Newly named "Clutha Summer", its branches are dotted with apricots. Because it is late spring, the fruit are small and green; give it another couple of months, however, and those apricots will be plump. As for colour? Think of it as Red Gold.
In an area also defined by the tailings left by all those Clutha River dredges, where just a few kilometres away a new mining operation is trying to unearth alluvial gold, there is another treasure hunt going on.
At Plant & Food Research's Central Otago site, where knowledge seems to sprout as abundantly as the trial seedlings that occupy the Crown Research Institute's 57ha block of land, experts are two years into a "Sumptuous Summerfruit" programme focusing on breeding a late-season, high-quality apricot for export.
Though "Clutha Summer" was originally developed as an early-season cultivar, a possible alternative to the popular "Sundrop" , the tree in question has been crossed with pollen from late-harvest seedlings, the aim being to have a look-alike, taste-alike "offspring" that would fill the marketplace from early January to late February.
As John Webb, chairman of the Otago Regional Fruitgrowers Committee, says: "Orchardists are a form of masochist... The only thing I'd say was of any use after a hail storm is a handkerchief." Mr Webb is a third-generation fruit grower; the Stonehurst Orchard he operates with son Simon was founded by his grandfather (also John) in 1914. Hence he possesses an attribute important in this business: patience.
"It's a long game; you're looking to the future," Mr Webb explains. "One assesses new varieties, puts them in the ground and crosses one's fingers.
"I think, historically, around 25% of the trees that go in the ground never come into full production. We do take punts on new varieties but not all of it works for us. Sometimes you have to go through a bad time in order to get to a good time." That's where science can help.
There is also the advantage of brand awareness to consider. The longer, or more often, a grower can have a piece of fruit - accompanied by a sticker with a logo and name - on a shop shelf, be it in New Zealand or overseas, the better (provided the produce holds its quality).
Which takes us back to the apricot.
There are three key research components to Plant & Food's Sumptuous Summerfruit programme: developing new late-season cultivars; identifying factors that influence post-harvest fruit quality; and looking for gene markers that indicate sweetness and long storage.
"We've been working on this for the last two years now. The main goal is to develop late-season apricots of high quality because there is a gap in the global market," explains Jill Stanley, a scientist at Plant & Food Research, the CRI formed through a merger of HortResearch and Crop & Food Research in late 2008.
"If we produced a cultivar for harvesting a little later in the season but with very long storage attributes, we could supply that gap in the market. If we get one that has good quality after six weeks' storage, that could give us the opportunity to use sea freight," Mrs Stanley says, hinting at the implications of carbon taxes as well as "food miles" concepts.
Arlene Nixon, who specialises in apricot breeding at Plant & Food Research, says the typical mid-season for apricots is mid-January.
"Now we are reliably picking very nice fruit - in the trial stages - in mid- to late February."
"One year I collected one on May 4, but that is too late. You need enough heat units per day to mature the fruit sufficiently.
"I ask growers to walk through the rows with me during the season. If they are based in Roxburgh, they are likely to choose a different piece of fruit to grow than someone in Cromwell because their climate is slightly different; they might be thinking early February, whereas growers in Cromwell might say, 'give us one for early March'," Ms Nixon says.
Her work involves what is known as conventional breeding, whereby she selects parent trees that have good traits, crosses them and produces seedlings with the desired characteristics.
"We hand-pollinate thousands of flowers each day of the blossom season. We collect pollen from selected pollen parents in mid- to late August, then apply the pollen to the stigma, the female part of the flower, just before the flower would naturally open. The 'mother trees' are then covered with tents to frost-protect the new fruitlets."
Ms Nixon says researchers are constantly liaising with growers and marketers as well as overseas buyers.
"I have a 'shopping list' of what we're looking for during selection. The consumer wants fruit that is bright and shiny and has incredible flavour and juice, good acid/sugar balance, and pleasing texture.
"Looking at the other side, at what the grower requires, the list is a lot longer. Not only does the fruit have to be exceptional in terms of flavour, texture, storage, and handling; the tree has to be healthy, as frost-tolerant as possible, and crop reliably."
In short, the fruit has to be commercially viable for growers.
"It's about taking a punt on something that might be good," Mr Webb says. "Remember that a fruit grower, when he plants a block of trees and they look beautiful in that first year ... he has bought a dream. Then, three years on, reality sets in."
Stonehurst Orchard has about 25ha planted in a range of fruit, including apples, peaches, nectarines and apricots. The Webbs planted three varieties of late apricots three years ago, two of which "look relatively favourable, but one looks as if it's going to struggle".
As for cherries, Mr Webb doesn't grow them: "I reckon only masochists grow cherries, especially when it rains around Christmas time." Despite being delivered in a light-hearted manner, Mr Webb's comments touch on the fact that horticulture in Central Otago comes with its risks.
One of the region's more spectacular recent failures was that of Cherrycorp, a syndicated company set up in 1986 with 474 shareholding investors. After sustained crop losses, due mainly to rain-splitting of fruit, the company went into receivership in 1997.
In a 2003 analysis of the cherry industry, report author Mike Anderson points out that of the 22ha Cherrycorp planted (the largest single planting in the southern hemisphere at the time), 14ha comprised the Dawson variety, which was prone to splitting after thunderstorms in the pre-Christmas period.
"The company failure was due mainly to the inability to raise sufficient capital from investors to erect rain covers for the critical period three to four weeks pre-harvest," Mr Anderson summarises.
"Essentially, there was not enough varietal spread to cover the risk of rain-splitting without the covers." In other words, don't put all your fruit in the one basket.
Like many orchardists, Earnscleugh grower Wayne McIntosh knows this well.
"You are bombarded with a whole range of new varieties, so it's about knowing what goes on in your environment; for example, soil type and temperatures on your property."
Mr McIntosh can point to multiple examples of scientific research benefiting his business: "Plant & Food assess our spray programmes on an annual basis. They have built up pretty good information on the patterns of bugs that are flying around and how we can make an impact with the sprays we are able to use."
At least two of his apple varieties, Pacific Rose and Pacific Queen, were born out of research by Plant & Food.
"They looked at the antioxidants of apples produced in New Zealand. Those two varieties, when produced in Central Otago, had the highest levels of any apples grown in New Zealand.
"It is an eating-quality aspect; it is a fruit that will last because it is more dense - if it is well cared for. The antioxidant component is potentially also a marketing edge," he explains, adding that a homespun variety, Central Rose, was developed on site by his father, Stu, more than two decades ago and is still in production.
Mr McIntosh also praises the pioneering work of Dr Errol Hewett (now professor of horticultural science at Massey University), whose research at the former DSIR facility in the late 1960s prompted widespread changes to frost-fighting techniques.
"Prior to that, everyone was lighting pots. He worked out this system for people to be able to fight frosts using water," Mr McIntosh says, in reference to the concept of "latent heat diffusion", the heat given off water when it cools or freezes.
"That is a direct benefit that has helped the industry."
WIN SOME, LOSE SOME
It might sound a bit fruity, but research suggests the evolution of apples might be connected to the same catastrophic environmental event that killed the dinosaurs.
An international consortium, including New Zealand scientists at Plant & Food Research Ltd, announced in August it had sequenced the more than 600 million base pairs of DNA that make up the apple genome.
This sequence opens the way to understanding characteristics of importance to consumers, such as crispness, juiciness and flavour, or to producers, such as harvest time.
The sequencing revealed that large lengths of apple chromosomes are copied in other chromosomes. This duplication would explain why the apple, and closely related pear, genomes have 17 chromosomes, while all other plants in the Rosaceae family (including peach, raspberry and strawberry) have between seven and nine chromosomes.
Many of the genes in these duplicated areas are related to fruit development and this larger number compared with other fruit may have enabled the distinctive features seen in apple.
Evolutionary analysis tracked this whole genome duplication (WGD) event to about 60 million years ago. It is thought to be a genetic survival response to an event that caused mass extinctions of other species, including the dinosaurs.
Other plant species, such as poplar, have been shown to have undergone a similar evolutionary response at the same time.
The research has been published in the journal Nature Genetics.
The apple genome project included scientists from 13 institutions in five countries - Italy, the US, Belgium, France and New Zealand.
Plant & Food Research provided access to a breeding population of 600 apple trees.
The findings will be used to advance Plant & Food Research's apple-breeding programme, which has previously developed the commercially successful Jazz cultivar.
Apples comprise $395 million of New Zealand's export income.
THE AUSTRALIAN ISSUE
The seasonal (and unseasonal) risks of hail, frost and rain aside, there is a more pressing issue at the moment, according to Gary Bennetts, a Roxburgh orchardist and chairman of Summerfruit New Zealand.
"The wider concern is the fact the Australian summerfruit industry is applying to bring their product into New Zealand. As an industry, we are not opposing competition because there will be times of the year - say, early season - when we don't have fruit. But our biggest worry is the fruit fly issues they have; that would have major implications for the entire horticultural industry in New Zealand."
Mr Bennetts says Central Otago's fruit industry (not including viticulture) is in a period of stabilisation.
"We've had fluctuations between seasons, recently. [For example], a really cold winter with frosts on young tissue can lead to bacteria getting into trees.
"It hasn't been growing; it has stabilised. Some of the issues have included access to casual staff for harvesting in summer - that is improving.
"I guess the biggest way it has improved is there has been recognition there has been a problem and an understanding that everyone who is on the dole is not going to want to go fruit-picking in Central Otago - the fact people can get work permits."
