NextGen Dairy Farmers Programme Launches Young Kiwi Careers in Dairy
A 12-month pathway programme has helped kickstart a career in dairy for an 18-year-old student-turned-farmer.
People Team Leader, Jane Muir, says she’s excited at what has happened in just a few weeks since the programme has been running.
Go Dairy is a $3.5million campaign being run by DairyNZ to try and get 1000 local to fill on farm jobs in the industry. It is targeting NZ residents or citizens of all ages who have either lost their jobs due to Covid or think they might or are looking for a new career path.
The programme consists of a 10 hour on-line introductory course followed by a two-week practical course, with a focus on handling farm machines and also how to manage animals. The aim is to make participants ‘farm ready’ and to give them the necessary skills to apply for a farm assistant job on a dairy farm.
Muir says, so far, about 150 people have completed the on-line course and some of these people have already got jobs on dairy farms, such is the demand for staff.
“Employers are saying they really want access to those people who have done farm ready training. They are showing they are open to employing people who are making a career change and clearly value the ‘fit for purpose training’ which we are offering.”
Muir says one of the aims of the GoDairy programme is to show the NZ public that there are good jobs in the dairy industry, and given the interest to date, this has certainly been the case.
