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Advice on Publications Available.Dr Vong Nguyen, Special Research Horticulturist with New South Wales Agriculture at Gosford in NSW is recognised as the Australian authority on the production of Asian vegetables, both for local consumption and export.
Born in Vietnam, he graduated BSc from the University of Saigon in 1968 having majored in agriculture. He subsequently undertook a MS and PhD in Japan, completing his PhD at the University of Tokyo in 1977.
Dr Nguyen then worked as a plant breeder with the Takii Seed Co. Ltd in Japan before moving to Australia in 1980. He joined NSW Agriculture as a tomato breeder in 1981 and was responsible for the introduction and subsequent release of the cultivar, Sunny, now one of the leading cultivars in Australia.
He also bred and released three other cultivars, Fire-Fox, Red Centre and Juliette, which were developed in response to a public demand for tomatoes with a better fruit size and flavour.
Fire-Fox is a high yielding F1 hybrid with multiple disease resistance and good eating quality. Red Centre and Juliette were both released for the export industry and have a shelf life which is twelve days longer than the standard variety Flora-Dade. Red Centre is now being grown in nineteen countries around the world. Juliette is being grown for export to Asia where the demand is for tomatoes with jointed pedicels.
Dr Nguyen has also conducted research on tomato varieties with good flavour and good keeping qualities that set fruit under the cooler conditions experienced in late winter and early spring in NSW.
In 1986, Dr Nguyen was transferred to the Horticultural Research and Advisory Station at Gosford where he commenced work on the development of Asian vegetables for local consumption and for export to Asian markets, particularly Japan. It is this work which has established Dr Nguyen's reputation as the leading Australian authority on Asian vegetables.
The potential for exports of fresh vegetables to Japan and South-East Asia is very high and is currently valued at about $700 million per year.
The vegetable crops on which he has worked include burdock (a root crop), green soybean, long white radish, bunching onion, bok choi or pak choi ( a crop similar in appearance to silver beet), gai lum (syn. Chinese broccoli) and choi sum (syn. flowering cabbage). [These have been referred to by Jim Murison in his article elsewhere in this issue of the Newsletter].
Dr Nguyen speaks fluent Japanese (as well as fluent English and Vietnamese) and is a major contact for Japanese companies seeking product from Australia. Flavour and quality are particularly important with Japanese consumers and Dr Nguyen's eighteen years of experience in Japan gives him a distinct advantage, both in working with Japanese companies and in appreciating their demands for quality and flavour.
The strength of Dr Nguyen's efforts lies in the combination of research and marketing skills which he has been able to use in seeking to establish export opportunities in Japan and South East Asia.
The list of projects with which Dr Nguyen has been associated in recent years is extensive. The following are just some examples which illustrate the scope of his work:
Dr Nguyen is a proud Australian and Australia should in turn be proud of the role that he has played in research and development of a new Asian vegetable industry, in promoting Australian agricultural and food products in Asia and in forging closer links between Australia and Asian countries.
Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au[
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GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF