One and One Don't Make Three
OPINION: Since when did one and one make three? Who didn't smell an elephant-sized rat when our leaders decided to give $60 million to save the cement factory in Northland?
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has congratulated a group of Whangarei school students for their work promoting the primary sector to their peers.
The Huanui College students from Whangarei are this year's winners of the Enterprising Primary Industries Careers (EPIC) Challenge, with their winning entry "Bee in the Scene" which encourages students to consider a career in the apiculture industry.
Launched this year, EPIC is an initiative that hopes to attract students to the primary sector. EPIC challenges year 10 students to identify different careers within the industry and develop a marketing strategy to promote them to their classmates.
"The winning entry highlighted the variety of careers within the apiculture industry, from bee keeping, to microbiology and biochemistry," says Guy.
"The four students identified their target audience and developed a creative, modern marketing campaign – which included brochures, advertising, social media, and interviews with those working in the industry."
Overall, the EPIC challenge received 121 entries from 117 schools across the country; Huanui College also came first in the Dairy category of the competition.
"Many students don't realise that working in the primary industries goes beyond the farm and covers a whole range of careers – from robotics, chemical engineering, food science, genetics and policy, right through to marketing our products internationally," says Guy.
"The EPIC challenge is just one of a whole raft of initiatives to attract the best and brightest to our sector."
New Zealand's pest problem has reached crisis point, according to Federated Farmers' second National Pests Survey, which shows farmers are spending more money and effort on control — yet pest numbers keep climbing faster than they were two years ago.
Testing confirms H5 bird flu in a single northern giant petrel, found dead on a remote Cape Palliser beach in the Wairarapa, says Dr Mary van Andel, the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI) Chief Veterinary Officer.
"What's for dinner?" may sound like a simple question, but for many Kiwi parents, answering it has become a job in itself.
Fifty Eight years ago, on the 16th of August 1968, August Claas, the founder of the harvesting company and father of Helmut Claas, personally presented a Claas Senator combine harvester to Scottish farmer John Steven.
New Zealand consumers are paying more for beef mince than ever before, with the average retail price now sitting above $24 per kilogram, according to Rabobank.
State farmer Pamu has delivered its strongest operating result on record.

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