New Rural Scholarship Empowers Future Leaders in Agriculture and Forestry

The Government has announced a new rural scholarship to back emerging primary sector leaders Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay says.

Three scholarships each year will support young farmers to grow in confidence and gain experience to become farm leaders of the future.

Mr McClay says recipients will receive a grant of $10,000 to go towards domestic and international study and capability building and to grow industry-wide experience and best practice.

The Minister of Agriculture Future Leaders Scholarship will help identify emerging leaders across the primary sector including in agriculture, horticulture and forestry.

It will help foster leadership and capability development, supporting successful applicants to grow their governance skills and encouraging the creation of opportunities for practical hands-on primary sector governance experience.

The Ministry for Primary Industries will work with sector leaders to ensure the programme effectively targets capability gaps in rural governance and will develop an annual application process with relevant criteria to ensure the programme is fair and transparent.

The Kiwi can-do attitude is world-renowned and this scholarship is about nurturing that, Mr McClay says.

This Government is committed to finding pathways to build the future in a way that supports the sector’s sustained success.