Salary Report Special Podcast: Horticulture careers and salaries with Viki Halkett of Fresh Horticultural Careers and Haymarket Recruitment’s Vishnu Kannan

HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby discusses the 2026 salaries report on the HortWeek Podcast with Fresh Horticultural Careers director Viki Halkett and Haymarket Recruitment marketing manager Vishnu Kannan.

Higher-paid roles are becoming more common across the horticulture sector, as employers respond to rising costs and changing demand. New HortWeek research, drawing on internal sample data from jobs advertised on www.HortWeek.com, shows steady growth in roles paying £40,000 and above, reflecting a shift towards more skilled, technical and management-focused positions.

The findings are based on HortWeek’s analysis of salary data from across the UK gardening sector, using a consistent sample of roles advertised on HortWeek.com to compare how pay bands changed between 2021 and early 2025. The data show a clear upward movement, with mid-range and higher-paid roles taking a larger share of the market over time.

The panel discusses what kind of technology is replacing manual labour in the industry — and should humans be worried about “the robots” taking their jobs?

We debate whether employers are taking on fewer entry-level staff due to the recent National Minimum Wage rise and what that means for young people who want to start out in the horticultural industry. Viki tells us what kind of salaries technical experts or managers expect to earn and what will be the most highly sought-after technical and specialist skills in the world of environmental horticulture green jobs in the future.

Submitted questions from Capel Manor College students are also tackled by the panel. The answers include the essential information on where you can gain work experience after gaining a horticulture qualification, what starting salaries are and what qualifications employers prefer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.