Southland-raised student Emma Blom’s passion for agricultural studies

Lincoln University student Emma Blom has a particular passion for the dairy industry. Photo / Supplied

Emma Blom describes herself as a curious learner.

When she enrolled to study a bachelor of environment and society at Lincoln University, it was more about satisfying her curiosity than getting a job, she said.

Blom (20) was recently announced as the first recipient of the Align Farms agriculture scholarship which covered a year’s tuition for a student enrolled in a food and fibre-related undergraduate programme.

Canterbury-based Align Farms said it had many “amazing” applicants, but Blom’s passion and active and diverse involvement in the agriculture industry made her a stand-out candidate.

Originally from a dairy farming background in Southland, Blom said her passion resulted from growing up on a farm.

Her last two years of secondary school were spent at Marlborough Girls College after what she laughingly described as her parents having a “midlife crisis”.

They moved to the Marlborough Sounds and lived remotely, running a backpackers lodge, before moving into the mussel industry. They retained their farming operation in Southland.

Blom was “absolutely loving” her tertiary studies. She recently travelled to South Korea with Prof Hamish Gow and a group of students looking at primary industry import-export opportunities.

When it came to her career plans, she did not want to commit to anything at this stage. She intended to travel overseas and work, gaining skills she could bring back to New Zealand.

The dairy industry was her particular passion.

She did a stint goat milking last summer and enjoyed that so much she did consider starting a goat milking co-operative in Southland - “we’ll see, I’ve got nothing solid in mind of a career path” - and it was also about finding things that she enjoyed.

One of her strong values was autonomy and she loved that aspect of agriculture. There was so much innovation involved and a farmer had to be “everything - not just a farmer”.

“If you’re bored as a farmer, you’re doing something wrong,” she said.

Blom acknowledged her parents’ influence in her life, including their entrepreneurial mindset, and said she tended to surround herself with forward-thinking people.

For the past several weeks, she has been getting her hands dirty on one of the family’s Southland dairy farms and she loved being able to do that.

She also enjoyed being in Southland, saying she was grateful to have come from the region which had a sense of belonging and community.