New program pushes for youth in ag-tech

A trailblazing three-day program is aiming to attract more tech-savvy youngsters to the farm mechanisation industry in an attempt to meet a growing labour demand.

The inaugural WAFarmers Bootcamp To Employment, to be held at Northam’s Muresk Institute from June 23-25, is spruiking the agricultural machinery sector as a career opportunity.

It is an intensive three-day program for school leavers to 25- year-olds, designed to provide the skills needed to gain a farming machinery-focused job.

Citing farming’s advancing ag-tech, Farm Machinery and Industry Association of WA executive officer John Henchy said the State’s agricultural machinery industry offered an avenue for career development.

“We don’t have the access to technically-trained people at the moment,” he said.

“Agriculture is bound to rely more on mechanisation as technology progresses and if that is the case, we certainly are going to need more people who know how to handle it.

“We hope this bootcamp will open more doors to career opportunities that people might not know are there.”

The initiative is being led by WAFarmers, FAMIA and Muresk.

The course will provide participants with drone flying experience, in addition to exposure to precision control technology and machinery application for agronomy.

It will also detail how data-based information can aid on-farm decision-making.

Mursek general manager Prue Jenkins acknowledged farm machinery dealerships were in need of workers.

Ms Jenkins the program would prove beneficial in up-skilling those who were eager to kick-start their career in the agriculture machinery industry.

“The farm mechanisation sector has a skill shortage and lack of young people getting into the industry,” she said.

“People don’t realise that the opportunities are there.

“We want to appeal to those who might not have considered this as a pathway.”

Applications for the WAFarmers Bootcamp To Employment close on April 30.