Mr Robb is the operations manager at Clyde Orchards in Earnscleugh near Alexandra.
He was "very humbled" to win a leadership award, the New Zealand President's Trophy, at the Horticulture New Zealand conference in Tauranga in August.
"There's 4500 growers in horticulture in New Zealand, so to be selected out of that is something quite amazing because there are a lot of passionate and hard-working growers out there, so the recognition is overwhelming," Mr Robb said.
He had been working in the industry for nearly 30 years.
At Clyde Orchards stone fruit is grown on 65ha across several blocks in the area — about 40ha of cherries, 20ha of flat peaches and 5ha of nectarines.
A crew of 13 workers arrived from Vanuatu last week and their first job was to install netting to protect cherry trees from birds.
For some of them it will be their 17th season working on the orchard.
"They're part of the family," Mr Robb said.
More seasonal staff would be begin arriving to thin peaches from the middle of next month, he said.
Mr Robb’s education includes completing a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Otago, a diploma of horticulture at Otago Polytechnic and a Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme in 2022.
The programme was amazing and gave him a greater understanding of his leadership style and how to take the next step into executive leadership and governance, he said.
His leadership style was to empower the people around him and identify his weaknesses and bring people into his team to bridge those gaps.
An example was employing staff with experience in human resources, payroll and employment contracts, so he could let them focus on those duties and he could spend more time growing fruit.
Mr Robb has been chairman of the Central Otago Fruit Growers Association for the past three years and was a founding member of the Seasonal Workers Manaaki group.
The group’s initiative was the community showing staff from the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme how they were valued for the vibrancy they brought to Central Otago, including getting them involved in community activities.
The initiative had been taken over by the Southern Regional Labour Governance Group, which he was chairman of.
An aim of the initiative was to provide pastoral care for all seasonal staff in the district, he said.
"So many of them come into the region and don't really have a support base, and so we're just working out what we can do to help make them feel welcome and safe in our communities and give them something to do, so that they really have an enjoyable time when they're here."
