Continuing the legacy of winning women

Written by Elaine Fisher

First published in the March 2022 issues of The Orchardist and NZGrower.

Melissa Bennett (née van den Heuvel) won the 2021 Young Grower of the Year national title.

Working with the inherent variabilities of the natural environment to produce high quality, fresh food for the world is among the reasons the horticultural industry is the career of choice for Melissa Bennett. ELAINE FISHER speaks to the 26-year-old about life after winning the 2021 Young Grower of the Year competition and her future endeavours.

“There are so many moving parts in horticulture, including the impacts of weather which plays such a big role in the success of what we grow,” says Melissa, an avocado grower services representative at Apata Group Limited, based in the Bay of Plenty. 

Known as Melissa van den Heuvel when she won the national young grower title, Melissa married her fiancé, Oscar Bennett, in February.

Horticulture was not part of Melissa’s career plans when she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Environment Planning at the University of Waikato.

“It’s a bit of a joke among my friends that avocados became an accidental career for me because I didn’t study horticulture at uni.”

Two days after finishing her final exam, she became NZ Avocado’s industry systems associate, with a focus on quality systems, looking at the changes which could be implemented across the supply chain.

Over the past few years, I have come to realise how many opportunities avocados and the wider horticultural industry offers, which extend far beyond picking, packing and the supply chain,” she says.

It was while working at NZ Avocado that Melissa was encouraged to enter the 2020 Bay of Plenty Young Grower of the Year competition, subsequently taking out the regional title.

When she competed in the Young Grower of the Year national finals in October 2021, she had taken up the role as avocado grower services representative at Apata Group Limited.

In winning the national title, Melissa continued the legacy of women in the Bay of Plenty horticulture industry, which began in 2017 when Te Puke fruit grower Erin Atkinson became the first woman to win the Young Grower of the Year title in its 11-year history. The next year, AVOCO technical advisor, Danni van der Heijden – also from the Bay of Plenty – won the title.

“Both Erin and Danni have been among my mentors and I am sure the coaching they gave helped me win, as did the guidance and support from both NZ Avocado and Apata,” says Melissa.

Taking part in the Young Grower competitions has helped expand not only her industry knowledge, but her personal development and commitment to an industry she has become passionate about.

In her grower services role at Apata, Melissa works closely alongside orchard owners in the western Bay of Plenty.

Avocado grower services representative at Apata Group, Melissa Bennett, chats with grower Jill Austin on a Hydralada.

“I also have one grower at Hot Water Beach in the Coromandel. Our team is responsible for making sure our exporter AVOCO has enough fruit each week to meet its orders and that the fruit standards are compliant for the different markets. This includes scheduling the harvests on each orchard.”

Despite her youth, growers respect Melissa’s scientific and industry knowledge and her fresh perspective on growing.

“Many of my growers wouldn’t want to admit it but they have been orcharding probably longer than I’ve been alive. I learn a lot from them,” she says. “I’m a firm believer that we don’t know how to grow avocados perfectly and that we are constantly learning and looking closely at growing, picking and packing, thinking about how to do better and where to improve the supply chain so the consumer gets even better fruit.”

Owning an orchard is one of Melissa’s long-term goals and with that in mind she has invested some of her winnings from the awards.

“The sponsors were very generous and the prize packages were wonderful. I did splurge and buy a mountain bike, but I did ‘the grown-up thing’ and spent money on renovations to our home in Matamata and in investments,” says Melissa, who each day commutes from the Waikato to Tauranga for work.

Keen to see others benefit from the regional and national competition experience, Melissa is encouraging all young growers to consider entering, including some of her Apata work colleagues whom she is happy to help mentor, as she was mentored herself.