Thank you to Lee-Ann Officer at Spec Trees for helping us plan this event.
Co-owners, Hamish Mitchell (Managing Director) and Gaby Mitchell (Administration Manager) talked to us about the women working within their organisation who have a welcome, established and valued presence within the company. Meeting and chatting with employees Grace and June about their experiences working with trees was also a great opportunity for EWHA committee and attendees.
Valuing people first!
The presentation today focused
on valuing people first and extending that value into our environment. Hamish also emphasised the value of our horticultural industry and the impact we can have at this time for society. Safeguarding our planet from the negative impacts of climate change, that we’re already experiencing.
There are huge opportunities to step up and not only promote horticulture but make meaningful changes through horticultural innovation and science. They support evidence-based research and support women being involved in every facet of horticulture. 
Speciality Trees have supported one woman from her Masters through to PhD to continue her career growth, and they intend to do more and more for anyone keen and willing to contribute to the horticulture industry in a reciprocal way.
W
e had a wonderful tour and besides the amazing trees, it’s also great to see the use of habitat shelter belts as an IPM solution on site rather than spraying chemicals. Fostering on-site biodiversity and feeding beneficial insects is the best way.
Thanks to all attendees. We hope you had a wonderful time and many thanks to everyone at Speciality Trees for hosting and showing us around.
