Zespri kiwi fruit history and time line.

1904 Isabel Fraser, headmistress of the Wanganui Girls' College, brought kiwifruit, "yang tao," seeds back to New Zealand from her sister's mission station in China's Yangtze Valley. Isabel gave the seeds to orchardist Thomas Allison, who gave them to his brother Alexander. China sent seeds to the United States that same year; however, USDA horticulturalists had trouble producing fruit in Chico, California, as field trials involved mostly male vines, and both sexes are necessary. U.S. trials were abandoned at that time. Read Isabel’s story

1910 Then called "Chinese gooseberries" New Zealand's first kiwifruit vines were recorded as bearing fruit on Alexander Allison's property, south of Wanganai. 1920 Chinese gooseberry plants were offered for sale by a number of nurserymen, including Duncan and Davies, Bruno Just, Hortons of Hastings, Frank Mason and Hayward Wright. Plantings were recorded in Auckland, Fielding, Wanganui and Tauranga.

1924 Auckland nurseryman Hayward Wright developed the green-fleshed kiwifruit variety that bears his name and has become the most commonly grown around the world. Read Hayward’s story

1934 Jim MacLoughlin planted his first seven acres of Chinese Gooseberries on his property in the Bay of Plenty region. 1952 Jim MacLoughlin and Grahame Bayliss exported the first commercial shipment, 13 tonnes of Chinese Gooseberries to England. Read Jim’s story

1959 Auckland-based fruit packers Turners and Growers briefly named the fruit "melonette," but changed it to the Maori word "kiwi" when they learned of import tariffs applied to melons. The first 100 cases of New Zealand – grown kiwifruit arrived in San Francisco, California. Learn how kiwifruit got its name

1962 Frieda Caplan of Frieda's Inc. and The Oppenheimer Group began developing markets for kiwifruit in the US and Canada. 1964 Harry and David's Fruit of the Month Club featured a special offer on "kiwi berries." The catalog warned, "You had better order now; they are scarcer than screen doors on submarines."

1970 The first successful California kiwifruit crop was harvested. Kiwifruit became a global culinary craze as the signature garnish of nouvelle cuisine. 1977 The New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Licensing Authority was created with Roly Earp as its first chairman. This organization developed to be a single desk operational and marketing organization, the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board (NZKMB), in 1988.

1991 Taste testing took place on an intriguing new gold kiwifruit variety - then called "Hort16A," the new variety was naturally bred from a vine at the Hort Research orchard in Te Puke. The taste and flesh color were so unique that rapid multiplication of the single vine was requested for further evaluation. Learn how we struck gold

1992 Bio-Gro certified organic kiwifruit was exported by the NZKMB for the first time. The first packhouse dedicated solely to handling organic kiwifruit was established in 1994.

1997 The NZKMB created the "ZESPRI®" brand name for New Zealand kiwifruit and established "ZESPRI International Limited" as its marketing subsidiary. Learn the meaning of the ZESPRI brand

1999 ZESPRI International introduced the tropical-sweet, yellow-fleshed ZESPRI® GOLD Kiwifruit variety to the world and rebranded Hayward fruit as ZESPRI® GREEN Kiwifruit.

2004 The New Zealand kiwifruit industry celebrated 100 years.

2006 Kiwifruit achieves new SuperFood status in a trendsetting book SuperFoods Health Style by Dr. Stephen Pratt. ZESPRI® Kiwifruit is available in North America June through October.

2008 New Zealand production of ZESPRI® Kiwifruit exceeds 100 million trays.

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