Biosecurity award for M. bovis work
A small company which mobilised veterinarians around the country to deal with Mycoplasma bovis was one of the winners in this year's Biosecurity Awards, held at Parliament.
Teachers have welcomed a move by the Government to put money into supporting secondary school agricultural and horticultural science and to get more students into a career in the ag and hort sectors.
Last week, Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor announced funding of $1.6 million over five years, through MPI, to fund the initiative. He says the aim is to build resilience and meet future workforce demand as the sector grows.
"Our food and fibre sector is nothing if we don't have good, educated and enthusiastic people. We're backing the development of a nationwide advisory team to provide support to agricultural and horticultural science teachers, create resources and provide important links to local food and fibre sector partners."
O'Connor says there are 126 schools across the country teaching agricultural and horticultural science and the aim is to increase this number, especially in urban areas. He says the funding will provide for one full-time adviser and a support person plus up to 16 part-time regionally-based advisers.
The initiative came as a result of a proposal put to MPI by St Paul Collegiate, near Hamilton, which is a leader in teaching agribusiness, horticulture and agricultural science.
Kerry Allen, who runs the school's successful agribusiness programme and has been involved in other initiatives to raise the bar in teaching agriculture subjects in schools, played a leading role in putting this proposal together.
She says the money will go towards upskilling teachers and getting resources out to schools to help them understand new standards that are coming through, and provide general support to ag and hort teachers.
"Often ag and hort teachers are the sole charge people in their school and there is no other internal support for the subject, unlike maths which might have fifteen teachers," Allen told Rural News. "Ag and hort teachers have unique challenges because they need a lot of physical resources - such as glasshouses, farms, orchards and garden plots to maintain."
She sayswhile they cannot necessarily be helped physically, they can be given tricks and tips, better ideas professional development.
Fonterra has cemented its position as the country’s number one cheesemaker by picking up nine NZ Champion of Cheese trophies this year.
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has welcomed a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to declare 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.
Waikato herd health veterinarian Katrina Roberts is the 2024 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.