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Basil and Jean Baldwin are Australian hazelnut growers, with a 500 tree orchard at Forest Reefs, Blayney, NSW. Basil is an agronomist and published his PhD thesis in 2015.

Called “The Growth and Productivity of Hazelnut Cultivars (Corylus avellana L.) in Australia“, his thesis assessed the growth of 26 cultivars grown at 5 different sites, two each in NSW and Victoria and one in Tasmania. (Unfortunately for New Zealand growers, the cultivar “Whiteheart” was only planted at the site in Tasmania.)

The thesis is chock-full of valuable information. The literature review brings together what is known about hazelnuts, and discusses the effect of climate and soil, factors which influence growth and production, and the attributes and relative merits of of various cultivars (there’s a helpful characteristics and merit guide for cultivars in Appendix A).

Continue reading Recommended Reading

My name is Christine Robinson and I am the new Exec hired by the Committee.

My job is to provide administrative services to HGANZ, things like taking the Minutes of the meetings, sending out emails or finding information on something as directed by the Committee. I will also take over creating the quarterly Newsletter, leaving Paul more time for his hazelnuts. In addition, my job it to apply for grant money to progress the aims of HGANZ. The Committee has some big goals for the industry, and I’ll take on the basic research and writing parts, allowing them to do the thinking and polishing, all while continuing with their day jobs.

I have a very old PhD (2005) in plant diseases, but children and my husband’s career derailed my plans. HGANZ gives me the opportunity to get back into plants and science and keep my brain alive. Hopefully I will meet many of you over the next year or so, as I will help organise Field Days. Until then, here is a picture of me with my dog – he enjoys eating hazelnuts too.

by Alison Bentley

During my travels through Scotland and England in August I could not stop myself from studying hazelnut trees!

I never came across a commercial orchard, but there were plenty of hedge-rows of plain hazelnuts, or mixed species including hazelnuts.

Continue reading Alison’s Tour – Hazelnuts of Scotland and England

Last year we held another successful Winter Seminar Series with presentations on:

1. An overview of the Australian Hazelnut industry
2. Follow up on big bud mite spraying – Les McCracken
3. The Oregon Hazelnut industry – Clive Kaiser
4. Julio Bolero presented on his PHD results
5. Murray gave an overview of his 40 years in the industry.

Recordings are available for members to view online.

With the easing of COVID restrictions we were able to hold an in-person field day in November visiting a number of orchards in Canterbury.  This included Clive Kaiser from Lincoln University providing some key thoughts around pruning and light penetration – resulting in a few members taking chainsaws to some trees to “see what happens”.  As part of this field day the committee got together and worked through a business plan for the Association to help push forward the industry over the next few years.

In September a working bee was held at Rose McDermott’s orchard to help her tidy up the trees ahead of selling the property, following the sad parting of her husband, Tim.  A big thank-you to all the members who turned up to help.

A very wet harvest season has made harvesting challenging in many parts of the country.  I feel for the horticultural industries in the Hawkes Bay and the Gisborne area that have really struggled with the impacts of cyclones and many heavy rain events.  My own experience was a very extended harvesting season and much work for the dryer.  However – surprisingly – it might be my second best harvest ever.

Committee – I would like to thank the members of the current committee for the time that they have put in during this year, Paul Rollin, Michael Petherick, Murray Redpath, Deb Whiteside, Grace McGowan, Ross Smith.   Alison Bentley who joined during the year and Sarah Shore for her work on the newsletter.

The full report is available here.

The AGM was help on Tuesday the 27^th June via Zoom.  A total of 17 members attended the meeting and a number of key items were discussed.

2023/24 committee:  The current committee, with the exception of Ross Smith put their hands up to server for another year.  No new members were nominated for the committee.  The members approved the new committee members as follows:

Peter Barrowclough – Chair
Paul Röllin

Alison Bentley
Deb Whiteside
Shane McKenzie
Michael Petherick
Murray Redpath
Grace McGowan

Michael presented the Treasurer’s report, which showed a total income of $4,353.23 for the year ending 31 March 2023.  The Association’s closing balance on the 31 March was $46,398.08.

Full accounts are available here.

Paul presented a summary of the business plan developed by the committee during their face-to-face meeting in November.  The plan is designed to help the Association better achieve its aims of:

1. Grow the domestic industry: Growers, processors, consumers.
2. Facilitate, collate, and participate in research to increase profitable supply from existing and new plantings. Key research areas: Growing techniques/methods; Nutrition; Environment; Improvement of plant genetics
3. Facilitate and promote transfer of knowledge to support members via seminars, field trips and online communication (website, newsletter etc);
4. Engage in an active liaison with other relevant organisations.

To support these aims the key points of the 2023/2024 strategic plan are:

1. Improve profitability of growers
2. Increase local production
3. Education of growers and support for research to improve the industry
4. Increase public awareness and perception of NZ grown hazelnuts
5. Ensure the industry is sustainable and diversified

The committee has proposed employing a part time executive officer to help the committee push forward with this plan.   The aim is for this officer to assist in areas such as event organisation, funding applications and general support for the committee and Association.  The committee is looking to apply for funding to help with studies around pruning and other agronomic areas such as understanding flower induction, irrigation, fertiliser usage and pest management to improve yields.

To help with the funding of this role the committee has suggested increasing the membership fees to $90 for the 2023/24 year on-wards.

This was unanimously accepted by the members at the AGM.

The Association business plan is available here and the Association strategy document is here.

Full meeting minutes are available here

Following on from the discussions on flowering at the November 2022 field visit to Lincoln, we’re keen to learn more about optimal timing and manner of pruning. The research would involve recording:

• dates when you prune trees, to help us identify timing (a running log as you move through your orchard)
• basic description of your style of pruning (topping vs removing outside growth)
• sunshine and temperature at each timing point
• extent and timing of flowering the following winter

We’d like as many members as possible to contribute, so we can also understand the effect of location and cultivars. If you’re interested in joining this project, please contact secretary@hazelnut-growers.org.nz.