invasive” in the state and has petitioned to have it added to the Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources (MADR) statewide prohibited plant list – on questionable grounds, according to Dr. Iago Hale, assistant professor of specialty crop improvement at the University of New Hampshire. Such an unprecedented listing of a commercialized fruit crop will, says Hale, prohibit Massachusetts farmers from growing kiwiberries, a low-input
perennial specialty crop with a
profit value exceeding $20,000/acre; and will deny Massachusetts residents the ability to buy kiwiberries from their grocery stores and farmers’ markets, even if the berries are produced out of state. Much of the evidence provided by MIPAG in this case is anecdotal or speculative, says Hale, adding that in many instances the claims are false.
If hardy kiwi is banned in Massachusetts there is a reasonable probability that all New England States will also restrict the cultivation and sale of this fruit.
As of 2017 Stephen Breyer at Tripple Brook Farm has a 30 year old kiwi vine that is at the top of a 100 year old maple tree. A wild concord grape is smothering the kiwi vine and killing it. Grape vines are sooooo invasive😉
==================
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/news/2013/hardy-kiwifruit-invasive-plant-or-throwback-to-the-gilded-age
In 2012, the Massachusetts Audubon Society published an Invasive Plant Pest Alert on hardy kiwifruit, Actinidia arguta, also called "tara vine", strongly urging people not to grow or propagate this plant. The apparently rampant growth of vines had been documented at three particular locations. These sites stand in marked contrast to observations of the behavior of commercial and research plantings in PA, OR, MN, NY, ME and many other locations, where planted specimens have stayed in place and seedlings have extremely rarely germinated from fallen berries.
===============
http://www.unh.edu/halelab/kiwiberry/MIPAG_Call_to_Action_Jan1.pdf
before the January 10 deadline
(5 PM) for written public
comments, please email Taryn LaScola
(Taryn.LaScola@state.ma.us)
and request that MDAR not include
the kiwiberry on its list of prohibited plants:
3
