PRESIDENT’S WORD
What will horticulture be like when our next generation of young leaders have the reins? Over the past few months, I have been attending our Young Grower of the Year regional finals.
By Barry O’Neil President : HortNZ
These are wonderful events and it is great to see good numbers of young horticulturalists entering, along with industry people getting actively involved by attending the competitions to support and celebrate these young people, some of whom will one day be our future leaders. And after what has been a difficult year, it’s really nice to have something to celebrate! Since 2007, Horticulture New Zealand has run the annual Young Grower of the Year competition. Young fruit and vegetable growers from around the country compete in regional heats, testing their horticultural skills and knowledge. This year we have seven regional events with the winners of all the regional competitions then competing in the national final. So later this year we have the final competition in Wellington where all the regional winners enter to determine who will become the New Zealand Young Grower of the Year for 2021. With the generous support of our sponsors, there are many prizes for contestants in both the regional finals and the national final, including $12,000 for the winner. We have some amazing young people in our industry. Being part of these competitions gives me great confidence that we will have some very talented future leaders, so let’s make sure we look after them, prepare and support them well, and most of all, retain them!
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The ORCHARDIST : JULY 2021
And while there is only one winner from the competitions, every contestant who has put themselves forward has shown they are a winner as they have started their leadership journey, wanting to improve their abilities and skills, to become better growers and better people. So I hope all contestants continue to look for every opportunity in their workplace to continue to learn and develop themselves. Our future young leaders are likely to be employed by larger businesses, as we see the continued rise of corporate growers. Scale often means the more efficient use of assets and the means to invest in modern growing and packing options. Scale also helps businesses employ permanent staff, so there’s less reliance on seasonal demands.
We have some amazing young people in our industry. Being part of these competitions gives me great confidence that we will have some very talented future leaders Alternatively, if the business is smaller, it will probably be niche based and producing and delivering to a select set of customers, based on their values.
