The Kiwifruit Claim has filed a cross-appeal over the landmark decision which found the Ministry of Primary Industries was negligent in letting the devastating bacterial disease Psa into New Zealand, NZ Herald reported.

Kiwifruit Claim chairman John Cameron is calling on the government to accept the High Court decision in June which found that MPI was responsible for the Psa outbreak.

He said in a statement growers have been left with no choice but to cross-appeal after the Crown decided to appeal following its loss.

"We were gutted with the Government's move to appeal, it was devastating to growers," he was quoted as saying.

"We are confident in the High Court's decision, and believe the Government is taking a massive risk in appealing the Judge's clear findings.

"Enough is enough - it's time for MPI to accept full responsibility. The Psa incursion caused significant losses to many growers and others and could easily have been avoided if MPI had done their job properly."

The cross-appeal filed challenges the decision that the government did not owe a duty of care to NZX-listed Seeka - a co-claimant - as a post-harvest operator.

The cross-appeal would also confirm that MPI was negligent when they failed to inspect the shipment of banned kiwifruit plant material, infected with Psa, when it arrived from China.