WHILE a $9 million agricultural machinery training precinct being built at Muresk Institute is welcomed, courses to be taught there and elsewhere badly need updating to make them relevant for today's technology.
That was a view executive officer John Henchy put to 45 agricultural machinery dealers, their staff and industry guests attending the Farm Machinery & Industry Association (FM&IA) of Western Australia annual general meeting and conference last Friday.
"Right now, we are teaching (agricultural mechanical technology) students the fundamentals of their trade, but a lot of the units are years old and don't reflect the current technology being employed every day," Mr Henchy told the conference audience.
"For example, we have had precision agriculture for 30 years, but still we don't have a core (precision ag) subject to teach the students.
"Manufacturers are prioritising technology with every new product and most dealers have a standalone department to cater for precision ag, yet the training and higher education institutions don't seem to have got the message.
"We are now entering a new phase of technology where we will be using more electric power and alternative fuels, yet they are hardly recognised by those who are responsible for teaching."
Mr Henchy said the previous Federal government had promised to look at the way trade qualifications were established, but after more than six months the only proposed change was introduction of industry clusters for training, with agricultural machinery technicians to come under the agribusiness, food and fibre industry cluster.
"The concern we have is that our industry will have to do a lot of work if we are to get anywhere near the top of the (training priority) list, given the myriad of other sectors which will want their piece of the pie," he said.
"Of course, now that we have a new Federal government, that may all change again.
"Because we are so far off the mark with training, we are at a stage where we (FM&IA members) are seriously considering talking to the Department of Training and Workforce Development to see if we can develop our own local courses.
"Precision ag is barely mentioned in our AUR30420 Certificate 111 in Agricultural Mechanical Technology (national qualification) course.
"Yet for a while now we have been asked how we can have a Certificate IV or even a diploma in precision ag available, so doing it locally may be the way to go.
"The disadvantage is that it (local qualification) will not be recognised in other States, but does that really matter when the current standard is so low?"
As previously reported in Farm Weekly, McIntosh & Son has developed its own registered training organisation to train up its own technicians and AFGRI Equipment has been involved in course presentation and providing equipment at Central Regional TAFE, Moora, the main agricultural technician training course provider.
However both corporates' direct involvement in training is based on existing qualifications.
Mr Henchy pointed out Central Regional TAFE had previously had difficulty in attracting lecturers to teach the agricultural mechanical technology course.
"It's interesting that (while) we are struggling to get interest in developing these training/higher education courses, in the US a student can enrol in a four-year degree course specialising in precision ag," he said.
"Our higher education fraternity just don't get it, or maybe there's just not enough money in it for them.
"We have had meetings with Curtin (University about a degree course), which has had a close association with Muresk, but nothing has eventuated.
"That's a shame really because they had the opportunity of introducing a course similar to the Graduate Certificate in Precision Agriculture at the University of New England.
"But again, it seemed too hard.
"The net effect is that we are just not training people well enough to manage this technology revolution and the result will be a shortage of technicians and others involved with precision ag, to manage the demands of our industry."
Training was also mentioned by FM&IA chairman Brad Forrester of AFGRI Equipment in his report to the annual meeting and conference.
Mr Forrester said he believed current industry efforts to train apprentices and trainees to overcome staffing shortages was effectively a "maintenance" exercise replacing staff lost to other industries and to farming.
"Are there opportunities to bridge light vehicle mechanics (across to agriculture technicians) or dual skill other qualified labourers?" Mr Forrester said.
"Of course there are and the FM&IA will continue to put agriculture in front of our State government to make these pathways easier."
One of the speakers at the FM&IA conference was Fernanda Vieira, WA accounts and sales manager for shipping line Wallenius Wilhelmsen which diverted five ships carrying 53 combine harvesters, 44 tractors and other agricultural equipment due to be discharged at Fremantle Port ahead of last harvest, to Adelaide and Melbourne to avoid a local industrial dispute on the docks.
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Ms Vieira said the shipping industry had struggled to handle record cargo volumes since the COVID-19 pandemic, while there was still port congestion due to stevedore shortages, vessel delays due to crew shortages and some major port closures and restrictions due to COVID outbreaks still disrupting shipping schedules.
"Shipping (schedules) should return to more normal next year," Ms Vieira said.
However, she said she thought shipping and container rates would take longer to come back down.
At the annual meeting, everyone was re-elected to their positions - Mr Forrester as chairman, Tim Boekeman as deputy chairman and the FM&IA executive committee of Michael Bailey, Greg Baird, Ken Brown, Mike Hutton, Matt Newham, Peter Nunn and Anthony Ryan.
