24 September 2001 New horticulture professor at Lincoln University

A new Professor in Horticulture, Dr David McNeil, has been appointed at Lincoln University.

Lincoln has been without a horticultural professor since the retirement three years ago of Professor Richard Rowe.

A staff member at Lincoln since 1987, the new professor is pre-eminent in nut research in New Zealand and has a high profile in the industry and academic community for his work promoting the cultivation of temperate nut crops in New Zealand.

The nut research trials managed by Professor McNeil in Lincoln University's Horticultural Research Area have received national and international attention and have played a big part in the development of New Zealand's nut industry.

Professor McNeil's horticultural expertise extends beyond nuts and embraces numerous economically important crops from pip fruit to market garden produce.

The new professor sees his appointment as a signal to the world about Lincoln University's renewed commitment to horticultural teaching and research and about Lincoln developing its commitment to all of the industries within horticulture.

"We are setting out to deepen our contacts with other sectors in the horticultural industry in the same way as we have with the nut growers," he says.

Professor McNeil came to Lincoln in 1987 from the West Australia Department of Agriculture. He is a past winner of a Lincoln University Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Research and in 1999 he was promoted to Associate Professor.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.