LEADAg, our exciting new initiative to boost agricultural training opportunities for local high school students, is almost here with the inaugural pilot course set to take place during the first week of the Easter school holidays.
Aiming to provide high school students aged 15-17 with the experience and knowledge to confidently enter the agricultural workforce once they finish school, the intensive 5-day course will give participants the chance to experience a real-life agricultural workplace under the guidance of industry mentors. Being very hands-on and practical, the course will expose students to a range of agricultural tasks including fencing maintenance, crop production, irrigation management, livestock husbandry and rural first aid.
CHRRUP CEO, Simone Parker, says it will not only give students insight into a range of potential career opportunities but will also equip them with valuable, work-ready skills.
“LEADAg is all about showing the next generation what a career in agriculture has to offer, connecting them with incredible industry mentors and giving them that important leg-up into the industry that will help them get jobs or work experience in the future,’ she explains.
The concept behind the LEADAg initiative, which stands for ‘leading, educating and developing’ the next generation of the agricultural workforce, arose after a lack of local agricultural training was identified as a gap at the 2021 CHRRUP Forum. According to Christine Rolfe, local councillor and chair of the newly formed LEADAg working group, it was important to develop a dynamic and practical program that met the needs of local industry.
‘We have seen agricultural training work really well in this region in the past and we wanted to harness the local knowledge and experience of our industry leaders,” she said. “We’ve made sure that they were a key part of the course’s development because we wanted the program to match what local employers want.”
Queensland Senator Matthew Canavan has also thrown his support behind the LEADAg initiative saying it will fill an important gap.
“LEADAg will contribute to a new, highly skilled workforce within the agricultural industry and it’s great to see it’s happening right here in central Queensland where so much of Australia’s food and fibre is produced.”
“Because ag education has been offered here in the past, there is also an existing skillset in the region which makes it the perfect place for LEADAg to be developed.”
The LEADAg pilot course will run from Monday April 4 to Friday April 8 with a cohort of 10 students. The feedback from this initial course will then be used to inform future programs, with further intakes planned for the near future.
For more information about LEADAg or to register your interest in future programs, please contact admin@chrrup.org.au.