Agri-ventures, aimed at year 11 and 12 pupils, has been running the past five years as part of Lincoln’s Future Leader Scholarship programme.
For the first time it was extended nationally as a result of the work of Fergus Lee, Danielle Bain and Campbell Barclay.
Mr Lee said many of the 17 pupils came from urban areas to spend two days learning about the many career food and fibre opportunities in the rural workforce.
"A lot of schools, especially urban ones, don’t teach agriculture as a subject, so unless the students have cousins on farms or watch Country Calendar, there aren’t many resources to find out what’s happening in the sector, so that was the core reason for the project."
Ms Bain said she wanted to be part of the programme as she had attended it as a year 12.
The pupils heard Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford talk about his challenges and wins as well as advice on rural mental wellbeing.
They visited Cleardale Station, where high country farmer, Ben Todhunter, another former student, spoke about sheep and beef farming and the importance of genetics for selecting the best sheep.
Other stops were Rakaia Island Ltd dairy farm, PGG Wrightson’s wool store and the seed branch’s Kimihia Research Centre, FMG headquarters and FoodStuffs South Island warehouse.
As part of the Future Leader Scholarship programme, third-year students have to initiate and deliver a project of their choice.
Programme head Ilse von Hirschberg said Agri-ventures usually hosted the event in partnership with Lincoln University staff members.
"But this year, the team did it all by themselves, which was very impressive."
