Developing leadership skills for horticulture's future

Hort Innovation is committed to cultivating and empowering future horticulture leaders at every career stage. Active participation in programs such as the Nuffield Australia Farming Scholarships reflects our dedication to supporting rising talent, and the entire industry.

Meet Stephanie Tabone, horticultural researcher at Applied Horticultural Research and recipient of 2024 Nuffield Scholarship sponsored by Hort Innovation.

My first involvement with Hort Innovation was when I was accepted into the Growing Leaders Program, which was a leadership program to develop your leadership skills but also build your network within the horticulture industry. I gained a lot of useful skills and experience from being part of that program, which began my leadership journey.

I work for Applied Horticultural Research, where we are currently delivering some levy-funded projects. I am working on the Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection project, as well as the Potato Industry Communication and Extension project. I have recently been awarded a Nuffield Scholarship, also sponsored by Hort Innovation.

The Nuffield Scholarship involves a few compulsory elements that help to build your knowledge and network, such as a group overseas tour. The other important component is completing a research project, on a topic that interests me personally but is also of benefit to industry. I have chosen to study the effective use of legumes as an alternative nitrogen source in vegetable cropping systems.

The research that I do through my Nuffield Scholarship will benefit the broader horticulture industry by providing practical solutions that growers can apply on their farms to increase the amount of nitrogen that they obtain from a legume cover crop and then to synchronise the availability of nitrogen with the nitrogen demands of a succeeding vegetable crop.

The Scholarship will help me to develop my communication, research and networking skills, but will also expand my technical and agronomic skills on the ground.

When Nuffield Australia announced that I had won a 2024 Scholarship, I was very excited. It made me feel supported by the horticulture industry, and valued to be recognised as a future leader, particularly because the Scholarship is quite prestigious in the agriculture industry.

I am optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead for my experience in the Nuffield program. I have enjoyed the process of choosing a topic and understanding what the challenges in the industry are, and am looking forward to connecting with people, identifying potential solutions, and then bringing those insights back to Australian growers.

In my opinion, an important part of the scholarship is collating the learnings you obtain through the program and your research, and communicating that information to industry in a way that is practical, clear and relevant to an Australian context.

I believe that leadership development is essential for the horticulture industry, first and foremost, to give emerging leaders the confidence to step up to take on further responsibilities and step outside their comfort zone.

Industry leadership development is also necessary from a succession point of view, making sure that we have people coming through the industry who not only have strong leadership skills but also the technical capability to support growers and the broader industry into the future. They need to be able to grow themselves and foster an environment that other people want to be part of, to encourage more people to pursue a career in the horticulture sector. It is a cycle that needs to be fostered.

The future of the horticulture industry is incredibly bright. There are so many different career opportunities that offer something for everyone, regardless of their skills, interests, or level of experience. I have felt incredibly welcomed into the industry despite not being from a farming background, and it has made my career incredibly fulfilling so far.