YOUR LEVY AT WORK
GROWING IS IN CATH’S GENES Words by Elaine Fisher
WE GROW VALENCIA AND NAVEL ORANGES BUT ALSO A NUMBER OF EXPERIMENTAL CROPS SUCH AS BLUEBERRIES, SAFFRON, TURMERIC AND GINGER “Later on, when I was researching improving colour and taste in squash it was those technical notes on the importance of potassium in flavour development that was the basis for my work. We were always encouraged as kids to question, look things up and try things. I guess, with my family background, I was genetically meant to be a farmer.”
Cath Carter
Growing up in a farming family, Cath Carter intended to study Soil Science at Otago but on the advice of her teachers changed to Business Studies at Lincoln. “My teachers were convinced that horticulture would be low paid with few career prospects for women – they were wrong!” Parents of two young boys, Cath and her husband Matt own and run Hill Road Orchard near Gisborne, and also produce Hill Road orange juice from their own citrus. Cath’s love of growing food on the land was inspired by her dad Murray Redpath, who is among New Zealand’s pioneer hazelnut growers and a recognised expert on the crop. “Growing up in a family passionate about farming teaches you to have respect for the work and dedication it takes to farm. “One school holidays Dad got me to type up translations of Italian research papers and one topic of a paper stood out in my mind for years,” says Cath who is also a member of Women in Horticulture.
16 NZGROWER : JUNE 2021
It was while working for the Gisborne Herald selling advertising for its farm pages, that Cath saw an advertisement for a fertiliser representative. “I applied, got the job and found the work really interesting. I learnt by doing and was lucky to have supportive growers, including David and Frank Briant who very bravely let me carry out trials on their crops.
I guess, with my family background, I was genetically meant to be a farmer “The people I worked with taught me to question everything, and that just because things had been done in a certain way, didn’t mean it always had to be so.” Cath later joined Cedenco Foods growing squash. She also has experience growing grapes and tomatoes. “My favourite crop will always be cucurbits, in particular squash though.”
The people I worked with taught me to question everything
