Seminars in Queenstown and Te Anau, two centres hit hard by the collapse of tourism, attracted about 300 people and generated sufficient interest for two training intakes, Rural Contractors president Dave Kean said.
The Southland Institute of Technology and contractors are running six-week courses at Telford in south Otago and in Invercargill to get people into agricultural contracting.
And Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor hopes the Taratahi training centre near Masterton will be hosting introductory farming courses for those new to the sector by early next month.
“We are working as fast as possible. There is great enthusiasm from Wairarapa to get it up and running.
“In the short-term the urgent need for the dairy industry, for the livestock sector, for horticulture and viticulture, means Taratahi facilities should be utilised as quickly as we can get them running.”
There are still issues of ownership to be resolved with the liquidator but O’Connor says they have reached an agreement to allow the facilities to be used so courses can begin.
The Taratahi courses will be delivered by the Eastern Institute of Technology and Ucol and have been developed in partnership with the Telford/Southern Institute of Technology and industry, including DairyNZ’s Go Dairy programme.
O’Connor said negotiations for longer-term Tertiary Education Commission-funded education will continue in parallel while the Primary Industries Ministry works with providers and industry to address immediate needs created by covid-19.
In recent weeks O’Connor visited both Taratahi and Telford and described the institutions as significant farming assets.
Kean says about 80% of those at the Queenstown seminar were tourists on short-term working visas that will expire before they can be renewed to allow them to start training.
“We had four guys from South America turn up. They moved to Queenstown the day before the lockdown to work and enjoy the party life but now have no idea what to do.
“They don’t know anything about agriculture. They don’t have working visas or licences.”
The Te Anau event attracted more New Zealanders, a mix of tour guides, bus drivers and hospitality workers.
The sector is looking for about 300 workers and Kean says contractors have given a commitment to train new staff even though it will take about two years for the workers to be fully competent.
“We are prepared to give anybody a go.”
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says 340 recently unemployed people have been recruited for 60 conservation projects such as improving walking tracks, fencing, trapping predators to look after birds and bush and removing wilding pines.
