The University of Otago’s inaugural professor of its agricultural innovation programme, Craig Bunt, is effusive in his excitement for his new role.
In fact, when he initially saw the position advertised, he quipped "I can’t remember them writing this for me".
Agricultural innovation, a major within applied sciences, began in 2019 in response to the changing agricultural industry. It was designed to focus students’ learning on the major issues and innovation solutions required to support the future of the industry, as well as developing leaders to drive it forward.
Previously an associate professor in animal science at Lincoln University, Prof Bunt’s scientific contributions spanned veterinary pharmaceutics, food science and environmental management tools.
His appointment reflected a 25-year journey which began with undergraduate and doctorate studies through Otago’s School of Pharmacy, and continued through work in industry, AgResearch, and academia. And, he quipped, he had spent the past 25 years trying to get back to the southern city.
At Otago, he was "spoilt" by the capability both across the university and in industry in Dunedin which was on the door step.
"I haven’t seen a course that has that level of engagement with industry so early on. That’s an integral part of it," he said.
Delivering new papers was also always a challenge and Prof Bunt was delighted with the extremely favourable feedback from students.
He was also thrilled to visit the agribusiness class which involved pupils from John McGlashan College and Columba College and was an excellent lead-in to the programme, and see their enthusiasm first-hand.
The programme did not teach students how to be a farmer; but, for those considering a career where they would need to know about agriculture, then they should be doing it.
Some of the students were studying commerce, and others science. He would love to see the likes of history and political studies students also enrolling.
An afternoon on a farm showed people how complex farming now was, but not a lot of people had that opportunity any more. If students were going to be looking at challenges such as climate change, they needed to know something of the issues farming had to deal with, he said.
Prof Bunt said he had the support of the university for the programme, which identified it was both wanted and needed. From the outset of its planning, he could see what they were trying to pull together and was eager to be involved. There was no difficult in finding the capability required.
All sorts of issues loomed for the agricultural sector and farming was not isolated from nature. He cited the Predator Free 2050 initiative and what to do when a flock of 200 kea were "trying to steal your custard square" at Arthurs Pass, when there were just one or two now.
The rise of carbon farming was a topical issue and the conversion of productive sheep and beef properties; he could understand why people were getting angry about it, but said the frustrating thing was that the farmers selling the land were not to blame. All it was was a "licence to pollute".
On all those topics he would like to see discussion in the classroom.
New Zealand needed to have a robust agriculture sector. People forgot how young the country’s farming was; it only had three or four generations of investment.
Climate change would not stop farming in New Zealand but it would change the farming that could be done. The sector might have to pull back its reliance on monocultures and fertiliser imports, and move towards more mixed cultures, look more at stocking rates, and at other opportunities.
There might be some things "uniquely New Zealand" that could start to be looked at and it was a "hugely exciting" time to be involved in the sector, Prof Bunt said.
In his role, Prof Bunt said he was listening to what students wanted and what industry wanted.
"I’m out talking to people. Otago is the place to do it. I just can’t believe I’m back there."
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Comments
A very exciting time to be involved in ag technology. Data science, bioinformatics and genetics now form the basis of much of the activity in agriculture.
While animal husbandry and crop cultivation remain central to our sector, the ag students of the future must strive to be the best geneticists, pathologists and ecologists.
Cellular agriculture, aka lab-grown meat and dairy, will transform animal agriculture. It shifts production away from farming animals to instead focus on processes at the cellular level. And not just meat but also lab grown leather, seafood and fabrics. These things are already happing now around the world.
Can you imagine a world where most of our food can be grown within our cities and our countryside returned to nature with unpolluted rivers, wetlands, native forests and inshore waters free from commercial fishing?
