Mid Canterbury’s unemployment rate is 2%, creating a competitive job market with school leavers having multiple offers and attractive wages and employment conditions, Ashburton College principal Ross Preece said.
So the days of farmers offering youth rates or minimum wages and expecting them to work 50-hour weeks are gone.
“Why would a young up-and-coming 17 or 18-year-old choose that industry when they have options for another job with better pay and conditions.”
Young people also look at the level of support an employer offers.
Preece said a local farmer employing a former college pupil who speaks English as a second language is helping with English lessons and driving lessons, an example of the support young people look for.
Many school leavers who live on the farm where they work still want the security of being part of a family and eating home-cooked meals rather than fending for themselves, possibly for the first time.
“It’s about making a young person feel welcome, part of a team.
“If you don’t, there is another employer out there who will,” Preece said.
Alice Jeffries a student studying agriculture at St Peter’s, Cambridge, wants to one day own and run a farm and she wants a farm job where she can get those skills and knowledge.
“I expect a farm employer to be able to provide me with a stable and permanent job. Also, a farm employer that teaches me and furthers my knowledge of running and managing a farm business.
“Also, someone who is invested in my growth and development as a farmer and person in the agriculture sector.”
She is considering attending university to study agricultural commerce or science before a career in the farm service sector then a return to farm work and hopefully ownership.
Feilding High School agriculture teacher John Beech said many young people are equally as passionate as farmers about the industry and the lifestyle.
“It is their passion, their interest and they want to demonstrate their skills.”
But that does not mean they don’t want to be looked after and valued by their employer.
Ashburton College agriculture head Steve Millichamp said while the college has support from Ashburton Grain and Seed Merchant’s Association through scholarships and work experience, more teaching resources would help.
The primary sector is up against some well organised competition for the interest of school leavers.
Once a year Ashburton automotive companies pool together to open their doors and show the career they can offer school leavers.
Millichamp said his son experienced a contrast in employment conditions.
During his pre-Lincoln University practical year he worked on a dairy farm and left absolutely shattered by the long hours and restricted lifestyle.
On graduating he worked on a large Southland sheep and beef station where he was provided with cooked meals and a work schedule that allowed him a social life and the chance to play sport.
Millichamp said farmers are trying to provide a working environment suited to school leavers.
An Ashburton dairy farm milking once a day as the herd dried off offered to host students for work experience.
Two pupils a day for 12 days took up the offer with the farmer arranging transport to and from his farm.
Millichamp said school leavers need time off to catch up with friends and play sport.
“It’s got to be sustainable.”
Parents also needed to view farming qualifications as trade standard, comparable to building, plumbing or electrical apprenticeships.
