'Gumboot' farmer honoured with Massey Medal

Services to the dairy industry and supporting the training of agricultural and veterinary students have earned Opiki farmer Noel Johnston a Massey University Medal. Mr Johnston was presented with the award at the first of this afternoon’s graduation ceremonies at the Regent on Broadway in Palmerston North.

The ceremony saw graduates in sciences receive their degrees and diplomas, including many agriculture graduates and 72 Bachelors of Veterinary Science. Vet lecturer and large animal vet services manager Jenny Weston read the citation for Mr Johnston.

“Noel is a local lad who obtained his Diploma in Agriculture from Massey university in 1965,” Ms Weston said. He took over his father’s dairy farm in Newbury; this had been put together by his father Don through the buying and selling of cull dairy cows. After only nine years in the industry, Noel was elected as a director of Manawatu Milk Producers. This company then merged with Tui Milk Products, then Kiwi Milk Ltd and ultimately Fonterra for which he is a supplier representative. This encompasses 32 years of service and governance of the dairy industry at both a local and a national level.”

Ms Weston said that the Manawatu Milk producers plant, then on Gillespies Line, was one of the first in New Zealand to monitor somatic cell count, an innovative move for the industry at the time and one Mr Johnston had pushed for.

Over the years Mr Johnston’s farm grew by acquisition, with Mr Johnston also finding time to instigate the Manawatu dairy beef discussion group. From 1980 to 2002 Mr Johnston was a committee member organising the Massey dairy farmers’ Conference, and served as chairman three times.

“One of the keys to its success was the presence of ‘gumboot’ farmers on the conference advisory committee and Noel fulfilled this task admirably,” Ms Weston said. “The Massey Dairy Farmers’ Conference and its successor have been critical in expanding Massey’s reputation for excellence in agriculture at an applied and practical level.”

Mr Johnston was also involved in the Livestock Improvement Corporation, the regional council, the New Zealand Grasslands Trust and the Ellett Agricultural Research trust.

“The farm at Kopane backs on to the Oroua River and in recent times has flooded, most notably in 2004. Despite his farm being one of those affected, Noel served on the Ministry of Agriculture Flood Recovery Committee. Other services to the community included service on the board of trustees for Palmerston North Boys’ High School and a commitment to High School Old Boys Rugby.

The citation also paid tribute to Mr Johnston’s support for Massey students and staff.

“Three generations of Johnstons have been clients of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital Farm Services Clinic … Noel has always seen the benefit of animal health in preventing disease, maximising production and improving genetic gain.

“Although much of Noel’s farming career has shown him to be innovative and a leader in the industry, when it matters Noel is still ‘old school’. When vets and students arrive to work in a grazing block, Noel will always have a 20-litre drum of water, soap in a dish – usually lavender scented now there is a predominance of female students – a hand-brush and clean towel.”

Mr Johnston was joined at the ceremony by his wife Cec, who, Ms Weston said, had always been an integral part of the farm team. The Massey Medal is an honorary award to acknowledge special service both to the University and the community, with nomination made by the Vice-Chancellor and approved by the Committee for Honorary Awards and the University council.

Guest speaker at the morning ceremony was Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton, Mr Anderton spoke of innovators including Bill Hamilton and William Goodfellow, and of the opportunity he saw in the New Zealand Fast Forward fund, which would unleash more science and innovation in pastoral and food industries.

“I believe that some of the young scientists graduating here today can go on from here with the ambition of scaling world-class scientific mountains because of that fund,” Mr Anderton said. “It offers our best shot at a step change in the New Zealand economy. From research into better, tastier, cleaner, safer food, to more efficient and sustainable processing and production…this is our competitive advantage, our chance to achieve breakthroughs.

“You are graduating this year at a time of almost unprecedented opportunity for young New Zealanders. If you had graduated in the ‘60s, you would have entered the workforce as it entered decades of long-term relative decline. If you had graduated in the eighties, you would have graduated just as we entered a long stretch of pain in New Zealand.

“Graduating today, you are entering a workforce that has grown by a thousand jobs a week, every week, for eight years, and an economy that has not grown so much and for so long since the second world war. You are graduating at a time when skills and knowledge have never been so heavily in demand,” Mr Anderton said.

“There are exciting and inspiring opportunities ahead.”

The second science ceremony, held this afternoon, saw 288 undergraduates cross the stage, and 19 PhDs. Speaker for this ceremony was Howard Moore, who graduated from Massey University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Food Technology and went on to found several bio-tech companies. Mr Moore is now chairman of ANZODE, a United States-based company formed to commercialise battery technology research initiated at Massey.

Mr Moore told the graduates of science and technology that their fields had played a significant role in sustaining the New Zealand economy.

“Massey University and the Palmerston North science community epitomise that contribution, particularly our pastoral and food industries. But in the 21st century I believe we should look to science and technology for an even greater contribution to our scientific growth.”

Mr Moore said he believed three big ideas – the role of entrepreneurship, the need for patenting to protect intellectual property and the investment that venture capital provides – could all contributed to New Zealand increasing its investment in research and development and achieving much greater economic growth.

“And also, hopefully, making those of you who are prepared to seize the opportunity of becoming entrepreneurs, very wealthy.”

Graduation continues this week with two ceremonies for the College of Business tomorrow, at 9.30am and 2.30pm. An Alumni and Friends cocktail function will take place tomorrow evening from 4.30pm at The Regent. Education and arts graduands will attend ceremonies on Wednesday, with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences graduations taking place on Thursday. On Friday a ceremony will be held at The Regent to honour Måori graduates.