primary production

Specialist training aids growers

Organics offers drought solution

TAFE NSW – Riverina Institute is meeting the skills need of Australia’s fastest growing primary industry, organic farming, and helping combat the effects of the drought, with the Certificate in Organic Farming.

The two-year course covers a range of areas including broad-acre and livestock operations, vineyards, orchards, market gardens and domestic organic gardening.

It teaches the practical skills required to implement organic practices, as well as marketing and converting to organics, and is suited to anyone in farming or running a commercial enterprise.

Darryl Ward, Riverina Institute organic farming specialist, urged primary producers to consider ways to incorporate organic farming into their everyday practice. He said farming journals regularly feature stories from producers who are surviving the drought better because of their previous efforts to increase organic material levels in their soils.

‘Some are cropping better than expected given the continuing dry conditions,’ he said. ‘It is also well reported that consumers increasingly want pure foods with less environmental impact.’

Mr Ward said the Institute had devised a training program which was very flexible and sympathetic to the pressures on today’s producers.

Mary Booth is due to complete the Certificate this year and runs Buronga Organics, a 4000-acre certified organic farm at Cootamundra, with her husband David, also completing the course. The farm produces organic beef, goat, lamb and spelt (a kind of wheat), highly soluble and low in gluten.

They moved to Buronga four-and-a-half years ago and before that spent 20 years working a more conventional farm in between Ivanhoe and Cobar. While that farm never became certified organic, it was run with organic principles in mind, such as less chemical use and better soil enhancement.

Mrs Booth said the course had provided benefits beyond new skills. No rain has led to no feed for their animals but they were able to network and find a supplier of straw from a certified organic oat crop. They have also found an organic soya bean and oil producer, vital protein sources for their feed.

The Booths study at the Cootamundra campus and have had one field trip to their property. ‘The only reason we have not done more is the season and lack of rain,’ Mrs Booth said. ‘Last year was the first one on record where no-one was able to strip a crop.’

Qualifications boost morale, productivity

TAFE NSW – New England Institute’s Rural Skills Section in Armidale is also working closely with primary producers to provide training in Production Horticulture. Most recently they have developed a partnership with the Costa Group, training employees who work directly with the production and harvesting of their tomato crop.

The company’s Top of the Range Tomato farm at Guyra is a massive production horticulture operation with 10 hectares under glass, in a completely climate and nutrition controlled environment. The current crop is truss tomatoes.

New employees receive training as part of their traineeship, Certificate II Production Horticulture. They gain a greater understanding of their responsibilities in occupational health and safety, use of chemicals, communication processes, plant structure, function and fruit production.

‘The training has enriched the lives of many of the participants,’ said Godfrey Dol, Glasshouse Manager. ‘For some it is the first time they have achieved a qualification and recognition that they are competent in. This has helped reduce absenteeism because people feel more valued and they have a greater interest in their work.’

While the employer provides day-to-day training in the skills required on-the-job, TAFE NSW trainers assess these skills against the requirements of the training package units of competence for completion of the traineeships.

TAFE NSW has worked with management to fit training into times that don’t interfere with production deadlines. For example, training is suspended in the weeks leading up to public holidays or any crisis times where all employees are needed in the glasshouse or packing shed.

New England Institute has also been able to cater to the diverse needs of employees. One of the Production Managers enrolled in Certificate IV Production Horticulture, in an effort to gain a qualification that matched his role in production.

‘This person has a wealth of life and work experience but held no formal qualifications,’ said Pauline Smith, Head Teacher, Rural Skills Section. New England Institute, Armidale Campus. ‘In an intensive industry run by a large corporation it is highly desirable that staff have qualifications. Through working in a one on one training partnership, and by using the input of supervisors and colleagues, the person has been able to document his experience and complete the learning outcomes of the course.’

The Institute is also providing supervisor training for six people who have come through the ranks and who have stepped up to run the work teams in the glass house. These team leaders are currently receiving training in Certificate III Production Horticulture, with initial training sessions focusing on communication, leadership and coordinating work groups. They will all receive training in the SmartTrain chemical application course as part of their program.

NSW farmers can tap into the expertise of TAFE NSW to meet productivity targets and tackle issues like the ongoing drought conditions around the state.

Godfrey Dol (left) and David Costa from Top of the Range tomato farm are reaping the benefits of training from TAFE NSW – New England Institute.