My initial interest in agriculture was during Year 11 after choosing to take ‘agriculture’ in school. In this class I was always totally engaged in every aspect of learning, whether it was theory or practical. I could tell that I was very interested in this subject through the grades I was achieving throughout the year, completing Level One NCEA with a merit endorsement in the agriculture subject. As I was enjoying this subject so much I carried on taking it through NCEA Level 2 and achieved merit endorsement and have returned to take it again in NCEA Level 3.
At the end of Year 12 I knew that I definitely wanted to have a career in the agriculture sector. However, I wasn’t sure exactly where in agriculture I wanted to be involved, as it is very broad and can lead me to many different pathways within it. I was investigating courses at universities that I would be interested in and how they can help me, believing that university was the only option available in my next phase of study. This was until one Sunday evening watching a Country Calendar episode on Laura Douglas who owns Real Country who runs workshops for females to become more accustomed with tasks such as; changing tyres, clay bird shooting, learning how to take care of a horse...etc. But what really caught my attention was the Fairlight Foundation which she is also involved with which is a 12 month internship covering all major farming aspects including deer, sheep, beef and forestry. After watching the episode and doing a bit of research about the course it was definitely something that I could see myself doing and wanting to pursue. Unfortunately they only accept applicants that are aged 21 and over.
Knowing this, I was curious to find out whether there were similar courses that I would be able to apply for after Year 13. This is when I found ‘Otiwhiti Station’ after searching ‘New Zealand farming Cadetships’. After researching some more, the 5th of June open day was marked on the calendar to attend. The reason I wanted to be selected onto the Otiwhiti Cadetship programme is to be able to study and learn in a hands-on environment. This is because from the three types of learning styles (Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic) I learn better through a kinesthetic approach, although I still use the other two for complete understanding. Areas that stood out to me after the visit to the station were the lifelong skills not only within farming such as; animal husbandry, shearing sheep and training a dog but also skills outside of farming such as learning maintenance and mechanical repairs of vehicles and buildings. I believe that the course will also allow me to be more independent from being away from my family while still being in a supportive environment where there will be people around to help. From the open day it was mentioned that it would be good to have some farm experience prior to applying. However, being essentially a city kid growing up on a very small lifestyle block and only becoming seriously interested in farming and agriculture in Years 12 & 13 I did not have any on farm experience. So, as soon as I got home the first thing I focused on was finding a contact who runs a farm that would be willing for me to come out and help out and around their farm. To achieve this, I joined a Facebook farming page and after a few contacts later I managed to track down a dairy farm owner called Chris Guy who only lived 15 mins away and was keen to help me out. I now volunteer on his farm one or two times a week doing tasks such as; milking, shifting cows, gathering calves and learning how he farms. By doing this it has increased my interest in agriculture immensely.
Abbey Chalmers