Pruning Precis

VINEYARD PRUNING offers “real life pathways”, says Primary ITO training adviser Tom van der Burgh, whose own career spans 21 years in vineyard management in Marlborough. “There are heaps of opportunities and many directions you can go to.”

Tom – who works in viticulture, production horticulture and apiculture training – was one of the training advisers involved in a Pruning Tasting Day in Marlborough on June 4, along with Jimmy Crockett who is now Primary ITO’s sector adviser. The event delved into the techniques and tools of pruning, as well as trellising infrastructure and viticulture terminology, but also offered attendees the chance to meet with industry experts who have carved out careers in the vines. The course was designed to give people interested in pruning an introduction to what it involves, and to showcase opportunities within the wider wine industry, says Tom.

The intention is for those who attend to come away with an understanding of how important pruning is for the production of quality wine, “and how the decisions made in winter can affect the vines and crop for years to come”. Tom speaks first-hand when discussing career opportunities in the vines, having changed careers aged 35, when he decided it was time to “chase my dream of being in the wine industry”. He’d had a keen interest in wine since leaving school, working in bars and hotels and planning for a career in hotel management. But when an opportunity came up as a commission sales rep, he stepped on a new path and covered an area from New Plymouth to Gisborne down to Invercargill selling home entertainment. “Eventually I got to the point where I wanted to get back to my original passion,” he says. Tom heard about the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology’s two-year Level-6 diploma course, “and before you know it I was moving the family down here”.

He worked Saturdays for Villa Maria while studying, and went straight to that company as a vineyard foreman when he completed his diploma. Within six years, including the two years of study, he attained positions of assistant manager and then vineyard manager at Oyster Bay, Delegat Wine Estate. “My last position was an autonomous role for independent winemaker Leveret Estate, making all the decisions, from pruning style to when the grapes get harvested,” he says. “It was a role where you could use all your skills and put the learnings into practice.”

This year Tom decided he had another career change in him, but knew he wanted to stay in the industry, “and to give back some of my knowledge”. He says Covid-19 has “absolutely” created opportunities for people interested in getting trained on the job, with the Government’s Apprenticeship Boost and Free Trades Training (see sidebox) both emerging out of the pandemic. “Plus, the industry is getting more professional, and employers want their employees to get the knowledge – and particularly the why behind the how,” he says. “That’s our role - to teach them the why and leave it to the employer to teach the practical side.”

The free one-day winter pruning course was designed when New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) approached Primary ITO for ideas on how to attract and train new people to the industry who would be starting during the winter pruning season. The event was held by NZW, Primary ITO, Wine Marlborough and Ethical Employers.

Promoting Careers in Viticulture

Primary ITO, New Zealand Winegrowers and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology are working together to create a series of short video presentations about seasonal opportunities in viticulture. The presentations are aimed at people who have not previously worked in viticulture and designed to “inspire, inform and remove knowledge barriers”, says ITO’s sector manager for biosecurity and environment Jeff Bryant. Primary ITO will share the videos via the Let’s Grow website and directly to interested parties. “Our Let’s Grow co-ordinator, Debbie, will also utilise the videos to promote viticulture when discussing training and employment opportunities.” For more on viticulture or viticulture employers, go to letsgrow.co.nz.

A sweet job opportunity

SOPHIE PREECE

Joshua Anderson grew up on a Taihape sheep and beef farm, spent nine years as an apiarist and is now settled on a career in viticulture. There’s a similar backbone to those landscapes of primary production, says the 27-year-old supervisor at Mount Base Vineyards, talking of nature dictating each season and operators working to make the most of what it offers. “It’s the same objective - to get the best product you can get, while looking after what you have.”

Having joined Mount Base after the 2020 Covid-19 Level 4 Lockdown, Joshua rapidly stepped up to the challenge of learning about viticulture, putting his hand up for the Primary ITO New Zealand Apprenticeship Horticulture Fruit Production (Level 3 and 4). Vineyard manager Kirsty Harkness and the long-term team have also been busy teaching him what they know, and urged him to enter the Young Viticulturist of the Year competition last year – which he didn’t – and this year – which he did. High entry numbers meant he didn’t make the list in 2021, but he’s looking forward to entering again in 2022, with more experience and learning under his belt.

When Joshua left school aged 17 he moved into commercial honey and beekeeping, working in Marlborough and the central North Island, where the company he worked for had 21,000 hives. He worked his way up into management roles, but when Covid disrupted lives and business, he decided to try a different career, so took a job at Mount Base in the Waihopai Valley, bought a house in Blenheim, and rapidly took to life in the vines. When Kirsty offered him the opportunity to do the ITO training, he immediately said yes, and is loving the opportunity to learn more, while running the day-to-day operations at the vineyard. “You are learning all the time,” says Joshua. “Last year I didn’t know anything about grapes.” Now he is supervisor in the vineyard and getting as much knowledge as he can, “to make sure I am doing the right things”.

His plan is to get to the management tier of vineyard work within the next five years. “And I would like to stay at Mount Base for as long as I can. You are so well looked after, because it’s a family-orientated vineyard,” he says. “I am bloody grateful for the opportunity to upskill and encourage anyone to do it - why wouldn’t you? It’s free and an opportunity to go a little bit further.”

Apprenticeship Boost extended - In March this year the Government announced a four-month extension to the Apprenticeship Boost. The scheme promises to pay employers up to $16,000 per apprentice to either employ or retain apprentices, until August 2022. Employers can apply for an Apprenticeship Boost through the Ministry of Social Development. Free Trades Training - Free Trades Training will cover the training fees that occur between July 1 2020 until December 31 2022. If the training programme’s duration continues past December 2022, fees will apply to that part of the training.