With the 50th annual Young Farmer of the Year contest due to be held in July, chief executive Terry Copeland said his organisation was reviewing its strategy to meet the changing needs of young New Zealanders.
He said the organisation's priorities were not just about supporting rural youth, but about engaging with urban young people, planning for the future and encouraging young people to talk about mental health.
''It's about developing a strategy for how we can better attract a broader range of talent into the primary industry.''
Mr Copeland said New Zealand Young Farmers (NZYF) was enjoying some success in Auckland and Christchurch schools by talking about ''food creation'' or opportunities for artistic skills to be developed in marketing, rather than traditional farming.
''There is huge potential out there and we are going to need more urban people. As cities get bigger and our rural bases get smaller, we need to make sure those young people aren't left out.''
Some urban schools were already using agricultural modules for subjects such as English, maths, science and economics, and NZYF was also engaging with pupils through AgriKids and TeenAg clubs.
''We want to make sure we are relevant to the next generation, some of whom haven't been born yet and we don't know what skills they will need in the future or what jobs there will be,'' Mr Copeland said.
This might require a vast number of people having to retrain in the future to meet changing needs, which could be expensive for young people.
But Mr Copeland said the one year free tertiary study introduced by the Government was a positive step for rural youth, as well as urban young people.
Discussions around wellbeing, mental health and suicide awareness remained a priority for NZYF, with 13 ''Good Yarn'' seminars offered for young farmer members towards the end of last year and more were being planned.
While Mr Copeland would like to see more suicide-prevention action from central government, he said ''at least we're talking about it a lot more''.
-By David Hill
