OUR STORY

When Charles Grey planted avocado seeds in Gisborne in 1921, he couldn’t have imagined the legacy he was creating by becoming the founding father of avocado orcharding in New Zealand. Over 100 years and four family generations later, the Greys are still leading the way.

It is Charles’s grandson David and his wife Judi who are now at the forefront of the industry. David may have inherited his passion for growing from his grandfather Charles, but it was his parents, Len and Dorothy, who were the real pioneering avocado growers. Len imported a range of new varieties from California throughout the 1940s and can take credit for introducing the Hass variety to New Zealand in the late 1950s. But if you think David and Judi simply stepped into the family business, you’d be wrong. Their growing story starts in 1968 when the couple, along with David’s brother Bruce, purchased a 13-hectare property on Bushmere Road just outside Gisborne. After years of hard graft, which included a significant contribution from their three sons, Paul, Phil and Tony, they built a thriving orchard business.

In keeping with their family tradition, the Greys refused to stand still and in the late 1990s planted around 30 avocado seedlings from the Sharwil variety. Their relentless pursuit for excellence was rewarded as they developed three standout performers which form their Avogrey® Greenskin Series – the GreyStar®, Eclipse® and Titan®.

A lot of credit must go to Dr Bob Bergh, who was an old friend of the David and Judi.  He was a retired avocado breeder (developer of the Gwen, Esther, and Whitsell varieties) of the University of California. During a visit in the 1980s, David asked Bob which avocado rated at the very best. Bob quickly stated it was Sharwil, a variety developed in Queensland, introduced in 1954, which has become unpopular with growers because of its low productivity. It is a predominantly Guatemalan avocado with some Mexican genes, with unknown parentage.