An office job has never appealed to New Arborist of the Year, Jordan Sutherland.

Weekends growing up always involved tramping, mountain biking and making the most of the Canterbury countryside with his parents. So much so that Jordan initially wanted to be a Department of Conservation ranger.

That was until an arborist was needed at work, prompting a career re-think.

“I stumbled into this really. Being an arborist wasn’t really a career pathway in school.

“I worked with an arborist when I was a park ranger, and he brought in all his tools, and I thought it was pretty cool. Then an apprenticeship popped up at Tree Tech, and I started in July 2022.”

Since then Jordan has worked his way up the ladder of one of the South Island’s largest arborist businesses, to become second climber and he has recently started to run his own crew.

And the sky may well be the limit for this high achiever, who smashes his goals.

“All through high school I did outdoor ed, and I did a lot of tramping and mountain biking with Mum and Dad. And I was pretty serious with my mountain biking.

“I did nationals and Oceania events. Now I do more sort of multi-sport,” he says humbly, before revealing his success in the intensive Coast to Coast competition this year.

“I won my category [under 23s], and I got second overall in the two-day individual. It was my first time as an individual, I’ve done that as a team in 2021.”

Competing solo meant the now 22-year-old had to learn how to kayak. “I was already pretty good at running and biking, they were my strengths. But I still did pretty well.”

Indeed. He was sixth overall in. the 55km circuit and 7^th in the 67km circuit.

Adding to the awards accolades is Young Arborist of the Year, meaning Jordan will now compete in the prestigious Young Horticulturist of the Year, a competition involving six horticultural sectors, in Auckland in November.

He is looking forward to the challenge, and will have recently returned from a two-month trip to Europe keen to have a new goal.

“I think I will enjoy doing this, because it will give me another avenue to pursue, and I think it will go well towards my career pathway as well.

“I love what I do. It’s fairly practical. It’s mainly on the tools. We do a lot of planting and young tree maintenance, removing trees, pruning trees and power line clearance. We have book work that we do outside of work hours, and a few off site courses as well.

“It’s fun being out on the tools every day, but I can definitely see that maybe in 10 years or when I get a bit older and everything hurts a bit more, I’ll probably be looking at an office job – doing tree assessments and tree reports for council.”

His parents recently sold their own mechanics business, so he has seen the work required to manage a business – so it has left him in two minds.

“There’s potentially avenues to go into consultancy. I can definitely see it being my career for life.”

About The Young Horticulturist of the Year

The Young Horticulturist of the Year (YHOTY) is an intensive two-day competition for talented young professionals from a range of horticultural sectors.  Run by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust, the YHOTY was launched in 2005 and culminates in choosing a supreme winner at a prestigious annual awards.

There are six finalists vying for the supreme title and a prize pool worth more than $50,000 at the grand final, held in Karaka, Auckland on November 5 and 6.

The sectors are:

• Young Grower of the Year (Horticulture New Zealand Fruit & Vegetable Sectors)
• Young Amenity Horticulturist (New Zealand Recreation Association)
• Young Viticulturist of the Year (New Zealand Winegrowers)
• New Arborist (New Zealand Arboriculture Association Inc)
• Young Florist/Flower Grower (FLONZI Florists and Flower Growers NZ Incorporated)
• Young Plant Producer of the Year (New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated)

The competition’s valued Official Partners are Woolworths, Fruitfed Supplies and T&G Fresh. Young Horticulturist of the Year celebrates 20 years in 2025 and is managed by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust.

For tickets to the awards dinner on Thursday, November 6, 2025 and further information go to younghort.co.nz

About the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust

The Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust is a volunteer group of industry professionals passionate about investing in future sector talent, through developing leadership and self-development capability.