T&G are supplying fruit for a "fruit of the week" activity with Massey University students as well as giving them a tour of their Manawatu branch.
The collaborations were initiated by the first-year Horticulture Production course lecturer, Huub Kerckhoffs. DrKerckhoffs says it is a great way to start the week as it immerses them in the topic and helps them get the relevance of what is being presented.
Dr Kerckhoffs also says the fruit, vegetable and flower-growing industries cannot get enough of these students, who include several studying by distance.
"One student attended an industry conference recently and got three job offers while she was there. The industry is changing and taking more of a corporate approach, creating exciting career opportunities here and overseas.
"The roles include handling logistics, marketing, orchard management, exporting and so on. This means there are more skilled jobs that they need graduates for, and these young people can see some quick career progression."
A number of organisations are providing scholarships for students - T&G offers grants worth $10,000 each to three postgraduate students a year. The total value of scholarships offered to support horticulture and agriculture students at Massey reached over $500,000 this year.
This year 75 students are enrolled in the first-year horticulture paper at Massey, studying on-campus or extramurally.
The students do the production paper as part of a Bachelor in Agriscience degree, an Agricommerce degree or a Bachelor of Science majoring in plant science.