increase font size
Chris Kelly.
The Rural News journalist who wrote the story about Massey chancellor Chris Kelly commenting on the state of the veterinary profession says he’s gutted at the outcome of the story.
Peter Burke says he is sad and angry at the way Kelly has been pilloried in the media, and some of his comments had been taken out of context. Burke says he has known Kelly for many years and has huge respect for his scholarship and leadership and believes it is unfair to accuse him of sexism.
“In my experience, Chris has been a champion of equal rights and instead of attacking his comments people should have seen this as an opportunity to engage in the wider positive debate about the state of the veterinary profession, which needs to happen.”
Burke says Kelly, as chancellor of Massey, was an inspiring leader and a practical agriculturalist who had been trying to drive changes that would have made Massey an even greater agricultural university.
“The attacks on Chris were totally unwarranted and unnecessary and I feel gutted that my actions in writing what I regard as an honest and fair piece of journalism has resulted in this outcome,” he says.
Merlyn Hay, a senior vet with 15 years experience wrote, “This is outrageous sexist nonsense and is insulting to male and female graduates. I can’t believe it’s been published and am embarrassed the chancellor would have such an outdated attitude.”
However, Mike Porter took a different view tweeting: “Not a sexist statement. He’s merely stating an observation and his opinion is based on experience. Lighten up for goodness sake.”
Kelly is a Massey University graduate who worked as a veterinarian and for 12 years headed the state-owned enterprise Landcorp before he retired in 2013. He has been a member of the Massey University council since 2005 and chancellor since 2014. The chancellor chairs the University council, which is responsible for governance of the university.
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2016 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to agriculture.
New research suggests Aotearoa New Zealand farmers are broadly matching phosphorus fertiliser use to the needs of their soils, helping maintain relatively stable nutrient levels across the country’s agricultural land.
William John Poole, a third year Agribusiness student at Massey University, has been awarded the Dr Warren Parker and Pāmu Scholarship.
The head of Massey University's School of Agriculture and the Environment, Professor Paul Kenyon, says the outlook for the primary sector is positive with record numbers of students enrolling for Massey's range of undergraduate courses in the primary sector.
The most successful catchment groups in NZ are those that have 'a source to sea' approach.
Expect greater collaboration between Massey University’s school of Agriculture and Environment and Ireland’s leading agriculture university, the University College of Dublin (UCD), in the future.
A partnership between Canterbury milk processor Synlait and the world's largest food producer, Nestlé, has been celebrated with a visit to a North Canterbury farm by a group including senior staff from Synlait, the Ravensdown subsidiary EcoPond, and Nestlé's Switzerland head office.
Canterbury milk processor Synlait is blaming what it calls "a perfect storm" of setbacks for a big loss in its half year result for the six months ended January 31, 2026.
More of the same please, says Federated Farmers dairy chair Karl Dean when asked about who should succeed Miles Hurrell as Fonterra chief executive.
A Waikato farmer who set up a 'tinder' for cows - using artificial intelligence to find the perfect bull for each cow - days the first-year results are better than expected.
Fonterra says it's keeping an eye on the Middle East crisis and its implications for global supply chains.
The closure of the McCain processing plant and the recent announcement of 300 job losses at Wattie’s underscore the mounting pressure facing New Zealand’s manufacturing sector, Buy NZ Made says.
OPINION: If you ask this old mutt, the choice at the next election isn't shaping up as a contest of…
OPINION: A mate of yours says we're long overdue for a reckoning on what value farmers really get for the…
