Description
Roly Earp was a pioneer kiwifruit orchardist of the 1960s and 1970s, and an influential advocate for grower control. He supported and encouraged the growth of the industry through the development of equipment to assist the commercial production, harvest and export of kiwifruit. Grower rights and wellbeing were always his top priority, at a time when the industry was expanding rapidly. For 10 years he led the sometimes contentious struggle to establish a grower authority with control over the export of kiwifruit. The resulting Kiwifruit Authority, of which he was the first chairman, helped make kiwifruit one of the country’s most successful and valuable export products. (Te Ara)
