Pukekohe Young Grower of the Year 2025, Jack Haddon, of Balle Brothers. Photo / Supplied
Crop manager Jack Haddon has won the Pukekohe 2025 Young Grower regional title.
Haddon, who oversees the cauliflower and cabbage operation for Balle Brothers, pitched his skills against three fellow contestants to take the title last month.
He will now compete against six other regional winners in Horticulture New Zealand’s national Young Grower of the Year competition, to be held in Christchurch this September.
Haddon, 22, became interested in horticulture after getting a school holiday job with Sutherland Produce in Bombay when he was 15.
He joined the company fulltime at 17 and moved to Balle Bros in 2022.
“I had planned to train as a diesel mechanic, but once I tried horticulture, I decided I wanted to make that my career,” he said.
Haddon said there was a lot to the role.
“I like being outdoors a lot of the day, but also the variety - no day is ever the same - and the problem-solving involved.
“I’m operating large machinery and the complex systems and computers that run those.”
He also used his maths skills.
“For instance, to work out the number of hectares you’ll be spraying and the application rates.
“There’s managing information and data, working with spreadsheets and knowing all about health and safety and risk management.”
Haddon said he was also “walking the crops” every day.
“I need to know a lot about them and to be able to spot any issues.”
Balle Brothers grew 200 hectares of cauliflower and cabbage, he said.
“It’s a 50-50 mix, and cauliflower is quite a difficult plant to grow, so it keeps me on my toes.”
It was Haddon’s second year entering the regional competition, with a Balle Brothers colleague winning last year.
He said he felt more confident this time and enjoyed working through the modules.
These included finance, pest and disease identification, compliance, health and safety and risk management, soil fertility, and tractor operation.
There was also a marketing module, where Haddon wrote a 2000-word plan for marketing pizza bases made with cauliflower.
Haddon said he’d undergone on-the-job training and had completed a Primary ITO outdoor crop production qualification.
“I started out planting broccoli and lettuce in my holiday job and steadily moved to other jobs, including driving tractors and doing groundwork and harvesting,” he said.
Haddon became a manager 10 months ago.
“I want to continue to further my career with Balle Brothers and work my way higher up in management, and start looking after more crops.”
Haddon said he saw a good future in the industry.
“I’m looking forward to the Young Grower of the Year final, and I’m getting back to studying to prepare for it.”
The Young Grower of the Year competition celebrates the success of young people in the industry and encourages others to consider a career in horticulture.
Local organisers host and run the regional competitions independently, with Horticulture New Zealand hosting the final in a different part of the country each year.
Entry is open to both commercial fruit and vegetable growers from across the regions, up to the age of 30.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Kate Scott said the competitions play an important role in highlighting the wide variety of different career opportunities in the industry.
“Jack is a great example of the highly skilled young people in our sector, who are passionate about providing quality produce for New Zealanders and who are forging rewarding careers in the industry.”
Scott thanked the many industry professionals who gave up their time and put a lot of work into organising the Young Grower events.
“The regional Young Grower competitions and the national Young Grower of the Year final could not happen without them,” she said.
“Thanks to their dedication, we can celebrate the skilled young people who are pursuing careers in the sector and raise awareness of those career opportunities to others.”