The Client Councils worked closely alongside the Rabobank team to address key industry and community challenges in farming and agribusiness, Rabobank Upper North Island Client Council chairwoman Donna Arnold said.
“Initiatives developed by the Client Councils centred around five key themes – two of which were agricultural education and the urban/rural divide.
“The book sets linked to both of these themes.”
It was important for children to learn about agriculture, Arnold said.
“It’s vital that the next generation has a basic understanding of New Zealand’s agricultural sector as it’s such an important component of the country’s economy.”
About George the Farmer
George the Farmer is a fictional character featured in a series of books, paddock-to-plate videos on YouTube, and educational resources.
His story began in 2012 when founder, South Australia-based farmer Simone Kain, was trawling the internet looking for farming books and apps for her farm-obsessed son, George.
Kain quickly discovered there wasn’t a human farming character globally who was telling sequential stories about life on the land for children.
In 2014, the George the Farmer book and educational resource series was officially born and over the past nine years more than 100,000 Aussie kids have connected to the earth, food and farm through the adventures of George the Farmer, his agronomist wife, Dr Ruby and their twin children, Lucy and Jack.
The books are garnering attention and sales outside of Australia with stockists in the US and Canada selling the brand over the past nine months and retail sales being sent to many countries including the UK, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
Arnold said one of the books in the packs which will be delivered to Kiwi schools features Kev and Susan – gun shearers from New Zealand.
“In the book – George the Farmer Shears a Sheep – Kev and Susan help George and Ruby shear their sheep before the weather sets in,” she said.
“Kev is the New Zealand shearing champion, having won the event by taking the fleece off a sheep in just 16 seconds!”
Arnold said each George the Farmer book was connected to a set of learning resources that could be accessed by teachers online.
Seven New Zealand-specific learning resources had recently been developed, with help from Kain and the New Zealand Agribusiness in Schools programme, she said.
“[They] focus on apples, dairy, cray fishing, wool and wheat, peas, sustainable forestry and plantation forestry.”
The books also included a variety of activities for Year 1 to Year 5 students, she said.
“[They] will really help to further expand students’ understanding of some of New Zealand’s key agricultural sectors.”
Winners located across New Zealand
Arnold said as part of the competition entry process, schools were asked to provide a brief explanation of why their school should receive a set of books.
“We received some fantastic explanations from schools, with some of the urban-based schools saying the books would help their students gain a better understanding of a topic they knew little about, while others in rural locations thought the books would help build pride among their pupils who came from farming families.”
Arnold said that while it was difficult to select the winners, Rabobank landed on a group that included a good mix of urban and rural schools from regions right across the country.
She was confident the book sets would prove a hit with New Zealand children, especially after a successful test run at Tatuanui School in the Waikato earlier in the year.
“The kids at Tatuanui love the books, and I’ve no doubt they’ll be very popular with the students at the schools who were selected as competition winners.”
