Graduates needed to serve industry
The agricultural sector is dependent on farming graduates to serve the industry, Taratahi Institute of Agriculture chief executive Arthur Graves says.
Speaking at the Telford graduation at Balclutha yesterday, the first to be held under North Island-based Taratahi since it took over as tertiary provider a year ago, he said New Zealand was still dependent on agriculture for 46 per cent of its export earnings.
Graves said he was all too aware of the responsibility the institution had to the agricultural sector to train graduates, but most of all to the students themselves.
He told students: ‘‘If we don’t do well by you then we put that [the agricultural industry] at peril. That’s why this Taratahi/Telford partnership is so important, because there’s almost no-one left to do it.’’
He said the two organisations had been put together for mutual survival to provide the opportunity for training and to support the industry.
‘‘It’s our responsibility to find a way to make sure that continues.’’
The Telford campus of Taratahi, near Balclutha in south Otago, is home to up to 120 residential students, with about 60 graduating this year.
Catlins-born and Dunedineducated Graves said Telford students were lucky to be able to learn at one of the ‘‘best outdoor classrooms in the world,’’ because on the on-farm training opportunities. ‘‘Learning gives you an edge that keeps you ahead of the game. Stop learning and the game will run you over.’’
Learning to be adaptable was also a key skill in a rapidly changing world, Taratahi Institute of Agriculture council chair Mavis Mullins said.
A wool-classer by trade and involved in the family shearing company Paewai Mullins Shearing contractors, she described to students how she had gone from shearing board to corporate board in her career.
‘‘The primary sector is my sector but you don’t know where you are going to end up.’’
The Telford-Taratahi partnership had become part of a national story that epitomised the changing industry and face of agriculture, she said. ‘‘We are here for you and oh my gosh, we need you and your energy to meet what is coming.’’
She mentioned artificial meat and wine, and the other challengers to the traditional industry. ‘‘So you have to embrace change, because the only constant is change . . . make sure you have that problem solving ability so you can futureproof your skills. ‘‘The world is going to be looking to you to see what you can do.’’