Trevor James has been a member of the New Zealand Plant Protection Society (NZPPS) for over 27 years.

His loyalty to the Society, which he describes as “a great meeting place of people and ideas”, was rewarded at its recent annual conference when he was granted a Life Membership and elected Vice President.

The submission nominating him for Life Membership describes his contribution to the NZPPS as “beyond outstanding”.

Trevor’s contribution has been intellectual...66 papers published by NZPPS to date; organisational...from doing deals with conference venues and suppliers to ensuring the smooth running of conference equipment; and loyal...he seldom misses committee meetings and has an invaluable memory of what’s happened in the Society.

Trevor has also contributed knowledge and photographs to NZPPS publications such as An Illustrated Guide to Common Weeds of New Zealand by Bruce Roy, Ian Popay, Paul Champion, Anis Raman and Trevor James, as well as to the Lucid Key weed identification version based on the same book.

Trevor has worked at Ruakura, mostly on weed research, for over 31 years. He is an acknowledged expert on weed seed banks, the environmental impact of weeds and herbicide application technology. He takes pride in being a link between researchers and the pastoral industry and receives constant requests for advice and to talk at field days and address discussion groups, from growers and consultants.

Trevor is currently working on a biosecurity programme for rapid identification of weed seeds, and with East Coast Maori who wish to re-establish traditional crops using organic growing techniques.