Opportunities abound for youth in horticulture

Written by Helena O’Neill

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

Erin Atkinson, pictured here in 2017, was the first woman to win the national title of Young Grower of the Year.

As the next Young Grower of the Year competition draws closer, we revisit the first woman to win the national title. HELENA O’NEILL talks to 2017 Young Grower of the Year, Erin Atkinson, about why the horticulture industry
is a great place to be.

Reflecting on her national title win more than four years ago, Erin still feels a sense of achievement both for herself and the industry, as she witnesses other women taking out the top prize.

“It was amazing, totally unexpected, I guess. I know I worked hard and there was a really great group of competitors,” Erin says. “Danni [van der Heijden] went on to win it after me and then Melissa [Van den Heuvel] won it last year. Both from the Bay of Plenty, both repping [sic].”

Erin says the Young Grower of the Year competition gave her the ability to continue to do the job she loves — horticultural promotion. Since winning, she has become the chair of the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower Upskilling Committee that organises the regional Young Grower competition but also runs educational events.

“We do a ‘Cultivate Your Career’ event, which unfortunately we haven't been able to run due to Covid-19, but we’re still trying to do all of that stuff to bring in those high school students.”

She is also a member of the Women in Kiwifruit Network committee which reformed last March, replacing the Zespri-led group, on which she currently serves as chair.

Organising events during a pandemic is not an easy task, but Erin is happy with how both committees have met the challenges created by the uncertainty. 

More people have attended the Women in Kiwifruit Network events since moving online, which offers great opportunities, she says.

“We’re becoming more agile and adapting to it quite well. We’ve changed a lot of our events to being online and what’s been really cool is that we can target a wider audience out of our region. Kiwifruit isn’t just in the Bay of Plenty, we can get into Gisborne, Nelson, Northland, Auckland and beyond. We can also tap into other groups to share our messages too.”

Erin has seen an increase in the number of women working with kiwifruit over the years and hopes to see that trend continue across the wider industry.

In the last five years in the kiwifruit industry, I have seen so many great women in their early-to-mid 20s who are absolutely smashing it at the moment. Watching them go from strength to strength is wonderful.”

Erin works as the Apata GROW manager for Apata Group Ltd. Apata GROW offers orchard management for kiwifruit growers specialising in providing on-orchard and technical services to maximise crop performance. The role offers plenty of opportunities to develop Erin’s skills and career.

“We’ve got an amazing culture here and they’ve been really great in terms of pathways. We’re just going from strength to strength developing those career pathways for people. It’s been fantastic. I’ve had three job titles in the seven years that I’ve worked here. Each time I’m working up to a different role.

“It’s been really helpful for us recruiting because if you can see people that are staying here and have moved through the company then I think it’s a good sign that the company is doing well.

“It’s the longest job that I’ve had to be honest – and I’m still not finished. There’s heaps of stuff I want to do within the company.”

This year Erin was also selected for the Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) associate director role which is a two-year internship offering a chance for professional development. Run since 2014, the programme offers an opportunity for a kiwifruit industry future leader to join the KVH board and gain experience in governance, leadership and strategy while bringing his or her own industry knowledge and experience to the board table. The associate director also has the opportunity to be mentored by an industry leader and receive governance training.

“I get to sit and have active involvement in what’s happening in the KVH space at board level and learn about governance and mentoring.

For me, it’s about that really great opportunity to give back to an industry that has given so much to me.

Erin Atkinson during the 2017 competition.

“I had my first board meeting in February and I went out of there thinking that’s a lot to take on, but it was also exciting.”

Thinking back on her experience with the Young Grower competition, Erin says it gave her an opportunity to brush up on her existing skillset while developing new ones.

“It really helped me tap back into things I hadn’t done for a while. I found it really cool that I got to recap the soil science and nutrient management knowledge. The business aspect was great as well because you got some insight into the business world, things you wouldn’t normally cover in your day-to-day jobs.

“It’s helped me with my current role in running a division as I have to look at balance sheets, look at profit and loss, budgets and actuals as well.”

Erin entered the regional competition twice, before taking out the title the second time around. If a young horticulturalist is considering taking part in the event but isn’t quite sure, she urges them to give it a go.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to meet like-minded people. It’s a great way to learn new skills that you otherwise wouldn’t have. The professional development that you get attached to these competitions as well, through to the sponsors and what they have to offer.

“It gave me a really good insight into what a great industry we are part of. This industry is really big on helping young people through it.”