Latest news with #GrowingFutureFarmers
Otago Daily Times
10-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Training programme no longer free
For the first time since its inception, Growing Future Farmers students will need to pay to take part in the farm skills programme. More than 50 people attended the programme's open day at Invermay last week. The two-year scholarship programme allows students, aged 16 to 20, to learn skills on sheep, beef and deer farms. The fees-free programme was launched in 2020 but chief executive Wendy Paul said the students would need to pay to attend the course from next year. "Unfortunately, we can not continue with this course being fees free." The reasons include the cost of running the programme and inflationary pressure. A fee helped students show commitment to the programme, they had "skin in the game" and respected the farm trainer's work to offer it. "Unfortunately we have had students that have not respected the investment and time our farm trainers have put in," Ms Paul said. The fee was not yet confirmed but it was expected to be about $2500 a year. "We will be working to make sure it is reasonable," she said. More than 120 students were placed on more than 100 farms throughout New Zealand this year. Last year, more students applied for the programme than the number of farms available to place them. A goal was to place 95 students on farms next year. About a third of the farms were in the South Island. On average, about 40% of the students were female and 60% were male. About 40% had an urban background. The programme could transform the lives of students. However, the programme was not suitable for everyone, as it had "ups and downs" and students needed the right attitude and integrity to navigate those challenges. "It is not all Country Calendar ," she said. A goal was to get all students employed within six months after graduation. The target had been hit every year except last year as two students wanted to remain as casual staff and another moved to Australia to chase a dream playing in the National Rugby League competition. Former Growing Future Farmers student Lily Cole, 19, graduated from the programme in November last year and shared her experiences at the open day. She supported the introduction of a student fee. "A lot of people do the course because they think it will be an escape from school and be easy and fun and they will get to do all the highlights — that it will be like Country Calendar , which it is on a good day but when you spend every day for three months in wet weather gear in spring, it can get a bit disheartening. A course fee will weed out people who aren't going to stick it out," she said. "It is all what you make of it ... you can't prepare for it — leaving home is hard and you have to learn how to cook for yourself and budget," she said. She was a "city slicker" living in Christchurch and determined to leave secondary school. "I couldn't wait to leave and I was out of there as soon as I could." She found the paperwork she was required to complete to be more relevant, easier and more enjoyable than her study requirements at school. She spent her first year on a sheep and beef farm in Kurow and, in her second year, she was one of five female students placed on sheep and beef property Russell Farms in Dipton. "Make the most of who you are with because if you get a connection with them, it is going to make your life a lot easier," she said. A major highlight was being given a pup to train as a working dog and she now had a team of five dogs and continued to work on Russell Farms. The programme allowed students to learn from their mistakes and she encouraged students to ask lots of questions. "You can have mess-ups and start again — take your time and figure it out, that's what I did. "You start out not knowing much and then you learn a little bit and that leads to more." First year student Jack Robinson, 18, of Dunback, shared his experiences of being placed on Glenaray Station in Northern Southland. "It is pretty cool. I have been enjoying working on such a big place." Life on the 70,000ha sheep, beef and deer property included having meals served in a cookshop and living in shepherds' quarters with 10 other staff. The programme gave students "opportunities, opportunities, opportunities", such as working on Glenaray. He was raised on a farm and had some skills before starting the programme and it allowed him to "polish" those skills by completing courses including first aid, fencing, chainsaw use, shearing and crutching sheep and driving farm vehicles. Each course had been helpful. "It opens your eyes on different ways to do things," he said. Another eye-opener was a course with a rural banker on financial literacy. Each week of the programme, he was given an $165 allowance. "I discovered I was overindulging on social occasions." He hated "book work" at school but during the programme he had learned to like it, he said.
NZ Herald
10-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
On The Up: Jessica Cameron's journey to shepherd on Waikato farm
'I spent a few days on my uncle's Helensville sheep and beef farm through the Gateway programme at school, and found I really liked farming.' Getting into farming 'When I was looking at how to get into farming in 2022, I realised it was quite hard if you weren't born into a farming family,' Cameron said. 'My uncle had a student from GFF, and it looked like a really good way to enter the industry and be well-trained and come out with NZQA unit standards.' Growing Future Farmers is New Zealand's largest farmer-led vocational workforce training programme. It spans two years and is fee-free within the sheep, beef and deer sector. After being matched with Alastair and Ann Reeves of Waimai Romney Stud in Te Akau as possible farmer trainers for her two-year placement, Cameron visited the farm and was offered a place. 'Waimai is a ram stud, and they also have their own breed, Chara Blacks,' she said. 'They are all about genetics, testing and selection, and that really makes your brain work, and I enjoyed being part of that.' Alastair and Ann are very supportive of sport at high levels and willingly gave Cameron the time off to continue with waka ama. She competed with the Aotearoa Waka Ama Team at the 2024 World Championships in Hawaii, and she manages her training using a machine in her room. Farm life Cameron lived with three other students from Growing Future Farmers who were on other farms in the area. Students are allocated to a student success adviser, and she described her SSA, Morgan Lilley, as her second mum, saying 'she was great'. Four days a week (32 hours), Cameron worked on the farm and also attended courses once a week covering shearing, fencing, tractor driving, equine care, ATV driving, chainsaw and dog training. She said the curriculum covered an extensive list of courses and skills. Advertise with NZME. 'At the beginning of the first year, we get a heading dog pup to train, and we get a huntaway pup halfway through the first year. 'I was fortunate enough to be trained by one of New Zealand's top dog triallists, Leo Jecentho, who also hand-picked my pups. 'My heading dog, Smoke, has the genetics of Leo's champion dogs, and I get to keep both my dogs when I graduate the programme.' Fridays also included a Zoom call with Eastern Institute of Technology tutors, and completing her assessments, which Cameron admitted she sometimes had to focus on. The programme covers costs for 'our house, Wi-Fi, power and meat, and we get around $200 a week from our sponsorship money for food and anything else. 'I've got really good at budgeting, and we did a financial literacy course on budgeting with Rabobank.' A future farmer Cameron's new role won't take her out of the area where she has just spent the last two years, and she will still be close to two of her former housemates who also have their first jobs in the Te Akau area. 'I'll be on a 1000-ha effective sheep and beef farm carrying 10,000 stock units with a 50/50 split between Romney breeding sheep and Angus steers.' She is looking forward to starting work and applying her skills to a real farming job. 'Because of the GFF programme, I've got qualifications and two years of industry experience, allowing me to enter farming at a more senior level. 'I'm going to be working with a GFF student myself, so that will be really good.' Cameron said she found the whole GFF experience supportive and enjoyable. She is grateful to her farmer trainers, Alastair and Ann, but also to their farm manager, Tom Lilley, whom she shadowed for the two years.
