The agricultural industry faces tough challenges as the recession continues to bite. With the winter months looming, a skilled and motivated workforce is critical to improving productivity now and into the future. Investing in training is a low cost option and a sure route to future proofing agribusinesses and jobs…
A graduation ceremony at the T.E.T. Multi Sports Complex Stratford was an opportunity for eight students to have their academic achievements formally recognised. They had recently completed Agriculture ITO's National Diploma in Agribusiness Management.
Graduate Shirley Kissick gave a speech that included the following a quote from American Humorist Evan Esar "Success is the good fortune that comes from aspiration, desperation, perspiration and inspiration.
"To complete the Diploma in Agribusiness Management after three years of study is a major achievement involving many hours poring over perplexing sensitivity analyses, cashflows that didn't quite add up and trying to develop specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely goals", continued Shirley during her speech."
Shirley and husband, Bede, own a 360 cow dairy farm between Auroa and Kapuni. She's full-time in the Spring and part-time the rest of the year.
"I wish I'd done the course when we started farming sixteen years ago", said Shirley. "The course certainly gave me a better understanding of our business, for example, during the course we made the decision to grow maize on farm rather than buying it off farm. We did a budget to make sure that it was more profitable. We do budgets a lot more than we used to. We make a decision backed up with figures.
"At the moment I'm doing an extra-mural course and I'm finding it quite difficult due to the isolation. Working in a group in the Agriculture ITO environment is really good because you get different perspectives on things and it puts a human face to some of the issues."
Geoff Batchelor returned to farming after 15 years at the freezing works. "A worker on our friends' farm had an accident and my friend rang me up to find out if I could help out - that's how I got into farming. I started with the National Certificate in Agriculture, Production Management - it was really good for our business. It taught me how to maximise production and gave me a good understanding of what happens on-farm.
Of the Diploma Geoff says "The property report was quite intensive to say the least. It gave me an in-depth insight into someone else's agribusiness so you can use it as a benchmark against your own. Now I have the tools to better analyse other farming systems at a glance.
"I'd like to staying in the dairy industry", says Geoff. "I bandied around with the idea of doing a degree, and moving out of doing the milking myself. But until then, I'll continue to do as well as I can."
Sonia Robinson works as a Rural Banking Consultant for the National Bank. "I'd completed a Batchelor of Business Studies and when I started in rural one of my performance objectives was to learn more about farming in general. My manager knew the tutor of the course, Katrina Knowles, so I spoke to Katrina and she said it would be a great course for me to do and that the course would definitely teach me more about farming. I did it as much for work as for personal gain.
"Now if I go out in the field with one of the Rural Managers I can understand what's going on. During the course, my husband and I bought my in-laws dry stock farm, 150 hectares, so the business planning helped. The land is leased out to one of the local dairy farmers and used for crops and grazing.
"The Diploma has given me an understanding of not just farming, but how to develop a business, by having to do budgets and cashflows and setting goals and objectives. It doesn't matter what area you're in, you really do need to know how your business is going, how to achieve your business goals and how to evaluate them." |
