[On promoting career opportunities in New Zealand's primary industries] I've been able to follow people who have had no understanding whatsoever. You don't know
what you don't know, and being able to help those people to know is so rewarding.
Every side of the brain is going to get a workout, but at the same time you don't have to be
a master student in any subject to be part of agriculture
No matter what path you want to go down
if you've got passion and you've got drive, then you'll be able to go anywhere, and there's so
many people in the sector that will help you. There's such a wealth of knowledge out there
My name's Olivia Weatherburn and I'm a rural professional, rural
advocate, and agripreneur from Mossburn in Southland.
I live here with my husband William on the farm that he's stock manager for.
My day-to-day job is National Extension Program Manager for Beef + Lamb New Zealand
I get to play in a space I'm really passionate about which is people and training, and ensuring
that the next generation
is able to understand the opportunities that exist for them as careers. Part of that has been designing the Generation Next Programme, which is a program
I describe as a "technical program for practical people". They complete a six-month course which is
three modules understanding different aspects of the farm. We have module one understanding the
farm business as a whole, module two agritools and technology, and then meat appreciation.
By the time they've been through the six month program they will have a folder
full of a whole lot of information that they'll be able to refer to well after they graduate.
The pathway I've ended up down since going to Lincoln has been a little
different than i dreamed of. Unfortunately when I was shepherding I got taken out by a cow. I was
of course a young keen shepherd at that stage, didn't do anything about it when i got injured.
It was 10 years later that that caught up on me. I couldn't do some of the physical lifting anymore
I had two choices, either find a job that was better on my body, or give up horse riding.
Nothing beats a gallop on a horse at the end of a hard day, no matter what profession you're in. So I
went down the rural professional route. This way I get to live the best of both worlds. I
get to be on farm here and help my husband out now and then. I'm one of those weird people who
will jump at the chance to go and drench some lambs or do some stock work, but at the same time
I get to help farmers on a day-to-day basis by delivering them the information that they need.
It's a real kick being able to see farmers grow and thrive
and that next generation coming through as well. I've really enjoyed that side of it.
I grew up wanting to be a high country sheep station owner. I worked on one, that's about as close as I got.
We've come to the conclusion that even with lease prices and that, that we're not going to get
the opportunity to be able to buy into a property or be able to live comfortably and still have a
life. But we can still be involved and still farm in other ways. Will, as a stock manager, he's able to
learn on the job and be involved in a pretty cool business, and there's a lot of opportunities out
there like that. We set goals that are realistic but are still challenging for us at the same time
There's so many different ways within a job that you can go
within the sector. I suppose that's why I love it so much