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Farmhand

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I love my job – yes I really do! I mean who gets to get away from their desk during lunchtime to catch up with a farmer and then by chance run into a sheep shearing session to then get handed over the shearing handpiece to give it a go? Shortly after this eye-opening experience I headed back to town to fetch a coffee and tried hard not to stain the café’s beautiful carpet with my muddy gumboots ;-)

 

On another very exciting note: it’s official – I created the Farmhand Training Programme! When I say I – here goes a huuuuuuge thank you to all supporters (especially Vodafone Foundation and Malcam Charitable Trust), mentors, friends, youth workers, Dunedinites, farmers, education providers, councillors, scientists, businesses, teachers, etc. who have had an open ear listening to my ideas and side tangents in the last months. Without these stimulating discussions and important collaborations I wouldn’t even be close to being on track. Dunedin folks – here is a new, alternative pathway for our young people and you have played a big part making it possible!!!

 

Farmhand Training will start 22nd September with enrolment of Youth into the programme starting next month. We are collaborating with Otago Polytechnic to deliver a foundation certificate in the same fashion to Altitude Employment Training except with the addition of an introduction to rural skills (i.e. health & safety and hazards on a farm, intro to ATV maintenance and driving, animal handling and care, welding, arboriculture, construction). Harriet Walsh (course coordinator of Otago Polytechnic) and staff at the Cromwell campus have been very cooperative and I feel assured that we will be able to offer a well-rounded experience to the young people during our pilot.

We adjusted our induction process to suit a farm setting, i.e. some aspects of attitude, communication, and awareness are more relevant and important in a rural setting compared to working in an office. And on top of the highly successful ‘work-ready’ induction the trust delivers we will be able to offer 4 days of practical induction which will include exploration of practical work in and around a farm, a pasture to plate experience, and a first introduction to career opportunities in the agriculture sector. Wow – awesome! I can’t wait for young people to start their journey with us.

 

 

Sticky notes of farms I will be working with in the vicinity of Dunedin.

Meanwhile I am working hard getting dates, places and people finalized and organized. Lots of thinking, paper-work, and multi-tasking errands on creating a wholesome rural experience. Because we are REAL we can now also be found via social media (yes!). So please make sure you spread the word and like our beautiful page (https://www.facebook.com/FarmhandDunedin). This process means that we will be accepting applications from interested, young people soon. So if you know any 18-25 year old young person, keen to improve their practical skills while breathing Dunedin’s fresh air let them know I am excited to hear from them!!!

 

Philosophy of farming

I have also been continuing my own learning journey around agriculture and its changing role in our world, here are some ideas from overseas.

 

In the movie “The Real Dirt On Farmer John” (2005) you will witness the story of Agriculture in America in the last decades and this present time. A truly sad story and hopefully this wave will not hit New Zealand as badly. However due to the nature of cooperated farm ownership in New Zealand the following statements by ‘Farmer John’ are easily transferable to a New Zealand context:

 

“It used to be that just about everyone in the country had a connection to a farm. But now most of these farms are gone. And the farmers are speaking a dying language [...]. Today the paint goes, the roofs go, the witchpoles go and the farm culture goes with it”

 

“There’s just a few farms left. Just keep on swallowing up this land. Nobody seems to worry about where the food is going to come from”

 

I recently got given a very inspirational book. The title basically says it all: “Fields of farmers – Interning, mentoring, partnering, germinating” by Joel Salatin. I leave you with a couple of very insightful quotes as this man is truly an inspiration:

 

“If our culture lauded innovative can-do accomplishment as much as college degrees, I believe we’d have a more empowered, skilled, and capable youth culture. Young people would feel like they have more options and our culture would be richer as a result”

“My father believed that agriculture was the one industry that would never go out of date because eating was the last thing people give up. A study of businesses that have lasted over 500 years in Europe found that almost all of them were based upon an agricultural product”.

 

 

So let’s start the process of creating opportunities and incentives for young New Zealanders that enable them to feed their fellow citizens!

 

 

 

Welcome to the Taieri - one of the most productive hinterlands in Dunedin

 

Dunedin countryside


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