Nelson Young Grower of the Year - Farrah Richards
31 October 2024
A Covid-19 lockdown led to Primary ITO learner Farrah Richards discovering a completely different career path – horticulture, in which she is already sowing the seeds of success.

2024 Nelson Young Grower of the Year Farrah Richards. Photo credit: Tim Cuff, Horticulture NZ
Farrah, 21, is completing an apprenticeship in horticulture (fruit production) through Primary ITO, while working at Fairfield Orchards near Riwaka, about 40 minutes from Nelson.
After finishing school with NCEA Level 3 in 2021, she was enrolled to study medicine in Otago when a lockdown put that plan on hold. She took the opportunity to work on her aunt and uncle’s orchard for a few months and enjoyed the variety of work, so she stayed on.
When the offer of an apprenticeship came up last year, Farrah jumped at the chance to get qualified without a large student debt.
In May, just seven months after starting her apprenticeship, Farrah took out the title of Nelson Young Grower of the Year. The regional competition saw seven young fruit and vegetable growers test their skills and knowledge on topics including biosecurity and risk management, identifying plant pests and disease, and irrigation, before delivering a speech at the awards dinner.
Farrah had been a little hesitant to enter the competition, given her experience had been mostly in the packhouse. However, she knuckled down and made full use of the lead-up time to study up on the various areas of knowledge.

Farrah taking part in the challenges. Photo credit: Tim Cuff, Horticulture NZ
Farrah’s Training Adviser, Kirsty Tough, was part of a small team from Primary ITO attending the awards dinner to support learners taking part. Kirsty says it was amazing to hear Farrah take out the top spot.
“She is a really diligent learner, even working through harvest season she still got lots of study done. The detail in her assessments has been absolutely phenomenal. Seeing what she’s done has been brilliant … her training progress and now with this award win.”
Farrah started her apprenticeship in October 2023 and is part way through her level 3 training. This involves learning the essentials of growing, including identifying pests and diseases, basic soil science, production cycles, and more.
She is looking forward to the level 4 part of her apprenticeship, which will focus more on stepping up into supervising day-to-day operations, taking on more responsibility and having the potential to move into a role supervising staff.
“I enjoy the variety and intensity of the work, and there’s lots of room for growth,” she says. “If you’re willing to turn up, work hard, and are ambitious, you can climb quite quickly. I like working with technology, and the increase in automation in the industry means there’s more jobs doing different things.”
In July, Farrah travelled to Hastings to attend the NZ Apples & Pears national conference. This opened her eyes to the scale of the industry, variety of roles, and the number of people working in the industry that come from different career paths.
As for future plans, she is keen to keep learning and building on her experience.
“I still feel very novice in the industry but in the future, I’d be keen to run or manage an orchard. There’s so many opportunities away from that too. I know people that are employed to go overseas to run packhouses – that would be great.”
While Farrah didn’t take out the top spot in the New Zealand Young Grower national finals in October, she gained a lot from the experience and is firmly focused on growing her career in the horticulture sector.
To learn more about the NZ Apprenticeship in Fruit Production, click here. To get in touch with your local horticulture Training Adviser, fill in the form below.