Events promoting and recognising newcomers to the horticultural industry have come together as one for the first time.

Cultivate Your Career, an expo for secondary school students showcasing where a future in the fruit and vegetable sector could lead, was held alongside the annual Bay of Plenty Young Grower competition.

“It’s often a challenge to make young people aware of the sector,” says New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc events and communications officer Sam Vicente-Moa, who coordinated the joint programme with Priority One’s vocational & pathways lead, Dan Bromley.

“We want to change the perception that horticulture is simply a side subject, involving just seasonal picking, and showcase careers available across the sector, including science, engineering and business.”

This was highlighted with Phoebe Scherer, a technical lab manager at kiwifruit and avocado harvester and processor Apata, taking out the Bay of Plenty Young Grower title.

The 29-year-old says the sector offers tremendous opportunity for personal and professional growth.

This year’s Cultivate Your Career expo attracted about 300 students from across the Western Bay of Plenty and as far as Hauraki Plains and Hamilton. Photo / Supplied

“There is a lot of on-the-job training, but I have also been lucky enough to do a number of external courses too, such as the Value Chain Innovation programme with Rural Leaders, which really opened my eyes to how, as an industry, we create value.”

Growing up in Tauranga, Phoebe gained a degree in biology and evolution at Auckland University before heading off on her OE.

On her return, she took a seasonal job “counting kiwifruit” with Fruition Horticulture while she applied for laboratory jobs.

“I was finding I was either underqualified or overqualified for roles I applied for,” she says. “But then Fruition took a punt on me and offered me a fulltime job as an assistant consultant.

Wide Range

“It was straight in at the deep end, and I loved it. The work involved so many things– feasibility planning for horticulture development, orchard profitability analysis, soil assessment, irrigation scheduling and a whole range of other things.”

Phoebe was promoted to become a horticultural consultant and worked with Fruition for six years until last year when she joined Apata.

“The Young Grower competition is so important for the development of the next generation of horticulturalists and to get people inspired,” she says.

“For anyone thinking about a career step, I’d say horticulture is not just about picking and packing. “There are so many different roles in the sector and in supporting industries– just come and give it a go.”

NZKGI has run the regional young grower contest for 20 years, joining forces this year with Western Bay of Plenty economic development agency Priority One to organise Cultivate Your Career under the same roof at Mercury Baypark.

NZKGI has traditionally hosted the Bay of Plenty Young Grower competition, with Horticulture New Zealand running the national final in Christchurch in September.

HortNZ chief executive Kate Scott says the competitions play an important role in highlighting the wide variety of different career opportunities in the industry.

The competition involved a series of theoretical and practical challenges that tested each contestant’s technical knowledge, problem-solving ability, and physical skills.

Twin Events

It ran in tandem with Cultivate Your Career, which Sam says is part of NZKGI’s and Priority One’s joint mission to attract, develop and inspire young people within the horticulture industry.

“The event aims to showcase horticultural businesses and industry professionals to secondary school students, opening them to the range of opportunities available in the industry and the skills they will need to transition into horticulture employment.”

This year’s event attracted about 300 students from across the Western Bay of Plenty and as far as Hauraki Plains and Hamilton.

“Cultivate Your Career was more than a day out of school,” says Dan Bromley. “It was a chance to see where a future in horticulture could lead.”

The event offered a mix of hands-on activities, practical demonstrations, and one-on-one conversations with people working in the sector.

Dan says for students in Years 10 and 11, it was a rare opportunity to ask questions, try things out for themselves, and start to picture what a job in this industry might look like.

“It was all about helping students make clearer, more informed choices about their futures.”

Many school staff commented on how surprised they were by the number of roles in science, technology, and engineering that connect back to horticulture.

Others noted how engaged their students were, with interactive exhibits helping them better understand the industry and its people.