September 9, 2026 • 7 mins
Daniel O'Regan looks at a schooling initiative which is keeping school children involved with the agriculture sector.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is the muster on Hokanui. We're away to Telford now,
of course, just out of Balclutha. We are catching up
with Daniel O'Regan, the general manager of AgriFutures. There's a big, well,
it's like a mini Young Farmer of the Year for
school kids happening at Telford today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Daniel, thanks for joining us on the muster. It sounds
like it's pretty busy.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It is. Yeah, we've got about, oh, maybe about 250 kids.
It's a bit lower this year than last year, thanks
to influenza A. That's sort of ravaging our schools at
the moment. But we've still got a good number of
students coming and about, I think about 18 secondary schools
from Waitaki Girls in the North through to Fiordland College
and everywhere in between.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Now Clash of the Colleges, as this has been dubbed,
what's the basis around it?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Sure. We're part of the New Zealand Rural Games Trust
and many years ago we had a chair who was
a former teacher and she challenged us because we're pretty
good at rural games in Palmerston North, used to be
in Queenstown, and she That's really good at working with
families and, you know, grandparents and kids and parents' kids,
but it wasn't too great with the youth. So she
(01:12):
challenged us to come up with a concept, and we
developed the Clash of the Colleges and started six years
ago in Palmy, and now that's moved to five, six
locations around the country. Talbot will be here three years
in a row now, and it's basically... 16 to 17 modules.
Students get six minutes at each. It's a pan sector,
so it covers everything. Resolution Apps has joined us this year,
(01:34):
so they're doing a little bit of health and safety,
but also digital paddocks as well. Silver Fern Farms put
on barbecue. Fingard, they're amazing. And they've also got a
meat module. Thoroughbred Racing's down from North Island, so they've
got a hobby horse race and a few questions around
thoroughbred racing. And Telford's doing the old handpiece and quad
(01:58):
bike tyre change. And we've also got Zenterra here doing
a fine wall module. CRV and Salmon are doing a
joint genetics module. Otago Polytechnic's got an arborist one, you know,
knot tying. And then their central campus has turned up
(02:19):
and created a Vintner one. And no, the kids don't
have to drink alcohol. They do get to make a
sniff test. It's wine glasses, but it's not wine inside them.
It's just different smells that you can have incorporated into
wine and get the students to identify those.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Daniel, we've seen young farmers with a real renaissance in
the past 18 to 24 months, especially down here in
the south. Do you think agriculture is becoming sexy again
for younger people?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, we pulled this together and created it back in
the 2000s and that sort of stuff. And some audience
will know there was a lot of stuff about climate
change and all that sort of stuff, street kids' parties.
And there was a bit of shame associated with being
in food and fibre. And that's where we sort of
came along. And we created this programme to do it
(03:13):
in school time because we know all of us involved
grew up on farms and we all know the pressures
farming families are under. and you can't compete with rugby
and netball and drama and all that sort of stuff.
So we do it in school time, and we create
modules that are relevant to the curriculum, and we also
create modules that teachers can use back in the classroom that, again,
(03:37):
relate back to the curriculum. So it's all free, thanks
to lovely sponsors, Land Based Training's in there, Rabobank's in there,
Massey University and Ford.com, Got me a little van that
I travel the country in and pack it up with
all my gear. And yeah, we go from Telford, got
Canterbury next week, got about students from Timaru through to
(03:59):
Richmond going to that one. So every year it just
gets a little bit bigger. We're trying to grow slow
because there's only so much money in the budget and
every year we try to add on a new location.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Now, you're in an area where farming is notoriously popular.
What about further up north with the denser population bases?
Are you getting buy-in in those regions?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, so this is the best clash that we have.
The schools get it. They know it. It's taught in
every school. Where I'm from, which is sort of mid-central
North Island, around Palmerston North and Whanganui, there's very few schools.
So up there, there's Fielding High, Parmy Boys, over in Wairarapa,
there's Rathkeel. And they are super houses of Ag and Port, but,
(04:45):
you know, all your other schools are really low on it.
We've just got a pilot with Ministry of Social Development,
and we're in four schools in the Central North, in
Te Oti, Hachipaura, QEC, and Thomas North Girls, and we're
doing a 10-week programme getting these kids interested. They've got
kids there that are interested, they just can't access Ag
and Port. And what we're trying to do is prove
(05:07):
to the schools that there's a demand and then we
hand them over to the land-based trainings. We hand them
over to the primary ITOs, build up the interest, and
then channel that interest into something, a program that they
can get credits on. Southland Otago is the powerhouse. Canterbury's
a little bit. One or two parmas north, that picks
up again. And Waikato's big. Taranaki's big. But we were
(05:32):
in South Auckland, and it's getting bigger in South Auckland.
Like the Pukakoes and the Papatoetoe, they're starting to turn up.
which is absolutely amazing. Beforehand, it was pretty much Mount
Albert Grabber was the powerhouse up there, because they've got
their own farm in the centre of Auckland, which is
just stunning but unbelievable. And now, this year, we get
(05:54):
a Bay of Plenty, and the majority of the schools
came from Waikato to take part. So got a little
bit of work there to get those Bay of Plenty schools.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I suppose it's one thing getting buy-in from the students,
but it's another one getting it from the teachers as well. Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And you're competing against a whole lot of other stuff
that's going on. But what we do is free. It
doesn't cost the schools. All they've got to do is
pay for the transportation. All the module holders are here.
They are here for free. Everyone's just generous, giving time.
And we don't want any cost on families. We don't
want any cost on schools. And that's how we sort
(06:33):
of break into them.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So how does a day conclude? What happens to finish up?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So we've got... Minister Andrew Hoggard, Minister Mark Patterson and
the local MP for Tauri, Ingrid Leary, are turning up
and they're going to help with the prize giving as
well as the head of the farm manager here from Telford.
We have a barbecue to feed them and then Tangaroa
(06:58):
Walker is our MC and he runs the Hunger Games
and there's usually a lot of screaming involved with that
and the kids are going to have to I think
go under some jumping poles and jump poles for the horses,
and then it's basically eat a cold pie, drink a
(07:19):
glass of milk, and turn around about 30 times. It's
usually a bit of fun.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Hey, good on you, Daniel. Thanks for your time this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
St.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Kevin's boy done good. Good to catch up with you, mate.
All the best. I got you, man.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Good check.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Daniel O'Regan of AgriFutures. Great to see these events that
are going on.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And like Daniel alluded there, the South very much driving
these numbers for young people. And this is where it
flows on to the Young Farmers Movement as well, as
I keep talking about. Our resident sporting guru, Nathan Burden,
is up next. The Stags have got a bit of
local blood going in there on Sunday.
This is the muster on Hokanui. We're away to Telford now,
of course, just out of Balclutha. We are catching up
with Daniel O'Regan, the general manager of AgriFutures. There's a big, well,
it's like a mini Young Farmer of the Year for
school kids happening at Telford today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Daniel, thanks for joining us on the muster. It sounds
like it's pretty busy.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
It is. Yeah, we've got about, oh, maybe about 250 kids.
It's a bit lower this year than last year, thanks
to influenza A. That's sort of ravaging our schools at
the moment. But we've still got a good number of
students coming and about, I think about 18 secondary schools
from Waitaki Girls in the North through to Fiordland College
and everywhere in between.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Now Clash of the Colleges, as this has been dubbed,
what's the basis around it?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Sure. We're part of the New Zealand Rural Games Trust
and many years ago we had a chair who was
a former teacher and she challenged us because we're pretty
good at rural games in Palmerston North, used to be
in Queenstown, and she That's really good at working with
families and, you know, grandparents and kids and parents' kids,
but it wasn't too great with the youth. So she
(01:12):
challenged us to come up with a concept, and we
developed the Clash of the Colleges and started six years
ago in Palmy, and now that's moved to five, six
locations around the country. Talbot will be here three years
in a row now, and it's basically... 16 to 17 modules.
Students get six minutes at each. It's a pan sector,
so it covers everything. Resolution Apps has joined us this year,
(01:34):
so they're doing a little bit of health and safety,
but also digital paddocks as well. Silver Fern Farms put
on barbecue. Fingard, they're amazing. And they've also got a
meat module. Thoroughbred Racing's down from North Island, so they've
got a hobby horse race and a few questions around
thoroughbred racing. And Telford's doing the old handpiece and quad
(01:58):
bike tyre change. And we've also got Zenterra here doing
a fine wall module. CRV and Salmon are doing a
joint genetics module. Otago Polytechnic's got an arborist one, you know,
knot tying. And then their central campus has turned up
(02:19):
and created a Vintner one. And no, the kids don't
have to drink alcohol. They do get to make a
sniff test. It's wine glasses, but it's not wine inside them.
It's just different smells that you can have incorporated into
wine and get the students to identify those.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Daniel, we've seen young farmers with a real renaissance in
the past 18 to 24 months, especially down here in
the south. Do you think agriculture is becoming sexy again
for younger people?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, we pulled this together and created it back in
the 2000s and that sort of stuff. And some audience
will know there was a lot of stuff about climate
change and all that sort of stuff, street kids' parties.
And there was a bit of shame associated with being
in food and fibre. And that's where we sort of
came along. And we created this programme to do it
(03:13):
in school time because we know all of us involved
grew up on farms and we all know the pressures
farming families are under. and you can't compete with rugby
and netball and drama and all that sort of stuff.
So we do it in school time, and we create
modules that are relevant to the curriculum, and we also
create modules that teachers can use back in the classroom that, again,
(03:37):
relate back to the curriculum. So it's all free, thanks
to lovely sponsors, Land Based Training's in there, Rabobank's in there,
Massey University and Ford.com, Got me a little van that
I travel the country in and pack it up with
all my gear. And yeah, we go from Telford, got
Canterbury next week, got about students from Timaru through to
(03:59):
Richmond going to that one. So every year it just
gets a little bit bigger. We're trying to grow slow
because there's only so much money in the budget and
every year we try to add on a new location.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Now, you're in an area where farming is notoriously popular.
What about further up north with the denser population bases?
Are you getting buy-in in those regions?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, so this is the best clash that we have.
The schools get it. They know it. It's taught in
every school. Where I'm from, which is sort of mid-central
North Island, around Palmerston North and Whanganui, there's very few schools.
So up there, there's Fielding High, Parmy Boys, over in Wairarapa,
there's Rathkeel. And they are super houses of Ag and Port, but,
(04:45):
you know, all your other schools are really low on it.
We've just got a pilot with Ministry of Social Development,
and we're in four schools in the Central North, in
Te Oti, Hachipaura, QEC, and Thomas North Girls, and we're
doing a 10-week programme getting these kids interested. They've got
kids there that are interested, they just can't access Ag
and Port. And what we're trying to do is prove
(05:07):
to the schools that there's a demand and then we
hand them over to the land-based trainings. We hand them
over to the primary ITOs, build up the interest, and
then channel that interest into something, a program that they
can get credits on. Southland Otago is the powerhouse. Canterbury's
a little bit. One or two parmas north, that picks
up again. And Waikato's big. Taranaki's big. But we were
(05:32):
in South Auckland, and it's getting bigger in South Auckland.
Like the Pukakoes and the Papatoetoe, they're starting to turn up.
which is absolutely amazing. Beforehand, it was pretty much Mount
Albert Grabber was the powerhouse up there, because they've got
their own farm in the centre of Auckland, which is
just stunning but unbelievable. And now, this year, we get
(05:54):
a Bay of Plenty, and the majority of the schools
came from Waikato to take part. So got a little
bit of work there to get those Bay of Plenty schools.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I suppose it's one thing getting buy-in from the students,
but it's another one getting it from the teachers as well. Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And you're competing against a whole lot of other stuff
that's going on. But what we do is free. It
doesn't cost the schools. All they've got to do is
pay for the transportation. All the module holders are here.
They are here for free. Everyone's just generous, giving time.
And we don't want any cost on families. We don't
want any cost on schools. And that's how we sort
(06:33):
of break into them.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So how does a day conclude? What happens to finish up?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So we've got... Minister Andrew Hoggard, Minister Mark Patterson and
the local MP for Tauri, Ingrid Leary, are turning up
and they're going to help with the prize giving as
well as the head of the farm manager here from Telford.
We have a barbecue to feed them and then Tangaroa
(06:58):
Walker is our MC and he runs the Hunger Games
and there's usually a lot of screaming involved with that
and the kids are going to have to I think
go under some jumping poles and jump poles for the horses,
and then it's basically eat a cold pie, drink a
(07:19):
glass of milk, and turn around about 30 times. It's
usually a bit of fun.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Hey, good on you, Daniel. Thanks for your time this afternoon.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
St.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Kevin's boy done good. Good to catch up with you, mate.
All the best. I got you, man.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Good check.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Daniel O'Regan of AgriFutures. Great to see these events that
are going on.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And like Daniel alluded there, the South very much driving
these numbers for young people. And this is where it
flows on to the Young Farmers Movement as well, as
I keep talking about. Our resident sporting guru, Nathan Burden,
is up next. The Stags have got a bit of
local blood going in there on Sunday.
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