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The New Zealand Tree Crops Association (NZTCA) was formed in 1974. It was set up in conjunction with The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Zealand) (DSIR) to encourage the use of productive trees in NZ.

History
The original goals for the association where to :


 * Promote Interest in tree crops generally with particular reference to nut bearing plants
 * To encourage scientific research in their selection and culture
 * The standardisation of varietal names
 * The dissemination of information through meetings, publication and conferences
 * To foster establishment of provincial branches through New Zealand
 * To support other organisations with similar aims and objectives.

And the association sort to connect a wide variety of people, including farmers, nursery staff, researchers, business, interested people and government officials to achieve the above stated aims.

The organisation was set up with a national management committee advising local branches which were designed to be autonomous. At peak there twenty branches, as well as a number of overseas members. Some branches did not remain with high enough membership to warrant having a separate branch. Thus they were folded into neighbouring branches where possible. Thus Aoraki was absorbed by Christchurch, Thames / Coromandel was absorbed by Waikato. The Gisborne and Southland branches did not have any close areas, either geographically or climatically, thus were discontinued.

Great Fruit and Nut Search

Monty's Surprise apple

Research
The model that was used for creation of new tree crop industries was the setup of Action Groups which were special interest groups within NZTCA. If successful then the group was swung out into its own organisation. The following action groups were set up by 1994, although action groups are no longer active as an organisation, many of these areas are still being grown and researched.


 * Carob. Carob trees growing in some parts of New Zealand were identified.
 * Casimiroa
 * Chestnut. See further information below.
 * Cork Oak. A member of this group published a book about growing cork oaks and the potential for a cork industry in New Zealand.
 * Gevuina. In the 1990's this tree was promoted as a cool climate macadamia. However research found that trees were susceptible to dying due to dry or wet conditions. The nuts are hard to open or process and are comparatively small. Also the cluster of nuts ripen over a period of several weeks thus requiring regularly pick up . This has resulted in no further promotion of this crop.
 * Hardwood. Technically named Woodland Marketing & Investigation (Hardwood Action) Group or shortened to W.M.I.G.
 * Hazelnut
 * Macadamia. See further information below.
 * Olive
 * Paulownia. In 1989 the New Zealand Farm Forestry organisation and NZTCA set up the paulownia action group . A number of paulownia trees and plantations were planted. These are now coming into harvesting stage.
 * Pecan
 * Walnut

Summary of research undertaken by NZTCA members and associated is summarized below

Almonds
Almonds had been grown successfully in NZ (reference?) however due to New Zealand's climatic conditions almonds can not be grown well enough to compete with overseas production. However some home gardeners would like to grow their own almonds. Thus trials in Nelson, Otago, Wellington / Horowhenua and Waikato have been undertaken.

Chestnut
Chestnut trees that were a cross between Spanish Chestnut (C. saliva) and Japanese chestnut (C. crenata) with potential for commercial cropping were collected from around the Waikato region, these were then graded using a custom Assessment Form. These were given selection numbers and propagated and yearly crops for over 30 clones were collected and analyzed for suitability. In time a number of trees were recommended, with trees for the north Island being: 905, 907, 1002, 1004, 1005, 1007, 1008 1010, 1011, 1015, Horton and Disk 2. The recommended varieties for the South Island were C/IA/106, Crewenna 1, Crewenna 2, Crewenna 3, Don Whelan, Herb Farm, Long Bay I, Long Bay 4, Old Weka Rd 4 and Old Weka Rd 6. The Industry in NZ then centered around the hybrids 1002, 1005 and 1015.

A successful export business was established exporting to to Australia, Japan, Korea and the USA with the dominate market being Japan. However this export business did not last. Efforts were then made into processing chestnuts on a commercial scale. Developing machines that could remove the outside shell and pellicle. In the selection process the ease of pellicle removal was not taken into consideration. This unintentionally resulted in nuts in which the pellicule was hard to remove as the nuts folded back onto themselves, trapping the pellicle. Once the pellicule has been removed, the chestnut can then be processed further. Work was done on both juicing and crumbed then dehydrating allowing for long term storage. As of yet this has not been commercially successful.

The chestnut shells, pellicule and bits of nut have been trialed as a deworming product. Including in feed at 5 - 10% w/v with alpacas resulted in successful worm treatment.

Figs
Eric Carins has undertaken significant work with figs in New Zealand covering all aspects of growing figs. He has attempted to obtain all genetic material from figs in NZ, and determine what are duplicates with different names, thus compiling an accurate list of the different varieties. The unknown genetics are stored in growing gene banks at three locations in NZ.

Hazelnuts
Significant volume of work has been undertaken on the potential for hazels as a commercial crop in New Zealand starting with the inception of NZTCA. From 1974 to 1992, the work was done in partnership with the DSIR. Collections were established, one of note was at the NZTCA Tree Crop Centre at Lincoln university. Dr Maxine Thompson who was in charge of the breeding programme at Oregon State University, guided selection for blanched kernat trade. Five of these were called the 'whatnot' selections. These plus new genetic material imported from Oregon and Italy were trialed on 13 growers properties from 1985 to 1988. From 1993 to 2002, after the DSIR was broken in Crown Research Institutes the focus was around trials at Lincoln University. It also involved a new group called the Southern Nut Growers association, which looked to commerilize nuts crops, while the Hazelnut Action group focused on research. It was in this time that the higher quality of whiteheart became apparent compared to some overseas varieties. From 2003 - 2008 due to changes in government funding, the Hazelnut Action Group became The Hazelnut Growers of NZ. This then applied for Sustainable Farming Fund grants to fund research with collection of hazels from old orchards at risk of removal. Also new genetic material was imported from Oregon. From 2008 to 2015 the focus of the research was around yields. Orchards that had been planted were coming into production. But the productions volumes were not as high as expected. This was determined to be due to lack of effective pollination. Therefore data was collected on pollen release and flower opening times, other projects were also completed including economic analysis of viability of hazelnut orchards in the lake Taupo catchment to reduce nitrogen leaching into lake Taupo. Murray Redpath was awarded the Don McKenzie award (see below) for his work on Hazelnuts.

Karaka berry
The Karaka berry is the berry of the Karaka tree, a native NZ tree. It was highly valued as a food crop by Maori before European colonization of New Zealand and it is thought it was second only to kumara in overall importance. The yellow fleshed berry contains a nut kernel. The nut contains toxins, which could be deadly. However after steaming / cooking and leaching the toxin levels could be reduced and the nuts processed into nutritious food. Given that the tree is quick growing, and produces high yields of 50 - 100 kg per tree, it is idea for a new and unique food crop. Research was undertaken with The University of Waikato determining, among other things, the levels remaining in the processed nuts. It was determined that cooking and leaching does not remove all the toxins. And since there is not established food safety limit for these toxins, the food safety regulations do not allow for processed karaka nuts to be accepted as a food.

Macadamia
Macadamia was first planted in New Zealand at approximately 1932 and started producing nuts around 1938. The NZTCA association formed a focus group in and by 1986 had published a booklet about successful growing and marketing of macadamias. Over time macadamias became a successful crop in NZ and now has its own organisation (insert link).

Pine Nuts
A selection of pines that produce edible nuts were planted by the Wellington-Horowhenua Branch. This included the well known P . pinea, which can be purchased in supermarkets and the lesser known Korean Pine (P. koraiensis), Chinese white pine (P. armandii) as well as Torrey pine (P. Torreyana) and Mexican white pine (P. ayacahuite variety veitchii) .

Gene banks
Tree Crop members have been active in collecting and maintaining varieties of fruit trees. The following gene banks are currently active


 * Figs. As mentioned above, Eric Carins has collected as many fig varieties in New Zealand as possible. Then determine how many actual species there are, as many figs have multiple names. Then these genetics have been located to three locations in New Zealand for preservation.
 * Jim Dunckley Orchard. Starting in 1995 the Coastal Otago branch sort to collect heritage apple varieties as old apple trees were starting to disappear. Between 200 - 300 separate apple varieties that have been sourced from the lower South Island are kept at this orchard. It is named after Jim Dunckley who was a founding member of tree crops and a driver of this project.
 * Canterbury Heritage Fruit Archive. This seeks to preserve fruits that are either heritage or thought to be heritage fruits. In 2015 there were 203 apple varieties, 25 pera, 26 plum and a few peach varieties.

Publications
NZTCA has had three publications over the last four decades:


 * Journal of the New Zealand Tree Crops Association (1976 - 1982)
 * Growing Today (1983 - 1991).
 * The Tree Cropper (1994 - present) currently published quarterly

The organization also published a range of crop guides, developed in the 1990's. These were to help people to understand how to plant and manage various fruit, nut and wood crops in the NZ context. These crop guides focused on the less traditional tree crops, where information was very difficult to obtain. There was also an introduction to various tree crops in NZ, outlining 65 tree crops in simplified format. They also published in depth publications for some of the crops, targeting specific problems or industry related challenges.

Awards
The association created an award in 1985 to honor those which have made a significant contribution to NZCTA. The trophy was a mounted walnut that come from a coal mine in Germany. It had turned to coal, while still remaining clearly recognizable as a walnut. The nut was gifted to Don McKenzie, when he attended a conference in Germany and he in turn gifted it to the association. When Don McKenzie died in a car accident, while on NZTCA business in 1987 the award was named the Don McKenzie award. This award is given out yearly as part of the annual NZTCA conference.

Honorary life membership is bestowed upon a small number of members in recognition of their special contribution to NZCTA. These are again awarded at the annual national conference.

Current Branches
There are currently 9 branches in the North Island and five branches in the South Island.