From the President:
Condolences
It is with sadness that we learnt of the passing of two stalwarts of the Institute – John Keoghan (the Otago and Canterbury Sections) and David Steven (Auckland Section).
With their passing, New Zealand has lost two remarkable researchers and contributors to the NZIAHS, one focussed on the pastoral sector and the other on horticulture.
Our sincere condolences go to their families.
Obituaries
Dr John Keoghan
Born on the West Coast 83 years ago, John graduated as a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at Lincoln University (then Lincoln College) in 1964. He completed a Master of Agricultural Science degree with First Class Honours in Agronomy in 1966 and a PhD in Plant Science in May 1971- his thesis concerned studies in lucerne growth.
A post-doctoral fellowship took John and is family to Guelph University in Canada as a lecturer and researcher and in 1974 they moved to the Caribbean island of Antigua where he established and developed a forage legume project administered by the Soil Science Department of the University of the West Indies (Trinidad).
The family returned to New Zealand after nearly 13 years abroad,. John was appointed Agronomist at Invermay Agricultural Centre in Mosgiel and went on to lead the Agronomy Group.
He became involved with the Government-owned high country station Tara Hills, near Omarama, identifying the productive suitability of forage plant species for a range of grazing regimes.
At that time John began an association with the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science (NZIAHS) which spanned more than four decades. He was the Otago Section Committee chair over several terms from 1986 and served as a Councillor for the national committee.
With the formation of AgResearch in 1992 John moved to Lincoln and in 1993 became a member of the Canterbury section, which he chaired from 1996 to 2000.
In 2024, in recognition of his long and meritorious contribution to the NZIAHS, John was awarded an Honorary Fellowship. The citation referred to his ‘extraordinary commitment’ to the Institute.
He was an active member of the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board, a policy-making and advisory body on public conservation land, and a generous volunteer supporter of Lincoln University.
A keen rugby player, he was a member of Lincoln’s 1st XV every year from 1961 to 1966, was selected for the Canterbury Senior Reserves in 1962 and played under the captaincy of the legendary Kel Tremain.
John is survived by wife Beth, sons Phil, Andrew and daughter Ruth and their families.
Dr David Steven
Born in Auckland in 1946 and raised in Stratford, David has left a distinguished legacy in the kiwifruit and avocado industries. The implementation of Kiwi Green, which proved to be of crucial importance for the kiwifruit industry, was the highlight of his career.
He was awarded a Taranaki Scholarship and studied zoology at the University of Canterbury, graduating with BSc (Honours) before going on to Lincoln College to study for his PhD in Entomology. His research involved identifying the chemical odours which attracted Paropsis beetles to eucalypts.
After first working at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Research Centre in Levin, David moved to the Entomology Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) at the Mount Albert Research Centre in 1975. He quickly developed a passion for researching kiwifruit pests.
When the Italian kiwifruit industry lowered allowable pesticide residue levels below levels permitted elsewhere in Europe in 1990, the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board decided New Zealand growers should meet the more stringent residue levels. David and his team at DSIR had to determine a critical level for pests that, if exceeded, would justify the need for a spray. But a greater challenge was convincing growers they didn’t have to spray if pest numbers were below the critical threshold, then persuading them to switch to softer chemicals which left fewer residues.
The team developed an Integrated Pest Management system – it became known as KiwiGreen – in two years. Within four years of the initial trials the whole of the kiwifruit industry was required to implement KiwiGreen pest monitoring.
Thanks to this work, Zespri could promote its fruit to customers as environmentally friendly, able to meet the tightened restrictions on residue limits that inevitably were imposed by European supermarket chains.
David left government employment in 1995 to set up his own IPM research company with his wife Jill and continued his work on refining KiwiGreen.
He turned his attention to the avocado industry in 2002, helping to design and oversee the implementation of an IPM system named AvoGreen. He worked closely with the industry providing mentoring and technical support until AvoGreen was eventually made mandatory for export avocado production in 2010. He also collated research material for an IPM manual for the persimmon industry, where he was employed for several years as research manager.
When the PSA outbreak hit the kiwifruit industry in 2010 David advised on how IPM principles could be applied to the management of this devastating disease. He was also available on a kiwifruit grower helpline for many years, advising growers on spraying to help them deliver the highest quality fruit to market.
David was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand Science and Technology in 1997 and in 2017 Zespri awarded him the Hayward Medal in recognition of his work to fundamentally shift how the industry manages pests and diseases, improving environmental outcomes and underscoring confidence in Zespri kiwifruit.
He was made a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Horticultural Science recognising his contributions to both the society and horticulture.
He is survived by his wife Jill, their three children; Kris, Matt and Tim and one grandchild Dani.
Dr John Caradus, HFNZIAHS
President
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