For 30 years Waimea Nurseries near Nelson has supplied fruit, nut, and deciduous ornamental trees to garden retailers. Today, trees grown by Waimea Nurseries are stocked by more than 300 garden retailers around New Zealand. Growing excellent quality trees is a focus across the whole nursery, using industry best-practice propagation methods along with more innovative solutions.
Here we hear from three staff members about their experiences of working within the nursery.
Loving the outdoors
Since June 2021, Emma Reid has held the position of manager of people, performance and health and safety and is based at the nursery’s main site near Richmond. Her typical day involves recruiting and inducting new staff members, sorting out existing staff issues, and looking after staff engagement and training.
“I love it when I get the opportunity to go and see staff in the field and see what they do. I got to see the first day of planting in our field nursery the other day and there was a real buzz amongst the team.”
Emma enjoys her busy role as it has lots of variety and she loves the team vibe.
“The team are amazing - there is so much knowledge here and they all work hard and are always happy to answer my silly questions. I love how down to earth everyone is, how everyone is up for a laugh and pitches in when needed. I think this is because it is a family-owned business.”
“The people who work in this field do a wonderful job and are passionate about what they do. I’m learning a lot about the different processes of growing trees, which has been fascinating and surprising because they don’t grow as well in my garden.”
Her frustration with the role is the current difficulties in recruiting staff due to COVID-19 and the unemployment rate. As a solution the HR team are now providing staff breakfasts and implemented a winter bonus, which employees receive after working for a certain number of hours.
Emma says the industry provides a highly rewarding career path and she would encourage young people to give it a go.
“I genuinely think that anybody who loves the outdoors and seeing tangible results, plant production is the industry for them. What I realised early on is there is opportunities for everyone to grow within the industry if they are willing to put the effort in.”
“I suppose indirectly I’m helping to supply 70% of New Zealand’s orchards with their apple trees, which are then supplying the world with apples. That’s a big claim - mostly I try to make sure we have enough staff to get the work done.”
Making a difference
Neil Davies is the Innovation Manager at Waimea Nurseries. His role involves a wide variety of responsibilities and he’s currently working on several projects. He contributes to strategic plans that set the scene for Waimea’s future, works with the field services engineering team on developing new machinery solutions, and keeps his hands dirty by measuring and monitoring field trials.
“There is always plenty happening and lots of opportunities to get involved in.”
Prior to starting at Waimea, Neil was based in bigger cities and worked in product development and innovation within the building industry and medical devices. However, he wanted to work outside and try something different.
“I was keen to apply my transferable skills and experience, and keen to learn about the horticultural industry and the workings of a large commercial nursery.”
He initially joined Waimea as a nursery worker, working with teams of up to 20 people. He didn’t really know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised at how satisfying the job was, due in part to the culture of Waimea, which strikes a healthy balance between fun and a sense of purpose.
“With a positive attitude and open mind I was learning heaps and seeing opportunities opening to apply myself. Having the practical hands-on start in the company gave me confidence in starting the new role of Innovation Manager.”
Neil is proud of his job as it makes a positive contribution to the industry and to New Zealand. He is working on initiatives to address challenges in sustainability, to support customers in meeting the growing demand for NZ made products, to improve productivity and to increase staff attraction through improved work experiences.
He recommends nursery work for someone who has a curious mind and is not afraid to ask questions and challenge existing thinking.
“I think having a diverse background and broad skill set is increasingly valuable to our company and our industry. My advice would be to gain practical hands-on experience in a nursery or horticultural setting to complement your science, technology, innovation, or commercial background.”
Contributing to NZ Inc
Currently acting as a team leader, Lizzie Hirst is normally a 2IC at Waimea Nurseries, in the apple field nursery.
Her day always begins with a team coffee as all team leaders and 2ICs meet at the main nursery site to organise the day ahead. Lizzie keeps track of her team’s progress with tasks such as putting canes in the ground to support newly planted grafted apple trees. Each job role has targets and teams have the ability to earn above their normal hourly rate if they are really productive.
Lizzie says working outside is essential for her sense of wellbeing.
“When the sun is shining, and the music is playing it creates a great atmosphere to work in. I enjoy being able to train people and pass on my knowledge, and this role enables me to do that.”
She also enjoys working with culturally diverse teams as Waimea Nurseries employs people from all over the world. The company looks after the staff in many ways, not only financially but also offering a wide range of social aspects such as a free lunch at the end of each month.
“The team is very friendly and willing to help and support you along the way. We play music, share food, stories and most importantly, we work together like a family.”
She loves the contribution the nursery makes to New Zealand and this gives her sense of immense job satisfaction.
“By growing and providing fruit trees to all parts of New Zealand we start the cycle of a huge food industry. I love that this could be a full-scale orchard or a couple of trees in someone's garden. It makes you feel good knowing you can be a part of providing food to people throughout New Zealand. “
Lizzie recommends her career to someone who enjoys working outside and can handle a physically demanding role, come rain or shine.
“The jobs here suit people who can work as a team, treat others with respect and kindness and push themselves to achieve targets. There are opportunities to step up in your role permanently or temporarily to give you more experience. Being self-motivated is important and being able to listen and learn things quickly and efficiently is key.”