Dr Ron Beatson’s licence plate reads ‘DRHOPS’, a fitting nod for Motueka’s latest Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to horticulture.
Ron’s long career as a plant geneticist has seen him responsible for the release of 17 specialty New Zealand hop varieties. In fact, New Zealand’s most commonly used hop is a cultivar called Nectaron – the last three letters an industry homage to the doctor himself, who over his 50-year career has reached legendary status in the horticultural industry.
Ron grew up on a Ngātimoti raspberry farm and says his rural upbringing instilled horticulture in his veins.
“I can remember vividly my parents helping with a neighbouring hops farm during harvest,” he says.
His career as a plant geneticist began with research into tobacco - “the plant kingdom’s version of a lab rat”, he laughs.
Ron began his studies at Massey University, earning his doctorate after completing his PhD in the United States.
On returning to New Zealand, he became involved in breeding and developing kiwifruit, apricots and berry fruits, although he says hops have always been his passion.
“It’s got a bit of romance about it,” he muses, reminiscing about community harvests and beer festivals. In the early days of his involvement, New Zealand produced hops only for domestic use. However, the rapid growth of craft breweries was paralleled by an expansion in hop cultivars, many developed under Ron’s scientific guidance.
With New Zealand’s climate and geographical isolation, he and his teams were able to focus less on pest resistance and more on creating high-yielding varieties with distinctive flavours and aromas.
“Wonderful rich, tropical note flavours – peaches, nectarines, pineapple, lots of citrus, lime, orange peel,” is how Ron describes them.
He spent more than 50 years at the Bioeconomy Science Institute – the research institute formerly known as Plant and Food Research, and Hort Research before that Almost 30 of those years were spent leading the berryfruit programme and overseeing plant breeding activities.
He says he has relished working in the unknown, bringing out the uniqueness of each cultivar through what can be a decade-long process.
Ron was made a Knight of the Order of the Hop by the International Hop Growers Convention in 1999. Three years later, he became a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute for Agricultural and Horticultural Science. He is an Associate of Honour of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture and is the official brand ambassador for NZ Hops.
Now an honorary scientist at BSI, a title he jokes gives him the keys to the castle without the pay cheque, Ron says he owes much to his family and particularly his wife Linda for the freedom to dedicate himself to his work. There is a feeling, too, that this latest award is the culmination of long-standing government and industry backing, as well as the people he has worked with along the way to get the job done.
The 77-year-old says he has loved his career, but when it comes to the accolades, “I just feel like I’ve been doing my job”.
Although edging a little closer to retirement, Ron continues to contribute to the field of horticulture. The industry pioneer still enjoys the occasional quality-control check of a well-crafted hoppy IPA.
