‘Handy Hines’ dominates comp

All-round supremacy has seen Ōpōtiki orchard manager Sydney Hines named Bay of Plenty Young Grower for 2023 at the awards ceremony in Mount Maunganui.

e 24-year-old captured the title at her rst attempt, dominating the practical tasks and impressing the judges with a speech on biotechnology, securing a spot at October’s national nals in Pukekohe.

In front of her proud family and with Minister of Education Jan Tinetti presenting the award, Sydney headed o seven other strong contenders, winning ve of the 10 tasks, with Southern Cross Horticulture’s Ashdon Reid taking out two and nishing runner-up.

“All the tasks had a few things that stumped me a little bit and the only one I was reasonably con dent on was the ‘day in the life of an orchard manager’ test, which they said I was the rst one to get through it all,” says a jubilant Sydney.

“I de nitely wasn’t expecting to get up on stage that many times – I was really surprised to win the speech competition and just overwhelmed to win overall.

“It’s a really good feeling.”

Raised in Mangakino on a thirdgeneration dairy farm, Sydney has spent the past two years working for Sybton Horticulture, an orchard management company with interests in the Eastern Bay and Northland.

She also provides technical support