Chardonnay

Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new and developing wine regions, growing Chardonnay is seen as a ‘rite of passage’ and an easy entry into the international wine market.
The Chardonnay grape itself is neutral, with many of the flavors commonly associated with the wine being derived from such influences as "terroir" and oak. It is vinified in many different styles, from the lean, crisply mineral wines of Chablis, France, to New World wines with oak and tropical fruit flavors. In cool climates (such as Chablis and the Carneros AVA of California), Chardonnay wine tends to be medium to light body with noticeable acidity and flavors of green plum, apple, and pear. In warmer locations (such as the Adelaide Hills and Mornington Peninsula in Australia and Gisborne and Marlborough region of New Zealand), the flavors become more citrus, peach, and melon, while in very warm locations (such as the Central Coast AVA of California), more fig and tropical fruit notes such as banana and mango come out. Wines that have gone through malolactic fermentation tend to have softer acidity and fruit flavors with buttery mouthfeel and hazelnut notes.
Chardonnay is an important component of many sparkling wines around the world, including Champagne and Franciacorta in Italy.
Chardonnay's popularity peaked in the late 1980s, then gave way to a backlash among those wine connoisseurs who saw the grape as a leading negative component of the globalization of wine. Nonetheless, it is one of the most widely planted grape varieties, with worldwide, second only to Airén among white wine grapes and fifth among all wine grapes.
History.
For much of its history, a connection was assumed between Chardonnay and Pinot noir or Pinot blanc. In addition to being found in the same region of France for centuries, ampelographers noted that the leaves of these plants have near-identical shape and structure. Pierre Galet disagreed with this assessment, believing that Chardonnay was unrelated to any other major grape variety. Viticulturalists Maynard Amerine and Harold Olmo proposed a descendency from a wild "Vitis vinifera" vine that was a step removed from white Muscat. Chardonnay's true origins were further obscured by vineyard owners in Lebanon and Syria, who claimed that the grape's ancestry could be traced to the Middle East, from where it was introduced to Europe by returning Crusaders. Little external evidence supports this theory. Another theory stated that it originated from an ancient indigenous vine found in Cyprus.
Modern DNA fingerprinting research at University of California, Davis, now suggests that Chardonnay is the result of a cross between the Pinot noir and Gouais blanc (Heunisch) grape varieties. The Romans are thought to have brought Gouais blanc from Croatia, and it was widely cultivated by peasants in eastern France. The Pinot of the French aristocracy grew in close proximity to the Gouais blanc, giving the two ample opportunity to interbreed. Since the two parents were genetically distant, many of the crosses showed hybrid vigour and were selected for further propagation. These "successful" crosses included Chardonnay and siblings such as Aligoté, Aubin vert, Auxerrois, Bachet noir, Beaunoir, Franc Noir de la-Haute-Saône, Gamay Blanc Gloriod, Gamay noir, Melon, Knipperlé, Peurion, Roublot, Sacy, and Dameron.
Clones, crossing, and mutations.
As of 2006, 34 clonal varieties of Chardonnay could be found in vineyards throughout France; most of these were developed at the University of Burgundy in Dijon. The so-called "Dijon clones" are bred for their adaptive attributes, with vineyard owners planting the clonal variety best suited to their "terroir" and which will produce the characteristics that they are seeking in the wine. Examples include the lower-yielding clones 'Dijon-76', '95' and '96' that produce more flavor-concentrated clusters. 'Dijon-77' and '809' produce more aromatic wines with a "grapey" perfume, while 'Dijon-75', '78', '121', '124', '125' and '277' are more vigorous and higher-yielding clones. New World varieties include the 'Mendoza' clone, which produced some of the early California Chardonnays. The 'Mendoza' clone is prone to develop "millerandage", also known as "hens and chicks", where the berries develop unevenly. In places such as Oregon, the use of newer Dijon clones has had some success in those regions of the Willamette Valley with climates similar to that of Burgundy.
Chardonnay has served as parent to several French-American hybrid grapes, as well as crossings with other "V. vinifera" varieties. Examples include the hybrid Chardonel, which was a Chardonnay and Seyval blanc cross produced in 1953 at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. Mutations of the Chardonnay grape include the rare pink-berried 'Chardonnay Rose'; also 'Chardonnay Blanc Musqué', which produces an intensely aromatic wine. Chardonnay Blanc Musqué is mostly found around the Mâconnais village of Clessé and sometimes confused with the 'Dijon-166' clone planted in South Africa, which yields Muscat-like aromas.
In the 1930s, Chardonnay was crossed with a Seibel grape to create the hybrid grape Ravat blanc.
Viticulture.
Chardonnay has a wide-ranging reputation for relative ease of cultivation and ability to adapt to different conditions. The grape is very "malleable", in that it reflects and takes on the impression of its "terroir" and winemaker. It is a highly vigorous vine, with extensive leaf cover which can inhibit the energy and nutrient uptake of its grape clusters. Vineyard managers counteract this with aggressive pruning and canopy management. When Chardonnay vines are planted densely, they are forced to compete for resources and funnel energy into their grape clusters. In certain conditions, the vines can be very high-yielding, but the wine produced from such vines suffers a drop in quality if yields go much beyond 80 hl/ha (4.5 tons per acre). Producers of premium Chardonnay limit yields to less than half this amount. Sparkling wine producers tend not to focus as much on limiting yields, since concentrated flavors are not as important as the wine's finesse.
Harvesting time is crucial to winemaking, with the grape rapidly losing acidity as soon as it ripens. Some viticultural hazards include the risk of damage from springtime frost, as Chardonnay is an early-budding vine – usually a week after Pinot noir. To combat the threat of frost, a method developed in Burgundy involves aggressive pruning just prior to budburst. This "shocks" the vine and delays budburst up to two weeks, which is often long enough for warmer weather to arrive. "Millerandage" and "coulure" can also pose problems, along with powdery mildew attacking the thin skin of the grapes. Because of Chardonnay's early ripening, it can thrive in wine regions with short growing seasons, and in regions such as Burgundy, can be harvested before autumn rain sets in and brings the threat of rot.
While Chardonnay can adapt to almost all vineyard soils, the three it seems to like most are chalk, clay, and limestone, all very prevalent throughout Chardonnay's traditional "homeland". The Grand crus of Chablis are planted on hillsides composed of Kimmeridgian marl, limestone, and chalk. The outlying regions, falling under the more basic "Petit Chablis" appellation, are planted on portlandian limestone which produces wines with less finesse. Chalk beds are found throughout the Champagne region, and the Côte-d'Or has many areas composed of limestone and clay. In Burgundy, the amount of limestone to which the Chardonnay vines are exposed also seems to have some effect on the resulting wine. In the Meursault region, the "premier cru" vineyards planted at Meursault-Charmes have topsoil almost above limestone and the resulting wines are very rich and rounded. In the nearby Les Perrieres vineyard, the topsoil is only around above the limestone and the wine from that region is much more powerful, minerally, and tight, needing longer in the bottle to develop fully. In other areas, soil type can compensate for lack of ideal climate conditions. In South Africa, for example, regions with stonier, shaley soils and high clay levels tend to produce lower-yielding and more Burgundian-style wine, despite having a discernibly warmer climate than France. In contrast, South African Chardonnay produced from more sandstone-based vineyards tend to be richer and more weighty.
Confusion with Pinot blanc.
Due to some ampelographical similarities, Pinot blanc and Chardonnay were often mistaken for each other and even today share many of the same synonyms. The grape vines, leaves, and clusters look identical at first glance, but some subtle differences are seen. The most visible of these can be observed as the grapes are ripening, with Chardonnay grapes taking on a more golden-green color than Pinot blanc grapes. On closer inspection, the grapevine shows slight differences in the texture and length of the hairs on the vine's shoot, and the veins of a Chardonnay leaf are "naked" near the petiolar sinus – the open area where the leaf connects to the stem is delineated by veins at the edge. Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the few other "Vitis vinifera" grape vines to share this characteristic. This confusion between Pinot blanc and Chardonnay was very pervasive throughout northern Italy, where the two vines grew interspersed in the vineyard and were blended in winemaking. The Italian government did not dispatch researchers to try to distinguish the two vines until 1978. A similar situation occurred in France, with the two vines being commonly confused until the mid-19th century, when ampelographers began combing through the vineyards of Chablis and Burgundy, identifying the true Chardonnay and weeding out the Pinot blanc.
France.
In France, Chardonnay is the second-most widely planted white grape variety just behind Ugni blanc and ahead of Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc. The grape first rose to prominence in the Chablis and Burgundy regions. In Champagne, it is most often blended with Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier, but is also used to produce single varietal "blanc de blancs" styles of sparkling wine. Chardonnay can be found in "Appellation d'origine contrôlée" (AOC) wines of the Loire Valley and Jura wine region, as well as the "vin de pays" wines of the Languedoc.
Burgundy.
Chardonnay is one of the dominant grapes in Burgundy, though Pinot noir vines outnumber it by nearly a three-to-one ratio. In addition to Chablis, Chardonnay is found in the Côte d'Or (largely in the Côte de Beaune), as well as the Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais. It is grown in eight "grand cru" vineyards; The "Montrachets"-Montrachet, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet, Bâtard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet, as well as Charlemagne, Corton-Charlemagne, and Le Musigny. In addition to being the most expensive, the Burgundy examples of Chardonnay were long considered the benchmark standard of expressing "terroir" through Chardonnay. The Montrachets are noted for their high alcohol levels, often above 13%, as well as deep concentration of flavors. The vineyards around Chassagne-Montrachet tend to have a characteristic hazelnut aroma to them, while those of Puligny-Montrachet have more steely flavors. Both "grand cru" and "premier cru" examples from Corton-Charlemagne have been known to demonstrate marzipan, while Meursault wines tend to be the most round and buttery examples.
South of the Côte d'Or are the Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais wine regions. The villages of Mercurey, Montagny-lès-Buxy, and Rully are the largest producers of Chardonnay in the Côte Chalonnaise, with the best-made examples rivaling those of the Côte de Beaune. In the Mâconnais, white wine production is centered on the town of Mâcon and the Pouilly-Fuissé region. The full-bodied wines of the Pouilly-Fuissé have long held cult wine status with prices that can rival the "grand cru" white burgundies. Further south, in the region of Beaujolais, Chardonnay has started to replace Aligoté as the main white wine grape and is even replacing Gamay in some areas around Saint-Véran. With the exception of Pouilly-Fuissé, the wines of the Mâconnais are the closest Burgundy example to "New World" Chardonnay, though it is not identical. Typically, Mâcon blanc, basic Bourgogne, Beaujolais blanc, and Saint-Véran are meant to be consumed within two to three years of release. However, many of the well-made examples of white Burgundy from the Côte d'Or need at least three years in the bottle to develop enough to express the aromas and character of the wine. Hazelnut, licorice, and spice are some of the flavors that can develop as these wines age.
Chablis.
Chardonnay is the only permitted AOC grape variety in the Chablis region, with the wines there developing such worldwide recognition that the name "Chablis" has taken on somewhat generic connotations to mean any dry white wine, even those not made from Chardonnay. The name is protected in the European Union and for wine sold in the EU, "Chablis" refers only to the Chardonnay wine produced in this region of the Yonne "". The region sits on the outer edges of the Paris Basin. On the other side of the basin is the village of Kimmeridge in England, which gives its name to the Kimmeridgean soil that is located throughout Chablis. The French describe this soil as "argilo-calcaire" and is a composition of clay, limestone, and fossilized oyster shells. The most expensive examples of Chardonnay from Chablis come from the seven Grand Cru vineyards that account for around on the southwest side of one slope along the Serein River near the towns of Chablis—Blanchots, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Preuses, Valmur, and Vaudésir. The wines from these crus most often capture the "goût de pierre à fusil" or "gunflint" quality that is characteristic of Chablis wine.
Chardonnay was believed to be first planted in Chablis by the Cistercians at Pontigny Abbey in the 12th century. Today, the Chardonnay made in the Chablis region is one of the "purest" expression of the varietal character of the grape due to the simplistic style of winemaking favored in this region. Chablis winemakers want to emphasise the "terroir" of the calcareous soil and cooler climate that help maintain high acidity. The wines rarely go through malolactic fermentation or are exposed to oak (though its use is increasing). The biting, green apple-like acidity is a trademark of Chablis and can be noticeable in the bouquet. The acidity can mellow with age and Chablis are some of the longest-living examples of Chardonnay. Some examples of Chablis can have an earthy "wet stone" flavor that can get mustier as it ages before mellowing into delicate honeyed notes. The use of oak is controversial in the Chablis community, with some winemakers dismissing it as counter to the "Chablis style" or "terroir", while others embrace its use, though not to the length that would characterise a "New World" Chardonnay. The winemakers who use oak tend to favor more neutral oak that does not impart the vanilla characteristic associated with American oak. The amount of "char" in the barrel is often very light, which limits the amount of "toastiness" perceived in the wine. The advocates of oak in Chablis point to the positive benefits of allowing limited oxygenation with the wine through the permeable oak barrels. This can have the effect of softening the wine and making the generally austere and acidic Chablis more approachable at a younger age.
Champagne.
In the Champagne, Chardonnay is one of three major grape varieties planted in the region. It is most commonly found in the Aube and Marne "départments" which, combined with Chablis, accounted for more than half of all plantings of Chardonnay in France during the 20th century. In the Côte des Blancs (white slope) district of the Marne, Chardonnay thrives on the chalk soil. The three main villages around the Côte grow Chardonnay that emphasizes certain characteristics that the Champagne producers seek depending on their house style. The village of Avize grows grapes that produce the lightest wines, Cramant makes the most aromatic, and Mesnil produces wines with the most acidity. The Côte des Blancs is the only district in the Champagne region predominately planted with Chardonnay. In the four other main districts – Aube, Côte de Sézanne, Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne – Chardonnay lags behind Pinot noir in planting. In the outlying region of Aisne, only Pinot Meunier has a significant presence. Despite being less planted, the "Blanc de Blancs" style of Champagne (made from only Chardonnay grapes) is far more commonly produced than "Blanc de Noirs". This is partly because Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier produce very coarse and heavy wines that lack the finesse and balance that Chardonnay brings to the mix. Nonsparkling still wine Chardonnay is produced under the Coteaux Champenois AOC. The wine is much more acidic than that of Chablis and is normally made bone-dry.
Despite receiving the same amount of sunshine as the Chablis region, Chardonnay grapes in Champagne rarely attain full ripeness due to the mean temperature of the region being around , barely above the minimum average temperature needed to ripen grapes. Therefore, the Chardonnay grapes do not fully develop their fruit flavors and the still version of Champagne can taste very "un-Chardonnay"-like because of this. However, it does lessen the premium on needing to keep yields low that other wine regions battle, since not much flavor is going to develop in the grapes, anyway. Rather, the element in Chardonnay that Champagne wine-makers look for is the finesse and balance of acidity that it brings to the blend. Some flavors that can emerge from, particularly with extended time on its lees, include creamy and nuttiness with some floral notes.
Other French regions.
Champagne, Chablis, and Burgundy account for more than three-fifths of all Chardonnay plantings in France. The next-largest concentration is found in the Languedoc, where it was first planted around the town of Limoux and up to 30% can be blended with Mauzac in the sparkling "Blanquette de Limoux". Every year since 1991, Chardonnay production is celebrated in Limoux during the Toques et Clochers festival. By 2000, more than were planted, with many being used for wines under the "Vin de Pays d'Oc". These wines were unique in that they were some of the first examples of Chardonnay to be varietally labeled as "Chardonnay". Other French wine regions with Chardonnay plantings include Alsace, Ardèche, Jura, Savoie, and the Loire Valley. In Jura, it is used to create "vin de paille" dessert wines. Here, the grape is known as Melon d'Arbois or Gamay blanc and is sometimes blended with Savagnin. It is most widely found in Arbois, Côtes du Jura, and L'Étoile AOCs. In the Loire, up to 20% of Chardonnay can be included in the Chenin blanc-based wines of "Anjou blanc" and more producers are using the grape to soften some of the edges of Chenin blanc. It can also be used in the sparkling wines of Saumur and some Muscadet producers have begun experimenting with oak-aged Chardonnay.
North America.
In North America, particularly California, Chardonnay found another region where it could thrive and produce a style of wine noticeably different from that of France. It is the dominant white wine variety of the area, overtaking Riesling in 1990. In the United States, it is found most notably in California, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, but also in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont wine. In Canada, Chardonnay is found in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec., and in Mexico is found in Baja California(Valle de Guadalupe) and in Coahuila(Valle de Parras) states.
California.
The first successful commercial production of California Chardonnay was from plantings in the Livermore Valley AVA. Wente Vineyards developed a Chardonnay clone that was used to introduce the grape variety in several Californian vineyards throughout the 1940s. In the 1950s, James David Zellerbach, one-time US Ambassador to Italy in Rome, started Hanzell Vineyards winery and dedicated it to making Burgundian-style Chardonnay. His success encouraged other Californian winemakers to follow suit and culminated in Chateau Montelena's victory over Burgundy Chardonnay in the 1976 blind tasting event conducted by French judges known as the Judgment of Paris. In response, the demand for Californian Chardonnay increased and Californian winemakers rushed to increase plantings. In the 1980s, the popularity of Californian Chardonnay increased so much, the number of vines planted in the state eclipsed that of France by 1988. By 2005, nearly accounted for almost 25% of the world's total Chardonnay plantings. The early trend was to imitate the great Burgundy wines, but this soon gave way to more rich buttery and oaked styles. Starting with the 1970s, the focus was on harvesting the grapes at more advanced degrees of ripeness and higher Brix levels. New oak barrels were used to produce wines that were big in body and mouthfeel. Frank J. Prial of "The New York Times" was an early critic of this style, particularly because of the lack of "food friendliness" that was common with these massive wines. Another criticism of California Chardonnays, and one that has been levied against other Californian wines, is the very high alcohol levels which can make a wine seem out of balance. In recent years, California winemakers have been using process such as reverse osmosis and spinning cones to bring the alcohol levels down to 12 to 14%.
The California wine regions that seem to favor producing premium quality Chardonnay are the ones that are most influenced, climatically, by coastal fogs that can slow the ripening of the grape and give it more time to develop its flavors. The regions of Alexander Valley, Los Carneros, Santa Maria Valley, Russian River Valley, and other parts of Sonoma County have shown success in producing wines that reflect more Burgundian styles. Other regions often associated with Chardonnay include Napa Valley, Monterey County, and Santa Barbara County. The California Central Valley is home to many mass-produced Chardonnay brands, as well as box and jug wine production. While the exact style of the wine varies by producer, some of the "terroir" characteristics associated with California Chardonnay include "flinty" notes with the Russian River Valley and mango and guava from Monterey. A large portion of the Californian sparkling wine industry uses Chardonnay grapes from Carneros, Alexander, and Russian River valleys, with these areas attracting the attention of Champagne producers such as Bollinger, Louis Roederer, Moët et Chandon, and the Taittinger family, which have opened up wineries in last few decades.
New York.
Chardonnay was one of the first European grape varieties to have been grown commercially east of the Rocky Mountains. After three centuries of failure with "V. vinifera", this achievement was realized in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Frenchman Charles Fournier and Russian Konstantin Frank experimented with Chardonnay and other varietals in hopes of producing sparkling wines based on Old World grapes for the Gold Seal wine company. In the late 1950s, they succeeded in harvesting the first commercial quantities of European grapes in eastern North America. Frank went on to found Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars which helped demonstrate that a winery in the eastern US can produce European-style wines as a basis for a winery business. Chardonnay became an important part of that strategy.
New York, like Burgundy and Washington, is a cool-climate viticultural region. Being cold tolerant, the Chardonnay grape is well suited for New York. Not only can it endure its cold winters, but also buds late, reducing the risk of spring frosts. New York's comparatively cooler growing season causes slower ripening, requiring a longer time on the vine, which allows the grapes to develop greater complexity and character at more reasonable sugar levels than warmer Chardonnay-producing regions. New York has subsequently developed significant plantings of the variety since Fournier and Frank's early experiments.
Other states.
Washington Chardonnays can be very similar to Californian Chardonnays, but tend to have more emphasis on fruit than creaminess. In 2000, it was the most widely planted premium wine grape in the state. Rather than using Dijon clones, Washington vineyards are planted with clones developed at the University of California-Davis that are designed to take longer to ripen in the warmer weather of the state's wine regions. This allows winemakers to maintain the acidity levels that balance the fruity and flint earthiness that have characterized Washington Chardonnay. Apple notes are common, and depending on producer and appellation, can range from flavors of 'Golden Delicious' and 'Fuji' to 'Gala' and 'Jonathan'. In Oregon, the introduction of Dijon clones from Burgundy has helped to adapt the grape to the Oregon climate and soils.
Canada.
In Canada, Chardonnay has seen some success with rich, oaky styles produced in Ontario and lighter styles produced in Quebec and British Columbia. In 2009, Le Clos Jordanne winery, of Jordan Village on the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, received critical acclaim for its 2005 Claystone Terrace Chardonnay, which won the top spot for Chardonnay in the "Judgement of Montreal" experts’ tasting. This recognition, which caught the attention of the wine community, resulted from a blind tasting held in Quebec for "Cellier" magazine. Thirty-three years after the "Judgment of Paris", "Cellier" organized a blind tasting in Montreal based on the Judgment of Paris. In the "Judgement of Montreal", 10 judges at the "Cellier" tasting assessed 16 red and 14 white wines, primarily from France and California. The Chardonay from Le Clos Jordanne placed first out of the 14 white wines, some of which were notable international wines, including: Chateau Montelena, Mer Soleil, Kumeu River, an aged reserve wine from Rosemount Estates, and a number of Burgundian entrants from producers such as Drouhin, Lamy, Boisset, Maison Louis Jadot, and others. Other great examples of Ontario chardonnay include Closson Chase and Norman Hardie from the Prince Edward County region, and Tawse Winery, Hidden Bench Vineyards, and Southbrook Vineyards from the Niagara region.
The Chardonnay vintages of the early 1990s from British Columbia helped generate international attention to the quality of Canadian wines apart from ice wine varietals. In British Columbia, Chardonnay from the Okanagan are characterized by delicate citrus fruits. They are typically light-bodied, but producers who use barrel fermentation and oak aging can produce fuller-bodied wines.
Australia and New Zealand.
Like many grape varieties, Chardonnay first came to Australia in the collection of James Busby in 1832, but it only really took off in the 1950s. It is most significant in South Australia, New South Wales — especially the Hunter Region - and Victoria. One of the first commercially successful Chardonnays was produced by Murray Tyrrell in the Hunter Valley in 1971. Tyrell's vineyard was planted with Chardonnay cuttings that he "borrowed" from Penfolds' experimental plantings by hopping over their barb-wire fence one night and pruning their vines. The export driven Australian wine industry was well situated for the Chardonnay boom of the 1980s and 1990s and Australia responded with a unique style of wine that was characterized by big fruit flavors and easy approachability. To compensate for the very warm climate, richness was enhanced by the use of oak chips and acid was added during fermentation. During this period the number of Chardonnay plants increased fivefold and by 1990 it was the most widely planted white wine grape in Australia and third most planted overall behind Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Early in the 21st century, demand outpaced supply and there was a shortage of Chardonnay grapes which prompted Australian winemakers to introduce new blending partners like Sémillon (known as "SemChard") and Colombard.
Being a rather neutral grape, Australian winemakers first approached Chardonnay in the same manner they were making wine from the similarly neutral Sultana grape. Aromatic yeast were added and maceration was extended to get more flavors from skin contact. While the style of Australian Chardonnay is mostly characterized by the mass-produced products of the hot Riverland region, the cooler climates of the Southern Highlands in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania have been creating more crisp, less oaked wines with lime notes. In the Cowra region, Chardonnay's citrus notes are emphasized while Hunter Valley examples have more richness and smoky notes. The Adelaide Hills and Yarra Valley produce a more Burgundian style while Mount Barker in the Great Southern wine region of Western Australia produces Chardonnay that more closely resembles those of Chablis. A rare, isolated clone exists in the Mudgee region that locals believe traces its ancestry back to some of the first vines brought to Australia in the 19th century. While the wine made from this clone is not particularly distinguished, it can still be of very good quality. Overall, there has been a shift in style since the 1980s from deep golden, oily wines with melon and butterscotch flavors to lighter, paler Chardonnays with more structure and notes of white peaches and nectarines. Sparkling wines from Chardonnay are produced in the cool regions of Geelong, Adelaide Hills, Macedon Ranges and Tasmania.
Despite being more famous for its Sauvignon blanc production, Chardonnay was New Zealand's most widely planted grape variety from 1990 till 2002 when Sauvignon blanc finally surpassed it. The east coast of the North Island, in places like Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa, have seen the most success with Chardonnay wine that has noticeable acidity and leanness. As better clonal varieties are discovered and planted, the overall quality of New Zealand Chardonnay have increased, particularly from places like Canterbury, Marlborough and Nelson. Some producers in the Gisborne region have recently developed a cult following for their Chardonnay among New Zealand wine drinkers. While many New Zealand winemakers are still developing a characteristic style, the Chardonnay produced so far have emphasized the grape's affinity for oak.
Italy.
Chardonnay has a long history in Italy but for a large part of it, the grape was commonly confused with Pinot blanc—often with both varieties interplanted in the same vineyard and blended together. This happened despite the fact that Chardonnay grapes get more golden-yellow in color close to harvest time and can be visually distinguished from Pinot blanc. In the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region this confusion appeared in the synonyms for each grape, with Pinot blanc being known as "Weissburgunder" (White Burgundy) and Chardonnay was known as "Gelber Weissburgunder" (Golden White Burgundy). By the late 20th century, more concentrated efforts were put into identifying Chardonnay and making pure varietal versions of the wine. In 1984, it was granted its first "Denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) in the province of South Tyrol. By 2000, it was Italy's fourth most widely planted white wine grape.
Though many varietal forms of Chardonnay are produced, and the numbers are increasing, for most of its history in Italian winemaking Chardonnay was a blending grape. Besides Pinot bianco, Chardonnay can be found in blends with Albana, Catarratto, Cortese, Erbaluce, Favorita, Garganega, Grecanico, Incrocio Manzoni, Nuragus, Procanico, Ribolla Gialla, Verdeca, Vermentino and Viognier. It even blended into a dry White Zinfandel-style Nebbiolo wine that is made from the white juice of the red Nebbiolo grape prior to being dyed with skin contact. Most Chardonnay plantings are located in the northern wine regions, though plantings can be found throughout Italy as far south as Sicily and Apulia. In Piedmont and Tuscany, the grape is being planted in sites that are less favorable to Dolcetto and Sangiovese respectively. In Lombardy, the grape is often used for "spumante" and in the Veneto it is often blended with Garganega to give more weight and structure to the wine. Chardonnay is also found in the Valle d'Aosta DOC and Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine region.
South Africa.
Due to quarantine restrictions, plant cuttings were often smuggled into South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s and many times were misidentified as to what grape variety it really was. A large portion of the Chardonnay plantings from this period turned out to be Auxerrois blanc. A similar event happened in the German wine region of Baden during the 1980s. By the late 1990s, efforts to promote "authentic" Chardonnay helped to increase plantings and by 2004 it was the third-most widely planted white wine grape behind Chenin blanc and Colombard. Winemakers in the Western Cape have experimented blending Chardonnay with Riesling and Sauvignon blanc.
Other wine regions.
Outside of the regions discussed above, Chardonnay can be found in cooler climate sites in Italy, Greece, Israel and Lebanon as well as Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, England, Georgia, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine. In Austria, the grape varieties known as "Feinburgunder" in Burgenland & Vienna and "Morillon" in Styria was not identified as Chardonnay till the late 1980s. Today, Austrian Chardonnays range from the rich, oaked aged varieties to leaner, more aromatic styles based on Austrian Rieslings to sweet late harvest styles. In nearby Germany, this distinctly French wine grape was slow to gain a footing being only officially sanctioned since 1991. Today it is most commonly found in the Baden, Palatinate and Rheinhessen regions. In Switzerland, Chardonnay is found mostly around Bündner Herrschaft, Geneva and Valais. In Spain, Chardonnay has been increasingly used in the sparkling wine Cava. It is also permitted in the "denominación de origen" (DO) wines of Costers del Segre, Navarra and Somontano. In the wine regions of the former Soviet Union, Chardonnay has lagged behind in white wine grapes plantings in favor Rkatsiteli, Aligote and Riesling. The Portuguese experimentation with Chardonnay has been mostly influenced by flying winemakers from Australia and the examples produced so far are very New World in style.
New World wine regions.
In the cool-climate wine regions of Argentina's Uco Valley, Chardonnay has started to develop a presence. In the 1990s, Chardonnay became the second most widely planted white grape variety in Argentina-second only Torrontés. India and Uruguay have been steadily increasing their plantings.
Winemaking.
Chardonnay lends itself to almost any style of wine making from dry still wines, to sparkling wines to sweet late harvest and even botrytized wines (though its susceptibility to other less favorable rot makes these wines rarer). The two winemaking decisions that most widely affect the end result of a Chardonnay wine is whether or not to use malolactic fermentation and the degree of oak influence used for the wine. With malolactic fermentation (or MLF), the harder malic acid gets converted into the softer lactic acid, and diacetyl which creates the "buttery-ness" that is associated with some styles of Chardonnay. The wines that do not go through MLF will have more green (unripe) apple like flavors. Oak can be introduced during fermentation or after in the form of the barrel aging. Depending on the amount of charring that the oak was treated with, this can introduce a "toastiness" and flavors that many wine drinkers mistake as a characteristic of the grape itself. These flavors can include caramel, cream, smoke, spice, coconut, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla.
Other winemaking decisions that can have a significant effect include the temperature of fermentation and what time, if any, that the wine allowed to spend aging on the lees. Burgundian winemaking tends to favor extended contact on the lees and even "stirring up" the lees within the wine while it is aging in the barrel in a process known as "bâttonage". Colder fermentation temperatures produces more "tropical" fruit flavors like mango and pineapple. The "Old World" style of winemaking favors the use of wild, or ambient yeast, though some will also use specially cultivated yeast that can impart aromatic qualities to the wine. A particular style of yeast used in Champagne is the "Prise de Mousse" that is cultivated for use worldwide in sparkling Chardonnay wines. A potential drawback of using wild yeast is that the fermentation process can go very slow with the results of the yeasts being very unpredictable and producing potentially a very different wine each year. One Burgundian winemaker that favors the use of only wild yeast is Domaine des Comtes Lafon which had the fermentation of its 1963 Chardonnay batch take 5 years to complete when the fermentation process normally only takes a matter of weeks.
The time of harvesting is a crucial decision because the grape quickly begins to lose acidity as it ripens. For sparkling wine production, the grapes will be harvested early and slightly unripe to maintain the acid levels. Sparkling Chardonnay based wines tend to exhibit more floral and steely flavors in their youth. As the wine ages, particularly if it spends significant time on lees, the wines will develop "toasty" notes. Chardonnay grapes usually have little trouble developing sugar content, even in cooler climates, which translates into high potential alcohol levels and limits the need for chaptalization. On the flip side, low acid levels can be a concern which make the wine taste "flabby" and dull. Winemakers can counteract this by adding tartaric acid in a process known as "acidification". In cooler climates, the extract and acidity of Chardonnay is magnified which has the potential of producing very concentrated wines that can develop through bottle aging. Chardonnay can blend well with other grapes and still maintain some of its unique character. The grapes most often blended with Chardonnay include Chenin blanc, Colombard and Sémillon.
Wine style.
Due to the "malleability" of Chardonnay in winemaking and its ability to reflect its "terroir", there is not one distinct universal "style" or set of constants that could be applied to Chardonnay made across the globe. According to Jancis Robinson, a sense of "smokiness" is one clue that could be picked up in a blind tasting of Chardonnay but there are many styles that do not have any "smokey" notes. Compared to other white wine grapes like Sauvignon blanc, Gewürztraminer and Viognier-Chardonnay has a more subtle and muted nose with no overwhelming aromatics that jump out of the wine glass. The identifying styles of Chardonnay are regionally based. For example, pineapple notes are more commonly associated with Chardonnay from Napa Valley while Chablis will have more notes of green apples. While many examples of Chardonnay can benefit from a few years of bottle aging, especially if they have high acidity, most Chardonnays are meant to be consumed in their youth. A notable exception to this is the most premium examples of Chablis and white Burgundies.
With food.
Due to the wide range of styles, Chardonnay has the potential to be paired with a diverse spectrum of food types. It is most commonly paired with roast chicken and other white meats such as turkey. Heavily oak influenced Chardonnays do not pair well with more delicate fish and seafood dish. Instead, those wines tend to go better with smoked fish, spicy southeast Asian cuisine, garlic and guacamole dips. The regional influences of Chardonnay can help it pair with different food styles. Chardonnays from Washington, which is characterized by maintaining more acidity, tend to pair well with tomato-based dishes and items featuring sweet onions. Older, more mellow Chardonnays are often paired with more "earthy" dishes like mushroom soup and aged cheese.
Popularity and backlash.
Chardonnay long had a reputation as one of France's great white wines, but due to the dominance of geographical labeling, the fact that Chardonnay was the grape behind white Burgundy was not widely known by the wine-drinking public. The success of California and new world Chardonnays, partly encouraged by the Californian showing at the Judgment of Paris wine tasting, brought varietal wine labeling to more prominence and the easy to pronounce Chardonnay grape was one of the largest beneficiaries. In the late 1980s, a sort of "Chardonnay-mania" developed as wine regions (particularly new and developing ones) dramatically increased their planting of the grape to meet the worldwide demand.
As more vineyards responded with massive new plantings of the variety, they found that fashions were changing again. The market was drinking more red wine, and there was a backlash against heavy, oaky, New World Chardonnays in favor of lighter wines such as Pinot grigio. There was a new fashion, "ABC" – Anything But Chardonnay, identified by Frank Prial in 1995. Another reason for the backlash was that Chardonnay was seen as a symbol of the globalization of wine, in which local grape varieties were grubbed up in favor of the big names demanded by international markets. Oz Clarke described a view of Chardonnay as "the ruthless coloniser and destroyer of the world's vineyards and the world's palates." The criticism was centered on the habits of winemakers to pull out or give up on local varieties in order to plant more Chardonnay which offered potentially more income but lack the uniqueness and character of local varieties. Examples of this occurred in south Italy and Spain when ancient Negroamaro, Primitivo, Grenache and Mataro vineyards were ripped up in favor of new Chardonnay plantings.
Chardonnay became very fashionable in the 1990s, as the stereotypical drink of young urban women of the Bridget Jones generation.
By 2002, the association of chardonnay with suburban, unsophisticated tastes was being explored in Australian TV show "Kath & Kim", where lower middle class characters mispronounce the varietal as 'kardonnay'.
Despite the backlash, Chardonnay remains very popular. In 2004 Chardonnay was estimated to be the world's 6th most widely grown grape variety, covering .
Genetic modification.
Currently trials are being run on genetically modified Chardonnay. Trials are underway in the US and South Africa.
Synonyms.
Due to the worldwide recognition of the name of "Chardonnay", many of these synonyms have fallen out of favor as winemakers use the more marketable Chardonnay:
Arboisier, Arnaison blanc, Arnoison, Aubain, Aubaine, Auvergnat blanc, Auvernas, Auvernas blanc, Auvernat blanc, Auxeras, Auxerras blanc, Auxerrois blanc, Auxois, Auxois blanc, Bargeois blanc, Beaunois, Biela Klevanjika, Blanc de Champagne, Blanc de Cramant, Breisgauer Suessling, Breisgauer Sussling, Burgundi Feher, Chablis, Chardenai, Chardenay, Chardenet, Chardennet, Chardonay, Chardonnet, Chatenait, Chatey Petit, Chatte, Chaudenay, Chaudenet, Chaudent, Clävner, Clevner Weiss, Cravner, Epinette, Epinette blanc, Epinette blanche, Epinette de Champagne, Ericey blanc, Feher Chardonnay, Feherburgundi, Feinburgunder, Gamay blanc, Gelber Weissburgunder, Gentil blanc, Grosse Bourgogne, Klawner, Klevanjka Biela, Klevner, Lisant, Luisant, Luizannais, Luizant, Luzannois, Maconnais, Maurillon blanc, Melon blanc, Melon D'Arbois, Meroué, Moreau blanc, Morillon blanc, Moulon, Noirien blanc, Obaideh, Petit Chatey, Petit Sainte-Marie, Petite Sainte Marie, Pineau blanc, Pino Sardone, Pino Shardone, Pinot Blanc à Cramant, Pinot Blanc Chardonnay, Pinot Chardonnay, Pinot de Bourgogne, Pinot Giallo, Pinot Planc, Plant de Tonnerre, Romere, Romeret, Rouci Bile, Rousseau, Roussot, Ruländer Weiß, Sainte Marie Petite, Sardone, Shardone, Shardonne, Später Weiß Burgunder, Weiß Burgunder (normally refers to Pinot blanc), Weiß Clevner, Weiß Edler, Weiß Elder, Weiß Klewner, Weiß Silber, Weißedler, Weißer Clevner, Weißer Rulander.


Pearl Powell

Pearl Ruth Powell (14 December 1909 – 24 May 2004), née Price, formerly Bird, was an Australian memoirist. She was the co-writer of "By Packhorse and Buggy" (1996) alongside her daughter Eileen McRae. This memoir follows her life where she grew up at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, the daughter of postmaster Fred Price and, following his early death life on various cattle stations throughout Central Australia.
Life in the Northern Territory.
Powell's father Fred Price became the postmaster at Alice Springs Telegraph Station in July 1916, taking over from John McKay and, in 1917, was followed by his wife, Isabelle Violet (Ivy) Price, and most of their young children including Pearl; their daughter Hilda remained in Adelaide where she was working as a milliner. This was not the family's first remote posting. When they arrived, Central Australia was in the middle of a protracted drought and mid-World War I leading to a very challenging time in the telegraph station's history.
Fred Price did not allow her to attend the local school, being reluctant to allow the children to walk the 4 km from their home to town where Ida Standley taught the 'European' children in the mornings. Instead they were supervised in their lessons by a young telegraph officer Len McClean, who received the lessons from Standley.
Powell spent 8 years living at the telegraph station, living through many struggles, including the death of her older sister Hilda of Spanish flu in 1919. In 1923 her father decided that he needed a break from the stressful work and the family travelled to Adelaide for an extended break before taking up station leases in Central Australia. Sadly her father's health went rapidly down hill and he died, after an extended illness on 12 August 1924; he was 57.
Surprising many, Ivy returned to Central Australia with her four children (ranging between 10–17 years) and took up the lease of Harper Springs Station, northeast of Alice Springs, where they ran sheep. Powell says that she didn't know how her mother did it, being from a "well-to-do family in England". On their return from Adelaide, ready to establish the station, they brought with them 200 merino-cross sheep and three camels and travelled with them, on horse and buggy, from the Oodnadatta railhead. They were assisted only by an Aboriginal man George and the journey took 12 weeks; along the way they picked up goats from the telegraph station. Arriving at Harper Springs they built their first home, a simple bough shed, and attempted to turn the property into a sheep station. During this time the family's collection of photographs (now known as the Powell-Price Collection) was damaged by termites. This collection shows the children, including Powell, riding cows and feeding goats, the breaking of the drought in 1919 and the early years of the telegraph station, including many people associated with it. This attempt was short-lived with troubles finding enough water, with the only well being a 'whip well' or soakage (known to both contain and attract scorpions), as well as issues with termites and limestone soil which embedded dust in the wool of their sheep.
For these reasons they moved on to their other lease at Woola Downs, south-east of Ti-Tree in the 1920s, where there was already an established well. Life at Woola Downs was still difficult but the family, and their now 600 sheep (which grew to over 1000), made it work. Numerous times Powell's mother Ivy tried to grow a garden but "whenever she had any success with the seed coming up they were quickly burnt off by the mineral salts in the water" and recalls that, as the water dried up, "it left a crust of salt around the edge of the garden, making all her efforts rather pointless". Other memories recorded of this time include Aboriginal workers on the station, travelling Afghan cameleers, butchering meat and the general goings-on of Central Australian station life.
In 1926 Jim Bird, the newly arrived owner of Bushy Park Station, visited the family and began pursuing Powell. In her memoir Powell describes him as: "just another man, much older than I was then at just 17 years of age" and going on to say that she did not have any feelings for him. Despite this she agreed to marry, she explains this decision by saying "I had only mum's opinion and experience to rely on and agreed to do as she said. She thought that, being so much older then I was, Jim would be able to look after me. Love never came in to the conversation – that was only read about in books". This was reported in the The Northern Standard and The Border Watch as a 'great love story' as, with the now 19 year old Powell travelling 1,500 miles to marry in Mount Gambier, South Australia, the couple drew broad attention. The couple had four children together and, following his death in the 1950s, Powell returned to Alice Springs and later remarried.
Later life.
Powell spent her later years at the Old Timers nursing home in Alice Springs where she often shared stories with young people so they would get a feel for life at the turn of the century and "get a feel for pioneer life".
She died in 2004 and her funeral was held at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station. Her grave is located at the Alice Springs Garden Cemetery.
Legacy.
Book; Powell, Pearl & McRae, Eileen (1996). "By packhorse and buggy". Eileen McRae, Alice Springs, N.T
Oral History; Powell's oral history (Pearl POWELL NTRS 3164 BWF 1717) is available through Library & Archives NT; it is a part of a collection of interviews by John Maddock about road transport in the NT.
Photograph Collection; a collection of photographs taken by Powell, and her family, are a part of the Conservation Commission Northern Territory (CCNT) Collection, these images are held by Library & Archives NT, the collection in entitled 'Powell-Price'. These photographs follow the family and their experiences over many years and Traynor (2016) describes them as "telling the story of a happy and close family".


Providence Fruit and Produce Warehouse Company Building

The Providence Fruit and Produce Warehouse Company Building was a historic building located at 6-64 Harris Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. The building, a large three story warehouse facility, was built in 1929 by Jenks & Ballou, architects and engineers, with modest Moderne styling. The building served from 1929 to 1998 as the major distribution center for fresh fruits and vegetables in the state of Rhode Island, and was one of the centerpieces of the provisioning warehouse district of Providence north of the city center. Several of its bays were demolished in the 1980s to make way for a highway ramp, and the building was taken over by the state in 1998 and closed. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The building was demolished in 2008 by Carpionato Properties to great controversy from local government and citizens.


Daniel Govan

Daniel Chevilette Govan (July 4, 1829 – March 12, 1911) was an American miner, planter, and soldier. He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, prominent in campaigns and battles in the Western Theater.
Early life and career.
Daniel C. Govan was born in Northampton County, North Carolina. His father was U.S. Representative Andrew R. Govan from South Carolina, who in 1832 relocated the family to Marshall County, Mississippi, where he was raised. Govan received his primary education from private tutoring and then attended South Carolina College (modern day University of South Carolina) graduating in 1848.
Govan participated in the 1849 California Gold Rush along with his cousin Benjamin McCulloch, who would also become a Confederate general. In 1850 Govan was elected deputy sheriff of Sacramento, and two years later he returned to Mississippi and took up work as a planter. In December 1853 Govan married Mary Fogg Otey, the daughter of prominent theologian James Hervey Otey, with whom he would have 14 children. In 1860 he moved to Helena, Arkansas, and again became a planter.
Civil War service.
At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, Govan chose to follow his home state and the Confederate cause. He raised a company of men and in May he was appointed a captain in the Arkansas State forces. On June 5 he was elected lieutenant colonel in the 2nd Arkansas Infantry, and on January 28, 1862, was promoted to colonel and given command of the regiment.
Govan and his men participated in the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. Following Shiloh, Govan took part in Edmund Kirby Smith's Kentucky Campaign and fought at the Battle of Perryville in October. At one point during this battle Govan temporarily commanded a brigade. He then fought at the Battle of Stones River that winter and at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. Govan led a brigade in the Reserve Corps of the Army of Tennessee from August to November. During the Battle of Missionary Ridge Govan played a prominent role in the Battle of Ringgold Gap, receiving high praise from his commander, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne.
On December 29, 1863, Govan was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. His command consisting of the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Arkansas Infantry Regiments. Govan's brigade participated in the Atlanta Campaign, and he received particular mention for his conduct at the Battle of Pickett's Mill in May 1864. Govan was captured after a fierce battle at the Battle of Jonesborough on September 1, but was exchanged for George Stoneman on October 2.
Govan served the remainder of the war with the Army of Tennessee, participating in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign and then the Carolinas Campaign. He was seriously wounded in his throat on December 16 at Nashville. Govan surrendered in 1865 with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina. He was paroled from there on May 1 and was pardoned by the U.S. Government on December 12.
Postbellum career.
Following the war, Govan returned home and resumed farming. He later served as the Indian agent at the Tulalip Agency in the state of Washington in 1894. Govan died in 1911 at the home of one of his children in Memphis, Tennessee. His body was brought to Holly Springs, Mississippi, and was buried at the city's Hillcrest Cemetery.


Boon Farm

Boon is a farm and former barony located near Lauder, Scotland.
History.
Name Origins.
Boon (aka "Boune" or "Bounn"), derives from the Breton word "bonn", meaning "boundary", or "limit".
Prior to the 17th Century.
Boon Farm, a part of the former Legerwood parish, was carved out of lands that were originally covered in thick woodlands. The Picts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Britons, and Scots, successive possessors of this region, consumed the greater part of these woods through the ravages of war, in opening passages through the country, for domestic uses, and in clearing the ground for cultivation.
The remains of an ancient wall, or earthen mound with a ditch on one side, known as The Black Dyke, or Heriot's Dyke, runs eastward from Boon towards Greenlaw and the coast at Berwick. It is not known by whom or at what time this wall was built, nor for what purpose it was intended.
Up until the 12th century, the lands of Birkenside, Whitslaid, Legerwood, and the Morristons (near Earlston) were public lands. David I held these lands as his demesne, and in 1160, his grandson Malcolm IV granted the lands of Birkenside and Legerwood to Walter fitz Alan. The lands remained in the possession of the Stewart family until Robert II granted the lands of Birkenside, Legerwood, and Morriston to Alan de Lawedre (father of Robert de Lawedre of Edrington) on 13 June 1371.
17th Century and 18th Centuries.
By the mid 17th century, the woodland had been almost completely cleared, except for a small remnant called Bounwoode which lay tucked up against the Boondreigh Water, a small burn that runs along the northern boundary of Legerwood before joining the Leader river to the west.
After the widespread destruction of the native woods, the higher, hilly sections were overtaken by heath, and the lower and flat tracts became water-filled bogs and marshes. Small farm-steads with narrow fields were the norm for most of the 17th and early 18th centuries.
The family of Lauder were still in possession of the lands until 1666 when Boon, and nearby Corsbie, were given as a dowry to Lady Mary Maitland, the daughter of John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, when she married John Hay, 2nd Marquess of Tweeddale.
Boon Farm was continuously farmed by the Mirtle family from the late 1600s until 1810.
19th Century.
On 31 January 1810 John Mirtle of Boon Farm, uncle of William Mirtle, died at the advanced age of 95, leaving no heirs. The farm passed through unknown hands until 1872, where Dr. Robert Shirra Gibb took over the lease and worked the lands for 50 years, until retiring in 1922.
Boon Hill.
At 1070 feet above sea level, Boon Hill is a prominent eminence rising above the fields of Boon Farm and the surrounding countryside. During the reign of Queen Anne, there was a small fort on top of the hill which housed a Sergeant and two soldiers, stationed there to man the beacon hut. Portions of the fort remained standing until 1840, when they were blown down during a windstorm. The landowner, the Marquess of Tweeddale, ordered a small tower to be built upon the hill to commemorate the site of the old fort.
Dod's Corse Stone.
Located near the base of Boon Hill, Dod's Corse Stone is an ancient shaft of sandstone sticking out of a block of the same material, inscribed with a cross on opposite sides. It was placed at the site of an old marketplace, according to local tradition.
The stone commemorates a duel between Johnne Cranstoun, brother of Patrick Cranstoun of Corsbie, and Alexander Frenche on 13 March 1612. Frenche and his accomplice, James Wicht, were tried and sentenced to beheading.
Boon Farm today.
Boon Farm was the site of a proposed wind farm, which would have seen up to 21 wind turbines placed on Corsbie Moor. The proposal was ultimately rejected.


Pardoo Station

Pardoo Station is a pastoral lease, formerly a sheep station, and now a cattle station approximately east of Port Hedland and north of Marble Bar, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Description.
The property used to be about in size. It is on the western end of the Great Sandy Desert where it meets the Indian Ocean at the southern end of the Eighty Mile Beach.
Mount Goldsworthy, located on the south western side of the lease, is the site of the first iron ore mine in the Pilbara. The Pardoo iron ore mine is located in the region, and shares the station's name.
The station was sold in late 2014 by the Rogers family to a Singaporean-based investor, Bruce Cheung, for 13.5 million. Cheung's company, the Pardoo Beef Corporation appointed Eric Golangco as the general manager. At this time the property was running 5,700 head of cattle on . Centre-pivot irrigation is being used to produce extra hay for stock.
The property also has of ocean frontage and has a 145-bay caravan park tourist operation.
History.
Mr S. Anderson was the proprietor of the station in 1892. Heavy rains in April of that year led to heavy stock losses with around 100 cattle, 1,500 sheep and 30 horses being lost in the deluge. In May of the same year he was thrown from his horse sustaining severe injuries, which resulted in him being taken to Roebourne for hospitalisation.
Seven Aboriginal Australians were caught killing and stealing sheep from the station in 1893. They were sentenced to four years hard labour and eighteen lashes with the cat o' nine tails.
In 1913 the station had an estimated flock of 20,000 sheep, which were to be shorn using the 12 stands in the shearing shed in July of that year.
The area was flooded following heavy rains in 1929.
Frank Snellgrove Thompson owned the station from at least 1929 until his death in 1937. His son, Frank Finlayson Thompson, took over control of the property until at least 1951, in addition to the family merino stud property "Nardlah" near Broomehill in the Great Southern region of the state.
Over 3,000 kangaroos were poisoned on the property in 1954.
In 1951 a seventy-year-old man, Hans Pederson, fell from a windmill tower. The Royal Flying Doctor Service sent a plane from Port Hedland but it arrived too late and Pederson had died.
Pardoo was an outcamp of De Grey Station but became a separate entity owned by the Thompson family until 1963 when Frank Thompson sold it to Leslie (Les) Schubert. Schubert describes the history of the station in his book "Wiping Out the Tracks – The Northern Odyssey".
In November 1965 Schubert swapped Pardoo along with a cash adjustment of $120,000 for Louisa Downs and Bohemia Downs stations in the Kimberley region. Karl Stein took over the station in January 1966.
Sometime before 1977 Karl Stein retired and sold Pardoo to Russel Peake. The Leeds family purchased Pardoo from Peake and then sold the lease for Pardoo to Graeme and Judith Rogers. Pardoo is operating under the Crown Lease numbers CL694-1967 and CL194-1983 and has the associated Land Act numbers LA3114/446 and LA398/718.
In 2012 the station lay directly in the path of Cyclone Lua and most staff were evacuated to Port Hedland to wait the storm out. The Anderson family and two station hands remained at the property. The area was hit by winds and heavy rain, with many trees uprooted; the roadhouse owner, Janet Robb, described the property as looking like "an absolute warzone". Pardoo also took the brunt of Cyclone Rusty in February 2013, recording of rain in 24 hours along with strong winds. Stock was killed from hypothermia and the homestead was damaged by the category four cyclone.
The station is estimated to have a size of and in 2012 was stocked with approximately 7,000 Santa Gertrudis cattle.


Cezar Petrescu

Cezar Petrescu (; December 1, 1892–March 9, 1961) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, and children's writer.
He was born in Hodora, Iași County, the son of Dimitrie Petrescu, an engineer and a teacher. After attending elementary school in his native village, he pursued his studies at high schools in Roman and Iași. From 1911 he attended the Faculty of Law at the University of Iași, graduating in 1915.
Petrescu was inspired by the works of Honoré de Balzac, attempting to write a Romanian novel cycle that would mirror Balzac's "La Comédie humaine". He was also under the influence of the "Sămănătorul" critique of Romanian society.
As a journalist, Petrescu made himself known as one of the editors of the magazine "Gândirea", alongside Nichifor Crainic and Lucian Blaga. For a long time, he was a member of the National Peasants' Party, and wrote extensively for its press, especially for "Aurora".
His major work consists of novels such as "Întunecare" ("Darkening"; 1928), "Calea Victoriei" (the name of a Bucharest avenue; 1930), "Dumenica orbului" ("The Blind Man's Sunday"; 1934), and "Noi vrem pământ" ("We Demand Land"; 1938).
Notwithstanding his prolific output as a novelist, Petrescu is mostly remembered for his children's book "Fram, ursul polar" ("Fram, the polar bear"—the circus animal character was named after "", the ship used by Fridtjof Nansen on his expeditions).
He died in Bucharest in 1961, and is buried in the city's Bellu Cemetery.
In 1967, a memorial museum was created in Bușteni, in the mansion Petrescu acquired in 1937, and lived in until 1960. Streets are named after him in Brăila, Bucharest, Bușteni, Cluj-Napoca, Dumbrăvița, Iași, Mangalia, Păun, Roman, and Târgu Jiu.


KwaZulu-Natal Dune Forest

KwaZulu-Natal Dune Forest is a subtropical forest type that was once found almost continuously along the coastal dunes of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This vegetation type develops in sheltered areas behind the littoral zone, where with some protection from the salt wind it may develop with canopies as tall as 30 m. It still exists in protected areas, but much has been degraded by human activity. Coastal dune forest covers approximately 1% of the land area of KwaZulu-Natal, and is a habitat type seriously threatened from human population pressure and development.
Birds.
The coastal dune forest is one of the main habitats of the spotted ground-thrush, which is threatened by the decline of these forests.
Invertebrates.
During 1995, spiders were sampled from the herbaceous layer of coastal dune forests at Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. Four stands were sampled in rehabilitating dune forest and one stand in a mature forest. Samples were taken for a two-month period and a total of 2955 spiders representing 23 families, 72 genera and 96 species were recorded.


University of Zagreb

The University of Zagreb (, ; ) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe.
The history of the University began on September 23, 1669, when the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I issued a decree granting the establishment of the "Jesuit Academy of the Royal Free City of Zagreb". The decree was accepted at the Council of the Croatian Kingdom on November 3, 1671. The Academy was run by the Jesuits for more than a century until the order was dissolved by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. In 1776, Empress Maria Theresa issued a decree founding the "Royal Academy of Science" which succeeded the previous Jesuit Academy. Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer proposed the founding of a University to the Croatian Parliament in 1861. Emperor Franz Joseph signed the decree on the establishment of the University of Zagreb in 1869. The Act of Founding was passed by the Parliament in 1874, and was ratified by the Emperor on January 5, 1874. On October 19, 1874, the "Royal University of Franz Joseph I" was officially opened.
The University is composed of 29 faculties, 3 art academies and 1 university center with more than 70,000 students. The University is as of 2018 at the 463rd place out of 1000 on the list of Universities of the world made by the Center for University World Rankings.
History.
Academy.
The beginnings of the later university date back to 23 September 1669 when Emperor and King Leopold I Habsburg issued a decree granting the establishment of the Jesuit Academy of the Royal Free City of Zagreb. According to that document the study of philosophy in Zagreb acquired a formal and legal status as "Neoacademia Zagrabiensis" and officially became a public institution of higher education.
The academy was run by the Jesuits for more than a century until the order was dissolved by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. Under a new leadership in 1772 the academy enrolled a total of 200 students.
In 1776 Empress and Queen Maria Theresa issued a decree founding the Royal Academy of Science (). It consisted of three studies or faculties of philosophy, theology, and law. The former political-cameral studies became part of the newly established faculty of law, and thus were integrated into the academy. Each of the faculties of the Royal Academy of Sciences had several chairs teaching one or several courses.
The academy in Zagreb remained until 1874, despite numerous organizational changes, the focal institution of higher education in Croatia, educating most of the members of the Croatian intelligentsia.
University.
Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer in 1861 proposed to the Croatian Parliament the founding of a university at Zagreb. During his visit in 1869, the Emperor Franz Joseph signed the decree on the establishment of the University of Zagreb. Five years later, the Parliament passed the Act of Founding, which was ratified by the Emperor on 5 January 1874. On 19 October 1874, a ceremony was held in the name of the founding of the "Royal University of Franz Joseph I in Zagreb", making it the third university in the Hungarian realm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In 1874 the University had four faculties:
The Faculty of Medicine was not put into function in 1874; it had to wait until 1917. The Faculty of Philosophy served as the general scientific faculty. Since 1876 it had geology, botany, physics, mathematics, and chemistry; since 1877 zoology; since 1882 pharmacy; since 1883 geography.
In 1860, the Royal Agriculture and Forestry College was founded in Križevci. In 1898, the Academy of Forestry ("Šumarska akademija") was founded as part of the Faculty of Philosophy, which encompassed all technical studies. In 1919, this school became the Faculty of Husbandry and Forestry.
In 1919, the School of Technology ("Tehnička visoka škola") was founded, which was transformed into a university faculty in 1926. Also in 1919 the School of Veterinary Medicine ("Veterinarska visoka škola") was founded; it transformed into a university faculty in 1925.
In the Faculty of Philosophy, major reorganization ensued in the 1920s, as mathematics, pharmacy and other sciences started to split off, first with the creation of separate mathematics and pharmaceutical departments in 1928, when the faculty was renamed into its current name "Filozofski fakultet".
In 1926, the university was composed of seven faculties:
During the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945), the university was known as the "Croatian University" (Hrvatsko sveučilište).
The individual departments of the Faculty of Philosophy became separate faculties in 1942, 1946 when the Faculty of Sciences was formed, and finally in 1963.
In 1956, the Faculty of Technology was divided into four faculties:
These eventually split up into the current layout.
In 1999., the University decided to implement European Credit Transfer System - ECTS. When Croatia signed to be a part of The Bologna declaration, all of the universities in Croatia adopted this system of easily readable and comparable degrees.
University offers 160 undergraduate programmes (ba/bsc), 22 integrated undergraduate-graduate programmes, 9 vocational undergraduate programmes, 174 graduate programmes (ma/msc), 1 vocational graduate programme, 72 doctoral programmes (PhD) and 165 specialist postgraduate programmes.
Faculties.
Natural sciences
Engineering
Biomedical sciences
Biotechnology
Social sciences
Humanities
The arts
Philosophy and Religious Sciences.
Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences (FFRZ) is a part of the University of Zagreb, Croatia It remains a work of the Society of Jesus and traces its origins to 1662.
FFRZ in Zagreb began as a Jesuit school of philosophy on 6 November 1662 with the establishment of the Philosophy Department at Zagreb College, which would become the University of Zagreb.
The Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus (FFDI) closed in 1773 due to the suppression of the Society of Jesus, and the Jesuit philosophy school in Zagreb did not reopen until 1937, when it offered a three-year course leading to the licentiate in philosophy, as it does today.
On 31 July 1989 the Congregation for Catholic Education of the Holy See decreed that the Faculty of Philosophy could confer the baccalaureate, licentiate, and doctorate in philosophy.
With a decision of 7 October 1992, the Ministry of Science and Technology entered FFDI into the register as a Scientific Research Organization in philosophy and it became a part of the Croatian Studies Department of the University of Zagreb.
On 8 December 2016, the Senate of the University of Zagreb determined that FFDI would become a faculty and equal component of the University under the title Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences (FFRZ).
Undergraduates may major in Philosophy and Religious Sciences, Philosophy, or Philosophy and Latin Language. Graduate students may major in Philosophy or Religious Science. FFRZ also offers post-graduate studies.
FFRZ has a formal relationship with Laudato TV to "work together to promote and implement educational, cultural and scientific activities in the Christian and humanistic atmosphere".
In 2017 there were two current research studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Sciences:
On 5 May 2017 a symposium was held on "Religions and Migration: Displaced Persons and Refugees".
The faculty is led by a chancellor and his deputy along with a dean and vice-dean. The chancellor is Arturo Sosa, General Superior of the Society of Jesus based in Rome. His deputy is Dalibor Renić, Provincial Superior of the Croatian Province of the Society of Jesus based in Zagreb. The dean is Prof. Ivan Koprek, The Faculty Council is composed of all regular and extraordinary professors and the Faculty Conference includes all current lecturers, student representatives, and faculty officials.
Rankings.
As of 2020, the university ranked 801-1000 by QS, ranking 575 by USN, ranking 512 by CWUR, ranked 401-500 by ARWU, and 1001+ by THE.
Legacy.
Since 1874, more than 200,000 students have received a bachelor's degree, more than 18,000 a master's, and more than 8,000 a doctorate from the University of Zagreb.


Eriksholm

Eriksholm Castle is a manor house located at the foot of the Isefjord inlet, 6 km south-east of Holbæk, in east Denmark. The history of the estate dates back to 1400 but today's house was built in 1788 to a Neoclassical design by Caspar Frederik Harsdorff, the leading Danish architect of the time. It was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1918.
History.
Vinderup Manor.
The estate traces its history back to 1400 when it was owned by Peder Jensen and known as Vinderup. It was crown land from 1536 to 1556 and again from 1573 to 1585.
Vasspyd, Pax and Juel, 1600–1752.
In the year 1600 it was acquired by Erik Madsen Vasspyd who constructed a new main building and named it Eriksholm.
In 1682, the estate was acquired by Admiral Niels Iuel in exchange for Sæbygaard. He owned it until his death in 1697 and after that it remained in the possession of his descendants until 1752,
Seidelin Family, 1752–1824.
The new owner was Hans Diderik de Brinck-Seidelin, the owner of nearby Hagestedgaard and Holbæk Ladegård. He created a "stamhus" (family trust) from his estates and was raised to the peerage under the name Brinck-Seidelin in 1753. His son, who was also named Hans Diderik de Brinck-Seidelin and inherited Eriksholm in 1778, commissioned the architect Caspar Frederik Harsdorff to design a new main building which was completed in 1788.
Brinck-Seidelin was hit by the financially difficult times for the large landowners and Eriksholm was in 1824 sold in public auction to Prime Minister Frederik Julius Falkenskiold Kaas (1758–1827).
Later history.
In 1878, Frederik Ahlefeldt-Laurvig (1817–1889) bought Eriksholm and immediately passed it on to his son, later Minister of Foreign Affairs William Ahlefeldt-Laurvig. The estate has been in the possession of the Ahlefeldt-Laurvig family ever since.
Architecture.
Designed in the Neoclassical style, Eriksholm is built in white-washed brick and consists of three wings under a black-glazed tile roof. The semicircular buildings which connect the main wings to the lower and short lateral wings are typical of the contemporary English Palladianism. The window frames and portals are made of sandstone from Bornholm.
Eriksholm today.
The estate covers 335 hectares of farmland and 331 hectares of forest (1995). The main building is rented out for weddings, meetings and other events.


Marco Lastri

Marco Lastri (6 March 1731–Sant'Ilario a Settimo, 24 December 1811) was an eclectic and polymath writer, active in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
Biography.
Born to in the quartiere of Santa Croce, Florence, to a family of limited means, his education led towards an ecclesiastical career, studying at the Collegio Eugeniano affiliated with the cathedral for nine years. After becoming a priest, he attended the seminary of the diocese, where he met the fellow scholar Giovanni Maria Lampredi, future professor at the University of Pisa for canon law and public rights. Obtaining in 1756 a degree from the Collegio Teologico dello Studio Fiorentino. That year he published epithalamic sonnets celebrating the marriage of G. Dini and the marchesa Teresa Gerini.
In 1759 he was granted a position at the Pieve dei San Giovanni e Lorenzo at Signa, and he pursued in their archives: "Memorie appartenenti alla vita ed al culto della Beata Giovanna da Signa" (1761). With the arrival of the progressive Habsburg-Lorraine Grand-Dukes, Lastri joined a large academic, multivolume effort, under their patronage, to eulogize famous Tuscans. For example, Lastri wrote the biography of Machiavelli for the series. He published some criticism of the contemporary writer Giovanni Lami (1697-1770), founder of the Novelle Letterarie.
In 1772, Lastri returned to Florence to a local ecclesiastical position associated with the cathedral. He became a member of the Accademia dei Georgofili in 1770, and of the Accademia della Crusca and the Accademia dell'Agricoltura of Padua in 1773. Agricultural sciences remained an interest for him for years. In 1774, he published a popularly successful work on agronomic theories and economies abiding in Europe.
In 1776, he published a 6 volume set of observations on cultural monuments and buildings in Florence, which proved as a guide for the sophisticated foreign travelers. The work, titled "L'Osservatore fiorentino sugli edifizj della sua patria", with the help of Giuseppe del Rosso, continued to be published for some decades.
In 1781, he caused displeasure of the Grand Duke Peter Leopold for publishing some satirical comments in a gazette published by Giovanni Allegrini. His enthusiasm for writing never diminished, writing on diverse subjects such as culture and economics. In the 19th century, he continued to publish works on agricultural topics, translations, and religious works.


Joe Callanan

Joe Callanan (born 30 January 1949) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was born in Kilconnell, County Galway. He is a former Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway East constituency. Callanan was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2002 general election but lost his seat at the 2007 general election.
He is a nephew of a former Galway East TD Johnny Callanan.
References.


Easton College

Easton College is a college of further and higher education in Norfolk, located on a campus in the village of Easton. The college has specialist facilities for training in agriculture, horticulture, arboriculture, countryside, animal studies, and equine, alongside provision in construction, engineering, foundation learning, sport and public services. The college is part of City College Norwich following the de-merger of Easton & Otley College in January 2020. The Otley campus became part of Suffolk New College.
The college.
Easton College offers full-time courses in the following curriculum areas:
Tennis centre.
Easton College Tennis Centre is a £3.2M development consisting of 8 indoor tennis courts which is Norfolk's only pay & play indoor tennis facility. No membership is required to use the courts.
Built with partnership funding from the Learning and Skills Council, The Lawn Tennis Association, the Norfolk Lawn Tennis Association and of course the college, the project was completed in two phases. In autumn 2008 the first stage of the building project was completed when the four court air hall became operational. Once these courts were up and running the tennis programme started to develop. In early 2009, building work started on phase two of the project. This second stage was this permanent structure, including four more acrylic indoor courts, changing rooms, toilets, refreshments, offices, seminar rooms and a viewing gallery.


Clarence Milligan

Clarence Adam Milligan (12 February 1904 – 25 May 1993) was a Progressive Conservative party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was a farmer by career.
Milligan was born at Tamworth, Ontario. He was first elected at the Prince Edward—Lennox riding in the 1957 general election, after defeating incumbent parliamentarian George Tustin for the Progressive Conservative nomination. He was elected to a second term there in the 1958 election then left federal politics at the end of the 24th Canadian Parliament. He made another attempt to return to the House of Commons in the 1968 election at Frontenac—Lennox and Addington as an independent candidate affiliated with the Progressive Conservatives, but was defeated by Almonte Douglas Alkenbrack.
Milligan also served as a president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and was living in Napanee in the early 1990s. He owned what is now the developed part of the Town of Napanee. He died in Napanee in 1993.


Dairy farming in New Zealand

Dairy farming in New Zealand began from small beginnings during the early days of colonisation by Europeans. The New Zealand dairy industry is based almost exclusively on cattle, with a population of 4.92 million milking cows in the 2019-20 season. The income from dairy farming is now a major part of the New Zealand economy, becoming an NZ$13.4 billion industry by 2017.
History.
In 1814 the missionary Samuel Marsden introduced the first Shorthorn dairy cows to the Bay of Islands from New South Wales. From the 1840s, most settlements had farms with some Shorthorn dairy cattle. Herds tended to be larger near urban areas.
The first dairy co-operative was established on Otago Peninsula in 1871. In 1881, the newly arrived colonist William Bowron gave a series of lectures propounding the notion that the institution of dairy factories, for the mass production of cheese, would be greatly advantageous to the economy of New Zealand. He was largely instrumental in the establishment of the Ashburton Cheese and Butter Factory at Flemington. The factory was managed by William Harding, the son of the inventor of modern Cheddar cheese, Joseph Harding. The venture was a great success, and consequently Bowron was appointed Government Inspector of Dairy Factories in 1883. In this capacity, he largely facilitated the setting up of factories across the country until his death in 1890. He published three pamphlets on the manufacture of cheese, butter and bacon in New Zealand.
By 1920, there were 600 dairy processing factories of which about 85% were owned by co-operatives. In 1923, the New Zealand Dairy Board (NZDB) was formed as a statutory board with monopoly control of the export of all New Zealand dairy products. In the 1930s there were around 500 co-operatives but after World War II, improved transportation, processing technologies and energy systems led to a trend of consolidation where the co-operatives merged and became larger and fewer in number. By the late 1990s, there were four co-operatives: the Waikato-based New Zealand Dairy Group, the Taranaki-based Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, the Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products and Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company.
In 2001, the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001 was passed, allowing the two largest remaining cooperatives, New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies Ltd, to merge with the New Zealand Dairy Board to produce Fonterra, now New Zealand's largest company.
Farm operations.
Dairy farming in New Zealand is primarily pasture-based. Dairy cattle primarily feed on grass, supplemented by silage, hay and other crops during winter and other times of slow pasture growth. Traditional dairy production areas are the wetter areas of the country, including Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Manawatū, Nelson-Tasman and the West Coast, but Increase irrigation has seen dairy farms established in drier areas such as Canterbury and Otago.
Around 56% of dairy farms in New Zealand are owner-operated as of 2015, while 29% are operated by sharemilkers and 14% are operated by contract milkers. Herd-owning "s"haremilkers (formerly 50:50 sharemikers) own their own herd, and are responsible for employing workers and the day-to-day operations of the farm, in return for receiving a percentage (typically 50%) of the milk income. Variable order sharemilkers do not own their own herd, and receive a lower percentage (typically 20-30%) of the milk income, while contract milkers are paid a fixed price per unit of milk.
The dairy farming year in New Zealand typically runs from 1 June to 31 May. The first day of the new year, known as "Moving Day" or "Gypsy Day", sees a large-scale migration as sharemilkers and contract milkers take up new contracts and move herds and equipment between farms. Calving typically takes place in late winter (July and August), and cows are milked for 270 days before being dried off in late autumn (April and May). Some farms, either wholly or partly, employ winter milking, with calving in late summer and early autumn (February and March).
Processing and export.
In the 2019-20 season, New Zealand produced of raw milk containing 1.9 million tonnes of milk solids (protein and milkfat). This makes the country the world's seventh-largest milk producer, with about 3% of world production in the 2016/17 dairy season. Most of this exported, with Fonterra alone responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports.
Before the advent of refrigerated shipping in the 1880s, dairy production was entirely for local consumption, with butter and cheese usually being produced on the farm, with the surplus being sold to the community via the local store. Small dairy factories began to be established in the 1880s, and soon there was one in almost every village in dairying regions. Production began to be centralised in the second half of the 20th century, with facilities such as the Fonterra plants at Whareroa (near Hāwera), Edendale, Clandeboye (near Timaru), and Te Rapa being the four largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Whareroa is also currently the largest dairy factory in the world by milk intake.
Fonterra is the largest processor of milk in New Zealand, processing 82 percent of all milk solids as of 2018. Other large dairy companies are Open Country Dairy (7.4%), Synlait and Westland Milk Products (3.4% each), Miraka (1.4%), Oceania Dairy (1.1%), and Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company (0.7%).
Pest and diseases.
Enzootic bovine leucosis.
Enzootic bovine leucosis is a form of leukaemia caused by the Bovine leukemia virus (BLV). In 1997, a national control scheme was implemented with the goal of eradicating BLV from New Zealand. This was declared successful in 2009
Bovine tuberculosis.
Bovine tuberculosis is currently (2012) endemic in possums across approximately 38 per cent of New Zealand (known as ‘vector risk areas’). In these areas, nearly 70 per cent of new herd infections can be traced back to possums or ferrets. From 1979–1984, possum control was stopped due to lack of funding. In spite of regular and frequent TB testing of cattle herds, the number of infected herds snowballed and continued to increase until 1994, and the area of New Zealand where there were TB wild animals expanded from about 10 to 40 per cent.
The Biosecurity Act 1993, which established a National Pest Management Strategy, is the legislation behind control of the disease in New Zealand. The Animal Health Board (AHB) operates a nationwide programme of cattle testing and possum control with the goal of eradicating the bacterium responsible for bovine tuberculosis ("Mycobacterium bovis") from wild vector species across 2.5 million hectares – or one quarter – of New Zealand's at-risk areas by 2026 and, eventually, eradicating the disease entirely. As of the 2017/18 dairy season, only twenty herds in New Zealand remained affected.
Possums are not native to New Zealand, and are considered both an agricultural and a conservation pest. They are controlled through a combination of trapping, ground-baiting and, where other methods are impractical, aerial treatment with 1080 poison.
That possums are such effective transmitters of TB appears to be facilitated by their behaviour once they succumb to the disease. Terminally ill TB possums will show increasingly erratic behaviour, such as venturing out during the daytime to get enough food to eat, and seeking out buildings in which to keep warm. As a consequence they may wander onto paddocks, where they naturally attract the attention of inquisitive cattle and deer. This behaviour has been captured on video.
Mycoplasma Bovis.
Mycoplasma bovis, a bacterial disease known to cause a range of serious conditions in cattle was detected in New Zealand in July 2017. Known conditions include mastitis, pneumonia, arthritis, and late-term abortions. The disease has been described as the worst disease to land in New Zealand, with an eradication cost estimated at $886 million over 10 years.
Leptospirosis.
Leptospirosis is a disease caused by bacteria known as Leptospira and is one of the most common diseases transmitted from animals to humans in New Zealand. The disease is common amongst dairy farmers and the numbers notified are increasing yearly with 141 cases notified in 2017.
Environmental impacts.
Dairy farming is being increasingly held to account for the environmental impacts of the industry. Fish and Game started the "dirty dairying" campaign in 2002 to highlight the effect of dairying on water quality. As a response to the campaign the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord was established in an attempt to reduce the level of water pollution. Initially the family owned Crafar Farms bore the brunt of the prosecutions and were labelled the "poster boys for dirty dairying" by Environment Waikato's regulatory committee chairman Ian Balme. Dairy NZ in 2014 claimed that as a direct result of the Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord all New Zealand dairy companies now have programmes in place to assess the effluent systems of suppliers on a three-yearly basis, with several assessing every farm every year. Despite this, a 2018 report from Forest and Bird found that regional councils had 425 reported cases of serious non-compliance in 2016–17, and this was likely a significant under-reporting.
Milk pricing.
Dairy farmers are paid by milk processors based on the amount of milk solids (protein and fat) sold. For the 2019-20 season, Fonterra paid farmers $7.14 per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS) excluding GST, with other processors paying between $6.75 and $9.96 per kgMS. Farmers are penalised if they supply milk that fails to meet quality standards, for example, if there is a high somatic cell count or antibiotics are present.
In 2011 controversy arose over the retail price of milk in New Zealand, leading to an enquiry by a government select committee and a small scale price war.


Pentwyn Farm Grasslands

Pentwyn Farm Grasslands is a nature reserve, and a series of agricultural fields, in Monmouthshire, southeast Wales. It was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1993, noted for its biological characteristics.
Geography.
The SSSI, spread over 3 separate enclosed spaces, is located within the community of Mitchel Troy, south of the town of Monmouth. They are centred on Pentwyn Farm, to the north of the village of Penallt.
The site is owned by the Gwent Wildlife Trust as well as private individuals. The grasslands lie on top of the local red sandstone and brown earth soils. The ground generally slopes in a southerly direction, but one field does slope to the north.
Wildlife and ecology.
The traditionally-managed, unimproved neutral grassland, that Pentwyn Farm supports, is one of the largest in the area and is of importance as this type of grassland is in decline within Britain. The flora that dominates this reserve is the common knapweed ("Centaurea nigra"), common bent ("Agrostis capillaris"), meadow vetchling ("Lathyrus pratensis"), red fescue ("Festuca rubra") and sweet vernal grass ("Anthoxanthum odoratum"), with cock's-foot ("Dactylis glomerata") and crested dog's-tail ("Cynosurus cristatus") preferring low-lying areas. Also present are red clover ("Trifolium pratense") and common bird's-foot trefoil ("Lotus corniculatus"), the latter having a more sporadic distribution on the site.
Green-winged orchids ("Anacamptis morio") are also present on the site, in one of the largest populations within the vice-county of Monmouthshire. This orchid is becoming increasingly uncommon within Monmouthshire as well as nationally. Other orchids found on the reserve include the common spotted ("Dactylorhiza fuchsii"), common twayblade ("Neottia ovata") and the greater butterfly ("Platanthera chlorantha").
The hedgerows of the field system provide an ideal habitat for dormice and also offer food for overwintering fieldfares and redwings.


Frederick Ernest Green

Frederick Ernest Green (10 October 1867 – 20 January 1922) was a British farmer and political activist.
Born in Hong Kong, Green was educated in Southampton in England before working in finance in the City of London. However, he became disillusioned with this career, moving to Newdigate in Surrey to work as a farmer. He served on the Royal Commission on Agriculture, and the Surrey District Wages Committee and Surrey County Council Small Holdings Committee. He also wrote widely on agricultural topics, publishing "The Awakening of England" in 1912, "The Tyranny of the Countryside" in 1913, and "The History of the Agricultural Labourer: 1870-1920", in 1920.
Green joined the Fabian Society in 1890. At the 1918 United Kingdom general election, he stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in Chichester.
During the 1920s, Green suffered with poor health, and he was unable to complete a life of Richard Cobden before his death, early in 1922.


American Tunis

The American Tunis or Tunis is an endangered American breed of fat-tailed sheep. It derives from Tunisian Barbarin sheep imported to the United States from Tunisia in 1799. It is raised primarily for meat.
History.
In 1799, the Bey of Tunis, Hammuda ibn Ali, sent ten Tunisian Barbarin sheep as a gift to George Washington. Two reached the Belmont estate of Richard Peters in Pennsylvania. Peters lent his Tunis rams for breeding and the breed gradually spread. It was much written about, and is documented in the writings of several noted figures of the time, among them John Adams, George Washington Custis and Thomas Jefferson, and later Charles Roundtree, who in the early twentieth century was secretary of the American Tunis Sheep Breeders Association. The Tunis became the principal meat breed of the Mid-Atlantic and Upper South regions, but virtually disappeared during the American Civil War. After the Civil War, the Tunis was raised mostly in New England and in the Great Lakes region. In the late nineteenth century some were moved to Indiana, where there was some cross-breeding with Southdown stock. A breeders' association, the American Tunis Sheep Breeders Association, was constituted in 1896.
The Tunis is listed as "watch" on the watchlist of the Livestock Conservancy. Tunis sheep have been added to the Slow Food Ark of Taste.


Pulp and paper industry in the United States

The United States is one of the biggest paper consumers in the world. Between 1990 and 2002, paper consumption in the United States increased from 84.9 million tons to 97.3 million tons. In 2006, there were approximately 450 paper mills in the United States, accounting for $68 billion.
Leading companies.
The top 10 forest and paper products companies in net sales in the United States in 2012 were: