Interested in hazelnuts

Press, 22 May 1981, Page 14

Interested in hazelnuts

The potential for tree crops in New Zealand was quite fantastic, Professor M. M. Thompson, of Oregon State University, said in Christchurch recently.' Professor Thompson was spending three weeks in New Zealand at the invitation of the New Zealand Tree Crops Association. She spoke at the association’s annual conference in Rotorua recently. Hazelnuts are Professor Thompson’s first interest. At Oregon State University she leads a team which is studying new hazelnut varieties. This work is carried out on a 5.5 hectare plot on the university’s farm and is sponsored by hazelnut farmers in Oregon. They want to know what varieties are best suited to the climate in the state. Professor Thompson has about 10,000 seedlings

growing for crossbreeding ' and pollination experimenta- : tion. In Oregon about 10,100 ' hectares of hazelnuts are grown and interest in the crop is increasing. Most growers . expect a '

return of about 20001 b per acre and are being paid 65 cents a lb. Mechanical harvesting is employed and the ‘amount of labour and chemical input is much lower than with tree fruits. Hazelnuts grow well in a marine climate and so should perform particularly well in New Zealand, Professor Thompson said. She said shelter was the only immediate problem growers would have in New Zealand, but it was obvious from looking at horticultural areas in several provinces that growers in this country were well aware of the' need for shelter. New Zealand was apparently experiencing a “boom” in horticultural production, but a lot more could be done. Because of the diversity of KTAxtr Undo

way was clear for a wide range of new crops. Informal co-operation between her horticultural department at Oregon State University and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research’s Crop Research Division would ensure that horticulturalists in New Zealand could keep abreast of hazelnut developments in the United States, she said. If the speed with which the hazelnut industry had grown in Oregon through demand from confectionery manufacturers was any indication of the potential popularity of the nut, then growing hazelnuts in New Zealand could be worth examining in the near future. But this would have to wait until the right varieties were available on a large scale. she said.