4 Parents

Thank you all for your ongoing support of AgriKidsNZ.

Relevant agriculture at primary school level as a subject and a competition is a concept that has been bounced around and touched on by many different angles and aspects of the Agricultural Industry and the Education system for a long time. Delving into history of schools and communities - many areas of New Zealand  had a school farm or some land that students were taught the basics of looking after animals and growing produce to feed a family - learning the concept of some self sufficiency.

Through the last 40 odd years agriculture has become a nonessential subject moved aside for more "crucial" subjects such as the arts, languages, etc. Just as with the trades - building, plumbing, mechanics etc which were pushed aside with the aim of having every high school student achieve a university education, so too farming has suffered seen to be a career choice only for those that 'fail' at everything else.

For those of us working hard to grow our farming assets, this is a frustrating attitude when we are so desperately short of skilled, motivated young people to help manage and rise through the ranks to become our future land owners.  

The days when every New Zealand primary school child had a connection with farming have long since moved on. Through the last two or  three decades we have slowly wrapped our youth tighter and tighter in the "cotton wool" mentality and denied them the chance to experience the real New Zealand outdoors.

AgriKidsNZ is developing the Introduction to Agriculture - Ag-In-Schools. At primary school level we are assisting teachers to deliver ag to all students ages 5-13 and give them the opportunity to experience real farming, hands on and knowledge.

In 2009 three schools are involved in pilot programmes in the North Island and the results of the Term 1 study programmes are very exciting. Feedback from teachers is that all students are hooking into studying New Zealand farming - from the practical hands on students to the academically strong students.

The vast range of other subjects that studying the rural industry opens up for project potential and learning outcomes is huge and getting a lot of teachers very excited about studying Agriculture. New Zealand geography, weather, environment, website research, international farming links, safety and first aid, animal care, health and handling and the list goes on.

We envisage AgriKidsNZ being the vehicle to encourage Agriculture to all New Zealand youth, whether they currently have access to it or have never put on a pair of gumboots in their life.