Regan Judd named Young Horticulturist of the year

I would like to thank the organisers of the Young Horticulturist of the Year awards held in Karaka in early November. It was a fantastic event that was well supported by the industry. The entire evening was well executed, very entertaining and motivating.

Regan Judd, an orchard sector manager for T&G Global in the Hawkes Bay, was named the winner. Congratulations to all the competitors, they all spoke well in their speeches. I was impressed with the ideas they presented.

This competition has never been as important. Our industry is growing & changing rapidly, and it will be taken forward by these future leaders. Growing continues to evolve and systems change – we must meet the demands of consumers and produce more with less – that is the challenge, I feel in good hands after seeing the calibre of the contestants.

The Horticentre Trust is one of the sponsors of the event and part of their remit is to help educate and promote growing amongst young people. Thank you to the Horticentre Trust and all other sponsors for the support of such a momentous event.

If you are a young grower thinking of entering the competition – just do it!

To learn more about the winner or the competitors please follow the links below or watch the short video.

https://www.younghort.co.nz/news/02-11-2022/introducing-the-finalists-for-2022/

A very large audience was in attendance

Left to right Tony Ivicevich, Ingrid Ennis (Terronova Seeds) and Joanne Ivicevich.  It was wonderful to see Tony and Joanne again after so long.  Tony and Joanne have retired from commercial greenhouse tomato growing but Tony is still a serving Trustee of the NZ Horticentre Trust.