Growing places.

It has been a busy last few weeks in Agriculture and Agribusiness, with trips, guests and experiments happening to help inform assessments and pathways, on farm and off, for the students.

Lincoln Universities' Farms Education Facilitator Lauren Roberts spent a day with each Agriculture Year level, workshopping topics such as feed budgeting, soils and animal growth. One of the highlights was the Year 12 trip to AgResearch Invermay to see the CT scanner and learn more about eye-muscle scanning.

Otago Universities Dr Craig Bunt, Professor of Agriculture and Innovation visited Year 13 Agribusiness students to talk about Innovation and Future Proofing and gave very interesting insights into industry developments and the journey of new products and their impacts.

Year 13 Agriculture have been investigating strong wool attributes and its qualities for the construction industry, particularly for wall linings and panels, with some exciting experiments with fire and sound and producing product for companies like Floc. We were very lucky to have local wool expert Hamish Mackenzie come in and help give insight into quality wool production and the industry.

Just last week Year 13 Agribusiness, with gorgeous weather, visited Geraldine and Barkers for an excellent presentation (and afternoon tea) on innovation and their value chain before heading to a small distillery, Matt Gunn's 'Resurrection', to learn about fermentation and producing alcohol. We went then to Mt Cook, Alpine Salmon to see the progression of Salmon in their farm on the canal and learn of their processes, destination and marketing.

There is more to come yet and none of it could happen without the professional support, volunteers, parents, farmers and friends who see the importance and value of preparing and inspiring our countries future farmers and business people.