New Zealand Tree Crops Association

2004q4 (4^th Quarter October..December)

• Sad news for Tree Croppers - Roland Clark died on 10 November 2004.
  
  His funeral will be at 11 am at the Seatoun Presbyterian Church in Wellington on Friday 19th.
  
  Roland was considered the founding father of NZ TreeCrops Association as it was him in large measure that galvanized a small group in Canterbury into action. This quickly led to nation wide activity exploring the possibilities of new crops from walnuts to babacos.
  
  Roland was a great stickler for growing the best. I well remember discussing with him at a national conference on the merits of planting grafted walnuts. I got the message about quality, and was certainly spurred on by his enthusiasm. Writing as "Norwester" in the Farmer magazine every month, he inspired kiwi landowners, and aspiring ones like me, to think outside the square, and above all to give it a go.
  
  Roland continued to inspire and motivate up until very recently. We can all be grateful to the legacy he has bequeathed us throughout the New Zealand countryside.
  
  Nick Nelson Parker

2004q3 (3rd Quarter July..September)

• It's the season for the application of harsh chemical sprays like Hi-cane® on export crops such as Kiwifruits to promote bud-break. This practise concerns many people, and the product is banned in many countries.
  "As I write, High Cane is being sprayed arrogantly around the kiwifruit orchards. This spray is about as close to the original Concentration Camp Gas as spray-freaks are allowed to get..." opines one columnist [Healthy Options - September 2004 - P59 - Animal Detox].
  
  I write this note sheltering inside on a sunny day as the roar of Hi-cane spraying drifts from a neighbouring kiwifruit orchard. I recall a moment when we moved here over 10 years ago. I had hopped over the fence to talk to our wonderfully helpful neighbour and he introduced me to the contractor who was taking over the responsibility of managing the kiwifruit orchard on behalf of a large packhouse. We said hello, then he drew himself up to full height imposingly in front of me and said "Now we are not going to have any trouble from you, are we?" Taken aback, I quickly decided to react as if it was some sort of rural joke, and back away merrily muttering some inoffensive platitude. He demanded my word that I would not interfere with the running of his patch; I think I said that I could not imagine why I would want to do that; indeed having moved to the Bay of Plenty to help in a supporting industry to the much admired kiwifruit initiative, it was the last thing I intended to do. I did wonder what the fool was on about or afraid of us objecting to. He stomped off; you meet all sorts...
  
  The months went by and the incident faded in my mind until we noticed multiple instances of acquaintances in other aspects of life became absent for extended periods. When enquiring about their ill health I was given explanations like "Oh he runs an orchard and has become badly affected by the sprays..."; or "he lives near a kiwifruit orchard and is allergic to the sprays"; or "he is an orchardist and has some mysterious disabling illness that the doctors can't diagnose...". Not long after that our own health began to deteriorate, despite having moved from the city to the countryside with better health one of the goals. And the health of our some neighbours seemed to be getting even worse than ours. The symptoms - often a dozy, nauseous, run-down feeling and total lack of energy - could apply to many illnesses and were simply not specific to point to any one ailment.
  
  We did all the usual gamut of blood tests; even had our mercury amalgam dental fillings replaced with modern white ones at great expense, went on detox diets and herbal homeopathic this that and the other. But the real breakthrough came when we chanced upon a FruitFed pamphlet about precautions for using Hi-cane and warning neighbours. We decided to make an effort to find out when it was scheduled to be sprayed, and to stay away from it. After a few years our health has improved markedly. Not that it has been an easy thing with at least four orchards nearby to find out when spraying is scheduled; we have had to remind landowner and contractor. That is, despite a local bylaw that requires neighbourhood warning - it is simply ignored by the contractors in our experience and the experience of most others who live near orchards. And the weather usually causes delays, but that's no excuse for not advising one's intentions to apply a corrosive substance where some spray-drift is inevitable.
  
  The really frustrating thing about the whole issue is that the risk of so much ill health and subsequent ill-will towards the industry might have been largely avoided. The spray contractor's indifference to warning neighbours; rather their secretive and furtive 'sneak in and spray' approach, is doing them great discredit, and it serves them right. It's something frightening about the corporate world; where greed and egos group together, conscience goes out the window - profit is at stake. To my astonishment, even the old orchardists who suffered long-term damage from the chemicals they used still have a knee-jerk reaction of denial when questioned about it. The above people probably wonder why we have an expanding "Green" movement which seems to oppose all progress. Maybe the movement would shrink away if we all exercised our own conscience, instead of behaving as though we need to have conscience imposed upon us by government.
  
  In the beginning the contractor's manager could have made an attempt to inform me rather than to intimidate me, and yep, we may have been unhappy about having that awful corrosive spray drift across our woodland tree plantings and us; but we would simply have planted an alternative to the eucalypt firewood lot which was decimated by Hi-cane; and for the sake of an industry which does the locality an overall good we would have been happy to vacate our land for one or two days a year when harsh chemical sprays are applied - rather than bury the family cat or dog, or risk a lifelong mysterious weariness with intolerance to alcohol, or worse.
  
  What is the future for harsh chemicals such as Hi-cane? Some organic kiwifruit orchards have demonstrated that an excellent yield does not require the bud-break promotant, and as public intolerance of the side-effects increases a few orchardist reckon the chemical's seasons are numbered. I won't be sad if it is a small number.
  
  Hi-Cane® information - Between bad media publicity and perceived kiwifruit industry furtiveness, a NZ distributor has responsibly made this information available for some time...

2004q2 (2nd Quarter April..June)

• Our Annual Conference for 2004 was held during April in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty. Reviews have appeared in our official quarterly magazine "The Tree Cropper" and various branch newsletters. It has been a busy time since then as harvesting winds down leading into preparations for winter.

2004q1 (1st Quarter January..March)

• 30 year anniversary - advance warning!
  As spelled out in the "Tree Crops Association - beginnings" article on the first page of a recent Canterbury Branch newsletter, the first meeting of the National Tree Crops Association Advisory Committee was held on 31st July 1974. The goal of this group was to promote and co-ordinate tree crop research throughout New Zealand. In April 1975, this group decided to form NZTCA in the form we know it today. The first AGM of NZTCA was held in April 1976.
  
  The Canterbury Branch committee is organising some events in late July to mark 30 years since that historic first meeting of the Advisory Committee. Further details will appear in the next Issue of the newsletter.
  
  
• Feb 2004 - Storm fallen trees? Valuable timber salvage guidelines...
  
  
• Branch Innovations Fund announced!
  - January 2004 - An exciting new initiative!
  ...To encourage branches to establish innovative projects... Read more...