Farming leaders have called on the Government to buy Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre’s Masterton campus from the liquidators to secure future vocational farm training, saying once gone it will be difficult and costly to replace.
“It is crucial that facility in Masterton remains available to agricultural training,” Federated Farmers chief executive Terry Copeland says.
“We think it is critical the Government steps in and purchases those assets.”
Education Minister Chris Hipkins said while the liquidator will have some input on the future of the assets he hopes the farm and Masterton campus will once again be used to train young farmers.
“This gives the Government some ability to think about the future and its role in that.”
The act under which Taratahi is governed dictates it can be sold only with the approval of Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and then only for education.
A new vocational training structure for primary sector training could leverage off Landcorp, Hipkins said.
All options for primary sector training are being considered but the first step is to revamp vocational education.
The training model is unsustainable and is not providing the right people with the right skills and he hopes to release details for reforming the sector next month.
The Government has been criticised for rejecting a rescue package submitted last year by the Taratahi board but Hipkins said a business case was not presented, an example of board complacency.
“It was an email asking for $6m to pay their bills. I think they were complacent.”
The private training educator was the victim of poor historic decisions, poor management and poor governance in the lead-up to last December’s liquidation, he said.
The Government last year spent $100 million bailing out three polytechnics but Hipkins said the polytechnics had a pathway forward.
“Taratahi hadn’t identified a business case and its options were not that simple.”
The Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill is still in discussions with the Government about taking over Taratahi’s Telford campus in south Otago and Hipkins said a decision is still some weeks away.
Any decision on the future of Taratahi will take longer and is dependent on the liquidation process, meaning education on the campus is unlikely until that is resolved.
The primary sector has been poor at promoting careers, to the point where the perception of farming deters young people from careers even though that perception differs greatly from the reality.
“I don’t think land-based industries have done a good job of selling themselves to young people.”
While the strong economy is creating jobs the loss of students pursuing vocational training is disproportionately higher than for other tertiary education.
The eyes of young people are not being opened to the future they could have in the primary sector and turning around declining enrollments and interest requires greater input and commitment from the farming community, he said.
Resolving issues with vocational education means addressing what Hipkins calls a broken funding model, tensions that funding creates between industry training organisations and polytechnics and a disjointed operating model.
There is an opportunity to establish a robust, sustainable, vocational education model.
Wairarapa Federated Farmers president William Beetham said after discussions with O’Connor he doubts there will be any training at Taratahi’s Masterton farm this year.
He hopes other polytechnics can pick up some Taratahi courses at some of its satellite campuses.
Beetham has also joined the call for the Government to buy the Taratahi campus saying it is central to securing future vocational training for the industry.
The next stage in the liquidation is a High Court hearing on Tuesday where the court will establish the terms and powers of the full liquidation.
