Western Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand.
A combination of the climate and soils in the area has always made Te Puke a popular area for horticulture. From the 1880s tobacco was grown commercially but petered out in the late 1930s. Trial plantings of hops, and later rice, were also tried. Viticulture was also tried and found to be successful but for various reasons also died out. The settlers had established home orchards when finance permitted and it was found that pip and citrus fruits flourished.
From this, the first commercial orchard in Te Puke was planted in 1915. Commercial plantings were of apples, pears, oranges, lemons and grapefruit. After World War Two, the Rehabilitation Department settled returned servicemen on the No 3 Road as orchardists. Followed by others with their own finance, most of No 3 Road was in orchards by 1960. By 1966, 80 owners owned about 1500 acres of land of which 900 acres was in citrus and balance in sub-tropical fruit including tamarillos (tree tomatoes) and feijoas.
In 1934 Jim MacLoughlin had bought a 7-acre lemon and passionfruit orchard in No 3 Road. His neighbour Vic Bayliss had 2 Chinese gooseberry plants and he had sold the fruit for five pounds! Spurred on by this Jim planted ½ acre of Chinese gooseberries in 1937. During World War Two, American serviceman in New Zealand were introduced to the Chinese gooseberry and enjoyed it so much that this spurred further plantings. In 1952 the first exports were made, and in 1959 the name “Kiwifruit” was introduced. Since then many more plantings have been made with Hayward (green) being the most popular. In 1998 “Zespri Gold” kiwifruit was introduced to the market and experiments are being carried out on new varieties including a peelable kiwifruit.
More historical information on Te Puke
