BRUCE WEST (Founder)
In the early 1990’s Bruce West travelled to the Willamette Valley in Oregon USA to study their successful hazelnut industry. There he met Dennis Pierce of Pierce & Sons and subsequently imported new genetic hazelnut material into Australia. This included a range of commercial hazelnut varieties along with their compatible polliniser varieties. Many of these varieties were the result of trial work conducted by Oregon State University. This material spent two years in quarantine at the DPI in Orange, NSW before being released. Bruce then developed propagation facilities for the mother plants and Hazelnut Nursery Propagators (HNP) in the Megalong Valley, NSW was formed. Bruce propagated and sold whips (bare-root trees) throughout Australia using the successful orchard program developed in Oregon.
In 2010 HNP was purchased by Trufficulture and the nursery operations were moved to the Trufficulture nursery in Gembrook, Victoria. Hazelnut Nursery Propagators is now a division of Trufficulture Pty Ltd

COLIN CARTER
Colin is the Director of Trufficulture which is a small family owned business. Colin has had a career spanning 40 years in horticulture and over time developed a passion for growing truffles. After being awarded an International Specialised Skills Fellowship in 2008 he travelled to Europe to study truffle inoculation and cultural practices. Trufficulture developed inoculation processes and supplies the truffle industry with inoculated plants. Hazelnuts are a successful host tree for truffles, and this led Colin to meet Bruce and acquire the best hazelnut genetic material in Australia. Trufficulture now grows hazelnut whips (without truffle) and truffle inoculated commercial hazelnut varieties, as well as other tree species.

NATHAN CARTER
Nathan is the Manager of the truffle and hazelnut nursery operations. He is passionate about both hazelnuts and truffles. He studied at the University of Melbourne and qualified with Degrees in Agricultural Science (Honours) and Commerce. In 2015 he received his award for the Master of Agribusiness. Nathan has also twice travelled to Europe on a study tour with his father. Nathan is a co-author of the ebook and is currently on the executive of Hazelnut Growers of Australia (Vic rep).

Contact
Postal Address:
Trufficulture Pty Ltd
PO Box 364,
GEMBROOK, VICTORIA 3783,
AUSTRALIA
Email: info@hazelnuts.com.au

Nathan Carter
Mobile: 0487 040 178

Colin Carter
Mobile: 0409 717 401