Research in the dairy sector alone has come up with figure of needing 1000 graduates each year at diploma level and above for onfarm roles and another 250 a year for rural professional and science roles. DairyNZ’s strategy and investment leader for people and business, Mark Paine, asked the DairyNZ Farmers’ Forum in early May whether the industry is geared up to accommodate the growing demands of bigger farms.
“We have a range of initiatives in place and we’re working hard on all fronts – but is it enough?” he asked.
While the whole industry is talking about the issue and gearing up to meet demand, NZX Agri is going to cross the urban-rural divide and talk to students about the great opportunities in agriculture and the primary industries for building a career, business and lifestyle.
Land – your dream job is an across-media campaign to raise awareness of opportunities within the sector.
It will be officially launched at National Fieldays at Mystery Creek with a media event and a site shared with Young Farmers and Young Country magazine (Site M42-S). Local students are invited along to check out the career possibilities, pick up a bumper sticker and wristband and enter competitions to win prizes and to support the campaign.
The website www.landyourdreamjob.co.nz will go live in May, with stories, content from our publications, testimonials from industry leaders on why they think a career in agri or primary industries is a good idea, video content (ours and from RuralTV), job profiles from more than 100 young agri/hort workers, and competitions.
The website will include links to industry initiatives and resources such as Get Ahead, information on education and training options as well as available scholarships, and other exciting initiatives to ignite a passion for the industry.
The major competition running throughout the campaign will be the ‘Young Country Test Drive Your Dream Job’, where three young people will win the opportunity to get a few days work experience in their dream job alongside an industry mentor. The three categories will be agri or hort business, agri or hort science, and onfarm/in the orchard. They will also win $1000 to contribute towards their agri or hort training.
The campaign logo will be used across NZX Agri publications, Farmers Weekly, Dairy Exporter, Country-Wide and Young Country magazine and mainstream media are encouraged to pick up the stories and share the same logo.
