Progressive orchardists take Cameron Award

Press, 18 March 1988, Page 14

Progressive orchardists take Cameron Award

Two Blenheim horticulturists, Kevin and Alison Murphy, have won the 11988 BNZ A.C. Cameron Memorial Award for South Island farmers. The award is presented annually by the Royal Agricultural Society to the best young farmers in the North and South Islands. I The Murphys have a: (jOha property at Spring Greek where they grow apples, kiwifruit, pears,; garlic, onion seed, sweet qorn seed, beans and red! clover. Other finalists were Mr and Mrs E. N. Hodgkin, gheepfarmers of Heriot, ind Mr and Mrs D. J. T. Morrow, sheep and cattle farmers of Ashburton. I The judging panel was impressed with the high standard of husbandry, enterprise, skilful financial control and their ability to make. She most of opportunity, jsaid the society's presi-

dent, Mr Hugh Treadwell. Kevin: took the farm over from his father. The property’s boundaries are identical to those when the farm was settled by his great-grandfather in 1857. I i Originally the farm was a small stock and cropping unit but price trends made it increasingly uneconomic. In 1972 Kevin Murphy decided to move into vegetable seed production! which necessitated ) draining the entire farm. Today it has seven kilometres of tile drains and nine kilometres of plastic drains. In 1978, the Murphys launched a move into apples and kiwifruit, planting extensive shelter and installing an irrigation scheme; Thousands of trees) were planted and the whole unit is now served by: a’ high and low I pressure ) irrigation sysitemj reticulated through

buried mains. Five hectares of apples and .6 hectares of kiwifruit were planted in 1982 making the property) one of the first export kiwifruit orchards in Marlborough. The unit )n6w has a total of 10 hectares of apples, 4.5 hectares jof kiwifruit and .4 hectares of pears, all behind shelter. j The judging panel i said the farm today is barely recogisable from an aerial photograph taken in >1967. The house and almost jail buildings have been replaced and the tall shelter trees make a striking visual impact. i "The remarkable thing is that, apart from a Rural Bank loan for the hodse, part of the drainage and irrigation and some of jthe first plantings, the (great bulk of the development has been done out of income, by farm labour and using stock prqpa-

gated on the ■ farm,” said the judges’ report. The Murphys’ early ! vegetable crop develop- I ment? involved garlic and oniori seed. Not long after they (started growing gar- . lie the price fell disas- I trously. With 1 other local growers Kevin Murphy ) formed the New Zealand ) Co-operative Garlic Com- ■ panyj installed a drying j plant, grading facilities and a processing plant. A I marketing company was (also formed and two co-operatives: now produce. process and market a substantial proportion of New} Zealand's garlic production. Tlie onion seed crop also] ran into problems. Goop prices encouraged over-production, accentu- : ated by the keeping quali- i ties pf the seed. Prices for this (crop also dropped but Kevin Murphy formed an onion seed company with ) two partners, obtained i

contracts and now grows for domestic and export buyers.

(‘Returns from these annual crops have maintained income during the establishment of permanent horticultural crops, thus avoiding the financial vulnerability so often experienced by developing orchardists,” said the report. “Some of the Murphys’ orchard crops are now approaching full production and this year

will produce some 48 per cent of budgeted income. Kevin’s skill as a horticulturist is amply demonstrated by his obviously healthy crops and the quality and abundance of his yields. His financial control is of' equally high order. “The result to anyone who has observed the disastrous financial consequences of today’s economic conditions on the small farm,( is a pleasure

to see and a shining example of what is possible even in 1988," Members of the judging team were: convener, Mr Roderick Mackenzie, of. Ashburton (appointed by the R.A.S.). Mr Linden Prebble, MAFTech Invercargill (appointed by the Y.F.C.), Mr Stuart Ford, area manager MAFTech Timaru, and Mr Russell Emmerson, Forest Ranger Station, Tarras, an award winner in 1981.