James Blair Named 2026 Young Grower National Champion
James Blair, an agronomist for AS Wilcox and the Pukekohe regional champion, has won the 2026 Young Grower national title.
Just a few weeks into her new role, Scott says that while she'll be based in Wellington, it's important that she gets out of the capital and connects with growers to hear their views and concerns.
For the last 20 years, Scott has been running her own environmentally-focused consultancy business, based in Central Otago, that provides advice on such things as planning, surveying and water quality issues. She says she'll remain a director and shareholder in the business but will have no role in its day-to-day running and she and her husband and family are in the process of relocating to Wellington.
Scott told Hort News that she's excited about her important new role and the challenges and opportunities that await her.
She's a collaborative person and is looking forward to dealing with the myriad of groups that come under the HortNZ banner as well as dealing with other organisations within the wider primary sector.
"One of the attractions of the role is that diversity. There are so many crops that fall under the umbrella of horticulture, but for all the diversity, growers have the same aims of doing a great job of growing good fruit and vegetables for the whole of NZ and do it in a profitable and sustainable way," she says.
Of the challenges facing the sector, getting consistency in regulations across the country is a big one. Scott says the HortNZ team have been working hard for years to get this and the end goal is to find a pathway that allows growers to produce their crops and meet the rules before them.
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"I have spent a huge amount of time over the past 20 years trying to navigate the various rules and to support farmers and growers in their quest to deal with the consenting process," she says.
Climate change is another big challenge the horticulture industry is facing, says Kate Scott.
She says growers shouldn't lose sight of the fact that this may offer opportunities such as introducing new crops. Dealing with adverse events is for her and the sector is a high priority and HortNZ's role is connecting growrers with the latest knowledge on how to deal with such events.
"We are going to have to adapt and find new ways of doing things because the old ways just won't work," she says.
Scott says not all the solutions to climate adaptation are here in NZ and there is a need to look more broadly for potential solutions and learn from other countries, rather than simply reinventing the wheel.
"Australia for example suffers from substantial impacts from climate change, so what do they do in terms of innovation to manage it? What is Europe doing? I was in Brazil earlier this year and was blown away by the innovation that was coming out of that country," she says.
