Addressing the skills shortage in agriculture
We need to have a skilled workforce if we are to improve our prductivity
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"The skills shortage is as acute in agriculture as it is in any industry," Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton said today. "So I want to congratulate the Waipaoa Station Farm Cadet Training Trust on beginning operations this year."
Jim Anderton was speaking at the opening of the new training facility on Waipaoa Station, near Gisborne. "If we want to buy high value global products, then we have to sell them, too. The only way to earn global incomes is to continually improve our productivity and we need to have a skilled workforce to do it.
"That's why training in agriculture is so important. Our primary sector needs skilled young recruits. One of the top issues employers have been telling me about across all industries is the difficulty they have finding staff with the right skills. It's a constraint on their growth," Jim Anderton said.
He noted that, in common with many other sectors, there has been a generation of under-investment in skills and training in agriculture. "The Labour-Progressive government is doing a lot. For example, we have taken great strides to resuscitate skills training with the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme and industry training programmes. But in addition to training, we need to promote the attractions of the rural lifestyle. We want our agricultural sector to have a positive image in the wider community - including the growing urban community - so that bright young people and their parents and advisers will think about joining the sector."
On-farm residential training has high costs compared to other industry training options and Jim Anderton congratulated the Waipaoa Station Farm Cadet Training Trust, saying, "It is a brave commitment, but intensive residential training of the type being offered here can produce staff who are very experienced before they go on to jobs on the land.
"It's good to see the agricultural industry getting behind an initiative like Waipaoa. I can't stress enough the importance of industry playing its role in attracting skills to the sector. Initiatives like Waipaoa farm are all part of the big picture that should make us feel confident about the future for our primary industries and for New Zealand."
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"The skills shortage is as acute in agriculture as it is in any industry," Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton said today. "So I want to congratulate the Waipaoa Station Farm Cadet Training Trust on beginning operations this year."
Jim Anderton was speaking at the opening of the new training facility on Waipaoa Station, near Gisborne. "If we want to buy high value global products, then we have to sell them, too. The only way to earn global incomes is to continually improve our productivity and we need to have a skilled workforce to do it.
"That's why training in agriculture is so important. Our primary sector needs skilled young recruits. One of the top issues employers have been telling me about across all industries is the difficulty they have finding staff with the right skills. It's a constraint on their growth," Jim Anderton said.
He noted that, in common with many other sectors, there has been a generation of under-investment in skills and training in agriculture. "The Labour-Progressive government is doing a lot. For example, we have taken great strides to resuscitate skills training with the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme and industry training programmes. But in addition to training, we need to promote the attractions of the rural lifestyle. We want our agricultural sector to have a positive image in the wider community - including the growing urban community - so that bright young people and their parents and advisers will think about joining the sector."
On-farm residential training has high costs compared to other industry training options and Jim Anderton congratulated the Waipaoa Station Farm Cadet Training Trust, saying, "It is a brave commitment, but intensive residential training of the type being offered here can produce staff who are very experienced before they go on to jobs on the land.
"It's good to see the agricultural industry getting behind an initiative like Waipaoa. I can't stress enough the importance of industry playing its role in attracting skills to the sector. Initiatives like Waipaoa farm are all part of the big picture that should make us feel confident about the future for our primary industries and for New Zealand."