New Zealand Tree Crops Association

HISTORY OF THE N Z TREE CROPS ASSOCIATION (INC.)

Compiled by Owen Long, Patron of NZTCA, January 1997
with assistance from Hamish Deans and Eric Cairns

Contents

PREFACE TO NZTCA HISTORY

MINUTES OF THE CROP INAUGURAL MEETING
HELD IN BOTANY DIVISION LIBRARY
BY CROP RESEARCH DIVISION LINCOLN
ON 31 JULY 1974

Present:
(DSIR) Mr. H.C. Smith (Chairman). Dr. D W. McKenzie, Dr. G. Strachan, Dr A. Bedi. H J. Giesen, M F. Betts, D R. Wilson, M. Marshall, L.C. Hurndell, AD. Hall, J. Lammerink and D.J. Davies.
(MAF) Miss P. Bates, G. Halliwell, D.H. Ryde, C R. Plummer, C. Boswell.
(Lincoln College) J.S. Dunn, Dr. D. Jackson, P. Bull.
(Farming & Commercial) J.S. Whitelaw, J.Hl. Harrison, E.J. Freeman, B. Vavasour, R. Clark.
Apologies: A.J. Healy and G. Thiele
Welcome: Dr. H.C. Smith, Director of Crop Research Division welcomed visitors to the meeting and requested suggestions for the Agenda.

Committee Name: After some discussion on a suitable name for the Committee it was moved (Davies/Vavasour) “That Tree Crops be the Title adopted.” Other names suggested were “Tree Nuts; Tree Nut Crops; Nut Crops and Nut Trees.”

Scope and Aims: It was agreed that the scope of the subject be limited to studying the potential of Tree Crops in N.Z., including tropical Island Territories and in the first instance with special reference to nut products.

Function: To promote research in Tree Crops generally and act in an advisory role to commercial and private interests.

Mr. Roland Clark of Stavely, Canterbury, presented a paper (copies distributed) on the possible scope and role for Tree Crops in New Zealand. Mr. Clark outlined the materials and methods he used to ensure successful grafting, these included a Stanley knife, razor blades, plane, screw, callipers, paint tin for heating bees wax, and the use of fungicide Thiram solution being most important. Miss Bates suggested Benlate as being another suitable fungicide. All scions and stocks must be dipped to prevent fungal attack. A temperature of 80 degrees F is most important to promote callusing. This observation was confirmed by Mr. J. Harrison.

Regional Reports:

Reports were presented by the following people and in general dealt with problems and prospects for Tree Crops.

(a) Mr. G. Halliwell - Northiand
(b) Miss P. Bates - Waikato
(c) Dr. G. Strachan - Auckland and Island Territories
(d) Dr. D.W. McKenzie - Hawkes bay
(e) Mr. J. Harrison - Manawatu
(f) Mr. CR. Plummet - Fiji
(g) Mr. B. Vavasour - Marlborough
(h) Mr. D. K. Ryde - Canterbury
(i) Mr. C. Boswell - Otago/Southland.

(Some details of the papers presented by the above and others are detailed in the minutes but omitted here for reasons of brevity)

The Meeting concludes as follows: ‘Recommendations - That a national meeting be held annually. The Chairman and Secretary to convene a meeting at an appropriate time in 1975.

General.

Chairman for 1974-75 That Mr.. R Clark be appointed Chairman (Whitelaw/Hurndell)

Secretary: That Mr. D.J Davies be appointed secretary

A vote of thanks to Dr. Smith for his stimulating and able Chairmanship was carried by acclamation.

The Meeting closed at 4 pm.

Chapter 1. EARLY DAYS

While the compiler of these notes became a member of the TCA at its first national meeting in Nelson in 1975, obviously there were happenings and stirrings before then.

We are helped with information gathered from Roland Clark, O.B.E who was our first National President and later Patron for many years. Roland tells us that as a recent immigrant in this country from Ireland he read with interest several articles published in the New Zealand Farmer and written by George HalliweIl during the late 1960s. George passed away some years ago but just before he wrote these articles he had been stationed as an officer of the Department of Agriculture in the Far North where there are a number of reserves and forests such as Mangamuka, Waipoua, Pukeiti and others set aside to preserve our native plants and trees. He was then shifted to South Canterbury and the treeless countryside was something of a culture shock to him. He could see the benefits of trees on farms and wrote about this.

Roland Clark was impressed with what was published and at the same time became concerned with some old walnut trees on the Akaroa Peninsula which had probably been planted by early French settlers. These two were both keen to do something and as a result there was a meeting on Roland’s farm of four people, George, Roland and Doug Davies of DSIR and David Ryde of the Agriculture Department. We are fortunate that three of these four are still with us and these notes have been checked by them to ensure accuracy. It was decided to call a public meeting. There was an immediate response at the meeting and it was obvious that many people including scientists, land owners, nurserymen and others displayed an interest in the formation of a group to be called the Tree Crops Association. The interest was not restricted to Canterbury as a scientist from Auckland DSIR, Mr. George Strachan happened to be in Christchurch at the time and attended this meeting. He arrived back in Auckland promptly told the writer and Stuart Dawes, a fellow scientist that “we must” join this new group. Very early in the history, Mr. Neil Mountford of Nelson saw the advantages of this new organisation and suggested that it be extended to his area. Similarly prominent people like Dr. Don McKenzie and Vern Harrison from the North Island. and Laurie Hurndell, Bernard Vavasour arid Guy Go!dsbrough of the South Island threw their collective weight behind the Tree Crops Association

As a result in the following year. 1975 the first meeting of the New Zealand Tree Crops Association was held in Nelson with Mr Roland Clark as President, Stuart Dawes as Vice President, Mr. Doug Davies as Secretary together with an impressive list of other officers. The full list of the people who helped during the early years are held by our National Secretary, Bronna Brown of Port Chalmers, Otago and those interested can obtain the full list from her if they desire. What is obvious now was the rapid influx of new members from throughout the country indicated that there widespread support for this new group whose main interest was the production of food and other benefits of growing trees.

One year on at Hamilton a meeting was called by Miss Pat Bates of the Department of Agriculture for interested parties in the North Island, Roland Clark and Doug Davies had been barnstorming around the North Island to stir up interest and at this Hamilton meeting Branches were formed in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay to join with the already established Branches in Canterbury, Nelson and Otago in the South Island. Membership grew rapidly and soon went over the 1000 mark. Publications were produced by David Ryde and people who still hold those early editions guard them with their lives. We are told that a complete set is held at Lincoln University in Canterbury and again many are held by Bronna Brown as National Secretary.

Branch meetings and field days were started and enthusiasm waxed for many years. Unfortunately in recent years in some regions the tide has turned and some Branches have become dormant or merged with our sister organisation the N.Z. Farm Forestry Association. In fact many of our members have been members of both groups having seen the need for both associations even if they have a different approach to the growing of’ trees. Many of our aims and objects overlap and, in general, relations have always been good.

Hamish Deans, a former President has added the following notes. He confirms the early stages (Roland Clark O.B.E.diary shows, “First meeting of Tree Crops Committee at DSIR, Lincoln, July 31, 1974). Hamish adds, “The NZTCA was formed during a meeting of The National Tree Crops Committee which was held on 6th April, 1975 at Nelson. A Conference of the Association was arranged to be held in Hamilton in the autumn of 1976. NZTCA (Inc.) committees were formed on 6th April 1975. The initial Tree Crops research unit at DSI.R Lincoln had been established prior to the establishment of the NZTCA by the Director, Dr. Harvey Smith. Priority was given to research for walnut chestnut hazelnut almond and pecan crops. Dr. Smith was elected as Patron of the Association, Roland Clark, President; S N Dawes, Vice President; D Davies, Secretary; Dr. D Jackson, Treasurer. Early supporters of the NZTCA included Laurie Hurndell, David and Allison Ryde, Vernon Harrison, Patricia Bates, Guy Goldsbrough, Bernard Vavasour, Dr Don McKenzie, Ian Howat.

“The inaugural meeting of the Canterbury Branch was held at Roland Clarks property at Mt Somers. Roland was elected as Branch Chairman. George Ha!!iwell. Secretary. Doug Davies as scientist in charge of DSIR TCA research This occupied about two hectares and became the most important centre of activity for the Canterbury Branch for about twenty years A Work Skills Development Programme was established which provided practical horticultural experiences for young unemployed people. The success of the Canterbury Branch activity was almost entirely due to Doug Davies, The development of walnut and hazelnut varieties for commercial production are the most valuable results of his work here and this has led to further trials at Lincoln University with chestnuts also. Roland Clark continues to be a major source of stimulation for Tree Crops development in New Zealand in general as well as the Canterbury Branch. Others who have continued on with the work include Guy Goldsbrough, David Murdoch, Rex Baker, Dr David McNeil and Jenny Lawrence. Another who helped was a visitor from the University of Oregon, Dr. Maxine Thompson, who was an authority on hazelnut production. Walnut cropping is now developing named varieties with some New Zealand numbered selections which are producing crops suitable for trade. Chestnut cropping has developed faster than walnuts or hazels and can certainly be included in the list of successes for the NZTCA. Research into Pine Nuts, Truffles, Food for Wildlife, (including seeds) and cork as well as chemical products are all of some importance to NZTCA. Increased productivity from soil, and water resources of New Zealand can increase this country’s wealth more efficiently than any other form of activity and can provide work and goods which are internationally tradeable.”
Section contributed by Hamish Deans.

Chapter 2. WORK IN PROGRESS

One of the first jobs was to provide the means to assist new members to establish trees with a cropping ability It was obvious that well established fruit crops such as apples, pears and stone fruits did not need any help from us. However there seemed to be a need for nut crops. Some of the early interest, as already mentioned was in walnuts. Many trees near Akaroa had demonstrated that this species would grow and produce good nuts in at least some parts on New Zealand. Early European settlers had brought in all sorts of plants and, while some had failed to become established here, there was enough success to make people think that with a little loving care and attention many other introduced species could provide food and may be an income for land owners in this country. Hazels were an obvious choice and from the North both macadamias and pecans looked promising. Chestnuts also looked exciting as Miss Pat Bates took visitors at the 1976 Conference in Hamilton to see the magnificent old chestnut trees planted in that region by missionaries and others. The success of Kiwifruit prompted some to look at other so-called sub tropicals and it was surprising when so many people found that there were such “things” as white sapote, cherimoya and pepinos not only surviving here but also producing edible fruits. Our first Vice President, Stuart Dawes as a part of his work with the DSIR has sent us a hand written list of 53 pages of plants that he was responsible for bringing into this countrv for research purposes Others such as Louis Trap and Dick Endt of Auckland. David Austen of Kaitaia and Owen Long also contributed. At the same time Guy Goldsbrough, Vern Harrison, Bill Ten Hove and others imported temperate zone trees. Also development of the already established species such as chestnuts (Ian Howat) hazels,(Tom Dinning) and macadamias (Ian Gordon, Ian Robertson and Don Boyes Barnes) was going on together with berry fruits (Jim Peele) and other then unheard of plants like lucuma, yacon and papaya were being tried both various enthusiasts.

This is by no means a complete list. Requests for information from individuals and their personal contributions are still only partly received. (Jan 1997) A fuller list of plants and people will be attached as an appendix as soon as it can be compiled. It can be seen that the efforts of Tree Crops members have been of great potential benefit to this country. Not all experiments can possibly be successful. In fact the failures probably outweigh the successes, but the contribution to knowledge has been spectacular for such a young organisation, just over twenty years old. Also the future value of this plant material for breeding purposes can only be guessed at. It is regretted that the loss of some of this material because of the properties changing hands and the new owners not being interested has been a negative aspect of our association’s work. It is also regretted that various government departments have also substantially contributed to this loss of plant material perhaps because no immediate profit was seen for the particular crop and the people responsible for propagating and distribution of material were remote and disinterested in the projects. Future generations may be upset that some of the material brought in and nurtured by TCA members and other people, often at personal expense and hard work has not been retained in tree banks in several different parts of this country. This, of course, needs money and it is difficult to convince the controllers of public funds that germplasm deposits might pay dividends in the future.

Chapter 3. Branch Activities

After the three initial meetings already mentioned at Christchurch, Nelson and Hamilton the newly formed groups commenced local organisation with enthusiasm. Over those years we had formed active groups at Southland, Otago, Central Otago, South Canterbury, Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson and ~Vest Coast (South Island). In the North Island we had Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Poverty Bay, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, South Auckland, Auckland and Northland. These all thrived for a time, some more than others and this drew attention to the public support for such a new organisation. The Association became and Incorporated Society, and for a time, a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand. It is not clear who suggested it but each Branch took it in turns to host the Annual General Meeting often with an overseas speaker. These overseas speakers helped get attention in newspapers, radio and sometimes television.

Also our Association started taking part in horticultural shows, first of all in Canterbury and later, under the guidance of the Waikato Branch started to have an annual stall at the Mvstery Creek Field Days as well as many others throughout the country. These proved to be very good public exercises and our reputation, and membership grew. Some of the early workers became tired and then failed to find new people prepared to take over the duties of running an Branch. Some stuttered and even stopped for a time and this process is regretfully going on to this day. Some Branches combined with Farm Forestry to reform and, paradoxically, Small Farmers Association talked about joining us. This did not eventuate as there was a conflict of interest between animals and young trees. Also some members of the Small Farmers wished to keep their own identity. So we remain very good friends but separate from these other organisations with many of our members joining not only these two but also the International Plant Propagators Association and various Botanical Societies. Also we were pleased to find the many professionals from DSIR, NLAF and the Universities, not only joined us but became useful speakers and wrote many articles for our publications.

Journals developed in form and name as the years went by. The job of being an editor is very time consuming and here again those involved became tired. These were mostly unpaid volunteers and age, ill health and lack of ideas helped the constant change. The consequence is that our “official journals” vary in style, size and frequency of production, Members, past or present who have copies of Journals of those early years should value them.. Not only do they contain much information that is still relevant to this day, but also they are tending to become collector’s items. The pioneering work with these by David Ryde is still appreciated.

Here is a list of Annual General Meetings and the Branches which hosted them together with relevant matters of the time.

In 1982 Mr. David Noel of the Western Australia Nuts and Tree Crops Association brought together a new organisation covering kindred organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Their first conference was held in Perth in that year under the title of The Australasian Conference on Tree and Nut Crops (ACOTANC) Later the word “Conference” was altered to “Council” and the NZTCA has hosted two ACOTANC meetings here, in Auckland in 1986 and Whakatane in 1992. Our first two delegates to Perth in 1982 were Doug Davies and Ian Howat. TCA members had attended every ACOTANC held in Australia, even to the one in 1990 which was cancelled. While we had a strong delegation from Australia to Auckland in 1986 it was unfortunate the only visitors to the 1992 ACOTANC at Whakatane were a married couple from Melbourne. This was unfortunate as this was a very good Conference. The next ACOTANC meeting set down to held in New Zealand is Nelson in 1998 and it is hoped that we will receive more Australian visitors then. ACOTANC meetings were held as listed; 1982 Perth, 1984 Melbourne, 1986 Auckland, 1988 Lismore, 1990 scheduled for South Australia but cancelled, 1992 Whakatane, 1995 Lismore and scheduled 1998 at Nelson. The New Zealand members who attended those in Australia all seemed to gain a lot from the meetings and made many useful contacts. Mr. Tom Dinning worked hard on our liaison for most of the above years has retired from active service with NZTCA and Owen Long has been appointed as Vice President of the Australasian Council.

Work in the Branches brought some characters who became well known throughout the country. One of these would be Bernard Vavasour of Blenheim, others would be Vern Harrison of Palmerston North, Dick Roberts of Nelson, Louie Trap of Auckland, Guy Gainsborough and Harnish Deans of Canterbury, Gordon Atkinson of Whakatane, Tom Dinning of Hamilton and where we have been without the brilliant oratory of Roland Clark. There were so many others and no doubt Branches could name them. These and the others were often the driving forces of out early years, and their merry attitude and generous supply of vital information has been the making of our organisation. Please do not be offended if your name is not mentioned here. My memory becomes clouded with pleasure when I remember all the great friendships that we have all shared over the twenty odd years that we have been together.

I will try to compile a list of plants brought in and nurtured by Tree Crops members. Try is the operative word. The list from Stuart Dawes alone was 53 pages long. Despite many appeals some members have been slow to send in the information we need to have a complete list. Perhaps for reasons of their own, some members do not want what they have to be readily known. If so, this is a pity. However we will list what we know about as an Appendix - and this will be quite a list! Many have failed to become established here and perhaps some have nor yet reached their potential. It is important that we do not destroy this germplasm base as, perhaps in the future it may be needed for plant breeding to find a disease or pest resistant species. Plants may not readily be reimported in the future and some accessions would be quite rare in the wild.

Appendix I

PLANT SUMMARY

Plant material brought into and nurtured by Tree Crops members over the last twenty odd years are very numerous and somewhat repetitive. The material that I have been sent is available for those who wish more detail such as exactly where the material came from. To print all this detail may only interest a few people. Also it is certain that there has been more plants and seed brought in than is listed here. However there is sufficient listed here to show the tremendous contribution made by NZTCA members to the germplasmof this country. Some of it may not have survived for various reasons but there is always that some has ended up on the properties of friends of the original importer. Some members were associated with Companies or Research Centres and combined their interest in Tree Crops with their work. Mr. Stuart Dawes of DSIR was one of these. His contribution was enormous. On one trip to South America Mr. Dawes was with Dr. Kevin Patterson of the DSIR. Many others contributed a lot of plant material to New Zealand’s future.

Here is a summary of what we know at this stage in alphabetical order of botanical name:

Names and districts of those mentioned above:-

NORTHLAND
David Austen, Dr. P.C. Gardner, Russell Fransham, Kay Baxter.

AUCKLAND
Dr.Ravi Bansal, Garry Colebrook, Stuart Dawes, Dr. E.G. Bollard, Louis Trap, Dick Endt, Owen Long, Bill Fletcher, Laurie Meadows, Ian Gordon, Dr. I Robertson,

WAIKATO
Ian Howat, Tom Dinning, Malcolm Campbell, Bill Ten Hove.

BAY OF PLENTY
Tom and Erica Cowdell, Malcolm Clow

HAWKES BAY
Dr. Don McKenzie,

TARANAKI
Robyn Jury

MANAWATU
Vernon Harrison

NELSON
Roy Hart, Dick Roberts

MARLBOROUGH
Gidon Blumenfield

CANTERBURY
John Palmer, Roland Clark.

 

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