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Massey University’s Agricultural Alumini Award winner Bridgit Hawkins.
Stand up and be counted millennials: that was the message from the winner of Massey University’s Agricultural Alumni Award, Bridget Hawkins, founder and chief executive of the agritech company Regen.
Hawkins was raised on a sheep and beef farm near Reporoa and in 1989 completed a masters degree in agricultural science at Massey.
She told students and graduates at the annual Massey Agricultural Awards dinner that while some people see the attitudes of millennials as negative, she takes quite the opposite view and reckons the primary sector needs their skills and new ways of thinking.
Hawkins says the world is in a state of VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) and young people will need their skills to operate successfully in this environment.
“When you start work, be respectful; don’t walk in saying you know everything.
“But don’t be afraid to speak up because you are born in a world where technology is your normal – unlike me.
“You interact differently with it because it has always been part of your life and this is the way things need to be done now.
“There is a need for action in the primary sector and it is not at a stage where we can have incremental change. It needs much broader thinking and people in the sector have to be ready to experiment and drive stuff. It’s an exciting time to enter the primary sector.”
Hawkins says the sector needs the perspective of youth and young people should not be afraid to step up and help shape the future.
Can discarded beef skins become premium dog food? Would camel milk work for your morning flat white? These are just two of the questions that will be answered next week at an international conference in Palmerston North.
Changing skill demands and new job opportunities in the primary sector have prompted Massey University to create a new degree course and add a significant major into another in 2025.
Always be on the lookout for new job opportunities and get outside your comfort zone.
She came all the way from a sheep station in Tasmania especially to be presented with the top prize in this year's Massey University agriculture, horticulture and environmental science award.
Massey University is tweaking the format of its agricultural courses.
Fonterra’s board has been reduced to nine - comprising six farmer-elected and three appointed directors.
Five hunting-related shootings this year is prompting a call to review firearm safety training for licencing.
The horticulture sector is a big winner from recent free trade deals sealed with the Gulf states, says Associate Agriculture Minister Nicola Grigg.
Fonterra shareholders are concerned with a further decline in the co-op’s share of milk collected in New Zealand.
A governance group has been formed, following extensive sector consultation, to implement the recommendations from the Industry Working Group's (IWG) final report and is said to be forming a 'road map' for improving New Zealand's animal genetic gain system.
Free workshops focused on managing risk in sharefarming got underway last week.
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