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.
THE DAIRY industry is being urged to think about how better to attract and retain the right people.
DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says the big question is ‘how are we going to compete in the contest for talent with the Western world?’
“Before the global economy recovers – and it will eventually – we need to be thinking about how that pressure might intensify and how we get ahead of the game now.”
He said this last month at the launch of a centre for excellence for agricultural science and business at St Paul’s College, Hamilton. The college has had 48 students trial a pilot curriculum this year with another 85 signed up for next year. Seven other schools are involved and will offer the new subject in 2016.
A $2 million partnership with DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand, and others, is helping pay for the curriculum.
Mackle emphasised the enormous scale of change needed in dairy to meet land and water challenges.
“To get ahead of the game… and move away from reactive mode, we need to move fast and on time. [If we don’t] we will undermine our efforts to climb the value add ladder with our dairy products.
“It will take a substantial number of quality people to deliver the change; skilled farmers and their advisors are at the core.
“This is about jobs for scientists, economists, environmental experts, marketers, communicators, business advisors, strategists, trade experts, geneticists, animal health experts, technology and computer scientists…. We need you all in our industry.”
DairyNZ, MPI and BLNZ are writing a ‘people power report’ to set out where we need to be and how to work together. We need educators now to help us build the workforce for the future, says Mackle.
The St Paul’s programme will develop curricula for senior secondary schools to get facilitate the best and brightest into research and professional careers in the primary sector.
Mackle says the programme is “a centre of excellence. And that’s not an aspiration, it’s a mission to be the best we can as an industry, a sector and a country exporting food.”
He says DairyNZ is delighted to be supporting the centre. “We all need to work together on this.”
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy launched the programme.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
There have been leadership changes at the Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative, which has been struggling financially in recent years.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
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Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Kiwi exporters will be $100 million better off today as the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force.
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