The 74ha dairy farm in South Auckland was gifted to NZ Young Farmers by the late Donald Pearson last year; Pirie will chair the five-member Donald Pearson Farm Board. Pirie, who farms 850 cows with her husband Brian at Ngatea, said she didn’t need convincing to take on the role.
“I’m thrilled; I’m passionate about promoting farming and connecting school children with the land and where their food comes from,” she says. “It’s a great fit with my interests.”
The farm will remain in dairy until June 2019. “That gives us 15 months to develop a vision and strategy for what we’d like the educational farm to look like, and to start implementing it.
“Analysing options to partner with different organisations and businesses to help achieve our plans will be a key focus.”
The farm’s location is seen as ideal for getting urban students to look into career prospects in agribusiness and food; 39% of New Zealand high school students live in Auckland.
“We want to use technology to convince secondary school students that the primary industry is a viable career,” says Pirie, (BAgSc, Massey), a Fonterra shareholders councillor and a former Tauhei member of NZ Young Farmers.
Each spring she opens her farm to local school children, who each raise a calf for pet day.
“For 12 weeks the children come to our farm and feed, brush and care for their calves and get them ready for calf club day,” says Pirie.
“It gives them an understanding of farm life and the importance of the dairy industry to NZ.”
Pirie applauds NZ Young Farmers for assembling a board with diverse skills.
The other four directors are Tiaki Hunia, general manager of Maori strategy at Fonterra; Manurewa High School principal Pete Jones; Bryan Cartelle, a friend of the Pearson family; and Terry Copeland, chief executive of NZ Young Farmers.
The board met last month for the first time.
The Red Meat Profit Partnership and DairyNZ currently give money to NZ Young Farmers to help it promote agri-food careers to school children.
