NZ Tree Crops Association Conference 2025

50^th NZ Tree Crops Association Conference 2025

Hosted by Nelson Branch

50 YEARS ON – EYES TO THE FUTURE
Nelson 28th-30th March 2025

Nelson Branch welcomes you back to where the NZTCA journey was born half a century ago! Yes, folks, it’s Tree Crops’ 50th anniversary conference! Lucky for us, some of those original members still live here in Nelson. It’s testament to how dedicated some of that original cohort have been and continue to be. It encourages us younger members to move forward and onward – our eyes on the future!

Conference is now fully booked.

Please fill in the enquiry form at the bottom of this page to go on a waiting list.

Venue

Mapua Community Hall, 72 Aranui Rd, Mapua, Tasman District.

The venue is completely accessible. The terrain at field trips varies, some have uneven ground. If you need specific information send an Enquiry (at bottom of web page).

Conference Schedule

Day 1 – Friday 28 March

Registration desk opens 08:00 – 17:00. Leave your donations for the Saturday auction at the desk please.

Time	Title	Speaker / Notes
9am – 10am	Research delegates meeting	Non delegates are welcome to observe
10:30am – 12:00pm	Branch delegates meeting	Non delegates are welcome to observe
12:30pm	Delegates light lunch	Delegates only. Café and shop options nearby for others
1:30pm	AGM
2:30pm	Afternoon tea
3pm to 5pm	Citrus census – talk and grafting demo	Jon Colyer Caleb Butcher
6pm	Finger buffet – Picky tea – platters
6:30pm to 9pm	Quiz	Peter Syms – co-ordinator

Day 2 – Saturday 29 March

Registration desk open 08:00 – 09:00. Leave your donations for the Saturday auction at the desk please.

Time	Title	Speaker / Notes
9am	Welcome and conference opening	David Whyte
9:10am	Rice Growing in New Zealand	Yuki Fukuda
9:50am	Overview of Kiwifruit Breeding across New Zealand	Greg Reeves
10:30am	Morning tea
11am	Sustainable Food Production	Bill Brett
12pm	Packed Lunch – picnic at the hall
12:30pm	Field Trips Depart
4:30pm	Field Trips Return
7pm	Bar Opens. Conference dinner. Auction

Day 3 – Sunday 30 March

Time	Title	Speaker / Notes
9am	Waikato NZTCA national conference 2026 promotion
9:10am	Experiences in producing peanut butter commercially in Nelson.	Pic Picot
9:50am	Innovation in growing fruit trees in NZ	Kate Marshall
10:30am	Morning Tea
11am	Fruit tree planting in community areas, parks and reserves	Peter Grundy
11:50am	Conference Closure	David Whyte
12pm	Packed Lunch – picnic at the hall
12:30pm	Field Trips Depart
4:30pm	Field Trips Return

Speakers

Bill Brett – Keynote Speaker

Bill Brett, author of ‘Garden Pest and Disease Control – An essential NZ guide’, the recently released ‘The Home Orchard- Essential NZ Guide to Growing Fruit’ and regular expert contributor to the New Zealand Gardener magazine, will be keynote speaker. In 2021, Bill was awarded the prestigious Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture Associate of Honour. In retirement in Nelson, Bill is self-sufficient in vegetables from a small backyard, and until recently, before down-sizing, he was also self-sufficient in fruit. Bill has maintained a close interest in food production and climate change impact.

Topic – Sustainable Food Production
A major consequence of an increasing global population and climate change is the requirement to provide food security for the world in a sustainable manner. In the talk he will summarise the results to date from over 200 of the worlds’ leading scientists covering all aspects of production, including—Land use, Soil, Organic, Fertilisers, Pesticides, Genetic modification, Distribution and Waste. Science must lead – not myths. We may not have all the answers, but clear pointers are emerging.

Yuki Fukuda

Yuki Fukuda, ecologist, co-owner of a 10 Homestar passive house, researcher/coordinator for Attenborough documentaries, now aspires to grow her own rice in Nelson and advocates for NZ-wide rice growing to build food resilience for future generations.

Topic – Rice Growing in New Zealand
Yuki’s presentation discusses her rice-growing journey, how she’s learned to grow rice, the importance of saving rice seed for NZ and the value of rice as plants in the NZ horticultural ecosystem. Yuki is a strong advocate for rice growing and tells us how rice could be and should be integrated into our national strategy for food security, climate mitigation and adaptation.

Greg Reeves

Greg Reeves, Head of Breeding at The Kiwifruit Breeding Centre Ltd has been managing NZ’s kiwifruit breeding programme in Motueka for years.

Topic – An overview of kiwifruit breeding across New Zealand.
Among other aspects of kiwifruit breeding, Greg will tell us about developing PSA resistance in the Sungold and RubyRed varieties.

Kate Marshall

Kate Marshall is a long time and well regarded NZTCA member and supporter of our events and activities. Kate has worked at Waimea Nurseries for many years, rising to her current position of General Manager of Sales and Marketing. Kate is an enthusiastic gardener in her own right and has also contributed to garden magazines and radio programmes.

Topic: Innovation in growing fruit trees in NZ

Jon Colyer

Jon Colyer has been involved with NZTCA for nearly 5 years, and is working on trialling, selecting and breeding new varieties of all types of tree crops.

Caleb Butcher

Caleb is currently the Chair of the Canterbury Branch and on the National Research Committee. To date he has been involved with projects such as the Canterbury Avocado Trial, the NZ Citrus Census, Papaya grafting rootstock trials, Banana nutrient optimisation, and Hazelnut orchard cultivar transitioning.

Topic: Citrus census – talk and grafting demo

Jon and Caleb will share with us early findings of their NZ Citrus Census, to discuss the risks and opportunities involved in the future of Citrus in NZ home gardens, and to host a Citrus grafting event demonstrating a range of methods to help demystify Citrus grafting, and enable NZTCA branches to hold Citrus grafting events more regularly as is commonly done for pears & apples.

Peter Grundy

Peter Grundy served as the parks supervisor at Nelson City Council for an impressive 40 years. After starting his career with Christchurch City Council as an apprentice in 1976, Peter moved to Nelson in 1984 where he arranged the planting of about a million plants over his four decades. Over his tenure he made a lasting impact by introducing edible plants to the city’s parks and reserves transforming them into spaces that provided both beauty and sustenance for the community.

Topic: Fruit tree planting in community areas, parks and reserves.

Peter will describe his innovative approach and how it helped encourage sustainable, community focused practices in public green spaces, fostering a deeper connection between residents and their environment.

Pic Picot

Pic Picot is the founder of Pic’s Peanut Butter.

Topic – Experiences in producing peanut butter commercially in Nelson.
Pic’s produces 25000 jars of peanut butter a day and has recently been involved in peanut growing trials in northland. Pic will talk about the difficulties of scaling up production and the trials and tribulations of dealing with New Zealand and Australian retail giants.

Field Trips

Bus trips Saturday and Sunday afternoons 29 – 30 March 2025.

Saturday 29 March 12:30 – 4:30pm

All buses to/from Mapua Hall

Field Trip A

Appleton’s Nursery & Arboretum
Appleton’s Nursery supply seedlings wholesale for forestry, nursery trade, native regeneration projects and farm forests. Established by Eric Appleton in 1968, it is now run by his son, Robert, who will show us their nursery operations. It will be followed by a visit to their impressive private Arboretum, which Robert set up as a future seed source and for trialling of new species. The autumn colours are stunning.

Field Trip B

Wairepo Holdings
Richard and Joyanne Easton operate a diverse range of income streams that make up their family business Wairepo Holdings in Mariri, near Tasman. They are early adopters of innovative technology in their apple pack house, pioneers of peony growing in the Nelson region and keen protectors of their orchard riparian areas.

Jester House
At Jester House, a Nelson institution, Steve and Judy take us behind the scenes to show us the sustainable practices everybody else is now just catching up with! Not only eco-friendly, they show us that being green can also be beautiful.

Sunday 30 March 12:30-4:30pm

All buses to/ from Mapua Hall

Field Trip C

Waimea Nurseries
Waimea Nurseries is a leading supplier of trees to New Zealand’s commercial growers of apples, stonefruit, kiwifruit, berries and hops. Waimea is also a leading supplier of fruit, nut, berry and ornamental trees for the consumer market in New Zealand. Doug and Georgi Simpson were early members of the Nelson Branch and established the Nursery in 1971. It is now run by son Mike Simpson and Angela Donaldson.

Ginkgo Orchard
John Fitzgerald & partner Sue established the ginkgo orchard in 2007, starting with 4 ha and 54,000 trees. They later took out trees in a wet area and put in a pond, as ginkgo don’t like wet feet. Currently the orchard covers 3.5 ha with 45,000 trees. Full production can be reached in about three years, however there are variables to consider e.g. rotational coppicing to keep the leaf young and high in active ingredients – Terpenes & Flavonoids, natural blood thinners. Tree life-span seems endless due to the coppicing process.

Field Trip D

Peckhams Cidery & Orchard
New owners of Peckhams Cidery & Orchard, Lois & Jody Scott took over in 2023 and have already won 5 awards at the 2023 New Zealand Wine & Cider Awards! Although a busy time of year, we’ll get a look around their orchard and hopefully their cidery.

Sugar Maples
Dave de Gray’s Sugar Maple Orchard in Upper Moutere. A native of Oregon, Dave came to NZ 35 years ago, pioneering a local maple syrup industry.

Monday 31^st March Self Drive Tours

A map of properties to visit will be handed out at registration.

For you plant hunters, here’s a link to explore Nelson’s food trees – https://www.ecofind.co.nz/food-drink/nelson-marlborough-fruit-map/

NZTCA Dick Roberts Photo Competition 2025

NZTCA members are invited to submit photos for the annual Dick Roberts Photo Competition.

Rules of competition:

1. Photos must be tree crops related, either of an actual plant or plant product, or of “tree croppers” involved in an action or event.
2. Entrants must be a current member of NZTCA and have taken the photo themselves.
3. Limit one photo submitted per person, with no restriction on when or where the photo was taken.
4. Photos must respect people’s right to an expectation of privacy, and photos of children should have a parent’s permission. Use common sense – groups at an event are fine.
5. Photos should be in JPEG (jpg) format, and should be of quality suitable for printing at A4 size.
6. By submitting an entry the entrant consents to their photo being used by NZTCA in print or online.

Submit photos by emailing treecropsnelson@gmail.com with the photo file attached, a brief caption, and your name & TCA Branch. Your entry will be acknowledged.

Deadline for submitting photos is 15 March 2025.

Judging:
A person appointed by Nelson Branch will select finalists. Then, at conference these will be judged by people’s choice to decide the winner. Both judging phases will be “blind”.