Education: Grass is greener for Alan

Alan Syme has gone from being a teacher to a learner. Photo / NZ Dairy Exporter

Switching from teaching to farming was a big move for Alan Syme, but one made far easier by his decision to complete a diploma in agribusiness management.

Mr Syme is now putting his learning into practice on a farm that has been in the family for four generations.

The 220ha (effective) farm near Tirau, Waikato, has been a constant in his life. He grew up milking cows, driving tractors and doing general farm work for his father and other farmers around the district.

Mr Syme completed a bachelor of sports and leisure degree at the University of Waikato before heading south to train as a teacher at the University of Canterbury.

He taught around the world for the next 12 years, before swapping a classroom in Rarotonga for a new career as operations manager on the family farm in 2013, milking 735 cows.

Mr Syme realised that farming had changed significantly while he'd been away, so he enrolled in a diploma in agribusiness management with Primary ITO.

It was an easy decision for someone with a thirst for knowledge and the desire to discover more about farming.

The diploma is taught by multiple training providers across the country.

It's split into four modules targeting different areas of agribusiness management, including human resource management, financial management and planning, business management, resource management and sustainability.

One his big tasks was completing a comprehensive case study for another farm.

"I looked at the business, the farmer's goals, debt levels, budgets, the geography of the property, and areas of strength and weakness. It took three months and was a 24,000-word report. This exercise gives you the confidence to do the same thing for your own business, whether you are a sharemilker, a contract milker or a farm owner."

He has been putting his new skills into practice, shifting the farm from a System 5 to a System 2 over the past few years.

"Under System 5, we were making milk from money by buying lots of imported feed. This year we're planting 7ha [3per cent of the farm] in maize, but nothing is cheaper than grass. I'm not scared to try things out. If it doesn't work I will try something else."

Mr Syme says the diploma has equipped him with invaluable technical skills.

"It's given me the ability to self-reflect and the the knowledge to make better decisions. How do you know when a deal is good or bad? Without knowledge you don't know."

- From Dairy NZ's publication Inside Dairy. DairyNZ is a strong supporter of the Diploma in Agribusiness providing advice and resources. For more, phone Primary ITO 0800208020