The future of the NZ ag workforce - Wendy Paul

0:00This is a podcast from Rover. All right, Wendy Paul joins us on the program now. Of course, Chief Executive of Growing Future Farmers, I think we last had Shane McManoway on to talk about that the new chair. So that's a good appointment. Wendy, you'll be happy with that one. Yeah, for sure. Shane is going to bring a whole new dimension to us and we're very, very excited to have him as our chief. Yeah, that's very cool. So now, talk to me about the dairy module. What's going on with Growing Future Farmers? What's new? It's a dairy pilot, I think, I believe. Yeah, that's correct. So, you know, very exciting milestone for us. I guess it's part of the evolution of the GFF model. We always considered that it was transferable to other sectors. And this is our first example of testing that. We are doing this in partnership with Frontier, which is also hugely exciting for us to be working with such a big and large organisation, an important organisation for New Zealand. So, the idea is really about us using the model

1:03that's been very successful in sheep and beef and taking that into dairy for almost exactly the same reasons in terms of having that pipeline of young talent coming into the sector. I guess, but more importantly, from a Frontier angle, it's also making sure for their milk supply and longevity of the co-op that they do have this pipeline of young people wanting to become, obviously, initially, probably share milkers, and then the opportunity to become shareholders and, I guess, land ownership, et cetera. So, it's an investment from Frontier in the future of the co-op. And from a GFF point of view, it's just really igniting us in terms of what we believe is possible as we can broaden across the primary sector to make sure we're an active and leading part of growing that future pipeline. With the dairy, I mean, I have heard over the years, you know, wow, I guess across most of agriculture, really, that, yeah, it's the labor force. We're going to have to do something about that because it's going to reach a point where there's

2:03none of the people to do what we need to do. I mean, we've seen it from time to time as well. So, I guess this is just another piece of that puzzle, really. Absolutely. I mean, we've had for a long time from a GFF perspective so people are asking us, when are we going to get into dairy? Because they do see that risk, and obviously, a lot of hard reliance on all of sure entry level workers into the dairy sector. So, really, how do we establish a homegrown pipeline? But we do need to encourage more people and by virtue of that, we need to make sure the job is also quite attractive. So, Wendy, was it always the intention to move into dairy at some stage with growing future farmers, or was this just an opportunity that's presented itself? No, it was part of our strategic plan. We definitely saw dairy as the next cab of the rank, so to speak, and also have considered hault as well as an opportunity. Obviously, in all of the moves that we make, there will be needing to have a variety in the curriculum.

3:04Obviously, we can't transfer the training of cups into dairy. But the basis of the curriculum remains the same, and the basis of the experience remains the same. So, yes, it was, but it will need to be adapted. And that's part of why we started as a pilot instead of saying we're just going to roll straight into dairy because we do need to discover both, you know, as a two-year program appropriate for dairy and all of the components that the students will need to learn that will be different from sheep and beet. But, yes, always, always intention to go broader for more impact in the sector. Well, it's good news in relation to that. And I'm sure that, as you say, Hort will probably pop up in the curriculum at some stage in the future as well. But it's interesting at the moment, isn't it? Because I imagine from a training and teaching perspective, things are moving so rapidly now that must present real challenges to education providers. Yeah, 100% and I think that is really where

4:04growing future farmers wants to focus next is the fact that, you know, especially you look at dairy with the likes of halter coming in, the amount of daughter on a daily basis that our farmers are needing to absorb and make decisions on. It is part of how do we be true to our name or future farmers that we are equipping them with the right skill set, both to understand the daughter, to understand what's out there, make good judgment calls from daughter. So we will have to rapidly change our focus in terms of what all we actually teaching and, you know, teaching our young learners. Equally, obviously, there's the foundational stuff that will always be true on farming. So that is very much top of our mind at the moment. How do we create a curriculum that is truly setting them up for success in terms of their next job applications and the future of museum farming? Hmm. The innovation is quite extraordinary at the moment. And I don't know. I imagine that when you're getting sort of younger people coming in that they're already, I suppose,

5:05to a degree, have some affinity with just, I guess, you know, the digital world in general? Yeah. And it is the digital natives, as we know. And they do look at the world through their screens. So I think that's part of making sure that the sector continues to be relevant. And that is actually happening. I guess that is the exciting synergy there of, you've got all this amazing tech happening and egg and then you've got these young people that, I guess, if it was just coming to swing cups, I'd probably go, that's not a job that I want. But the ability for them to actually look at what else is going on farm that they're using their phones as part of their job, that they're outdoors as well. So there's so many great opportunities at the moment to bring that next generation in, whilst agriculture is rapidly changing and it's innovation and I guess art look of what farming looks like. Yeah. And I suppose then it's as well with the people that are actually teaching the students, the owners would be on them as well to keep up.

6:07But I'm sure they do. But again, that just presents something else that needs to be dealt with us. And there's also the benefit of the programme because you're right, we do want to make sure that the farmers are, I guess, equipped and doing some of that future-focused stuff. But equally, if they're not, our students being on their farm and having exposure through the training helps them transition as well because the students are bringing back that knowledge onto the farm. So it's a real mutual sort of reciprocal relationship of building and growing and learning together, which is what the programme does so well. And that we've proved that on health and safety and culture and leadership on the farm. And I think we can do the same with tech. Wendy, with growing future farmers for those people that aren't as familiar with it, can you just explain sort of, I guess, the scale of it, like how many students come through as you say, it's two years, how many farms are operational in this space, paying a bit of a picture for people who are wondering exactly what we're talking about. Yeah, happy to.

7:07So, first of all, on an average year, we have about 120 students across the country, and that's a combination of our year one and year two students. And they are roughly on about 100 to 105 chief and beef farms at a nationwide scale. So it is the biggest vocational education training provider in New Zealand in the primary sector. And now, going into dare we're starting in a pilot, we've got seven students and seven farm trainers in that pilot. And that's based in the Waikato initially. And obviously we do want to take that nationally. And we also just started a level four programme, which we have 15 students as well. So I guess all up we're roughly around the 150 young people in our programmes, obviously helping the primary sector lift the talent pipeline and the capability. Right, so the dairy students that initial offering for those seven dairy students in the Waikato, they have started. Have they watched the time frame around that? Yeah, we actually, in the O-Week,

8:07what we call O-Week, so the orientation week, not like a university one, there's no alcohol involved. But it is the start of the week, where they do the sort of foundational vehicle training, etc. And they will start on farm from next week. So it's really great timing that we're talking because it's kicking off as we speak. That's brilliant. Were there a lot of applications for us? Not as many as our sheep and beef at this stage. We did have, I think we ended up about 30 applications for it. Also noting that it's probably one of the things we are learning is the timing, when we put out the applications, it was in that awkward time between people having left school last year and probably found their roles were a sheep and beef. We tried to line it up with people during their school leaving at the end of the year. So we will take that into consideration. But I'm pretty sure, I guess, success breeds success. So we have to prove it. Get people excited about it. And I'm pretty sure the next intake will see a lot more demand. I'm sure you will as well. Well, that's exciting stuff. Thank you for the update, Wendy. I'm growing future farmers always interested

9:08in what's going on there, because as we said, it's a bloody, important part of New Zealand's future, really. So thanks for the update. Thank you for having me in Utah.