O
Lincoln High School student Euan Coates, right works for Tony Dodunski before and after school.
FAST-TRACK TO MANAGEMENT A group of Canterbury dairy farmers have formed a management training programme for university graduates. By Anne Lee.
76
pportunities to partner and grow in the dairy sector are there for the taking and a group of Canterbury dairy farmers has set up a programme that will enable recent graduates to join them and others so they can grow together. The Grassroots Dairy Graduate Management Programme is a formalised pathway that can fast track young graduates into leadership level roles on dairy farms. Dairy farmer Tony Dodunski is chairman of the steering committee which has set up the programme that will take five graduates next year. They’ll each be placed with one of the programme’s network farmers for a fixed term from February to November giving them 44 weeks of paid employment. Tony says they’ll be paid a competitive graduate salary, similar or better to salaries offered to rural professionals when they start out and be working a roster with sociable hours. “They’ll work on the farm, going in at a level chosen by the network farmer (employer) and they’ll learn the day-to-day farming but they’ll also spend time each week, or each fortnight over calving, getting together to carry out 30 modules that will skill them up on the types of things they’ll need at the management level. “Things like financial management and skills they’ll need in dealing with the bank, environmental compliance, growing equity, risk, the 72 rule of compounding returns, using technology onfarm, pasture and feed management. “People management is an important one, especially in places like Canterbury where we’re dealing with big herds and big teams so we will spend time developing skills in that area.” While it will include the compliance aspects of employing or managing staff it will also cover aspects such as understanding and working with different personality types. The personality type development is helpful in a work situation where the graduate will go on to manage individuals in a team and to understand how the team interacts with each other but it’s also an insightful personal development tool that will enable graduates to better understand themselves.
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | December 2021
