11 February 1997 Call for positive promotion of rural sector career opportunities

Education providers need to promote agriculture as an attractive profession to all students, say scholars of the 14th Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme at Lincoln University.

Educationalists have traditionally undervalued agriculture, they say, and high academic achievers have generally been pointed in other directions.

Calling for a reversal in this attitude, the Kellogg scholars say that highly gifted students should be encouraged to enter the rural sector because the rewards can easily match those in other occupations.

Career advancement, remuneration and job satisfaction are all readily found in rural sector occupations and in many cases exceed those presently available in other professions such as law and medicine, areas into which careers advisers seem to prefer to channel their outstanding students.

Careers advisers and others should be confident about promoting agriculture as full of exciting career opportunities.

The interrelated fields from farmer to agricultural consultant and research scientist to marketer can offer high rewards in career and financial satisfaction, they say.

Many New Zealand rural industries and companies are at the forefront of world technologies and require innovative, intelligent and well qualified young people to join them.

Of the 24 scholars on the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme over 90 percent are tertiary qualified and the participants said they would like to see a similar representation of tertiary qualifications across the sector as a whole.

The scholars say that for farmers to progress in a competitive, market-led environment, they must be knowledgeable in areas of science, animal and crop husbandry, accountancy, business management, time management and the efficient use of resources.

Are school careers advisers aware of the under-supply of skilled employees in the rural sector workforce and the opportunities available, they ask?

The industry needs bright, motivated and highly skilled young people to be given positive information about farming and the opportunities available.

Sharp minds are needed to launch a healthy primary industry into the 21st century and cement its success there, say the Kellogg scholars.

Lincoln University's Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme started in 1979 and is the country's top rural leadership training programme. Many of its graduates occupy top positions in national politics, farmer politics, local authority and community affairs and rural sector businesses.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand