Massey University staff are out in force at this year’s National Fieldays event in Hamilton, where Massey is a partner.
More than 30 staff members, including College of Sciences Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Ray Geor and teams from the College of Sciences, College of Health, Massey Business School and Student Recruitment are showcasing the latest innovations in education and technology.
As a partner of the New Zealand National Fieldays Society, owner of the iconic Fieldays event, Massey has stands in the Main Pavilion, the Health and Wellbeing Hub, the Careers and Education Hub, as well as connections with other stands across Mystery Creek. Fieldays runs until Saturday.
Massey Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas says Fieldays provides the best opportunity for industry to get together to focus on the future of the rural sector and work together to develop solutions that meet both national and global goals.
“New Zealand’s agrifood industry has the potential to play a significant role in solving some of the biggest issues facing the world today. As a country, our strength in food technology and agriculture means we are ideally placed to address challenges around food security, sustainability and climate change but these require collaboration across the industry to drive innovation that will bring high-impact outcomes and transformational change across the sector, and potentially the world.
“Massey will be showcasing some of our innovations and collaborations that we hope will contribute to government’s vision of whenua ora, wai ora, whanau ora [healthy land, healthy water, healthy communities].”
On showcase in the Main Pavilion
Health and Wellbeing Hub
The College of Health will have two areas within the Health and Wellbeing Hub, with a focus on nutritional and physical wellbeing.
Postgraduate nutrition and dietetics students will be educating visitors on the health star rating system for food and drinks, highlighting the sugar content in snacks/muesli bars and providing advice on healthy snack alternatives, as well as offering recipes on how to make snack bars at home.
Massey’s mobile lab will also be at Fieldays, where people will be able to test their fitness and measure their body composition, which will provide an easy to understand overview of body fat, muscle and water content. Various other equipment will be available to test strength, agility and flexibility.
Agribusiness and the Rural Innovation Lab
Massey Business School will be showcasing its partnerships and expertise working with, and alongside, the rural sector. This includes the potential for technological innovations to be developed in partnership with farmers and growers through the Rural Innovation Lab, of which Massey is a key partner.
Following extensive engagement with industry to identify the sector’s key challenges, the lab will continue the engagement process to identify potential technology-based projects to implement. There are still opportunities for Fieldays attendees to submit proposals for project funding.
New Generation Beef
Between 10am-12.30pm and 1pm-2.30pm each day, a chef will be preparing samples for the public to taste, allowing a range of people, including farmers, to experience New Generation Beef. Developed as part of a Massey-pilot study, New Generation Beef is a new class of red meat that takes surplus calves from the dairy industry and grows them to one-year-of-age.
Careers and Education Hub
As the leading education provider of primary sector education, Massey will also be showcasing some of its latest teaching programmes, designed to meet the needs of the industry and develop the next generation of leaders in agrifood and technology.
The Careers and Education Hub is an interactive zone that allows students to see opportunities in the primary sector.
As a sponsor of the hub, students, teacher and parents can talk to one of Massey’s student recruitment advisors about the study options available, including the recently introduced Bachelor of Horticultural Science.
Visitors can enter the Massey University Study Competition. All visitors who request study information, which can be undergraduate, postgraduate, or distance learning, go into a draw to win one of three UE Booms.
Student recruitment advisors Eugene Hepi and Khodesh Temita