Bill Brett has a long, wide ranging and distinguished career in horticulture. This was recently recognized, with the Associate of Honour award of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture.
Following graduation from Massey, he worked in field research, then moved into technical advisory roles, initially in agrichemicals, then later for Yates. Retail beckoned and following a brief period with Botanix garden centres, he was approached by Mitre 10 NZ to set up the garden division which he managed for 5 years. In 1995 Bill set up his consultancy and training business and soon had many nursery and garden centre clients in NZ, Australia, Ireland and UK.
Simultaneously with the above Bill was also the technical partner in a large kiwifruit orchard. He served on the board of the Nursery & Garden Industry Association for 12 years, 2 as president.
In retirement in Nelson, Bill has authored a book on Garden Pest & Disease Control and has 2 more books close to publication. Bill is self-sufficient in vegetables from a small backyard. Until recently, before down-sizing, he was also self-sufficient in fruit.
Sixty years a gardener and working in the gardening industry, Bill has a lot of knowledge he loves to share.