Ian Horner is a Plant Pathologist with Plant & Food Research, and is currently leader of the Pathogen Biology and Ecology Team. For the past 30 years, he has studied the biology and control of soil-borne diseases, including Armillaria on kiwifruit and Phytophthora on a wide range of crops. He has specialised in soil fumigation and its alternatives, but his recent focus has been as part of the team battling Psa.
Shane Max leads Zespri’s Orchard Productivity Centre. It is responsible for the effective extension of innovative industry ideas and research findings that allow Zespri’s global growers to improve their productivity and fruit quality. Present initiatives revolve around the successful introduction of new varieties, ensuring Hayward growers continue to improve their profitability and providing technical advice to KVH. Shane’s background is in commercial horticulture and research orchard management.
Rachel Lynch has been part of Zespri’s communication team for two years, communicating with growers, working with media and issues management. She’s worked in senior communications roles for the past 11 years across a range of industries in the private sector, as well as local and national government. Rachel edits a number of Zespri publications and aims to provide people with exactly the information they need.
Chrissy Stokes is Orchard Productivity Manager within the Orchard Productivity Centre team at Zespri. She has come to kiwifruit via the wine and fresh-cut salad industries and is passionate about taking science and turning it into practical solutions for growers. Chrissy has a BSc and a PGDip in plant biology from Massey University.
After six years as innovation leader in the Zespri Innovation Team, Jayne Chamberlain has now moved to the Zespri Orchard Productivity Centre to take up the position of Licensed Varieties Manager. The focus of this role is to effectively provide technical information to industry in the establishment and management of the new varieties: Gold3; Gold9; and Green14.
William Max joined the OPC team in November 2010 to support Psa and licenced varieties tech transfer programmes. He presently supports the licenced varieties activities as a field technician. Key responsibilities include monitoring programmes, data analysis and OPC grower trials. William holds a Graduate Diploma in Computers and a Bachelor of Management Studies.
Ruth Underwood is a horticultural consultant in Tauranga with Fruition Horticulture. Her main roles are orchard consultancy, training, and industry analysis. She has been working in horticulture since 1987, starting out in Hawke’s Bay as a MAF advisor. She enjoys the mix of business and technical management in horticulture. Ruth graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Horticultural Science with first class honours. Study since has included environmental economics, marketing, adult education and sustainable nutrient management.
Sandy Scarrow is a horticultural consultant with 25 years experience working in the Bay of Plenty. She began work as a Horticultural Advisory Officer in Whakatane after graduating from Massey with a Bachelor of Horticultural Science. Sandy and her colleagues formed Fruition Horticulture in November 2003. Typically her work is focused on consultancy, policy analysis and training in the kiwifruit industry but also involves environmental projects such as looking at the sustainable management of on-farm plastics and unwanted agrichemicals.
Mary Black’s background is largely agricultural, having studied and worked in the agricultural industry in the UK. Mary joined Zespri in 2011 after completing a PhD with Plant & Food Research.
Mary’s PhD topic was ‘Root Physiology in Kiwifruit Vines’ and focused on the effects of trunk girdling and root pruning. At Zespri, Mary is an innovation leader, managing the ‘Consumer Impacts of Psa and Mitigation’ portfolio, the ‘Market Access’ portfolio and part of the ‘On-Orchard Productivity’ portfolio.
John White is Zespri’s New Varieties Technical Manager and a kiwifruit grower. He has spent many years in a range of fruit industry roles, including a position on the Zespri Innovation Board, chairmanship of the avocado industry and a technical role for a New Zealand supplier. John’s focus is on understanding the drivers of fruit quality for existing and new varieties, and systems for communicating that information with each market.
Dr Peter Minchin is a scientist in the Crop & Fruit Production Systems group at Plant & Food Research. He was the joint winner (with Dr Michael Thorpe) of the inaugural Outstanding Physiologist award in 2001, given by the New Zealand Society of Plant Physiologists. Prior to this, Peter was a joint recipient of the Award for Excellence in Scientific Research for work on the understanding of phloem transport in plants. Peter has studied phloem transport for 30 years and is now recognised as a world expert in this field. His work includes modelling fruit growth of Hort16A, colour development of Hort16A and understanding the control of carbohydrate allocation between fruit and vegetative growth in both kiwifruit and avocado.
Wade Hunkin joined the Zespri Orchard Productivity Centre as licensed varieties field officer in September 2012. He has been a kiwifruit grower for nearly 20 years, having escaped a career in the chemical industry. Wade has enjoyed many roles in the industry and prior to moving to Zespri was technical service manager at Apata. Wade has a MSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Auckland.
