From dairy dreams to orchard success
- Claire Inkson
- Aug 10
- 6 min read
Nelson Young Grower winner Amelia Marsden is preparing for another shot at the national title while putting down roots in a new role developing young kiwifruit and apple plants at Thomas Bros Orchards.
Winning the Nelson Young Grower title in June for the second year running brought Amelia Marsden a very different kind of pressure.
When she entered the competition last year, she was primarily looking to challenge herself and enjoy the experience. Winning came as a surprise.
This year, she arrived as the defending champion.
“I put much more pressure on myself because I wanted to repeat what I had done last year, so that was quite stressful,” Marsden said.
“It is always going to be different because you have different competitors and slightly different modules, but this year there was definitely more pressure to do it again.”
The 30-year-old nursery manager at Thomas Bros Orchards in Riwaka successfully defended her regional title on June 19 and will now compete against six other regional winners at the national Young Grower of the Year final in Cromwell on August 27 and 28.
She placed third at the national final in 2025.
Marsden said the weeds and herbicides section was easily the most challenging part of this year’s regional competition.
“I think it was probably the most difficult module I have faced in any of the Young Farmer or Young Grower competitions I have entered. It was incredibly difficult.”
The fertiliser module was more familiar territory after her previous role with Ballance Agri-Nutrients, while the tractor section was among the most enjoyable.
Although Marsden has proven herself a strong competitor, she said winning was not usually the main reason she entered.
“I would not describe myself as competitive by nature, but I am very self-competitive.
“I primarily enter to find out where my strengths and weaknesses lie and what I need to work on. The competitions expose you to different areas and skills that you might not encounter in your everyday work.”
The networking, industry exposure and personal development that came with the competition were equally valuable, she said.
Marsden is also an experienced Young Farmer competitor, having reached regional finals during each of the past four years. She plans to enter again this season before reaching the competition’s age limit.
Her experience has taught her how to operate under pressure and be strategic when moving through a practical competition.
“You learn where you are going to get the most points and not to get hung up on the things you do not know.
“At the end of the day, you cannot earn points for something you do not attempt.”
Marsden is planning a more focused build-up to this year’s national Young Grower final after a difficult lead-in to the 2025 competition limited her preparation.
Finalists are given advance notice of the broad subject areas the practical modules will cover, allowing them to target their study without knowing the specific tasks they will face.
“Once I have that information, I will be able to prepare with a more specific focus.”
Her new workplace is also likely to prove a valuable resource.
“Thomas Bros has quite a history of employees progressing to the national final, so I will be relying on some of the people here for guidance. They understand what the competition involves.”
The first day of the final will coincide with her father’s 70th birthday, giving the family an additional reason to celebrate in Cromwell.
Her parents were travelling in Europe during last year’s final and were disappointed they could not attend.
“After I won the regional competition last year, Mum said, ‘You weren’t meant to win this year because we’re not going to be there.’
“They are very excited that they will be able to attend this time.”
Marsden’s route into horticulture was far from planned.
She grew up on a West Coast dairy farm and had wanted to become a dairy farmer from the age of five. Her school subjects were chosen with an agricultural career in mind, followed by a Bachelor of Agriculture at Lincoln University and work in the dairy industry.
A serious wrist injury early in her career changed that path.
Following surgery, Marsden was no longer able to milk cows and began looking for rural professional, advisory or representative roles.
A friend’s mother suggested she apply for a position in horticulture.
“I applied without expecting to hear anything back because I had no horticultural experience, but I was appointed as a supervisor at Willisbrook Orchards. It went from there.”
At university she had found plant science uninspiring, but the subject came alive once she began applying it in the orchard.
“Once I was working with plants practically and could apply that knowledge, I found it really interesting.”
Horticulture was also physically accessible in a way livestock farming was no longer able to be following her injury.
“It can be physically demanding, but in a different way from livestock farming. You do not need to be able to physically handle a large animal.”
Marsden found much of her dairy knowledge could be transferred into horticulture.
She compared the use of Hi-Cane to help manage flowering and harvest timing in orchards with the use of reproductive tools to condense calving in dairy herds.
“The methods are completely different, but both are ways of manipulating and managing the peak workload.”
Her career has since included apple supervision, kiwifruit management and fertiliser advisory work before she joined Thomas Bros as nursery manager shortly before the regional competition.
The role appealed after development work during the previous winter helped her realise she was most interested in young plants and establishing orchard blocks.
“I loved the kiwifruit role I previously had, but I discovered my passion was in developing young plants and getting blocks established, rather than solely in fruit production.”
There was also another complication.
“It turned out I was allergic to kiwifruit.”
Thomas Bros is now developing an on-orchard nursery to produce replacement plants for its own kiwifruit and apple blocks.
On the kiwifruit side, plants will be propagated from seed before being grafted and cared for through the growing season. They will then be lifted the following winter and planted into gaps within established orchard blocks or potentially used in future developments.
A similar system is being developed for apples, including establishing an in-house rootstock supply.
“We will graft the trees, grow them for a year and then plant them into gaps in the orchard blocks.”
Thomas Bros grows Green, SunGold and RubyRed kiwifruit, along with apples, pears and cherries.
Marsden said RubyRed offered both consumer novelty and practical supply-chain benefits.
“Instead of cutting into a kiwifruit and seeing green or gold flesh, consumers see that striking red colour.”
The variety is harvested earlier than SunGold, helping extend the period in which New Zealand kiwifruit is available to consumers and reducing competition for space and labour during the main gold harvest window.
Marsden has been at Thomas Bros for only a short time, but said the company’s reputation and the opportunity to help grow the nursery made the position appealing.
“I am excited to see how this role and the nursery might grow.”
She is reluctant to map out a rigid five or 10-year career plan, having already experienced how quickly circumstances can force a change of direction.
“When I had to leave dairy farming, I moved away from planning everything too rigidly because I had previously mapped out my entire dairy career.
“The injury made me realise how easily circumstances can change.”
While losing the career she had expected was difficult, Marsden said it ultimately made her more resilient and willing to take opportunities.
“I want to retain the flexibility to take opportunities as they arise.
“I would not want to turn down a good opportunity simply because it did not align with a path I had decided on years earlier.”
That willingness to change direction has carried her from a West Coast dairy farm into orchards, advisory work, competition success and now a role nurturing the plants that will shape the future of one of Nelson’s longest-established horticultural businesses.
Her next challenge will be in the national competition in Cromwell on August 27.
She hopes a stronger preparation, support from her new team and another year of experience will help turn last year’s third placing into something more.
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