Agriculture and Primary Industries
Dairy and Sheep/Beef Farming
Horticulture
Equine
Aquaculture
RELATED INDUSTRIES:
Animal Health and Herd Improvement
Rural Business Services
Environmental Sciences
Research, Innovation and International Marketing
Food Processing
Dairy and Sheep/Beef farming
Agriculture is a major driver of the Waikato economy and is a significant contributor to New Zealand's exports. 30 % of all dairy farms in New Zealand are found in the Waikato, and the district is the most intensively farmed area in New Zealand. Approximately 95% of New Zealand's milk is processed into dairy products for export and is New Zealand's single largest export earner.
Agriculture's contribution to the Waikato region has been growing significantly, see Table 1 below.
| Sector (Waikato) |
2001 $ m |
2006 $ m |
Change $m |
% Change p.a. |
| Dairy Farming | 1 508 | 2346 | 838 | 9.2 |
| Dairy Processing | 1 462 | 2153 | 691 | 8.1 |
| Agri-Manufacturing | 575 | 976 | 401 | 11.2 |
| Sheep and Beef Farming | 384 | 594 | 210 | 9.1 |
| Meat Processing | 542 | 841 | 299 | 9.2 |
Source> New Zealand Agriculture and Its Communities. AgResearch and Innovation Waikato
There are well developed career paths in farming from farm assistant positions to equity manager & farm owner. Waikato education providers offer training and qualifications to assist individuals to develop their skills and knowhow to accelerate their career progression.
In the Waikato in 2006, approximately 5,800 people were employed in Dairy farming, 3,000 in dairy processing, 2,200 in sheep/beef farming, 2,600 in meat processing and approximately 5,000 in agri-manufacturing.
In the future, farm management is increasingly adopting more technology utilising sensors, automation and software to manage operations, animal production, health, effluent etc.
Career and Education Paths in Farming
The On-farm career pathway, according to Dairy NZ, can be summarised as
- Farm assistant
- Herd manager
- Farm manager/senior herd manager (large farm)
- Operations manager
- Contract milker
- Variable order sharemilker
- 50/50 sharemilker
- Equity manager & farm owner
The Agriculture Industry Training Organisation (AgITO) offers modern apprenticeships and cadetships where training is delivered via private training establishments (PTE's) while a person works on a farm. Agriculture NZ and Land Based Training are PTE's that offer such courses.
Dairy NZ offers 50 undergraduate scholarships per year to students of high academic calibre with leadership potential, to undertake bachelor degrees in dairying related subjects at Massey and Lincoln Universities.
The Future
Dairy NZ have estimated that the demand for quality dairy farm employees will increase by 25% by 2015.
The increased desire to utilise on-farm technologies will require technical skill in operating and utilising these technologies to maximum effectiveness. Technical skills in terms of operating new technology, along side practical skill on the farm and leadership potential will be highly sought after.
Farmers will need to focus more attention on climatic changes and green house gas emissions. Pressure to develop more environmentally sustainable management practices for water, effluent and nutrient run-off will persist. This will be challenging alongside the need for greater on-farm productivity.
A Tokanui Education Initiative has been established through a research and development farm owned and operated by AgResearch, and has a number of stakeholders from the Waikato region. It is intended that this farm be used both for scientific and agritechnology testing as well as an educational facility for farm technologies and systems.
The outlook for farming is good with New Zealand consistently offering quality products to the world markets. There is likely to be a swing to adding more value to our basic commodities and producing more innovative dairy products.
(back to top)Animal Health and Herd Improvement
This is a vital part of keeping the agricultural industry productive.
There are many facets to this including animal medicine and veterinary services, nutrition and feed, and herd testing and breeding services.
LIC (Livestock Improvement) is one of the largest herd improvement organisations in the world with services ranging from herd testing and milk analysis, to artificial breeding, animal health, herd recording and DNA analysis. Its Head Office is situated on Hamilton's boundary.
In the 2007-08 year 74% of all herds undertook herd testing and a similar percentage underwent artificial breeding.
Career and Education Paths in Animal Health and Herd Improvement
To work in this sector generally requires a sound background in the sciences or IT, and/or in the case of direct contact with animals, a natural affinity with animals. This field has roles for people of all backgrounds and academic abilities.
Large organisations such as LIC have a variety of roles, and there are further opportunities for direct work with animals through over 60 veterinary practices throughout the Waikato.
Animal Technology (includes Animal Care and veterinary nursing)
Certificate in Dairy Technology
Agri Specialisations for Science Degrees
Future
The future of this industry is tied to that of agriculture, which, long term, should continue to be a prosperous industry to be associated with.
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Rural Business Services
There are a variety of Rural Business Services advising and supporting the agricultural sector. These include farm advice, rural banking, accounting services, fertiliser representatives etc.
Career and Education Paths in Rural Business Services
People enter this field from a variety of avenues. They may have on-farm experience, a business degree, science qualifications and/or sales experience.
Waikato Management School Agribusiness
School of Science and Engineering Agribusiness
LIC offers farm advisory services, as does Fonterra who have field representatives supporting their farmers. RD1 have a number of representatives who offer advise to Farmers with respect to products to use on their farms.
Future
There will be an ongoing need for people to be employed in the Rural Business Services sector. They will need to keep pace with scientific and technological advances in farming and offer solutions to environmental and productivity demands.
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Environmental Sciences
It is commonly held that the extremely positive impact that agriculture has on the economy has a downside which is a strain on the environment supporting it. Dairy NZ have indicated that there is a need to develop more environmentally sustainable farm management practices for water allocation and use, effluent treatment and disposal, and nutrient run-off and leaching into waterways.
Climate change and green house gas emissions have emerged as major national and international political issues. Producing less waste from cows will both reduce emissions and enhance productivity. This will require the development of tools and technologies to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions from pastoral farming systems. Farm systems designed to address climate change will require development.
Career and Education Paths in Environmental Sciences
CRIs (Crown Research Institutes) are engaged in Environmental Sciences among other things. AgResearch, situated in Ruakura on the outskirts of Hamilton, has a focus in the Environmental sector as it relates to farming.
Bachelor of Iwi Environmental Management
Certificate of Iwi Environmental Management
Future
Opportunities in Environmental Sciences should grow over the next few years. There is mounting pressure to address issues. The younger generation moving through have often had environmental studies as an integral part of their learning, and as a result will carry concern over environmental issues forward with them in their lives.
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Research, Innovation and International Marketing
There is a growing sector researching and developing innovative on-farm and off-farm technologies designed to assist the farmer in herd, pasture and process improvement. The resulting innovations can be commercialised and sold to the local agricultural sector and exported.
Career and Education Paths in Research, Innovation and International Marketing
The Waikato based Gallagher Group of companies have been involved in this field for 70 years, having developed and sold electric fence systems all those years ago. They still service the local market with a portfolio of products servicing the agricultural sector, and export extensively worldwide.
Fonterra prides itself in developing and exporting new and innovative dairy products alongside its bulk commodities.
LIC are involved with Research and Development as are Ag Research. There are a plethora of entrepreneurial individuals and companies involved in commercialising innovations for the Agricultural Sector. Waikato's Innovation Park is a centre for this activity, accommodating many small and medium sized companies involved with incubating and commercialising new product ideas.
Soda Inc. is also a resource that has been set up to nurture creative industries, and aims to foster the creation and development of new ideas and strengthen entrepreneurial activities.
Bachelor of Business Studies (specifically entrepreneurship and innovation papers)
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Commercialisation of products and ultimately exports rely on many skills along the way including legal services in protecting intellectual property (the idea), production of the product (engineering and manufacturing expertise), supply chain management and local and international marketing.
Future
Future economies rely on innovation and commercialising new technologies and techniques to survive in the globally competitive market place. The challenge for New Zealand is to become more savvy at managing intellectual property (the protection of ideas) and relinquishing some ownership of those ideas in order to successfully commercialise products. Globally, greater success has been achieved by people selling rights to their ideas and handing ideas over to experts in the field of international marketing. Many would argue that the future of New Zealand's wealth lies in niche marketing of niche products. To succeed, entrepreneurship and innovation must be fostered in individuals with aptitude.
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Food Processing
This is a very strong part of the Waikato's economy with close to $3 billion of dairy and meat processing taking place in 2006. An engineering industry in the Waikato has been built around this and has diversified, to the point where food processing machinery and packaging is being produced in the region and sold nationally and globally. To access more information on the Manufacturing sector, click here.
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