FARMING CAREERS FOSTERED BY AGC TRAINING
Agriculture courses offered by AGC Training at their Campus at Okoaia, near Whanganui are proving popular with secondary school students going one day per week and full-time students spending four days per week on Campus and one day at work experience placement .
The days of hard work and sweat on farms have been transformed by new technology with the use of computers and drones becoming an industry norm. Jess Drinnan is one of the agriculture tutors at AGC Training for secondary school students and is in her fourth year in the role. She started out as a student in 2013 doing stock work and using motorbikes.
After graduating from school, she did a full-time agriculture course at AGC Training and graduated with a Level 3 Dairy Farming qualification. She was then employed on the Campus Farm (Gudsell Farms) for two years, as a farm assistant. “It was a bonus,” she said. “Then I moved up near the back of Waverley and farmed on a 1,000-cow farm there for four seasons, before returning back to AGC Training as a tutor,” Drinnan said.
“We teach students general farming - fencing, stock work - how to handle stock and to build confidence with them. There is tuition on basic motorcycle skills - safety and riding on flat paddocks, including with loads.
“We work alongside the Gudsell farm and anything they have on during the week, we work alongside them. We are following the changing seasons of the farming calendar throughout the year. “Students can be weighing stock, drafting them, drenching, or fixing fences on the farm. For the full-time course, there are training modules for the use of chainsaws, fencing and how to drive tractors.
“For people new to farming it is quite different for them. They get new experiences, there are some things they have done, but there’s a lot of things they haven’t. They gain experience and knowledge, which can set them up for a career in farming.
“Handling the stock is a challenge for the students because they have to learn how stock works and how to control them in the yards.
“You’re thinking on your feet, and you have to work well in a team. Communication is a massive thing in farming, you have to be good at this. “We teach Level 2 and 3 Agriculture for college students, with credits going towards NCEA. The students spend one day a week at the Campus, being collected in AGC Training vans and starting with breakfast for 15 minutes at 9am in the morning.
“Then we go over what we are going to do for the day. Upon completion of the tasks, the students are back at school by 3pm. There is a ratio of 60% practical and 40% theory on the course.
“When the students come out to the farm campus, they enjoy it. They tell me they always enjoy their Agriculture course each week. They start off a little bit nervous at the start of the year, but as the year goes on, you get to see them progress and build their confidence.
“It’s really cool to see them go from when they first start to when they finish, with the skills they have gained.
• Contact AGC Training on 0800 348 8215 or www.agctraining.co.nz