Rewarding farmers who embrace sustainability
Winners of DairyNZ’s Sustainability and Stewardship awards in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards have their eyes firmly fixed on progressing a positive future for New Zealand dairy.
The winner of the Massey Agricultural Student of the Year prize, DairyNZ scholar Jack van Bussel (20), is planning a future in rural banking.
The award is for the student judged to have made the largest contribution to the wellbeing and reputation of his/her fellow agricultural students.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “When they started describing who the winner was I thought ‘that sounds like me’, but I never really thought it could be. I am honoured to get it, I still can’t believe it and I really appreciate it.”
Van Bussel grew up on a lifestyle block near Whanganui, always out on farms and enjoyed that life. At school he enjoyed accounting and economics so a degree in ag commerce was the obvious option for him.
“I didn’t have the farming experience a lot of the people coming in had. Coming from a lifestyle block definitely gave me a start and it also gave me an open mind. Going into an agricultural degree course sort-of meant that I wasn’t focused on one industry and I could experiment with a lot of industries and find a lot of knowledge throughout the different sectors.”
Van Bussel says he loved university life, not only the academic side but making friends and taking up the other opportunities Massey had to offer. He gained a wealth of knowledge which will equip him well in his new role as a rural banker with Westpac in Hastings.
Van Bussel is grateful to DairyNZ for his three-year scholarship.
“They helped me with my course fees and a lot of other things such as career days, meet-and-greet events and career development. It’s been invaluable.”
He says he’d like to see more emphasis on promoting agriculture as a career because of its importance to the NZ economy. Many Kiwis’ misconceptions about agriculture in the community need to be addressed.
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.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.