Primary sector challenges put to pupils

Sixty-four year 10 pupils from seven city schools gathered for a primary sector think-tank, at the Growing Innovation Challenge held in Dunedin yesterday.

In the event hosted by GrowingNZ, DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb NZ, NZ Wool and Young Enterprise, the pupils were challenged to design and prototype a solution to a challenge in the primary sector.

Winning concepts ranged from self-seeding biodegradable crossbred wool umbrellas and the use of racehorse genomes in cows to regulate heat, to drones which selectively sprayed invasive weeds or measured pasture growth.

Pictured are members of the four winning teams, (from back left) Sarah Al-balushi, Heath Knowles, Ella Hodgson, Hannah Hardin, Tom Whaley, Olive Scurr, Hannah Boltry, Molly Colbert, Pari Teli, Matthew Gibson and Tyrone Fealy; (in front) Kate Malcolm, Lily Knox, Jaiyushka Pratap and Mallak Romani.