Agribusiness Update

Agribusiness Update

Sally Rae (ODT Farming Editor) spoke to the students about her day to day role as a business writer. She described the jobs she had to cover during the previous week. The major news item was the Mycoplasma Bovis eradication announcement which made the front cover on two occasions. In her role, Sally meets a variety of people, from government agencies, CEOs of multinational companies, politicians, industry leaders, farmers, business owners, etc… I asked Sally to send through a couple of photos from her previous week’s work - the media stand up with Jacinda Ardern on the bovis affected dairy farm, and a chopper-full of international chefs and food media/bloggers flying into the luxury alpine lodge at Minaret Station as part of the Antipocurean Series organised by Alliance Group.

Sally urged the students to find their passion in a job as it makes the day more enjoyable and rewarding. She also spoke about the severe labour shortages in Agribusiness and, from her conversations within the industry, these are expected to get worse. Sally encouraged the students to continue studying Agribusiness as there are great opportunities.

Building a strong network of positive relationships is essential in her role and she has a wealth of knowledge across many industries. Sally kindly supplied us with a list of contacts from many sectors.

Year 10 Economics

Whilst working on their Kiwifruit case study, the students have discovered that there will be a new “kid” (kiwi) on the block soon in the form of raspberry flavoured red kiwifruit! Sounds delicious! This is part of the innovation within the industry. Other innovations include robotics and precision horticulture; phone app so consumers can scan the kiwifruit to test for authenticity; plus other technological applications.