Bay of Plenty Young Grower Competition postponed due to Covid 19

Melissa van den Heuvel, winner of the 2020 BOP Young Grower competition. Photo / File

The Bay of Plenty Young Growers dinner has been postponed until post-harvest due to the uncertainty of Covid-19 alert levels.

The dinner was planned to be held on Thursday following a day full of competitions that would wind up with the announcement of the young grower who would take the crown.

NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated communications manager Dr Mike Murphy said the decision was made as a necessity to comply with level 2 social distancing and hygiene protocols.

"Recognising that many of the contestants are heavily involved in harvest over the coming months, it has been decided that, when there is clarity around a return to alert level 1, a new date will be set for the period after harvest."

Murphy said a new date is yet to be confirmed.

"Regrettably, this is not a convenient situation. However, the health and safety of everyone involved must remain our top priority.

"We are committed to making the Young Grower competition a great event for everyone and look forward to doing this in the near future."

As the Northland and Waikato regions do not have their own competition, they were invited to join the Bay event.

The fun and challenging full day event where contestants undertook a range of horticultural related theory and practical activities was to take place on Thursday.

To round off the day, a gala dinner was to be held where contestants would have participated in a speech competition followed by the awards presentation.

Last years winner Melissa van den Heuvel said the event was important to showcase the talented up-and-coming members of the industry.

"It's a great promotion of what horticulture has to offer and provides the opportunity for young people to share their passion, knowledge and skills.

"It is also a great way for younger people to be empowered, and to promote the industry and opportunities within it, to others looking for future careers."

There was no doubt in van den Heuvel's mind that people should "give it a shot".

"You have nothing to lose and so much to gain by putting yourself out there and seeing what this industry has to offer."

When the event is held, cash prizes will be up for grabs for the first three places and the winner of the Bay of Plenty Young Grower 2021 will receive a media and presentation development course in Auckland, all-expenses-paid trip to the Horticulture New Zealand conference at Mystery Creek and a trip to Wellington to compete in the national Young Grower of the Year competition.