The Agribusiness class was very excited to go on a field trip this year since last year's Year 12 trip was cancelled due to Covid, It is our major trip for the year.

The goal of the trip was to show students some innovative and awesome activities in the primary sector and provide opportunities to speak to innovative people. It really shows them how they may connect aspects of agribusiness to their own interests. It shows them that Agribusiness is not necessarily about being a farmer but about all of the other business around farming. The two-day field trip was action packed with the students visiting/hearing from a variety of people:

• Wynyard Saffron Farm, Ettrick - We knew so little before and learnt so much about this new and exciting crop and the versatility of saffron’s use. This business processes saffron, makes a variety of products and then distributes these products themselves. They began a recurring theme of this trip: value added through innovation.

• Plant and Food Research, Earnscleugh - We looked at their research into the viability of growing hops in the region.

• Otago Polytech Beer Brewing School, Cromwell - Where we investigated the use of hops.

• Hook Salmon, Wanaka - This was a stunning visit. Who knew it was even there? We saw the salmon ponds and the fishing rods, the salmon processing area and the restaurant. We also learnt about the interesting concept of pond to plate.

• Cardrona Whiskey Distillery - We had an inspirational tour of a distillery built up by a female entrepreneur and where all of the distillers are women.

• Provenance Farm, Kyeburn - An innovative farm that tries to supply direct from the pasture to the plate. We learnt about their unique business model and the challenges they are facing as well as how their innovative approach is creating more sustainable farming.

We really appreciated how frankly all of these people spoke about the challenges they face in an ever-changing market and the effects of Covid. Each of them emphasised the need to future-proof their enterprises by adding value to their goods or by providing complementary activities. Our students came away with a clear idea of the need to be entrepreneurial and sensitive to market fluctuations.

If you are aware of any new and innovative businesses in the Central Otago region, we would love to hear about them to help us plan next year’s trip.

On behalf of the Year 12 Agribusiness girls, we greatly appreciate the opportunities that these people gave us to visit their businesses.