Citrus benefits from Keith’s

Keith Pyle is one of this country’s foremost citrus experts

Citrus benefits from Keith’s encyclopaedic knowledge

Keith Pyle is supposed to be retired, but the man who is one of the country’s foremost citrus experts, is still in demand for his encyclopaedic scientific knowledge and technical skills, built on decades of growing citrus trees in Southern Africa and New Zealand.

By Elaine Fisher

Keith has a degree in agriculture with entomology, plant pathology and plant protection as the focus and is a longstanding member of the Citrus New Zealand (CNZ) research committee.

In the 23 years since he emigrated to New Zealand, Keith has made a significant contribution to the New Zealand citrus industry – both through his work with CNZ and as a consultant to individual growers, says Sally Anderson, CNZ research manager. “Keith has been involved in helping the industry improve its growing practices and our growers have benefited from his extensive and in-depth knowledge. He is very generous with his time and knowledge, and his ongoing input into the CNZ research programme is invaluable.” Sally says Keith has a knack of diving deep into the research and drawing out the parts most relevant to growers. He has also increased her own understanding of the industry. “When I first joined Market Access Solutionz and took over the Citrus New Zealand Research Programme 10 years ago, I had little knowledge of the citrus industry. I am very grateful to have had Keith as an advisor.” Keith grew up near Johannesburg in South Africa and was educated at Natal University. His first job was in Rhodesia

(now Zimbabwe), researching cotton pest problems. In 1974, Keith took a position on an estate north of Harare owned by the Anglo-American corporation. “The citrus orchard was initially 1,300 ha, but we reduced that to 750 ha and grew fresh fruit and produced juice mainly for the local market,” says Keith. “There were 40 ha of West Indian limes – and despite the international sanctions against the country at the time, we exported lime juice to the United Kingdom for Rose’s Lime Juice.” Keith and his wife Madeline moved to Swaziland (now Eswatini) in 1981, where Keith managed a property with 800 ha of citrus, 4,000 ha of sugarcane and a 25,000-ha cattle and game ranch. In 1998 when Keith and Madeline immigrated to New Zealand, the couple bought a two-hectare citrus orchard near Katikati and Keith quickly became involved in this country’s citrus industry. In 2015 they sold the orchard, settling on a lifestyle block north of Katikati with an extensive garden, but just a few citrus trees. Keith continues to play an important role for Citrus New Zealand, working closely with research manager Sally Anderson and grower representatives Matt Carter and Wayne Hall.

Keith is an advocate of pruning citrus trees to open them up to light and to allow better application of sprays

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