YOUR LEVY AT WORK Sponsored by The Horticentre Group
2021 NELSON YOUNG GROWER JONATHAN BATES BACKS HORTICULTURE CAREERS Words by Anne Hardie
Contestants in the 2021 Nelson Young Grower competition
Winner of the 2021 Nelson Young Grower competition, Jonathan Bates, was planting and pruning before he left primary school, encouraged by his grandmother who instilled in him a passion for horticulture. Jonathan’s progression up the horticulture career ladder occurred through opportunities that arose along the way rather than following a clear pathway, an area he says industry could work on. “School leavers need a clear career progression pathway, so they know where they are going and the steps they need to take to get there,” Jonathan says. The 28-year-old grew up in cherry and stonefruit country around Alexandra, where he gained his first insight into orcharding, picking Golden Tatura peaches during one of the school’s annual work days. Jonathan then “fell into a job” after doing summer work on a local orchard. The boss’s father, Stuart McIntosh, tapped him on the shoulder, showing him all he knew about grafting, which led to a longer-term job. 14 NZGROWER : AUGUST 2021
“It made me see it as a career rather than just a job picking fruit,” Jonathan says. Stuart was designing his own cultivars at the time. The orchard included cherries, stonefruit and apples, which meant Jonathan “got to have a fiddle at everything.” Eventually he got involved in a 100ha orchard development. It was on this site where he later married Sidonee in a ceremony where they turned off the irrigation 20 minutes before they exchanged vows. When Covid-19 hit, Sidonee lost her job as a landscaper, and with few jobs on offer around Central Otago the couple needed to look for other opportunities. Jonathan found work with Birdhurst Ltd in Motueka where he has spent the past 10 months in what he thinks of as his “perfect job” as a block supervisor. The role involves overseeing about 20 staff from apple harvest through to pruning and working the three-row sprayer which he describes as an “awesome machine” capable of covering 6ha in 45 minutes. It’s Jonathan’s third time entering the regional Young Grower of the Year – twice in Central Otago where he
