Wednesday, 18 March 2015 11:48

Numbers game

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The Hound understands the recent crowing by Massey and Lincoln universities about the ‘huge growth’ in ag student numbers this year needs to be put into perspective.

Your old mate is delighted to note the rise in numbers of young people wanting to further their studies in the ag field, because the wider sector needs well-educated new blood for the nation’s economy to keep on expanding. However, a closer inspection of the actual numbers shows that while there has been a rise in the number entering ag courses in the last couple of years, they are still below the peak numbers of only a few years ago. This old mate hopes these numbers keep growing, but urges the Massey and Lincoln publicity mongers to lay off the ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ tactics.

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