The Dairy Apprenticeship Scheme devised by the two organisations and several others will help draw the sting of the arrant nonsense preached by politicians, journalists and the small-but-vociferous anti-dairy lobby in the lead-up to the election.
Smart people in Feds, including Katie Milne, Andrew Hoggard and Chris Lewis, have with ITO put together a brilliant scheme to encourage young New Zealanders to make careers in the dairy industry (although it does have a bit of the look of a former dairy cadet scheme).
It’s no secret that some dairy farmers have been terrible employers and managers of their land and have given the sector a bad reputation.
But now Feds is showing leadership by initiating this scheme and putting in place guarantees in the form of a farm charter and a promise to monitor and enforce standards with the goal of ensuring a safe and enjoyable workplace for the apprentices.
For too long the odds on getting a good employer or employee on a farm have been dubious for both parties. But under the Apprenticeship Act this is removed and the whole process has become a formal one with obligations on both parties.
Feds will mentor the farmers and the ITO will look after the training and pastoral care of the employees; hopefully over time will emerge highly trained young managers who can take the industry to new levels.
Primary ITO calls the joint venture with Federated Farmers a marriage made in heaven for the agriculture sector.
The dairy industry has always had cadets and the apprenticeship scheme is a modern day version of this. Formal training and mentoring was common in all jobs 40-50 years ago, so it seems logical that as the baby boomers move on it’s timely to reintroduce training and mentoring for -- who knows -- excellence.
This initiative is not just talk about getting young people, it is walking the talk; Feds and the ITO and others deserve all the plaudits in the world for making this happen. May this marriage last for years.
