Fewer than 50 commercial strawberry growers voted on an industry proposal for a commodity levy by the July 12 deadline, about a third of the 163-strong Strawberry Growers New Zealand (SGNZ).
However, it was enough to get the levy over the line, with 84% of those that did vote supporting the introduction of a commodity levy.
It is now over to Damien O'Connor to sign off on the fee, pegged at $26 per 1000 strawberry plants sold.
With production of about 14million plants per year, this translates to about $375,000 per year as growers purchased new plants annually, based on annual production of about 8500 tonnes of strawberries.
This values strawberry production at $35million, of which Auckland growers accounted for around 65% and Waikato and Bay of Plenty 15%.
SGNZ chairman Anthony Rakich said the funds would be spent on areas identified in the SGNZ strategic plan and levy consultation.
''This includes crop protection, export market access, biosecurity, food safety and labour,'' he
said.
He said SGNZ was aiming to have the levy in place by the end February next year, which would be collected at point of purchase.
Ettrick Gardens co-owner John Preedy, who has around 50,000 strawberry plants on his Ettrick based farm, said the levy would be ''noticeable but not significant'' for his business.
''It's a bit higher than we thought it would be in the context of a 32c plant,'' he said.
Mr Preedy and his wife Heather have owned the 20ha berry farm for the past 38 years and primarily sell their range of berries and vegetables at the Dunedin Farmers Market.
The Preedys did not vote for the levy.
