Hero photograph
 
Photo by Hilary Johnson

Cultivate Your Career

Hilary Johnson —

Bees, honey, drones, satellites, near-infra red technology, controlled atmosphere storage and automated stacking, we saw it all.

39 Year 11 and 12 students enrolled in our Innovative Horticulture Programme piled onto a bus in early May for an all-day first-hand insight into aspects of horticulture and the many amazing career opportunities that exist within our local industry.

Students learned about pollination and honey production and saw honey processing and packaging in action at BeeNZ . The Centre for Space Science Technology showed us how you can detect the moisture in soil from space, how a drone can count the microscopic bugs on a tree and opened our minds to a number of other unbelievable possibilities. We then saw the different types of technology used in the huge Apata Packhouse and Coolstore.

Our thanks to all of these organisations and sponsors Priority One and NZKGI and our two expert guides from Apata Coolstores who looked after us all day.