Fruit growing is an awesome career with so much variety and different exciting opportunities. Every year we harvest the crops that we love, and spend all year growing and preparing. Then we prepare to do it all again and with what we’ve learnt from the previous season we get to try make the next harvest better than the previous. This continuing pattern of being able to learn improve and do things different for the future is one of the many aspects of fruit growing that I enjoy.

Another is employing and working with people. Which are equal parts challenging and rewarding. I got into this industry because my family has always been apple and boysenberry growers. This meant that when I grew up I was continually exposed to different seasons, people and machinery. I used to love watching and working on tractors. After leaving school and completing a level 3 and 4 national certificates in horticulture I have also gained massive enjoyment of working with plants and being able to use our fantastic environment to grow some of the world’s finest foods.

Now my roll includes repair and maintenance, block development, plaiting, staff supervision, harvest planning, boysenberry packhouse manager, truck driving, tractor operating, agrichemical application, general business and much more.

Horticulture might seem like a boring and repetitive job at the start of your career. But once you’ve worked for a year or two and picked up some basic skills and gained an understanding of your workplaces challenges and opportunities, you’ll soon see that it’s an exciting industry that’s always changing and far from boring. Yes, it can be very hard work but the return is great job satisfaction. I would highly recommend a career in horticulture. You won’t regret it.