Rhys Hall wins 2021 Young Horticulturist competition

Rhys Hall with Bayer CropScience Regional Sales Manager Phil Bertram

The Young Horticulturist Competition was launched in 2005 and is an annual event managed and run by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Education Trust on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (RNZIH), the sponsors and the horticulture industry. The competition brings together all sectors of Horticulture such as Master Landscapers, NZ Plant Producers etc. Winners from sector competitions met and competed in a two-day event held in Auckland on the 22 & 23 February 2022.

The vision is to help seed the future now and is achieved by attracting the best people from across all horticultural industries to engage and invest in their competition.

Bayer has a long history of supporting youth in Horticulture, both as a previous naming sponsor of the New Zealand Young Viticulturist competition and continued sponsorship and support of the Young Horticulturist Competition

Based in Blenheim, Rhys Hall, 28, who works in Waihopai Valley as assistant vineyard manager for Indevin, took out the top title after intense competition that ended on Wednesday. Rhys has worked at this company – a leading producer of high-quality NZ wine – for five years, starting as a vineyard worker, then viticulture technician before promoting to his current job two years’ ago. He has a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in plant science from Massey University. Rhys was a very strong finalist.

Rhys won because his horticultural training and experience had enabled him to gather a wide range of horticultural knowledge and allowed him to develop many related professional/business skills. His level of expertise in his own field of viticulture is outstanding and this combined with a deeper grasp of general horticultural principles and practices made him stand out.

Bayer also congratulates Danielle McBride who placed second and Tim Cooper for placing third.