Saturday, March 30, 2024

B+LNZ partners with Growing Future Farmers programme

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Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) has teamed up with the Growing Future Farmers (GFF) Essential Farm Skills Programme to attract and train more young people in the red meat sector.
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B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor says the future success of our industry relies on attracting talented and motivated young people and equipping them with the skills to be successful.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) has teamed up with the Growing Future Farmers (GFF) Essential Farm Skills Programme to attract and train more young people in the red meat sector.

The GFF programme offers a range of specialised industry training and development opportunities across the country, including formal New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) qualifications.

The agreement will give enrolled learners a boost of $500 each in 2021.

GFF will also receive a cash injection of $25,000 towards running the programme.

“The future success of our industry relies on attracting talented and motivated young people and equipping them with the skills to be successful,” B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor said.

“Farmers have told us how important building the next generation is to them and emphasised that they wanted us to focus on initiatives that would build practical capability behind the farm gate, so B+LNZ is implementing that approach.”

Chair John Jackson welcomes B+LNZ’s support as a significant step in the growth and development of the GFF programme.

“The success of this initiative is very much dependent on support from wider industry participants as it relies on our Farmer Trainers who sponsor our students in the workplace as they learn,” Jackson said.

“Currently, we have 45 student trainees on farms throughout New Zealand and are expecting to start a further 70 first year students in February 2022.”

Wairarapa’s Palliser Ridge has two GFF students. Farm manager and director Kurt Portas says the programme is a good transition for school leavers into the industry and sets them up well for their farming future.

“At Palliser Ridge, we’ve been involved with the GFF programme since its inception. There is some great agricultural training happening all over the country, but we need more of it and at a larger-scale to keep our industry thriving. There’s a lot of experience sitting out there in farm businesses ready to be shared. We’ve definitely enjoyed challenging ourselves and found the programme to have benefits for both us and our students,” Portas said.

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