A farmers perspective of the long term benefits of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's training dairy farm

Abstract

In 1988 the Papamoa Agriculture Centre became the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's centre for Agricultural Training. Practical skills training was initially achieved by using co-operating neighbours farms for the training. However this was not the ideal situation, as the practise of using private properties for training was restrictive. The properties were not set up for training, farmers became less tolerant of the inevitable botch up and it became obvious that the Polytechnic would ultimately outstay their welcome. From this realisation stemmed a desire to purchase a farm property which would form a permanent base for Agricultural skills training. In July 1990 a well located town supply dairy farm was purchased. Not only was the property to be suitable for training but it also needed to be cost effective. This project aims to consider the long term policies that could be adopted to maximise the returns from the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's Training Dairy farm in relation to ; 1) Commercial return to the Polytechnic. 2) Training of students. 3) Practical research of dairying topics. 4) Extension of research findings.