Guest editorial is from Dan Smith Agribusiness Lecturer and Program director at Lincoln University
Introducing Dan Smith an Agribusiness Lecturer and Programme Director at Lincoln University who comes from a non-academic background, which I believe is imperative for project based applied teaching at our land based university. His academic career started with completing both the Diploma in Agric and Farm management, then went onto graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce ( Agric) and completed a masters of applied science, he joined Lincoln University staff as a lecturer in Agribusiness.
Read on for Dan comments on his life:
I was born and raised in Methven in the Canterbury foothills where my parents founded and built a successful rural transport business. This made for some great teenage years living every boys dream of driving trucks and loaders and chasing hay balers and headers all summer and spreading fertiliser etc. I started my study at Lincoln University, completed both the Diplomas in Agriculture and Farm Management, followed by a Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture) After completing a Master of Applied Science researching the popular nitrification inhibitor Eco-N. The dissertation titled: ‘Eco-N Adoption Patterns and Strategies of South Island Dairy Farmers’ He completed this Masters under the supervision of Professor Keith Woodford and Dr. Marv Pangborn and also had a lot of support from Russel Cameron and Guy Trafford. All of these gentlemen passed on a mountain of knowledge and skills to me.
I had financed myself through five years of university by taking soil samples in the holidays and on the weekends for the agricultural fertiliser cooperative Ravensdown. The relationship I had with Ravensdown was strong after growing up spreading fertiliser and then doing this part time work, this was only enhanced by my Masters on their Eco-N product. It makes sense then that upon completion of my university studies I went and worked as an Agri Manager for Ravensdown or a “fert rep”. I worked this role for five years, I enjoyed it, I was good at it, I couldn’t say a bad word about Ravensdown as an employer. I did outgrow the role a bit and began looking for my next challenge and found it at the ANZ Bank. I worked there as a Business Banking Manager for quite few years, greatly enhancing a range of skills, obviously mostly in finance and financial analysis, until Marv, Russel and Guy retired and I found myself back at Lincoln interviewing to continue on their work – and haven’t really looked back since.
The university is in good shape with strong enrolment numbers and good programs, all of our standard offerings are going well and we have updated our horticulture and forestry departments and they are both growing steadily. I think it’s critical that the primary industry is supplied with well-educated young professionals. It is imperative that the university keeps one foot firmly planted in the industry so we always understand the trials and challenges and future opportunities. We need to constantly update our product to meet market demand and expectations and I believe we do this well. I am confident Lincoln will continue to produce well-educated, industry aware, experienced, professional and work-ready students for many years to come.
Lincoln University also leads the way in preparing students for any mental health challenges they may experience or encounter in their careers. We do this by having many wellbeing touch points throughout their degrees or diplomas. Some of these are delivered by on-campus trained professionals, others are delivered by industry professionals who have experience dealing with, and overcoming, these challenges. We also have outside industry bodies that support us in this. I am confident the students leaving this campus are equipped to handle any of these types of challenges they may come up against, they at least have a good toolbox to lean on.
I wish all Rob’s readers the best of luck for 2024 and I am sure I will contribute again in a more focused / topical way when the need or opportunity arises.
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