Massey University to upskill teachers amid rising ag subject demand
There's been unprecedented demand from secondary school students across the country to study agricultural related subjects.
Irish grasslands researcher Dr Phil Creighton is leading a project looking at new grass species to improve ewe performance and speed the growth rate of lambs.
This has led to a collaboration with Massey University. Some of the research on grassland management in Ireland is taking place at Teagasc’s research station at Athenry, Country Galway.
Peter Burke was recently there to look at developments.
Phil Creighton is no stranger to New Zealand: he’s worked on a farm here and has recently visited the country as scientist.
Like many young Irish students, Creighton spent six months in NZ doing work experience as part of his agricultural science degree through the University College of Dublin (UCD), the main agricultural university in Ireland. UCD students are encouraged to spend time in NZ ahead of all other countries because it is seen as a leading agricultural country with similar issues to Ireland.
Creighton comes from a sheep farm in the Wicklow area, in the east of Ireland. It is good sheep country by anyone’s standards. But when he arrived in NZ for his work experience, he was taken out of his comfort zone and ended up on a large dairy farm at Methven. He reckons there is no better place in the world to visit to find out about dairy farming. The scale of dairying and other farming operations in NZ were a sight to behold, he says.
“The big thing I took from it was the grassland management and the emphasis that is put on utilisation of grass; also the layout of the farms, races, water and fencing and keeping the system simple,” Creighton told Rural News.
“As well as working on the dairy farm I had the opportunity to look at other sectors including arable and sheep and, again, I was impressed by the scale. One farm I visited had 10,000 sheep and for me, coming from a country where the average sheep farm has about 100 animals, it was a sight in itself.”
Creighton says he was impressed by the good grassland management of NZ farms and the effort put on fencing and good paddock size.
As a result of what he saw in NZ, when he finished his ag science degree he went on to do a PhD in grassland management, which has led to his current role and a collaboration with Massey University.
Creighton says while there is a difference in the scale of sheep farming between Ireland and NZ, there are many similar issues, mainly because both countries run grass-based systems, which are much cheaper for farmers than using feed grown off-farm.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.