Growing opportunities for rangatahi

Anthony Taueki at the Clearwater Power Station intake in Canterbury.

Anthony Taueki is “shaking the tree” and opening people’s minds up about the horticulture industry, from education through to careers. ANNE HARDIE reports.

Father of four and of Ngāti Kahungunu descent, Anthony is passionate about helping rangatahi find pathways to careers in horticulture. He is doing that on multiple levels, from teaching those in the workforce through to working with government officials.

Anthony is Fruition Horticulture’s regional coordinator for the Hawke’s Bay Tū Te Wana programme, run for rangatahi aged between 15 and 19. The programme follows a holistic model that takes students through to National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 2, but also addresses health and wellbeing, whakapapa, industry and fitness.

Anthony wishes the programme had been available when he first joined the industry. After leaving school at 15, he worked in a sawmill until he found his feet in horticulture at the age of 19. Starting out as a seasonal worker in a packhouse and doing general jobs around the orchard didn’t necessarily lead to a career path though. It was only by clawing his way up through the ranks and working with a mentor, that he found his way.

Now Anthony is doing his part to remove the stigma around horticulture and other primary industries, and changing the way the industry trains its young workforce. Today’s horticulture scene is vastly different to what it was back in the 1980s or ‘90s, he says, when a job in horticulture was seen as labour intensive. Technology and efficiencies in growing systems have changed the industry dramatically and the workforce with it. Instead of photos of fruit, he wants to see more pictures of the careers and jobs now connected to horticulture such as human resources and marketing.

“With our Tū Te Wana programme, we go and explore what people in the horticulture industry are doing. I encourage more employers to open their doors to what they do. If we really, truly want to attract talent, we have to open all those doors.”

In a time of change in education, Anthony says vocational education providers are in a good position to revamp vocational pathways. He doesn’t think those pathways have kept pace with industry and says they need to be updated regularly.

“Is what we are doing in our educational space fit for purpose? The industry and technology have changed,” he says. “As the industry progresses forward, the unit standards representing our apprenticeships need to reflect how the industry is now. And that we are doing what is right for this generation.”

In line with that, Anthony says: “I do what I preach and review the course twice a year to make sure we are up to date with the correct content.”

Anthony also wants to expand the conversation around career opportunities to retain the existing workforce. He says careers in horticulture don’t always have to progress upwards; they can also progress horizontally. On an orchard, managers usually stay in the job long term, so not everyone is going to become an orchard manager, but he says there are numerous other opportunities that need to be discussed to retain staff rather than focusing on negatives.

“It’s staying focused so you don’t lose sight of the trees when you are running through the weeds.”

Anthony’s passion to help the next generation into horticulture careers and the wider primary sector led to his selection to the council for the Food and Fibre Youth Network, which provides a youth voice on environmental and industry issues. He now has a 2022 Nuffield New Zealand Farming Scholarship, where his research topic is ‘growing opportunities from the roots up.’

“Shaking the tree” is Anthony’s call to action: “Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini – success is not the work of one, but the work of many.”