The two organisations today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to deliver improved education and training outcomes for Queensland’s agricultural sector.
QATC CEO Mark Tobin said the agreement was a great opportunity for both organisations to work together to assist Queensland’s primary producers to build productivity in a rapidly changing industry.
AgForce General President Grant Maudsley said with global demand for Queensland’s high-quality food and fibre growing significantly, agriculture would continue to be a foundation of the state’s economy that underpinned tens of thousands of jobs.
“Technology will continue to transform the way we farm, especially digital technology and data analysis, so ensuring our primary producers are up to date with best management practices and techniques will be key to increasing the industry’s productivity and profitability,” he said.
“Training for the current and future generation of farmers and farm workers must be relevant and future-focussed. This new partnership is aimed at delivering the most relevant training solutions and ensuring farm businesses have better access to new developments and technology applications.
Mr Tobin said that under the agreement, AgForce members will be able to “access value for money training, delivered by QATC across the State and across our suite of programs”.
“The AgForce membership base will be among the first to have access to a range of new industry responsive skills sets and short courses, including those designed to enhance farm business management, ag safety, biosecurity and the uptake of technology in agricultural production and management,” he said.
Both Mr Tobin and Mr Maudsley agreed the new partnership between QATC and AgForce was a win-win that would enable the organisations to leverage off each other’s strengths, make the most of resources and capitalise on future opportunities for the benefit of individual AgForce members, and agricultural industries overall.
“AgForce has a large and engaged member base, while QATC has a network of training facilities, including colleges in Emerald and Longreach, a state-wide team of mobile instructors and established vocational education training compliance capacity,” said Mr Maudsley.
“It’s about bringing the best of both worlds together to deliver the best possible outcomes for Queensland primary producers, agribusinesses and our rural workforce,” added Mr Tobin.
AgForce will assist QATC with industry engagement and advice aimed at ensuring training initiatives meet current and emerging industry needs.
The two organisations will collaborate and partner on the delivery of industry workshops, accredited training – including Recognition of Prior Learning, and short course training.
QATC has the capacity to deliver a range of training including full qualifications while AgForce has recently focussed on short courses such as one-day workshops.