Consultant Jason Lynch delivered a presentation on weed control at the Home Grown workshops in November 2022. See his video on Effective Weed Control (external link).

After checking the availability of pineapple plants on the Island as rootstock for modern cultivation, the Alliance applied for and obtained a permit from Biosecurity Australia to import tissue cultured plantlets of pineapples. A shipment arrived in September 2023 and has been deflasked into pots ready for planting in the field early in 2024.

Photos of typical plantlets as they are to be supplied are available here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mNzMf1hiJPyEQycC6 (either small or more advanced).

 

The website of one of the Australian growers NQ Paradise Pine www.paradisepines.com.au/ has this to say about this variety:

73-50 

In Australia if you head into a supermarket or any fruit shop and your pineapple is without a top it is probably the hybrid variety known as 73-50. Hybrid 73-50 was developed by the Hawaiian Pineapple Research Institute (PRI, dissolved in 1975). It was imported into Australia in 1987 by a farmer from near Woodford (SE QLD) who realised its potential and as legend has it brought six plants into Australia in a suitcase. These pineapples were marketed as Bethonga Gold. The crowns of the 73-50 were removed by the Bethonga grower to stop other growers from cultivating the variety via planting the tops. The topless feature stuck as the variety gained popularity with consumers through the large supermarkets. The custom has an adverse affect on the look of pineapple as the fruit tends to dehydrate faster with the top removed. Many in the industry would prefer to see the custom done away with, but the chain stores seem to want the practice to continue.

The 73-50 is a sweet pineapple. Its parentage includes 54% Cayenne, 20% Mordilona, 13% Pernambuco, 13% Red Spanish and 3% Queen. It was considered by PRI breeders to be a high yielding cultivar with low acidity and high vitamin C . This selection has been grown on an increasing scale in Australia under various names. All usually suffixed with “Gold”. For example Rollingstone Gold, Mareeba Gold, Aussie Gold and Pure Gold from the various pack houses. They are all the same variety. It is Australia’s largest hybrid pineapple crop, although the MD2 is gaining in popularity.

The acidity of the 73-50 is only about half that of the Smooth Cayenne variety in early winter. The vitamin C content of the 73-50 is about 5 times greater than the Cayenne in winter. 73-50s normally have a very aromatic flavour, and when naturally ripened and picked with breaking colour produce a gorgeous perfume that demands attention. The 73-50 has a slightly smaller core than the Cayenne in comparison to the fruit width, and the flesh is more yellow. The 73-50 has a useful level of field resistance to blackheart (rotten core) but can be susceptible to internal browning.

 

Please note that 73-50 is not the product of modern genetic engineering. It is a result of conventional hybridisation. (The pink ornamental pineapple has been genetically engineered but is not known to be on Norfolk Island).

 

Island resident the late Richard (Dick) Cavill won a Churchill Fellowship in 1994 “To gain further knowledge of the propagation and cultivation of low chill fruit trees, such as peaches, plums, nectarines, apples and pears”. He toured around eastern Australia and visited nurseries and orchards. His report (9.1MB) is available here. Many of the productive trees on the Island trace their origin to this project.

 

This little booklet (27MB) sets out what it claims to explain: a summary of the hydrological conditions on the Island.

In its own words:

 

“The complex hydrogeological conditions…as well as the unique cultural and social heritage values of the island’s community require an innovative approach to water and wastewater management in this small isolated community. This paper brings together existing information on the hydrology of Norfolk Island to assist in the development of a sustainable water management strategy, particularly targeted at extended dry periods. It represents the first stage in establishing a framework for water and wastewater management on Norfolk Island.”

 

That cause was picked up later by CSIRO in its much more extensive studies.

 

This booklet was produced in 2007 by The Government of Norfolk Island with funding from the Natural Heritage Trust.

Dr Cristelle Maurin was engaged by the Norfolk Island administration to produce a “food security strategy” with the following brief:

 

1. Project description

The Norfolk Island Food Security Project (The Project) will provide the resources and support for strengthening Norfolk Island’s local food system and building community resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses by creating an island-wide, cross-sectoral alliance to promote local food and farming and sustainable resources management.

2. Scope and logic of intervention

Currently food security, nutrition and health, land and resources management are issues addressed incrementally, in a siloed-approach. Responsibilities for food and agriculture are highly dispersed, scattered across various departments and agencies.

The Norfolk Island Community Strategic Plan 2016-2026 has set the objective to create a food secure community. Realising this objective in coherence with other objectives as set out in the Plan would benefit from a strategic, whole-system approach to food security and to building community resilience and prosperity. The recommendations in the Norfolk Island Environmental Assessment Report highlight some priority actions, and recommend a strategic framework to strengthen Norfolk Island’s food system, placing local food production at the heart of a comprehensive sustainable development strategy.

Based on those recommendations, the Project will seek to provide guidance, tools & networks to build capacity towards:

(1) More effective and inclusive participation of the people of Norfolk Island in the governance of food and agriculture to strengthen the local food system, and enhance coherence with other sectors (e.g. tourism, health, land management, education);

(2) A transition to a more localised, resilient and sustainable food system.

3. Objectives

The objectives of the Project are:

1. 1. 1. To co-design/drive/enable a multi-level strategic planning process to support food localisation and the strengthening of the local food system;
      2. To increase the Norfolk Island community’s awareness, knowledge and skills in sustainable, healthy food consumption and production;
      3. To support community members/ groups with activities around local food production, knowledge building and sharing, skill training;
      4. To develop/ initiate some pilot projects, with:
         • Consideration of agriculture/crops to meet local consumption;
         • Consideration of agriculture/crops for export purposes, if any, cognisant of biosecurity and shipping limitations.

Timeframe

The Project will be implemented during the period 6 December 2021 – 30 June 2022.

4. Deliverables

• A preliminary consultation with technical specialists on suitable systems for market-based recycled water solutions for the Island;
• A detailed study on opportunities and limitations for on-island agriculture (including suitable crops, soils, land availability) and suitable farming methods that are regenerative of soils, ecosystems and biodiversity;
• A suitable multi-stakeholder governance structure, with participatory and inclusive mechanisms, to enable the development of a community vision for the Island’s food future, a policy framework for food security and some pilot projects;
• The development of a food security policy, setting out the path for a food secure future for Norfolk Island.

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Completion of the Strategy was delayed. The “Final version” is dated February 2023. The Food and Farming Alliance does not endorse the Strategy and at 24 May 2023, its status as a policy document of the Council is unclear. However, it was released on to the Council’s website on 25 May 2023.

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This facsimile of a 1979 book of 234 pages by F. Martin and R. Ruberté of the Mayagüez Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Puerto Rico, has a wealth of information about edible leaves that are so often discarded but that are or can be healthy to eat. The first edition of Edible Leaves of the Tropics runs to 9.1MB. The second edition, in 1979, takes up 16.2 MB.

 

A review by the Echo Community notes:

“People interested in tropical gardening or botany will find this an indispensable guide to several hundred species of plants with edible leaves. Leaves can provide high-quality food, and in the tropics, many are from perennials requiring little effort for their abundant production. In addition to those species widely known as leafy vegetables, a tremendous variety of trees, ornamentals, weeds and other plants bear leaves which are eaten or are used for flavoring.

This book describes familiar and exotic plants with edible leaves, discussing their origin, growth habit, cultivation guidelines, nutritional value, preparation, multiple uses and cautions. A comprehensive appendix lists over 1500 additional species reported to have edible leaves. The new edition includes expanded information on the most promising plants tested over a wide range of conditions and tastes, as well as updates on food value and resources on this topic. It is useful for all those working with tropical plants, as well as those involved in community nutrition or agricultural development.”

 

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The authorities have collaborated to produce this guide to managing this introduced pest: Banana Weevil Borer of Norfolk Island. There is an important lesson: do not shift banana bits around the Island unless you are sure that the parent clump is free of this pest.