Grace Fulford from Hawke’s Bay wins 2024 Young Grower title

Grace Fulford has won the 2024 Young Grower national title, competing in her hometown.

Grace, who is quality and compliance manager for T&G Global, is also the Hawke’s Bay regional champion.

She competed against five other regional winners in a series of challenges at the Tōmoana Showgrounds in Hastings on October 9-10.

Runner up was Jamie Wells, the Pukekohe regional winner, who is an agronomist with Balle Brothers in Pukekohe.

Grace, aged 27, grew up around her family’s Omahuri Orchard in Hastings. She initially headed to university to study engineering but decided that wasn’t for her. She worked in the family business before joining T&G three years ago.

“I came back from university and did some work around the orchard and just fell in love with it,” she says.

“It’s just such a cool industry to work in. I have learned so much. I love the variety, there are so many different career opportunities and the people are such a big part of it, there are just great people across the sector.”

The competition celebrates the success of young people in the industry as well as encouraging others to consider a career in horticulture.

The six finalists competed a series of practical and theoretical horticulture modules, testing their vegetable and fruit-growing knowledge and skills needed to be successful growers.

These include excavator operation, nutrition and fertigation, innovation, integrated pest management, agrichemical stewardship, horticulture biosecurity and fencing and repairs.

Grace won the practical category of the competition and was also named as Young Fruit Grower of the Year.

“All the modules were pretty challenging – and it was incredibly windy on the day too,” says Grace. “You don’t know what’s going to be thrown at you so it’s quite hard to prepare. But I really enjoyed all of it and getting to know the other contestants. They were a fantastic group of talented people to be competing against and it was a very close competition.

“It’s such a great event at regional and national level. From the judges and sponsors to those taking part, it is so well organised and so enjoyable to be part of.”

The winners were announced at the awards gala dinner held at Hastings’ Toitoi Events Centre on October 10, where finalists also participated in the Ballance Leadership panel event and FMG speech competition. The speech winner was Pip Terekia the Gisborne regional champion, who is a trainee orchard manager with Apata Group.

Regional organisers host and run the regional competitions  independently, with Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) hosting the final in a different part of the country each year.

Entry is open to both commercial fruit and vegetable growers from across the regions, up to the age of 30.

HortNZ incoming board chair Bernadine Guilleux said the regional and national competitions played an important part in the sector’s strong focus on highlighting the scope of careers in the industry and the opportunities and support provided to nurture the next generation of horticultural sector leaders.

“We are very proud to host the awards in a different region each year. Once again, we saw a very high calibre of entrants showing great skill and knowledge throughout the challenges and their passion for the sector really shone through in their speeches.”

HortNZ acting chief executive Michelle Sands said the dedication of those who organise the regional events drives the success of the competition. 

“We are so fortunate to have so many passionate and talented young leaders pursuing careers in our sector and experienced industry professionals committed to supporting that.”

The other 2024 finalists were:

• Bay of Plenty: Lilah Rosenfeldt, a trials specialist for Zespri International
• Gisborne: Pip Terekia, a trainee orchard manager at Apata Group
• Nelson: Farrah Richards, packhouse packaging and inputs with Fairfield Orchards
• Otago: Luke St John, packhouse manager, Fortune Fruit Company