Waikato Business News August/September 2020
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
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18 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>August</strong>/<strong>September</strong> <strong>2020</strong><br />
Training course opens gate for townies<br />
By RICHARD WALKER<br />
A Cambridge firm has come up with an innovative response<br />
to the looming shortfall of workers confronting agricultural<br />
contractors.<br />
With harvesting season<br />
close and borders<br />
largely closed<br />
to the migrant workforce, Ag<br />
Drive has started a training<br />
programme for <strong>Waikato</strong> people<br />
wanting a start in the industry.<br />
They are taking on trainees<br />
who have lost jobs or been<br />
disrupted by Covid-19, with<br />
the students funded on short<br />
courses by the Social Development<br />
Ministry.<br />
Ag Drive is also offering<br />
private training courses after<br />
contractors expressed a high<br />
level of interest in the scheme,<br />
which may be a first for<br />
New Zealand.<br />
In the past, the industry<br />
has largely brought in<br />
migrants, particularly from<br />
Ireland, Europe and Australia,<br />
to deal with seasonal harvesting,<br />
but with Covid-19<br />
border disruptions Ag Drive’s<br />
offering is timely.<br />
“There’s a massive gap in<br />
that industry at the moment,”<br />
business development manager<br />
Vinette Wilken says. “All the<br />
contractors we go and speak to<br />
say this should have been out<br />
there a long time ago.”<br />
It also represents an<br />
elegant solution for Ag Technology<br />
Group, which established<br />
Ag Drive during lockdown<br />
when its supply of work<br />
from German manufacturer<br />
Claas slowed.<br />
Ag Technology tests and<br />
does R&D on Claas agricultural<br />
machinery including<br />
tractors, in both New<br />
Zealand and Germany on a<br />
seasonal rotation.<br />
Then “Covid happened”,<br />
Wilken says. “We had all these<br />
staff, and normally they would<br />
travel abroad and they couldn’t<br />
because they couldn’t fly out.<br />
So that’s where the idea came<br />
up to start the training side.”<br />
Staff are now working as<br />
Ag Drive tutors while waiting<br />
to head to Germany for the new<br />
season, and the company is<br />
recruiting replacement tutors,<br />
including newly appointed Ag<br />
Drive manager Gareth Wild,<br />
who will be the main classroom<br />
tutor.<br />
The company has also<br />
moved into new Hautapu<br />
premises, which include a<br />
classroom and space for tractors<br />
where trainees get their<br />
first sight of the machines<br />
before putting theory into<br />
practice on a Matangi paddock.<br />
Sponsorship means they have<br />
the latest tractors to train on.<br />
The trainees come from<br />
diverse backgrounds and have<br />
included a pilot and a builder<br />
along with some from office<br />
jobs. They are taken through<br />
everything from safety and<br />
health to road rules and using<br />
attachments, trailers, and the<br />
power take-off shaft. Once<br />
they’re out on the paddock,<br />
they have different farm-related<br />
tasks to complete, as<br />
well as an obstacle course to<br />
manoeuvre the tractor through.<br />
The Ministry-funded course<br />
has been boosted from one<br />
week to two as the company<br />
continues to adapt with a view<br />
to a long-term offering that<br />
goes beyond the demands of<br />
Covid-19.<br />
Intakes so far have varied<br />
between eight and 10 students,<br />
with five tutors. Southern<br />
Institute of Technology has<br />
introduced a similar six-week<br />
course, but Ag Drive general<br />
manager Janine Peters says<br />
they went for a shorter sharper<br />
course because they couldn’t<br />
accommodate huge numbers<br />
for six weeks. “And we didn’t<br />
really have six weeks to get a<br />
number of people out into the<br />
contracting season starting<br />
very soon.”<br />
The courses represent a<br />
foot in the door for graduates<br />
who can then expect further<br />
on-the-job training from the<br />
contractor.<br />
“They’re not going to be<br />
experts by any stretch of the<br />
imagination,” Peters says.<br />
“They’re going to be still at<br />
entry level. But at least they<br />
are aware of all the health and<br />
safety aspects, they know how<br />
to put the implements on and<br />
take them off, they can drive a<br />
tractor, and then the rest of the<br />
learning is going to have to be<br />
on the job.<br />
“We’ve given them [the<br />
Ministry] some good selection<br />
criteria, because it’s a tricky<br />
industry to be in. It’s long<br />
hours, seasonal. It’s not for<br />
everybody.”<br />
Peters says Ag Drive,<br />
because they know the contractors,<br />
are actively working<br />
Practical experience out in the field.<br />
to get graduates placed, with<br />
Wilken saying many are finding<br />
work.<br />
“We’re also trying to<br />
engage with the horticultural<br />
industry because they’re going<br />
to be running into the same<br />
sorts of problems,” Peters says.<br />
“So we’re pivoting as we go.”<br />
At level 2, they are practising<br />
social distancing, and are<br />
putting in plans that they hope<br />
will enable them to continue<br />
operating should the region<br />
face level 3.<br />
AgDrive is not yet NZQA<br />
accredited but has worked<br />
closely with Wintec in setting<br />
up the course.<br />
“They were very helpful,<br />
and they’re still mentoring us<br />
all the way through the process<br />
as well,” Peters says.<br />
She says the Rural Contractors<br />
Association recently<br />
said the coming harvest season<br />
would be short of about 3000<br />
workers, and many of those<br />
will need to be experienced<br />
operators.<br />
“So there’s still going to be<br />
a gap. But we’re hoping that<br />
at least we can help, and perhaps<br />
encourage a whole lot of<br />
New Zealanders into a different<br />
field they’ve never thought<br />
about before.”<br />
It is also possible, she<br />
says, that the course could<br />
become a useful introduction<br />
to New Zealand conditions,<br />
including road rules, once<br />
contractors start arriving from<br />
overseas again.<br />
<strong>Business</strong> development manager Vinette Wilken.<br />
BEWARE OF FOREIGN IMITATIONS.<br />
There’s no shortage of great ideas in New Zealand.<br />
But for an innovative bunch, we’re not the best at<br />
realising the full potential of our innovations, particularly<br />
when exporting them.<br />
At James & Wells, we can identify your competitive<br />
edge, offer business strategies for specific markets and<br />
help you own and leverage your intellectual property to<br />
ensure no one steals the fruit of your labour.<br />
www.jaws.co.nz | +64 7 957 5660