Young Achiever 2021, Dani McBride, is calling on more women in join the plant production sector as it offers such a rewarding and diverse career path.
Dani was named Young Achiever back in July and is now preparing for the Young Horticulturalist of the Year event. This is now being held in February 2022 after being postponed from November.
Dani is juggling her preparation for the competition with her role as manager of dispatch and procurement for family-owned Rural Design in Kaiwaka, Northland
Her typical day involves “dispatch management, such as arranging trucks for client deliveries; liaising with contractor nurseries and providing plant lists; forecasting production requirements for 2022, ensuring seeds are collected and sown in time; and stock management. “
Her job involves a lot as Rural Design handles 1.5 million plants each year.
“I love that my role is so diverse. I get to be connected to all sides of the business and communicate with everyone. My role has evolved to involve a whole lot of various aspects. I learn something new every day.”
Dani is the only female manager and says she receives great support from her bosses, for which she is extremely grateful. She, however, did push herself and worked hard to get her current position.
“I worked long hours and proved how motivated I am, how passionate I am about what I’m doing and how I can work well under pressure.”
She’d like to see more women join the 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 started in the horticulture industry as a landscaper while living in Auckland. She loved the work and undertook soft (plantings) and hard (retaining walls etc.) landscaping for three years. She then moved to Mangawai and a friend recommended she joined Rural Design.
“I thought ‘that’s a bit different. I can now learn about all the plants I had been planting during my time landscaping’.”
Dani has been with Rural Design for 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 plant wide issues, planting trees is so huge and so important so to have a job at the forefront of that is so bloody 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.”
