Primary industry training hub feasibility study

Executive Summary:

Read the full report here...

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan (Matariki)1 was launched in late July 2016. This strategy and plan is the culmination of work by local government, businesses, iwi and hapu, and other organisations and agencies over the previous year. It identifies where parties can work together on realising a range of opportunities for economic growth in the region.

The Ministry for Primary industries (MPI) has the lead for Action 2.8. to investigate the feasibility of a joint venture agriculture training hub in Hawke’s Bay to maximise opportunities for the local workforce to access employment in agriculture.

Hawke’s Bay is one of New Zealand’s rural industry strongholds where over 25% of the workforce is employed in primary industries. In their 2014 investigation into East Coast regional economic potential suggested that the most important economic development issue was ‘improving the relatively low-levels of educational attainment and the limited availability, attraction and retention of skills in the study area’. In primary industries the future workforce demands have been estimated in the 2014 Future Capability Report. Indicative numbers of new jobs by 2025 are expected to be between 3000 – 4400. This analysis shows the importance in the Hawke’s Bay of horticulture, red meat and wool and the growing employment opportunities in primary industry support services. More workers are going to be needed in horticulture, support and sales, factory processes, management skills, mobile plant operations and forestry and wood processing. For this report tertiary education provision in the Hawke’s Bay was investigated from the web sites of training providers and from New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) information listing organisations receiving funding for tertiary education.

Tertiary training is available in the Hawke’s Bay in all aspects of the primary industries with the exception of fishing and aquaculture. Partnerships with tertiary providers and industry are in place; ongoing effort is needed to make those partnerships effective.

Twenty five stakeholders, with an interest in a primary industry training hub, were identified using established local networks. Interviews took place with representatives from iwi, primary industry businesses, industry-good bodies for the various sub-sectors of the primary industries, tertiary training providers in the region and government agencies. 

From these interviews there is consensus on the need to attract locals to primary industry careers and for a more highly trained workforce to support primary industry growth and productivity in Hawke’s Bay. Underpinning the need to grow local skills is the widely recognised need to boost the achievement of Maori learners. Training providers and employers spoke about their investment in this area and some said that they would welcome support to engage with Maori. Engaging with young people to make them aware of the diversity of opportunities in the sector is a priority for all training providers and ITOs.

A range of locally designed initiatives to bring out-of-work locals into jobs, including in the primary industries, is collectively referred to as Project 1000. Interviewees from industry regularly report that the biggest need is for work ready employees. The financial support from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) offered to businesses to make it possible for them to take on beneficiaries was mentioned as a real incentive to do more. Interviewees sometimes spoke of difficulties but were positive about their ability to work through problems and definite that their understanding of ‘what works’ was growing. Experience has led to the belief that a tailored approach rather than a one stop shop is better for transitioning unemployed locals into work. Most interviewees could see opportunities for working together more effectively and sharing information, for example to:
• strengthen connections with employers,
• strengthen connections with iwi,
• identify gaps in training provision, • improve training quality and consistency, and
• build coherence and connection into the training on offer.

The complexity of the tertiary system and the difficulty that prospective students and businesses face in understanding, and then choosing from, what is on offer was widely acknowledged. One tertiary sector interviewee said that their goal was to collaborate, work out respective strengths and provide better outcomes. That said, the backdrop of competition and a perception that, when it comes to tertiary funding, the playing field is not level was also a theme in the interviews.

There was no clear consensus on the purpose of a training hub. The lack of clear purpose and scope was consistently identified as a weakness and sometimes as a threat. Many interviewees were explicit that they did not support the need for a joint venture training hub and thought that the opportunities identified in this report could be pursued via the working relationships that are in place. Iwi expressed the desire to partner with government agencies to design training that works for Maori. Iwi interest in a joint venture came through more explicitly than for any other interviewees.

In agriculture the well-known problems of an aging workforce need attention but a joint venture training hub was not identified as the way forward. driving, where industry could work better together to develop solutions. The need for diploma level 5/6 post-harvest training in the Hawke’s Bay was a current problem but once again, a joint venture training hub was not identified as the way forward. Some interviewees from the pip fruit and viticulture sectors expressed an interest in joint venture partnerships with a research focus.

These ideas have a place in the Matariki work stream for innovation, productivity and agility but are beyond the scope of this investigation.

In the forestry sector the demand for forestry workers is high but there are significant difficulties in attracting trainees; meeting the requirement to be drug free is a well-known issue. Once again, a joint venture training hub was not regarded as the way forward but there were some strong views that, apart from training done by the larger companies, forestry training is not working well and that greater collaboration on how to tackle workforce development was needed. Both MPI and the TEC Board are interested in what tweaks can be done (without tipping the entire National Qualifications framework on its head) to partner with industry to design and develop a tertiary education and training framework that will provide the skills the forestry sector – and others in the primary sector – are after. The interviews with stakeholders in the Hawke’s Bay have not identified clear support for the idea of setting up a joint venture primary industry training hub. Without clarity of purpose there is no justification for investing more resources in this particular proposal.

There are three areas where collaborative activity, led by MPI, should be considered. The first relates to strengthening the work to grow awareness of primary industry employment opportunities amongst young people. 

The second is to bring together stakeholders in forestry (iwi, forestry companies, forestry contractors, Competenz (the ITO for forestry) and training providers) to discuss how to recruit and 4 Very recently a Level 5 New Zealand Diploma in Horticulture Production (Level 5) with a strand in post-harvest is started at EIT. 5 An engagement meeting has been scheduled for late September. Ministry for Primary Industries Primary Industry Training in the Hawke’s Bay 5 retain trainees to the sector and connect the Hawke’s Bay forestry industry to wider work going on in the area of forestry training.

The third relates to the 12th July announcement of the Youth Employment Pathways/He Poutama Rangatahi Strategy. He Poutama Rangatahi aims to support regions and communities help young people at risk of long term unemployment develop the skills they need to find and hold a job. The Hawke’s Bay is one of the priority areas for this work. MPI should support this initiative by working with local stakeholders to connect the dots between iwi aspirations for rangatahi, the need for strong supportive pastoral care alongside training and for clearly defined pathways to employment in the primary sector.

It is recommended that:
a. A joint venture training hub for primary industries is not pursued for the Hawke’s Bay as there is not a clear mandate for this proposal from local stakeholders.
b. MPI should continue to support the school sector in Hawke’s Bay to grow awareness of primary industry career opportunities, through curriculum resources etc.
c. MPI should continue to work with the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) and others (industry bodies, EIT, Primary ITO, Primary Industry Capability Alliance http://www.growingnz.org.nz/ ) to improve the clarity and accuracy of information about primary industry training pathways on offer in the Hawke’s Bay.
d. MPI should request that a forestry theme in the Hawke’s Bay should be considered for a GrowingNZ innovation challenge http://youngenterprise.org.nz/find-resources/growingnz-innovation-challenge/ for use in secondary schools.
e. MPI should facilitate a workshop with a wide range of forestry sector stakeholders to consider options for growing recruitment into training for the forestry sector and to identify a leadership group to take suggestions forward.
f. MPI should continue working with iwi and other local stakeholders to expand employment in the primary sector for at risk rangatahi through Youth Employment Pathways/He Poutama Rangatahi. This work should build on successful locally developed approaches that include strong pastoral support.

24 October 2017

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