On Thursday 22 September, Roger Brownlie and I attended the 2022 Young Grower of the Year national final in Nelson. It was great to see Jacob Coombridge, an Orchard Supervisor at Webb’s Fruit and the winner of the 2022 Central Otago Young Grower, do very well alongside the other impressive contestants. I think the future for our industry is bright if we can encourage more young people like Jacob and his co-contestants into horticulture and give them fulfilling and varied career pathways. Congratulations to Jacob for representing the summerfruit industry so well, and to all the contestants including the overall winner Meryn Whitehead.
