Pick up any business newspaper and you'll read that some primary product is wowing an emerging overseas market.
Dairy, meat, wool, fruit, honey and wine are doing well. China and India want our food, scream the headlines, and there'll be more on some clever technology being developed to get it all there tasting fresher.
Well, why not a little crowing? The land-based economy is on a roll, generating more than 60 per cent of our exports and, thanks to changing weather patterns and other factors, we're told the world will only want more of what we grow in future.
New Zealand Inc has found its feet at last, not as the manufacturing powerhouse envisaged by Robert Muldoon; the banking centre to rival Hong Kong, as envisaged during the time of Roger Douglas; not even as an ITC-based "knowledge economy", hyped by Labour and National Governments from the 1990s onward.
Now the message is getting a lot simpler. We'll stick to what we're good at, becoming a prosperous food-producing economy. Maybe not the world's "bread basket" but definitely its value-added cheese board.
But, and it's a huge but: New Zealand is now one of the world's most urbanised countries and a shrinking number of us are actually producing the goods.
Young farming blood is getting scarce, in some areas drying up. The average age of a dairy farmer is 43, while the average age of a sheep and beef farmer is over 50. Many agricultural workers are recruited from overseas and - despite attractive salaries on offer - fewer than 1 per cent of students are graduating with degrees in agricultural science.
In 2011 DairyNZ estimated the dairy industry needed 1250 agriculture-related graduates a year. That year only 68 earned agriculture science degrees and 90 got degrees in agri commerce and business.
In general, the prospect of farming and land-based careers doesn't seem to engage a lot of college students, points out DairyNZ industry education facilitator Susan Stokes.
"Plenty of Year 13s seem drawn to the likes of media studies, the performing arts, sports science, ITC, accountancy, law and medicine. It's harder to find an aspiring avocado orchard manager, soil scientist, vet, food technologist or rural banker.
"The irony is that we have vibrant, well-paid careers in the dairy sector, earning the right graduates great salaries and - compared with elsewhere - prospects of rapid advancement."
Kiwis employed in the primary sector fell from 135,423 in 2006 to 129,420 last year. Certainly Statistics NZ includes agriculture, forestry and fishing under "primary sector" and mechanisation could have reduced job numbers overall.
Even so, the reported 5 per cent drop in the primary sector workforce over the past half-decade does seem astonishing.
With the dairy boom and innovations such as the ascendancy of organic farming we might have expected figures to confirm a rapidly rising workforce.
Federated Farmers complains of a major shortage of capable young Kiwis opting to join the agricultural labour force. The gaps this leaves are reflected in Immigration New Zealand's immediate and long-term skill shortage lists, it says.
Federated Farmers' submission to the Draft Tertiary Education Strategy 2014-19 says agriculture remains at the core of our economy.
"It should therefore be hugely concerning for the Government that we have this agricultural skill shortage.
"Currently agriculture is viewed by many young people as a low skill level subject, which does not require any key competencies such as numeracy and literacy.
"As a result a lot of secondary school teachers and career advisers do not see a career in agriculture as a viable option for intelligent academic students.
"This is one of the core problems, not just for farmers as employers, but also for education institutions trying to attract good students for agricultural disciplines," the organisation said.
Stokes says an urban-rural disconnect means when young people visualise dairy farming it tends to be images of cow muck, long hours and early mornings.
"They don't comprehend a sophisticated business comprising aspects of animal, soil, plant, water quality and food sciences. They don't see an industry conversant with geopolitics, the nuances of trade negotiations and how they affect farm returns.
"They don't realise most dairy farmers are committed to protecting the environment. Students don't grasp that with the right qualifications there's far more money to be made in dairying than in most other sectors of the economy."
Stokes has many glowing reports from youngsters who studied with a view to joining the sector.
"They include young people from the city, with no previous background in farming, now captivated by the challenges and stimulation of fast-moving on-farm careers.
"Being young they enjoy the constant advances in technology and active lifestyles working with animals, riding motorcycles and so forth.
"Above all, feedback I receive is young people now working in the farming sector - whether as farmers, scientists, rural bankers or whatever, are more than happy with what they're earning."
Lincoln University's assistant vice-chancellor (business development), Jeremy Baker, sees encouraging signs of the message at last getting through.
Lincoln reports significant growth in enrolments in its core land-based programmes, including bachelors of agriculture, agricultural science and agricultural science in conservation. Baker also reports growth in agri-business and food marketing areas.
"I'd define the land-based sector quite broadly, as including food processing, food marketing and sales. About 490,000 people work in these land-based sectors, or about 20 per cent of the workforce.
"There's opportunities for people to be involved in production of food and fibre, but equally in processing food, whether at the advanced end of food science, or in manufacturing, sales or marketing.
"Young people and their parents are beginning to understand that this country's wealth is based upon the land-based economy.
It generates most of our exports and as international food prices rise additional land-based skills and expertise will be required, both here and all around the world.
"More colleges are setting up agricultural academies, not only to promote agricultural careers but as a wonderful means to teach biology, accounting, economics and other subjects. This sector makes us unique and special in the world and you can learn amazing things on a broad range of topics through studying it."
Farm visits sparked interest
These days former Aucklander Travis Ryan-Salter spends his days figuring out how to boost pasture quality on rugged Mackenzie Country farms.
NZMerino is funding his PhD studies into sustainable ways to modify high-country soils to make them more productive.
Travis uses a specially designed machine to deliver lime at depth, and researches DNA extraction from soil bacteria. The aim is to reduce costly nitrogen application to improve merino farming.
He was the only boy in his Kings College class interested in a farming career.
"From the age of 13, I spent every school holiday on my cousins' farm in Hawkes Bay. Without that experience I would never have gone to Lincoln.
"There isn't a career with as many challenges, from the weather to keeping a constant eye on profitability. Plus you get to work alongside such great people."
Reaping rewards
• Farm workers earn an average salary of $49,159 when non-wage benefits are taken into account
• Dairy farm managers earn on average $70,336 a year
• Sheep and beef farm managers earn on average $66,740 a year
• An arable farm manager can earn on average $66,359 a year
Source: 2013 Federated Farmers/Rabobank Farm Employee Remuneration Survey 2013
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