One-hundred primary schools across New Zealand are now better resourced to teach their students about food and farming after winning ‘George the Farmer’ book sets in a recent competition run by agri lending specialist, Rabobank.
The competition – which ran in late July and early August – was open to all primary schools across New Zealand and attracted entries from around the country. The winning schools were informed of their success in mid-August and the educational book sets (made up of six ‘George the Farmer’ books) were delivered to the 100 winning schools earlier this month.
Rabobank New Zealand Head of Client Councils Jeffrey Morrison said this year’s competition was the second edition of the competition following its first iteration last year.
“In conjunction with our Client Council network, the bank developed the competition to improve knowledge about farming and food production among young Kiwis,” he said.
Students at Te Miro Primary School with their new 'George the Farmer' books
“We were really rapt with the response to the initial competition – which saw 45 sets of the books given away – and, based on the huge volume of entries we received, it was pretty clear to us that there is strong demand from schools throughout the country for this type of agri-focused teaching resource.
“So we made the decision to run the competition again and this time around we decided to more than double the amount of book sets we gave away.”
Mr Morrison said as part of the competition entry process, entrants were asked to provide a brief explanation on why their nominated school should receive a set of the books.
“As was the case last year, some of the explanations from schools and parents were incredible and it was really difficult to choose the winners,” he said.
“We’re really happy the competition has proven popular again and that we’ve been able to provide book sets to schools from locations right around New Zealand.”
Mr Morrison said the ‘George the Farmer’ book set giveaway was one of several Rabobank Client Council initiatives helping to grow and strengthen rural communities.
“Council initiatives are linked to six key themes - industry capacity and agri education, environmental sustainability, natural disaster resilience, the rural/ urban connection, rural wellbeing, and adaption disruption,” he said.
“This particular initiative links nicely with our agri education and rural/ urban connection themes, and we’re hoping this latest book giveaway will help boost young Kiwis’ knowledge of food production.”
Books proving popular with winning schools
Mr Morrison said feedback from the winning schools was now flowing in, including from Midhirst School – a small primary school located 35km south-east of New Plymouth in the Taranaki.
“Midhirst were entered into the competition by school parent Claire Bishop,” he said.
“In her entry, Claire said the books would ‘bring a bit of farming to the classroom’ and ‘help start a conversation about the important role farming plays in bringing kids their milk and Weetbix in the morning’.”
Mrs Duynhoven from Midhirst School said that’s exactly what the books were doing.
“The feedback I’ve had from students who have read the books has been really positive,” she said.
“The children really like that the books are teaching them about farming and the colourful pictures. In particular, the book about Kev and Susan, two gun shearers from New Zealand, has proven popular.”
Jennie Molloy from Te Miro School, another of winning schools, said the books had also proven a hit with Te Miro students.
“The books are wonderful! The children absolutely adore reading the stories, and it's clear from their excitement and engagement how much they appreciate them,” she said.
“The books have become a cherished part of their reading time and brought so much happiness to our little readers.”
About George the Farmer
‘George the Farmer’ is a fictional character featured in a series of books 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. Simone 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 last 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.
With the help of the New Zealand Agribusiness in Schools programme, the learning resources connected to the ‘George the Farmer’ books heading to New Zealand schools have recently been adapted and New Zealand-specific versions of these are now available.