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Building Decent Work Pathways in Agriculture
VFFF’s Decent Work focus area builds on VFFF’s historical focus on supporting employment outcomes for people experiencing disadvantage. VFFF shaped this focus area to fund the “demand side” of youth employment – building partnerships with employers and others to support access to decent work for young people including work-based training opportunities.
Aligned with this outcome, the Australian Training Company (ATC) received a VFFF Decent Work Exploration Grant to determine the feasibility for a school-based traineeship in agriculture in South East NSW. Young people from this region have reported that the primary reason for leaving the area is due to lack of career opportunities. At the same time, the agriculture industry is experiencing unmet demand for workers due to an ageing workforce and a shortage of skilled workers. Almost 30 per cent of people working in the industry are 60 years or older, which is most evident in the dairy industry. Across NSW, dairy is experiencing a 32% decline in farm numbers (Dairy Sustainability Inquiry 2021), but conversely, in South East NSW dairy farms are key economic drivers for the region accounting for 70% of economic output. The work carried out under this feasibility project, led a multi-year grant to ATC to deliver a School-Based Apprenticeship and Traineeship (SBAT) program which combines paid work on farm and training whilst at school; as well as an industry recognised national qualification and credit towards the HSC.
Farmers engaging with the ATC program often comment on how motivated the students are to learn. For Mitch Shipton, a student from Saphire Coast Anglican College, his motivation to participate and succeed in the program was particularly high. Mitch wanted to support his mum. In mid 2020 tragedy struck Mitch’s dairy farming family, when Mitch’s dad, Michael Shipton, received a cancer diagnosis and passed away 10 weeks later.
Mitch’s mum, Ancret, is not an experienced dairy farmer so the whole family pitches in to keep their 900-acre dairy on track. At the start of 2023 Mitch jumped at the chance of an SBAT to understand how other farms were managed and to learn skills that were needed but were missing on his family’s farm. Mitch’s experience has given him an introduction to capable role models, exposure to different farming techniques including drone technology and the opportunity to be welcomed into the Young Dairy Farmer’s Network where he eagerly engages with like minded young farmers.
Mitch left school at the end of 2023 and is continuing his education by undertaking a fulltime traineeship, Certificate lll in Dairy Production, while working on the family farm, with further study in his sights. Mitch is well on his way to following in his father’s footsteps and unsurprisingly, Ancret Shipton could not be prouder.
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