events – Hazelnut Growers' Association of New Zealand

AGM Weekend 2011

A series of field days were held around Nelson, in conjunction with the 2011 Annual General Meeting on 4 June.

By Jenny Darragh

HGA newsletter – August 2011

As part of the AGM and Field day at Queen’s Birthday Weekend, a damp Saturday morning found about 30 members at Irene & Phil Hickford’s orchard to a warm welcome and morning tea. The Hickfords have around 800 hazelnut trees 4-6 years old. These are mixed varieties of Whiteheart, Tonda Romano, Barcelona, Merveille de Bollwiller. As we admired the immaculate orchard, Phil explained that he keeps the suckers under control weekly with a $99 mini hedge trimmer and this suppressed the growth of the suckers.

Chairman’s report, 2011

Delivered to the 2011 AGM, 3 June 2011

By Murray Redpath

Earthquakes and extreme weather events, both in New Zealand and globally, will have dominated our thoughts over the last year. Christchurch and Canterbury will never be the same and our best wishes for a timely recovery go out to all those affected by the quake and the continuing fallout. The hazel industry escaped any physical damage but the economic repercussions are likely to mean limited access to Government assistance in the immediate future.

AGM Field Trips 2010

Les McCracken

HGA newsletter July 2010

Field trips were held in South Canterbury in association with the AGM. On Saturday, about 50 people attended a field-day at Linda and Les McCracken’s orchard at Ashburton where the focus was on harvesting tools. This included a demonstration of the Italian harvester imported by Les and Linda earlier this year, as well as a sweeper designed and manufactured in Oamaru for Tim and Judith Medlicott.
The McCrackens imported the Super Jolly 2800 after seeing it while at the Hazelnut Congress in Italy in 2008. The complete unit cost approximately $29000 including freight. It uses mechanical pickup, rather than suction, to avoid blockages, and screens out soil and trash. A key advantage for the McCrackens is that the unit can be operated by one person.

AGM report 2010

By Sarah Shore

HGA newsletter July 2010

The 2010 Annual General Meeting of the Hazelnut Growers’ Association was held on 3 June 2010 at Ashburton and attended by about 60 members.

In addition to the President’s Report (see above), Murray Redpath delivered a presentation on issues facing growers and the industry as a whole. This sparked an extensive discussion on the role of HGA and the future of the organisation and the industry. Key questions were:

• What is the role of HGANZ in developing the local industry, and how does that complement the activities of commercial enterprises?

• How can we make hazelnuts a viable crop for existing and potential new growers – focusing on a domestic or export market? If we target exports, which are our likely markets? (Bearing in mind that US growers now export most of their crop to Asia, particularly Hong Kong and Viet Nam.)

• What varieties would best support the selected growth strategy? (At present, new plantings are overwhelmingly Whiteheart, but US exports are mainly in-shell.)

Chairman’s report 2010

By Murray Redpath

Delivered to the HGA AGM, 3 June 2010

In late October I attended the annual conference of the Hazelnut Growers of Australia and gave a talk on “The Development of the NZ Hazelnut Industry”. I spent a few days before the conference staying with Basil and Jean Baldwin in central New South Wales. Basil and Jean visited Canterbury in 2006 and spoke at the HGANZ AGM. Basil is semi-retired but still does some work at the Charles Sturt University in Orange. One of his recently completed projects was a guide to the identification of hazelnut varieties grown in Australia.

Chairman’s report 2003

By Keith Hanning

HGA newsletter, August 2003

I would like to give special thanks to past president David Murdoch, who has served the Hazelnut industry over many years, driving development, in an advisory capacity, and as a nurseryman. Also David Null, “Nutt Ranch” Marlborough. David compiles the newsletter and adds some very interesting technical and management details each issue.

The new committee is made up completely of enthusiastic hazelnut growers.