YOUR LEVY AT WORK
CAPABILITY ROLE SHIFT TO INFLUENCE POSITIVE CHANGE Words by Elaine Fisher
Filling in an application for a nursing scholarship caused Emma Boase to question her planned career path and eventually led to her appointment to the new role of people capability manager at Horticulture New Zealand. “As I was filling in the form, I realised I wanted to help build the fence at the top of the cliff by keeping people healthy, rather than being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff,” says Emma, whose new role also includes that of coordinator for Women in Horticulture. That was in 2015, and although Emma could not have foreseen the appointment to her current role, her thinking was already in line with HortNZ’s vision “Oranga kai, oranga tangata, haere ake nei – Healthy food for all, forever”. “I attended a high school which did not offer agricultural or horticultural courses, but I was interested in people, health and nutrition so thought nursing was the career for me. However, when I thought about it more, I realised working in food production offered me a way to apply these interests and passions in a variety of ways. “Not only does it help maintain and progress rural communities, but it also provides sustainable, nutritional food for people’s health and well-being, reducing the impacts of obesity and other illnesses.”
I find it incredibly rewarding to empower people to make the connection between the fruit and vegetables on their plate, and where they are grown and the industry they come from So Emma attended Lincoln University, completing a Bachelor of Agribusiness and Food Marketing followed by a Masters in Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Missouri, USA. Her Master’s research
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NZGROWER : FEBRUARY 2021
Emma Boase
in food marketing and consumer behaviour received the Outstanding Student Paper Award at the 2019 International Food Marketing Research Symposium. Emma’s research explored how claims made on food packaging labels can lead consumers to perceive other attributes in the same product differently, which she called a “halo effect”. Back in New Zealand to consider her future direction, Emma took up the role of horticulture industry engagement coordinator at Massey University. Massey is home to the only Horticulture science degree programme in New Zealand, and ensuring its success is a key goal. “There is an awesome team at Massey who are passionate about horticulture and linked in with industry in everything they do. The aim is to highlight horticulture (to students) as the industry to be in when they graduate. Integrating aspects of industry through guest lectures, workshops, study tours, scholarship support, and extracurricular activities helps students see these opportunities.”
