Trail-blazing Erin aiming for Young Grower win

Erin Atkinson, a technical adviser for Apata group, based at the Te Puke packhouse, will represent the Bay of Plenty at the national Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition this week.

Erin Atkinson is blazing a trail and looking to "stick it to them".

Erin, 30, a technical adviser for Apata in Te Puke, is the first female to reach the final of national Young Grower of the Year 2017 competition in 10 years.

This week she is in Christchurch testing her horticultural skills and knowledge against the other finalists to compete for both the national title of Young Fruit Grower of the Year and Young Grower of the Year 2017.

She won the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower for 2017 in February, with the main competition held as part of Te Puke A&P Show, after finishing third the previous year.

That year her colleague at Apata, Chris Clement, won the competition, with 2015's winner, Craig Ward, also an Apata employee.

"I was pleased with third last year, then winning it this year was a massive achievement," she says.

The competition puts six hopefuls through a series of practical and theoretical challenges designed to test the skills needed to run a successful export-focused business.

At the regional competition, one of those challenges involved various aspects of tractor operation, including health and safety requirements.

"I had to drive a tractor, and I actually won [the challenge], which is pretty funny when you are competing against lots of boys who do that on their day to day job."

Erin's preparation for the national final will be similar to that for the Bay of Plenty competition, and the competition will finish with the pressure cooker atmosphere of a presentation.

"I'll have a personal facilitator to ask me questions, and then I get asked questions from the hort forum - there's industry leaders and CEOs and directors all there."

With two winners in a row, Erin was encouraged to enter the Bay of Plenty competition by her employers.

"My boss is really motivation and there's also a chance to get more exposure and there are opportunities [for me] that are attached to doing this. Already I've had lots of opportunities to do things.

"Directly related to [winning the regional competition], I had a two day training session where we did media and presentation training and I've been talking to industry professionals - that's exposure that I don't think you'd get in your day to day role.

"I like helping other people as well so I've been doing doing a lot more with NZKGI [New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc] around careers expos and hopefully I'll get to speak at more schools and things like that."

Erin has also been accepted onto the Horticulture New Zealand leadership programme.
She has a broad role at Apata.

"I do anything from helping out growers to manage harvest and I'm in charge of the technical extension programme - taking what the industry practices are and feeding them out to our growers. I help with orchard management, health and safety and compliance and I get to deal with a really wide range of people and no day is ever the same."

"I really like working with people and problem solving and attention to detail - that's my personality type so this job really fits that."

Erin admits that the competition isn't going to be easy.

"I've met my other competitors and there are some bright cookies there. But I'm definitely going to give it my best shot - I'm the first female at the nationals in 10 years and I really want to go and stick it to them."

The competition is run by industry representative Horticulture New Zealand and sponsored by the Horticentre Trust and is now in its 11th year.

As well as being the only female in the competition, she is also the only representative from the kiwifruit industry, and NZKGI chief executive Nikki Johnson says she has her fingers crossed for Erin.

"The young grower competitions not only showcase the industry's talented future leaders, but also support the development and growth of skilled personnel in the kiwifruit industry," says Nikki.