Agricultural innovation to the fore

• Published date: 08 November 2021

The University of Otago’s inaugural professor of its agricultural innovation programme, Craig Bunt, is effusive in his excitement for his new role.

In fact, when he initially saw the position advertised, he quipped ‘‘I can’t remember them writing this for me’’.

Agricultural innovation, a major within applied sciences, began in 2019 in response to the changing agricultural industry. It was designed to focus students’ learning on the major issues and innovation solutions required to support the future of the industry, as well as developing leaders to drive it forward.

Previously an associate professor in animal science at Lincoln University, Prof Bunt’s scientific contributions spanned veterinary pharmaceutics, food science and environmental management tools.

His appointment reflected a 25-year journey which began with undergraduate and doctorate studies through Otago’s School of Pharmacy, and continued through work in industry, AgResearch, and academia. And, he quipped, he had spent the past 25 years trying to get back to the southern city.

At Otago, he was ‘‘spoilt’’ by the capability both across the university and in industry in Dunedin which was on the door step.

‘‘I haven’t seen a course that has that level of engagement with industry so early on. That’s an integral part of it,’’ he said.

Delivering new papers was also always a challenge and Prof Bunt was delighted with the extremely favourable feedback from students.

He was also thrilled to visit the agribusiness class which involved pupils from John McGlashan College and Columba College and was an excellent lead-in to the programme, and see their enthusiasm first-hand.

The programme did not teach students how to be a farmer; but, for those considering a career where they would need to know about agriculture, then they should be doing it.

Some of the students were studying commerce, and others science. He would love to see the likes of history and political studies students also enrolling.

An afternoon on a farm showed people how complex farming now was, but not a lot of people had that opportunity any more. If students were going to be looking at challenges such as climate change, they needed to know something of the issues farming had to deal with, he...