Sage advice from alumni

These were the words of advice from Massey Alumni graduate Abby Scott to graduates at this year's gala dinner.

She was the guest speaker at the annual prize giving for the top students in Massey University's School of Agriculture and Environment - a sell-out event attended by more than 200 people that included students, academics and primary industry leaders.

Since graduating from Massey, Scott worked at DairyNZ but is now working for Rabobank in Masterton. She grew up on a dairy farm in the Wairarapa and while studying at Massey had an open mind on what direction her career would take. She says what she found was that her degree gave her a huge menu of options to choose from in terms of a career path.

"The degree gave me the technical knowledge and the confidence in the industry. I enjoyed seeing the research trials and getting out on the farms," she says.

Scott says since leaving Massey, she hasn't stopped learning and says a big part of that is how to work with people. She says people don't care what you know until they know that you care about them. She says developing good relationship is key - as is networking and building a wide range of contacts who share similar goals and sense of purpose.

"In terms of a career look for and take opportunities as they arise," she says.

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Scott says for the farm consultant, change is a part of the business and says nowadays with farming becoming more complex, the consultant needs to keep up with the play to serve their clients properly.

For young people still at secondary school and thinking about a career, Scott says a degree in agriculture in whatever form is something they should look at seriously because of the huge range of exciting career options it opens.

The winner of the top prize at the graduation was Yeun An, who probably also won the prize for the greatest distance travelled to attend - travelling from a sheep station in Tasmania to receive the prestigious William Gearish Memorial Award, presented to her by Professor Nicola Shadbolt.

Auckland-born An was two years into a chemical engineering degree at Auckland University when she worked on a dairy farm during the summer break.

"I suddenly got hooked and realised that agriculture was from me, so changed my study path and came to Massey," she says.

Two years into her degree at Massey, she got offered a role as a shepherd on a sheep station in Tasmania and completed her final degree year by distance. She's also worked on a cattle station and after receiving her prize, is flying back to her job in Tasmania.

Another Aucklander, Katya de Silva, won the top prize for excellence in agriculture. A city girl who loves the outdoors, she says while at school she picked up on the fact that people had a poor understanding of the primary sector and what farmers do.

"People don't realise the challenges that farmers face navigating issues such as climate change and environment," she says.

In the coming year she'll be working to Te Tumu Paeroa, the Māori trustee, as a whenua services co-ordinator.