Thursday, 06 September 2018 08:33

Farming caught in net of poor perception

Written by  Peter Burke
Taratahi chief executive Arthur Graves. Taratahi chief executive Arthur Graves.

The construction industry is winning the hearts and minds of young school leavers who are heading for the big cities rather than a life in the country.

That’s the view of Taratahi Institute of Agriculture chief executive Arthur Graves who says the challenge for the agriculture sector is turning around this situation. 

He believes this and other factors are making for tough times in agricultural training institutes such as Taratahi.

At the heart of the problem is demographics with low numbers of school leavers right now due to the low birth rate some years ago. And young people are staying at school longer than they used to. 

Graves says many young people in that pipeline of early school leavers went into agriculture, but not now.

The other problem, he says, is the perception young people have of agriculture.

“Agriculture is not high in young people’s minds as an attractive career,” Graves told Rural News

“There are negative perceptions about agriculture because of how it presents itself -- the environmental and animal welfare stories. All those things create a mixed feeling about agriculture being a responsible industry. These are perceptions – fair or unfair – and these influence people’s decisions.” 

And there are perceptions out there about the nature of the work and employment conditions. These are reinforced to some degree by the fact that farmers have to work hard, long hours often in inhospitable conditions. Such conditions are not very appealing to young people, Graves says.

More like this

The model is broken – Govt

Minister of Education Chris Hipkins concedes the timing of the Taratahi interim liquidation is tough, especially for students and staff, and he says supporting them is a top priority.

Taratahi ag training left in limbo

The future of the major agricultural training institute Taratahi remains in limbo after it went into interim liquidation just before Christmas at the request of its board of trustees.

Taratahi set for growth

Agricultural training provider Taratahi says its efforts to attract new students have paid off with solid enrolments for 2018.

Telford enters new era

Lincoln University's transfer of its Telford agricultural training operation at Balclutha to Wairarapa-based Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre has been completed, on the payment of a token $1 for the campus and other assets.

Featured

New Image turns 40!

Auckland manufacturer and distributor of colostrum-based supplements, New Image International, celebrated its 40th anniversary this month.

National

Winter grazing warning

Every time people from overseas see photographs of cows up to their hocks in mud it's bad for New Zealand.

ANZ defends farm lending rates

The country's largest lender to the agriculture sector says it's not favouring home loans over farm and business lending.

Machinery & Products

Expo set to wow again

Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo…

A year of global challenges

As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Review SOEs!

OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of…

Bank reset

OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter