The covid-19 lockdown has prevented Northern Hemisphere agricultural machinery operators from traveling to New Zealand to work on farms from spring through to autumn, planting and harvesting crops and mowing grass and baling it for silage.
Ag Technology Group managing director Andrew Syben estimates there will be as many as 200 contractor vacancies across the region this spring. He saw opportunity from this adversity and has bankrolled a week-long training course to teach unemployed people tractor skills at his company’s base near Cambridge.
The Group is made up of several businesses including agricultural contracting. He did not want to cut any staff and with no Northern Hemisphere workers travelling to NZ this spring, he knew he had to train New Zealanders to try and make up for the expected shortage of staff.
“If we hadn’t done it, I don’t know what we would have done,” he said.
The training is a mix of both class and field work, training 10 people at a time. The first group of trainees finished the course two weeks ago.
Syben keeps the numbers small because he is still fine-tuning the curriculum and expects the training may extend to a second or third week.
The classroom includes components on basic tractor operation and maintenance, bale loading, mowing and raking, power harrowing and driving a tractor-trailer setup for forage harvesting.
They are also interviewed to determine what their passion is, which will help find suitable employment.
From there the students go out onto a paddock in nearby Matangi where they are taught how to do those skills under the watchful eye of instructors.
Those students not in the tractors use two tractor driving simulators set up nearby. And those who finish the course receive a Wheels endorsement, allowing them to drive a vehicle up to 18 tonnes.
To date, he has enough people signed up for the next three weeks with people being referred to from the Ministry of Social Development, horticulture companies, such as Balle Brothers, and farm machinery companies who see it as a means for upskilling staff.
“It’s not just people who are unemployed,” Syben said.
The range of skills learned by participants depends on their competency.
Three of the participants have previous tractor experience and have come from industries impacted by covid-19.
Of the 10 in the inaugural course, three would be mid-tier operators, three are unemployable and four could work at entry-level. Seven of those will be placed in positions matching their skill level.
“The people coming to our course are not going to be able to drive self-propelled forage harvesters. They will have all of the basic knowledge around health and safety, they will have the road rules, they will know how to put [tractor] implements on and off,” he said.
Syben says it is then up to the employer to develop their skills further.
“We’re giving them the basics,” he explained. Adding while it will not bridge the staff shortfall, it was at least a start.
Brook Nettleton of Blue Grass Contracting said he could potentially take a couple of trainees in entry-level positions but he’s sceptical people could be properly trained in such a short space of time.
“I think they have to spend at least two months with a contractor before you would even dream sending them out on a job,” he said.
He is holding an open day on August 15 on his business site at Te Poi near Matamata in a bid to attract more staff as well as highlight the staff shortage issue.
This spring, he is short of 15 people to work in his business.
“We are concerned that we are not able to get overseas staff so we decided to have an open day to see if we can get Kiwis to look at all of the gear, how things operate, how we operate and if we can get some interest,” Nettleton said.
He also hopes the day will attract politicians who he believes do not understand the implications this spring if farmers cannot get crops in the ground or grass cut for silage.
Nettleton said there was “big time” concern among contractors about staff shortages with spring now just several weeks away. “We’re in dire straits. It’s going to be a major.”
