The first push to get young people studying agribusiness at secondary school level is being hailed as a success.
St Paul’s Collegiate School in Hamilton is running agribusiness courses at NCEA level 2 and level 3 as a trial before a national roll out to schools in 2017.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy would officially launch the agribusiness programme at the school today.
Deputy headmaster Peter Hampton said 45 students have been in the pilot programme this year, but that number would almost double next year because of the level of interest.
"The science students get to know a little bit about the business side of agri-biz and the business students get to know a little bit about the science side, so when they leave us they are much more understanding of the qualifications and the career pathways that are available to them.
"In the last year or two we've only had one or two students gone off to agribusiness tertiary institutions and this year 15 of our students are heading off."
Mr Hampton said seven schools would try the programme in 2016.
