AgriFood CEO Arthur Blewitt said AgriFood Skills Australia was advocating a flexible, responsive and high-quality vocational education and training system that could provide job-ready people with the capability to deliver to changing industry and market expectations.
"Much of this training needs to be done on the job in cooperation with training organisations equipped with first-rate teachers who have the capacity to respond to changing industry requirements," Mr Blewitt said.
"This is a key challenge for training organisations: AgriFood's focus is on working with training providers on the implementation and support of industry-driven training products that produce people equipped to do current and emerging jobs. However, this depends on attracting and retaining capable workers to work and live in the regions, which is critical to the future growth and success of the agrifood industry, as the majority of its workforce is based in regional Australia."
AgriFood Skills Australia has initiated a Regional Jobs Summits to examine getting workers into regional communities (Narrabri Regional Jobs Summit in July and another planned for Emerald). The summits determine and address the skills and workforce needs and jobs of enterprises operating in these areas across Australia.
The agrifood industry continued to be a key export earner for Australia and recently had been one of the only industries - despite the global financial downturn - to continue to grow its exports and production.
The Australian Government, represented by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, has been working for two years with state and territory governments to improve the profile of VET with a view to increasing the flow of people into, and their retention in VET. It has the immediate policy aim of improving the way the vocational education and training ‘story' is communicated to the Australian community and a consequent policy goal of increasing the flow of people into VET.
Former ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell will deliver the keynote address on the $70 billion food and grocery manufacturing sector - Australia's biggest manufacturing industry. Ms Carnell is CEO of the Australian Food and Grocery Council.
Visit SkillsOne TV's Agrifood Channel online to watch videos and learn more abou the agrifood industry.
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