Low regional unemployment is making staff recruitment more challenging but there are already fewer people choosing agricultural careers.
To be competitive farmers need to consider more than just pay but also rosters, hours of work, housing, the workplace environment, pressure of the job and ensure they meet their legal payroll and time-recording obligations.
“We’ve just got to move with the modern times.”
Employees also consider other factors such as distance to town, the quality of the local school, internet access and jobs for spouses.
“As frustrating as it is for an employer, you can’t argue with that.”
So far 45 people have signed up for dairy apprenticeships run by the federation and Primary ITO with numbers expected to increase in the coming weeks.
Migrants have filled a void with about 2000 working on farms but there is no certainty access to them will continue, Lewis said.
St Peters, Cambridge, principal Dale Burden said young people want to be actively involved and engaged when working.
But they don’t want the same job forever. They want it to be flexible and provide intrinsic benefits over and above their salary.
To attract urban employees the sector needs to promote the fact it offers more careers than starting the day at 4am to milk cows.
He wants to see the industry provide greater resources to schools. It will benefit because schools have a captive audience.
Just as parents question the suitability of schools when footage of school yard fights airs on social media, young people question farming as a career when footage emerges of animal abuse or environmental degradation.
Several teachers noted some pupils have preconceived views, such as fertiliser being harmful to the environment and that farm ownership might not be achievable.
Just as social media can reveal information about prospective employees it is also used to spread employees’ views of employers.
More than a third of New Zealand’s secondary school students live in Auckland, which makes it a logical focus for promotion of primary sector careers.
Young Farmers has been running a series of nationwide projects promoting the sector from career expos to arranging speakers to talk to classes and farm visits.
But its school engagement manager Leeann Morgan said given the population of Auckland and demand for workers it makes sense for the city to be a key focus.
“If we are not campaigning to attract those students we are not going to fill these shortages.”
Results of the nationwide programme could still be some way off given projects are targeting children as young as years seven and eight.
Promoting primary industry careers is part of the Red Meat Profit Partnership programme and involves 209 urban and rural schools.
Morgan said the project has been running a year and involves more than just promoting on-farm jobs as there are labour shortages and opportunities throughout the supply chain.
Companies partnering the project provide speakers from a variety of industries to talk to students and included two tertiary-qualified, West Auckland Young Farmers members and contestants in the Young Farmer of the Year contest.
The programme also allows pupils from schools in six cities to visit and experience farms, orchards and vineyards.
There has been plenty of interest from Auckland schools and visits to sheep and beef farms are linked to curriculum work on genetics and other topics, Morgan said.
While on a farm the pupils have been hands-on including drenching and drafting sheep.
A further theme has been to talk about the sector in terms of food production then breaking it down into its various segments and job components.
Morgan said students in one address were astounded to learn Fonterra owns the Tip Top brand and the associated link to farming and the various career opportunities.
Another avenue is to encourage more urban pupils to compete in the TeenAg competition.
Organisers have been teaming rural and urban pupils together to compete and recently a team of a South Auckland girl and a student from Northland won an event.
The South Auckland girl has gone on to study law and agribusiness at Waikato University.
With funding for the Red Meat Profit Partnership to end in 2020 Morgan hopes the industry will see value and continue to fund it.
