Kia ora koutou,
What a change it is to see the sun for a few days, here’s hoping for more of the same.
EIT classes are progressing well. Level 4 students have just started the fifth of their 6 courses for the year, looking at fruit management from dormancy through to December. For the practical part of this assessment we expect them to be involved with supervising a thinning crew as well as understanding the management of bees, the use of thinning sprays etc. They have set up a plant growth regulator experiment on some beans at EIT and will be reporting back to you how this experiment goes.
Our two cohorts of Level 3 students have recently completed propagation and irrigation as part of the block development course. Please give them opportunities to be involved with tree planting, practice their fruit support skills as well as do some irrigation maintenance. These large groups are moving along really well, and Steven and I are optimistic the majority will manage to complete this big course this year.
Our chainsaw courses were really well subscribed, and if you have specific training requirements please let us know, we are always open to suggestions to meet industry needs.
We still wait for direction from Te Pukenga about fees next year, but will let everyone know once we do.
Noho ora mai,
Clare