increase font size
The ‘George the Farmer’ books explains to students more about where food and fibre comes from.
Forty-five primary schools across New Zealand will soon be better equipped to teach students about where food and fibre comes from.
These schools have all won ‘George the Farmer’ book sets in a recent competition by agri-lending specialist Rabobank.
They were asked to provide a brief explanation on why they should receive a set of the books. Several urban schools said that they would help build students’ understanding on a topic they know little about, while some rural schools thought that the books would help build pride among pupils from farming families.
Back in 2012, South Australia farmer Simone Kain was looking for farming books and apps for her farm obsessed son George. She quickly discovered that there wasn’t a global human farming character telling sequential stories for children about life on the land.
Thus, in 2014 the ‘George the Farmer’ book and education resource series was born. Over the next nine years, more than 100,000 Aussie kids have connected to the earth, food and farm through the adventures of George, his agronomist wife Dr Ruby and their twin children Lucy and Jack.
The books have also been garnering attention outside of Australia, with stockists in the US and Canada selling the brand over the past nine months and retail sales in many countries, including the UK, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
Attracting nearly 250 entries, the competition’s winning NZ schools were announced in late September, with the sets – featuring six ‘George the Farmer’ books covering different agricultural sectors – to be delivered early in term four.
Each book is connected to a set of learning resources which teachers can access online. Additionally, with help from Kain and the New Zealand Agribusiness in Schools programme. Seven NZ-specific learning resources with a variety of activities from Year 1-5 students have been developed and are now available on the Agribusiness in Schools website.
Rabobank Upper North Island client council chair Donna Arnold said the bank’s network had developed the competition with the aim of improving knowledge about farming and food production among young Kiwis.
As well as the book competition, Arnold says the network has also been developing other recent activities to improve understanding of food production and highlight agri sector career opportunities.
More than 70 farmers from across the North and South Islands recently spent a dayand- a-half learning new business management and planning skills at Rabobank Ag Pathways Programmes held in Invercargill, Ashburton and Hawera.
Education union NZEI Te Riu Roa says that while educators will support the Government’s investment in learning support, they’re likely to be disappointed that it has been paid for by defunding expert teachers.
Hawke's Bay teenage entrepreneur Hugo Moffett is helping the rural community access cheaper school uniforms, all without leaving their homes.
In the past year, the Farmer Time for Schools programme which seeks to connect New Zealand school students with farmers, has experienced further growth.
DairyNZ is supporting a proposed new learning model for apprenticeships and traineeships that would see training, education, and pastoral care delivered together to provide the best chance of success.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
