2021 Winner - Danielle McBride
Our 2021 Young Achiever, Dani McBride, was a major achiever at her Young Horticulturist of the Year competition and won a suite of awards.
Dani, who is Dispatch and Procurement Manager at Rural Design in Kaiwaka, came second overall in Young Hort. She was also awarded the FruitFed Supplies Leadership Award and the Innovation Project Award.
Dani said the competition was an amazing experience, very rewarding and a lot of fun.
Dani’s 2nd place win gave her a $2,500 Massey University study scholarship, $750 of ICL Specialty Fertilisers and a one-year membership of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural & Horticultural Science (NZIAHS). The leadership award gave her $2500 towards a leadership or Outward Bound course while the innovation award was $5000.
Dani would like to see other women take part in Young Achiever and become future leaders in the plant production industry.
“It would be great to see more women in leadership roles. This sector is so diverse and offers such a wide variety of career options. My career has sky-rocketed in the seven years I have been working. Women need to know that horticulture is not just picking fruit; it can provide a really rewarding career path with amazing options. I feel that women can really contribute to the industry through being good communicators and bringing people together.”
Dani has been with Rural Design for more than four years now. She started out in tree planter gang and was involved in large scale revegetation projects. She then joined the nursery and undertook all sorts of duties such as maintenance, propagation, production and, at the end of this time, became more involved in plant dispatch. Two years ago, at the age of only 24, Dani became manager of dispatch and procurement.
She says many women will find the sector rewarding as it’s about being part of restoring native ecosystems and creating new plant life.
“In the wake of climate change and all other environmental issues, planting trees is vital so to have a job at the forefront of this is so cool. I absolutely love native plants in the wild and learning all about their intricacies and differences that make them unique.
“I have always loved plants, at first indoors, then I found love for our native bush and the whole ecosystem that goes with it. Personal success is awesome, but it is not the only driving point for a career in horticulture - creating a solution, regenerating the land, is the real target.”