Encouraging young people into agriculture

Beef and Lamb NZ chief executive Sam McIvor and extension manager Olivia Ross register students in the Food and Fibre Challenge at Southern Field Days. Photo: Supplied
Beef and Lamb NZ chief executive Sam McIvor and extension manager Olivia Ross register students in the Food and Fibre Challenge at Southern Field Days. Photo: Supplied
It all started with horseshoes, clothes pegs, fence standards and pine cones.

Beef + Lamb NZ extension manager Olivia Ross has spent the better part of the last 15 years working in some capacity with young people and getting them involved in the rural sector. It’s been a passion and a commitment to the industry, she said, which has kept her enthusiastic about her career.

Beef and Lamb NZ extension manager Olivia Ross enjoyed the first day of the Southern Field Days visiting sites by bicycle. Photo: Alice Scott
Beef and Lamb NZ extension manager Olivia Ross enjoyed the first day of the Southern Field Days visiting sites by bicycle. Photo: Alice Scott
Miss Ross first got her taste of wrangling kids through an obstacle course of rural-themed activities at a small regional A&P Show when she was working as a shepherd. She was an active member of Young Farmers Club for 12 years and was involved with AgriKid teams and teen ag classes.

She spent her university holidays shepherding ‘‘but my back gave out’’.

‘‘Then I did five years for the fertiliser industry.’’ She has since been with Beef + Lamb NZ for five years.

As an extension manager, Miss Ross’ core work is acting as a key representative for levy payers for all Beef +Lamb NZ extension and information transfer within the region. But it quickly morphed into much more when she completed a Kellogg Rural Leadership programme in 2017.

Part of her study for the programme highlighted the fact that there was little regional support for young people interested in careers in the rural sector.

‘‘At the completion of the programme I was able to be more involved in conversations in the sector capability side of the business and we had Capability Action Team group formed, which is made up of regional extension and sector capability staff to ensure information from the grassroots is being heard.’’

While working for Beef + Lamb NZ she developed the Generation Next programme which is now in its fifth year of operation.

‘‘Generation Next is effectively about getting young people into the rural sector, keeping them there and giving them a voice among their more experienced peers.’’

Miss Ross said the six-month course, split into three modules, is helping those who do it to understand the full supply chain of the industry ‘‘and be the movers and shakers of their generation’’.

The course has been going very well and gaining momentum South Island-wide, she said.

Midway through last year she had a ‘‘crazy, lightbulb moment’’.

She decided to create a challenge for young people who would attend February’s Southern Field Days, much along the same lines of the Amazing Race theme.

‘‘I figured we had all these rural businesses in one place, why not utilise that opportunity and showcase the different careers available in the rural sector?’’

Many young people have a restricted perception of the job opportunities available in the rural industries.

‘‘Dairy farmer or sheep farmer, that’s about as much as some young people can say when asked about what rural-based jobs are out there. But there’s so much more. We just had to find a way to harness it and put it on show.’’

Her vision of the Food and Fibre Discovery Challenge at the field days attracted 43 businesses, each with its own display board and information sheet about the careers involved with that business.

Miss Ross said she would hate to think how many hours when into creating the challenge but it paid dividends, from the feedback she received.

‘‘We had about 350 students that came through over the three days.

A lot of teachers said it was great to be able to bring the students to the field days and have a structured activity.’’

A lot of Miss Ross’ inspiration comes from wishing the support was there when she was a school leaver.

‘‘There was little information available when I was finishing school. I am lucky Beef + Lamb NZ has been so open to my ideas and let me go for it.’’

-By Alice Scott

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