The Young Farmers Club provides an opportunity for young men with an interest in agriculture and farming to pursue their interests. A particular focus is on providing opportunities for students to explore pathways into careers in these important New Zealand industries. Another aim of the group is to provide leadership opportunities and to encourage the development of the skills associated with leadership. The success of the club in recent years has primarily been because of the strength of student leadership, and this year was no exception. Glenn Stringer, as club leader, was proactive and was well supported by an enthusiastic group of senior students who were keen to organise opportunities for the young men in the group, and also to offer encouragement to the younger members. The numbers in the club continue to grow and the PNBHS Young Farmers would now be one of the largest co-curricular groups at school. Some of the activities our young men were involved with during 2019 included:
· PNBHS Young Farmers won the ‘Teen Ag’ competition at the annual Hunterville Shemozzle.
· 33 junior students took part in a Wetland planting organised by the Freshwater team at Horizons Regional Council, planting 1500 trees in a little over two hours.
· PNBHS Young Farmer Alex Argyle was selected for a cadetship at Pukemiro Station in 2020 and will be one of the first two PNBHS students to train there.
· Fourty young men competed in a regional Agri Sports Competition Day hosted by Feilding High School. They were challenged in a variety of theory and practical based activities. Although none of the PNBHS teams achieved ‘podium places’, Guy Petersen won the Gumboot Throw and Sydney Diamond was selected as the ‘Junior Competitor of the Day’.
· Charlie Lourie, Jordon King and Glenn Stringer were selected to attend the three day ‘Raising the Standard’ Teen Ag leadership programme in Napier alongside 11 other Teen Ag members from the lower North Island. The programme is designed to enhance the skills of emerging leaders within school based TeenAg clubs and was run by NZ Young Farmers.
· PNBHS Old Boy Joseph Watts made a presentation at assembly about his journey from semi-professional sportsman to becoming a Rural Advisor based in the Hawke’s Bay and a finalist in the 2019 Young Famer of the Year competition. There were some great messages about the importance of perseverance, hard work and building relationships.
· A group of Young Farmers had a tour through the AFFCO meat works at Feilding and had the opportunity to find about some of the wide-range of career opportunities in the meat industry and some of the current and potential changes to the meat industry as a result of technology driven change and automation.
· The ‘Forestry Big Day Out’ provided careers information about this growing employment sector in the local region.
· Mr Charlie Duncan from Otiwhiti Station Land Based Training Agricultural School presented about the opportunities available there. He brought recent Old boy Henry Bennik with him and Henry was able to give insight into the life of a cadet at Otiwhiti.
· Old Boy and recent graduate from the Waipaoa Station Farm Cadet Training Station Toby Proude presented about his experiences and had some great advice for young men considering a cadet training pathway.
· Liaison staff from Lincoln University presented about the range of pathways into agriculture careers through the university.
· The Sort It Careers Expo provided an opportunity to get information from a range of career and training providers in the Agriculture industry.
· A PNBHS team competed at the Hilux New Zealand Rural Games winning the Red Band Jandals Race.
· A bus load of young men had the opportunity to attend the Central Districts Field Days to find information about future careers in agriculture and the primary industries.
· Old Boy Jesse Gunn came into school for one of our Young Farmers meetings early in the year. Jesse began shepherding at Ngarata Station in Alfredton after leaving school at the end of 2017.
· Agri Business was offered as a Level two subject at PNBHS this year, increasing the opportunities available to young men interested in Agriculture.
The range of opportunities in Agriculture at PNBHS have grown significantly in recent years. Alongside the study of Agriculture and/or Horticulture in the classroom, a range of STAR courses are offered at Year 11, Agri Business at NCEA Level Two (and extending into Level Three in 2020), Primary Industries Trades Academy courses at Year 12, Gateway courses and farming or other Agriculture based work experience through the Employment Pathways Programme at Year 13.
