The 38-year-old full-time orchard supervisor kicked off her career as a seasonal kiwifruit contractor, but has upskilled as she moved into her full-time role.
“I thought I’d go into the packhouse and see what it was like. I loved it and it grew from there,” she said.
A love of being outdoors prompted her to head into orchards, thinning fruit and taking her to her present role that includes the highly-skilled task of winter pruning.
She is now studying her Level 4 horticulture production certificate at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and picked up her latest job with Kiwifruit Investments, a kiwifruit management company.
NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated chief executive Colin Bond says the sector’s campaign to attract more locals over the past three years has been a success, but he fears the supply of local labour has now run dry, while crop volumes are set to surge.
“By 2026 the sector will require 28,000 seasonal workers for harvest, an increase of 5000 employees from 2021,” Bond said.
Like many in the horticultural sector, he is urging the Government to carefully consider migration plans in its latest major review and the role seasonal migrant workers play in a country facing an increasingly dire shortage of working-age staff.
