Butternut pumpkin name change causes a stir
When does a pumpkin stop being a pumpkin? No trick questions here – it is simply when bureaucrats think it should be changed.
New Zealand officials have decided to change the name of the humble butternut pumpkin – shifting to call it a butternut squash.
But frustratingly for South Australian growers, they can no longer export them over the Tasman, even though it is exactly the same vegetable.
Produce can’t be exported to New Zealand without having the correct botanical name – so the butternut pumpkins are stranded on Aussie shores.
“Somebody in the bureaucracy over there has gone mad and changed it to butternut squash instead of butternut pumpkin, and that’s how ludicrous this is,” butternut grower Joe Gropler said.
Family First has written to the Federal Government asking for help for the butternut growers.
“It seems like we play by the rules when it comes to trade agreements with New Zealand, but they’re not playing by the spirit of what we agreed,” Family First MP Dennis Hood said.
