But beyond that reprieve questions remain whether we have the training structure needed to meet the primary sector’s immediate needs, let alone the 30,000 extra workers required to meet the Government’s goal of doubling primary sector exports by 2025.
The best and brightest must be attracted covering the gambit from labourers through to the most highly-skilled doctorate graduates but the sector is hampered by a series of contradictions.
On one level it’s a vocation requiring knowledge of science, mathematics, engineering and English but as Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre chief executive Arthur Graves told [ITAL]Farmers Weekly[END] (see p24) this week farming, especially at sub-degree level, is still not viewed as a career by the education system.
On another level the Government has identified the sector as having unsatisfied demand for workers and has promised more funding for training.
But last year providers offering training for about 1000 people closed down and Tertiary Education Commission figures reveal funding for training has fallen in recent years because of lower demand.
All this points to some fundamental issues facing primary sector training that require a change in approach to attract new workers.
Graves hinted as much when he said vocational training lacked structure and that the sector needed to value education as a driver of skills training.
He also said employer expectations needed to be tempered by the different values and requirements of young people ‑ at the same time, employers needed to think about the skills they were equipping their staff with.
Core skills of building fences, milking cows and shearing sheep would remain but workers and managers also need to meet increasing levels of compliance that requires skill interpreting data, mathematics and science.
Training is yet another challenge facing the primary sector but it is crucial to meeting many of the other challenges weighing on the minds of farmers and sector leaders.
