Aftermath of cyclone lingers in schools
A new report has revealed the full impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on Hawke’s Bay’s principals and teachers.
Young design and architecture students who spent a weekend in a woolshed in the central North Island have gone away ecstatic about wool.
The students are determined to use it in their projects when they go into the workforce.
The NZ Campaign for Wool arranged for the nine students to visit Ngamatea Station, near Taihape, where they spent time with wool experts. They also got around the station to get an understanding of the wool production cycle.
The station runs 40,000 sheep and produces 180,000kg of strong wool every year.
Gaylene Hoskings, who arranged the trip, says some of the students had farming backgrounds, others had none.
One objective was to make the students advocates for wool and to encourage their colleagues to specify wool in design projects. She succeeded.
Comments from the students included:
- "I didn't realise how aesthetically versatile it is. There are so many scientific reasons why wool works so well but at its core it is simply a beautiful thing.
- "It fascinates me that wool protects a living animal but plant fibres don't; this is why it works so well to protect us in our built environments.
- "The fact that wool absorbs and neutralises harmful volatile organic compounds is so interesting. Especially when synthetics are advertising low VOC levels and we have a fibre that actually neutralises them."
Last year, the Campaign for Wool promoted the product to school children.
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
World Veterinary Day falls on Saturday 27 April.
The Director General of MPI, Ray Smith says it's important for his department to celebrate the success of a whole range of groups and people around the country.
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.
One of the country's top Māori sheep and beef farms is facing a five-year battle to get back to where it was before Cyclone Gabrielle struck just over 14 months ago.