A warm welcome to Rebekah Robinson who joins the team as a ‘Plant Health Specialist’
We are acutely aware of our responsibilities and have taken on Rebekah as a ‘Plant Health Specialist’ to ensure that our staff are fully and appropriately trained, and our plant health system is robust.
Here’s what she had to say about her new job role and her first few weeks at Johnson's:
I’ve been spending a few days working with each team across the nursery and it has been great to see how the different areas of the nursery function together; sales, purchasing, incoming goods and production to name a few. Everyone has been very welcoming and it’s clear that staff know what they are doing.
My new role includes providing training to staff on topical plant health issues, auditing current plant health processes within the nursery, and suggesting changes if necessary. I will be responsible for updating our plant health standards which sit alongside our quality and environmental standards.
It’s hard to pick out a single thing, but I have particularly enjoyed working in the Cash & Carry. Working there gave me the chance to admire and inspect a wide range of stock together in one location. It’s probably a good thing I don’t have a large garden at the moment, or I would quickly spend my salary on plants!
I started my career in arable agriculture and completed a PhD in agricultural microbiology before I made the switch to horticulture. I have an RHS Level 3 certificate in the principles of horticulture and my PA1 and PA6 spray licence. I’m really looking forward to gaining more practical horticultural experience whilst working at Johnsons.
For the last five years, I worked for the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley in Surrey. I was a Senior Plant Health Scientist and my responsibilities included delivery of plant health policy for RHS shows, providing plant health training to staff and exhibitors, and diagnosing diseased plant samples in the laboratory.
In my previous job, I was working at the customer end of the horticultural industry and I’m now looking forward to gaining a better understanding of the production end of the industry. I am also looking forward to adding my knowledge and experience to that already possessed by the team at Johnson's and developing our plant health systems to ensure they are robust enough to handle the future threats we may face.
Chairman and Horticulturalist John Richardson, said: "As a company, we were delighted when Rebekah Robinson chose Johnsons of Whixley as a nursery grower with whom to spend 2 years developing her understanding of nursery stock production and national distribution.
Rebekah has now been with us for 3 months and is spending time in several areas of the business, where she has immediately become a valued member of our team and will provide us with real support in our determination to improve our plant health management to the highest standard."
Posted 18th Nov 5:17pm
