The NZPPI 2021 Young Achiever, Dani McBride, was a major achiever at the 2021 Young Horticulturalist of the Year competition yesterday where she was presented with a suite of awards.
Dani, who is Dispatch and Procurement Manager at Rural Design in Kaiwaka, came second overall in the competition. She was also awarded the FruitFed Supplies Leadership Award and the Innovation Project Award.
Dani said the competition was an amazing experience and a lot of fun. She said it was very rewarding despite event delays and the gala evening not going ahead due to Covid restrictions.
Dani’s 2nd place win gives 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 gives her $2500 towards a leadership or Outward Bound course while the innovation award was $5000. The judges said of Dani’s concept: “Dani presented a ready-to-go innovation, showing the judges her high level of attention to detail, due diligence and business forecasting. Dani has business acumen to turn her concept into a successful business venture.” NZPPI will talk to Dani about this venture in the future when she is ready to share her concept.
The overall competition winner was Young Viticulturist representative, Rhys Hall, while 3rd place went to Young Amenity Horticulture representative Tim Cooper. Other finalists were Young Landscaper representative Hayden Parker, Young Flower Grower representative Rudrik Tripathi and New Arborist representative Martin Manea, who took part remotely due to Covid restrictions.
NZPPI congratulates Dani on her well-deserved awards and we look forward to seeing her develop further as a strong industry leader and inspiration for other young producers.