Learning How To Farm

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28481, 10 January 1958, Page 18

Learning How To Farm

By

L. W. McCaskill

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION. CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, LINCOLN.

>T’HE first basic requirement in x farming is a love of the calling. Without this, no amount of education, practical or theoretical, can produce a good farmer. • The second basic requirement is a sound general education. The minimum period should be three years of post-primary education blit every prospective farmer should preferably aim 'at the attainment of School Certificate at least.

Then it is most essential that good practical experience on farms be obtained. The absolute minimum here should be two years, preferably on a mixed farm giving practice in the use of machinery of all kinds and experience with animals. Club Membership

During this period, membership of the local Young Farmers’ Club is highly desirable. Valuable knowledge can be obtained from the Club’s educational activities, and there is also the fellowship with young men interested in the same vocation.

Difficulty may be experienced in locating suitable employment on farms. Vocational guidance officers can often' help here, as can instructors in agriculture oi the staff of the stock and station agents.

Two organisations have been set up especially to assist bays to obtain suitable farm training. The Canterbury Youth Farm Advisory Council, with headquarters at the Vocational Guidance Office in Christchurch, has a scheme of training comprising a year at Rangiora High School followed by three years of varied experience on approved farms. New Zealand Farm Apprentices (Inc.), of Oamaru, has an apprenticeship scheme covering three years of practical farm training.

In both cases the period of training concludes with oral and practical examinations conducted by Lincoln College and the award of a Trained Farm Worker’s Certificate to successful candidates. ,

During the initial period of practical experience every future farmer should have in the back of his mind a course .at an agricultural college. He should be thinking of at least a series of short courses, tout with modern agriculture becoming so complicated he should aim preferably at a fulltime course, whether it be the Diploma Course covering two periods each of five months and a half, or the Intensive Course completed in one period of eight months. For any of these courses considerable preparation can be made on the farm.

The keeping of a daily diary of; farm operations, purchases, and sales, together with the associated weather conditions, can provide an excellent background for lectures and discussions later on. Latest Ideas Regular reading of agricultural journals keeps the prospective student in touch with new knowledge and with other types of farming in other parts of New Zealand.

The latest, and as yet untried, preparation for farming is the new three years’ course culminating in the award of the Bachelor of Agriculture Degree. The whole of this course can be taken at an agricultural college with all the advantages of living close to the associated farms. Anyone interested in going farming, who has his University Entrance qualification, would be well advised to explore the possibilities of this course.