Long-lasting bonds 

New Zealand is considered a global leader in sustainable agriculture and is well known for agricultural products such as kiwifruit, dairy products, beef, sheep meat, wool and wine. 

The country’s agricultural industry isn’t heavily managed by people like U.S. agriculture is. There aren’t many barns, nor a lot of equipment to harvest feed for animals. Instead, most farm animals are out on pasture, harvesting their own feed themselves. They’re moved among the pasture and will graze on different parts of the grassland at different times, which helps improve soil and grass health.  

“I would almost call it an artform,” Griffiths said.

Farmers in New Zealand are especially thoughtful about the types of plants they choose based on the type of soil their farm has. The land’s topography, altitude, aspect and microclimate-environment dominate the way they manage their farm as well as farm policy decisions. Farmers even find ways to make plants available for their animals year-round. Beef cattle, dairy cattle and sheep graze on those plants, so farmers don’t have to harvest feed themselves.

Griffiths and Garey shared these concepts with this year’s study abroad cohort of 38 undergraduate students and two undergraduate teaching assistants through taking them to several farms. Students met with farmers, agricultural professionals and entrepreneurs to learn firsthand about agriculture in New Zealand. 

Natalie Miller, a UD Class of 2002 animal science major, was on CANR’s second-ever New Zealand study abroad program. Even though the program was just in its beginning phase, she noticed the co-leaders had already planted the seeds for strong connections with farmers. 

“People were willing to open up the doors to their farms and homes to all of us,” Miller said. “It was so early in those relationships I can’t even imagine how close people are now.”

Those connections have been valuable indeed. For the last three study abroad programs, Garey and Griffiths took students to tour Hamish Murray’s family farm, Bluff Station, which includes more than 30,000 acres of land that starts at sea level and runs inland more than 20 miles. The land’s natural boundaries are the inland Kaikoura mountains, the seaward Kaikoura mountains and the Clarence River. It’s one of the largest privately owned stations in all of the South Island. 

In 1919, the valley where the farm is located was abandoned because there were so many invasive rabbits occupying the land that it was destroyed and unable to host livestock. Murray’s grandfather took the property over in 1919 and he spent four years trying to recover the property from the damage the rabbits had done. He managed the fragile environment and highly erodible land, working to protect invasive species and managing invasive species such as rabbits, deer and invasive plants. Using pasture as native feed for cattle paved the way for native bush to regenerate on parts of the farm.

“At a place like Bluff Station, we’re spending 45 minutes driving just to get to the interior part of the station,” Garey said. “It’s so expansive and the terrain is so rough, because it’s natural. For our students to truly understand that and understand how the environment dominates management in places like that, they really have to see it and experience it before they can truly understand it.” 

Griffiths added that meeting with farmers helps students understand one of the most basic tenets of agriculture: “They need to know where their food comes from,” she said. 

Murray also worked hard on the people part of sustainability. The New Zealander creates a motivating, challenging and inviting environment to his employees. He has even provided training opportunities to youth with an interest in agriculture who could become future farmers.

A farmer imparts life lessons 

The most well-established relationship Garey and Griffiths have in New Zealand is with farmer Scott McFadden. 

McFadden operates his 2,000-acre farm, the Acheron Station, with two dogs that herd beef cattle and sheep. Blue Hens have visited the Acheron since the very first program, back when McFadden’s father, Bob, was running the farm. When the McFaddens first bought the farm, it was undeveloped — it was just designed to block runoff from another farm. The McFaddens developed it with the goal to protect land and waterways.

Garey and Griffiths said while meeting with the students in January, McFadden was very open about many of the farming challenges he faces: From financial, to family, to mental health — if someone doesn’t take care of their mental health, managing a farm isn’t sustainable.

“When McFadden delivers a wool press to a farmer that’s renting it, he’s making a check-in call about mental health,” Griffiths said. “He’s been trained in mental health because New Zealand farmers are living in very isolated environments.”

Garey said McFadden has always been blunt and honest with the students.

“That open frank discussion helps remove some of the stigma of mental health challenges,” Garey said. “It’s not something unique just to farming. That’s always a meaningful visit for students.”

Skylar Casucci, a junior pre-veterinary medicine major and animal nutrition minor, appreciated McFadden’s openness about the toll farming can take on mental health.

“It was totally new for me. I didn’t think how much more goes into farming, especially mentally,” Casucci said. “They have to be profitable. That’s something they always have to think about. If the market is bad, their mental health might become bad.” 

Life-changing experiences

Besides learning about agriculture, UD students learned about the history and settlement of New Zealand and the Maori culture. They ventured on excursions to the Waka on the Avon and the International Antarctic Center. 

New Zealand is known as an adrenaline-filled country. During this study abroad, it’s pretty common for students to try something a little more thrilling during their free time. Anything like skydiving, bungee jumping, canyoning, ziplining or even getting a tattoo of a silver fern as a memento of the winter program. 

Cecilia Uebel, a sophomore sustainable food systems major, went skydiving. 

“It was one of the best experiences, honestly,” Uebel said. “When I landed I said, ‘Let’s go again, round 2!’”

Uebel said the study abroad program was everything she wanted in learning about sustainable farming. And she came back from the experience feeling like a different person.

“I feel like I’ve been more open-minded to doing things,” Uebel said. “I feel more independent, too.”

Indeed, it was life-changing for alumni who went on the trip 25 years ago. The success of the program since 1999 has many alumni buzzing about the great memories they made and how studying abroad in New Zealand helped their careers, including Lisa Ahramjian, a UD class of 2002 animal science major, who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service and is based in Indonesia.

Ahramjian said many agricultural producers and companies around the world share similar farming experiences and challenges. But they also have their own unique challenges. She has worked closely with New Zealand diplomats about trade issues, and shared stories with them about her time abroad in New Zealand. 

Ahramjian holds the memories of the program close to her heart.

“What I valued most about UD’s program was broadening the perspective of how agriculture is produced around the world,” Ahramjian said. “I always loved to travel, and the New Zealand study abroad opened my eyes to there being a role for traveling within the agricultural sector.”