The work of the two agricultural colleges, their courses leading to degrees, and those of sub-university level are described in the following section.

There are other educational agencies catering for prospective young farmers, some of them formally organised, others of an informal nature. Among the latter are the Auckland Youths' Farm Settlement Scheme and the Canterbury Farm Training Scheme. Both of these take care of boys after an adequate school education, place them on selected farms where they will get a variety of experience, and enter into an arrangement with the boys that will encourage saving.

Organised centres of training are the Salvation Army Training Farm, the Maori Boys' Training Farm at Te Whaiti, both run for special purposes, the Smedley Training Farm in Hawke's Bay, the Wairarapa Training Farm, and Flock House near Bulls. Smedley and the Wairarapa Farm are mainly under local control, and district applicants get preference for the eight or ten places available each year. Flock House is under the Department of Agriculture. It can take 50 students for the course of one year. In each of these centres trainees learn by doing — there is little theoretical instruction. A new centre — the Telford Farm Training Institute — was opened in 1965 at Balclutha. It was established by an enabling Act of Parliament, and on a farm given by the trustees of the Telford Estate. It will provide a one-year course for about 80 students.

Among other informal agencies that contribute to the education of the young farmer are Young Farmers' Clubs, the National Council of Adult Education, the Broadcasting Service, and the extension services of the Department of Agriculture, and the Dairy Board. The role of the press is also significant. Most of the newspapers carry pages of instruction as well as of news. The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, a Government publication, carries many instructional articles, as also do Straight Furrow, the New Zealand Farmer, and Meat and Wool. Each of the three major parts of the farming industry — dairying, meat production, and wool production — has its own special paper, named respectively the New Zealand Dairy Exporter, the New Zealand Meat Producer, and the Wool Digest.

by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.