100 Harvests – A History of Fruitgrowing in Hawke’s Bay

Description

“100 Harvests – A History of Fruitgrowing in Hawke’s Bay” tells the story of the first planting of fruit trees in the region through to the complexity of the industry today. It details early pioneers who travelled to California and France, then returned home to foster their own fruitgrowing industry. It outlines their battles with pest and disease, government laws and regulations, and the elements in the establishment of what would eventually become a multi-million dollar industry. The story would not be complete without a look at the movement of unlabelled apples in unlabelled trucks in the hours of darkness: the black market. It chronicles the strong co-operative nature of the pipfruit industry which enabled a monopoly board to export fruit on growers’ behalf for 50 years. The book has been seven years in the making, with information drawn from dozens of interviews of local fruit growing identities, Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association minutes, newspapers and specialist magazines. The book is lavishly illustrated with more than 150 photographs.