YOUR NEWCAREER STARTS HERE -RLQ XV DW 7HOIRUG IRU FHUWLȴFDWH DQG GLSORPD OHYHO VWXGLHV LQ $JULFXOWXUH :RRO 7HFKQRORJ\ (TXLQH DQG PRUH /LYH RQ FDPSXV RU DV D GD\ VWXGHQW DQG EHFRPH SDUW RI WKH 7HOIRUG H[SHULHQFH Visit sit.ac.nz/telford or call 0800 TELFORD Telford Campus Partners with Farm 4 Life for Dairy Industry Training Tangaroa Walker, creator of Farm 4 Life has partnered with SIT to help dairy workers gain a dairy industry quali ication PHOTO: SIT A new collaboration between Telford, Southern Institute of Technology’s agricultural campus, and Southland dairy farmer, Tangaroa Walker, the creator of Farm 4 Life, intends to provide dairy farm workers nationwide with the opportunity to gain a recognised quali ication while they work. Mr Walker has been dairy farming in Southland for the past nine years; he created and developed Farm 4 Life three years ago because he saw a need to educate workers in the dairy sector. The educational social media channel shows an all-encompassing view of what dairy farming entails, from helping cows to calve, through to putting up electric fencing. “I started ilming the videos because there was nothing like that when I started out – if there had been, it could have fast-tracked my career by a couple of years,” he said. Out of that, the Farm 4 Life HUB was developed as an online video learning platform, with thousands of clips communicating “the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of dairy farming”. There is a humorous element in Mr Walker’s presentation of the learning material in the videos; his down-to-earth approach clearly has an appeal, with his clips clocking up over 80 million views. “The engagement is really high,” he said. “A lot of that is due to doing a lot of ‘lives’ – people really respond to what I do.” That quality engagement with people through producing the content, drives the purpose of Farm 4 Life for Mr Walker, as he continues to focus on making the industry a friendlier place for entry-level workers. Dr Sally Dobbs, Head of Faculty SIT2LRN and Telford Campus, said it was Mr Walker’s positive attitude and love for the dairy industry which in luenced SIT to get involved with Farm 4 Life. The videos provided training, but it was Mr Walker’s vision to take it further and provide an industry-recognised accreditation to dairy workers. Through partnering with Farm 4 Life, SIT have been able to utilise Mr Walker’s material; now students using Farm 4 Life videos and apps will be able to achieve the Certi icate in Farming Systems and Equipment (Level 3) Dairy strand. “The NZQA quali ication brings a whole lot of legitimacy to the HUB and what I do, and it creates a greater separation between the HUB, which are proper learning videos, and my social media content. It will allow me to be more myself,” Mr Walker said. Telford will manage a pilot programme starting on 30th May. With a limited number of spaces available on the pilot, Mr Walker said they wanted to select the participants from over 600 Farm 4 Life subscribers who are already using the HUB. “The thing I’m really excited about is there’s now a place for those kids who don’t like school, who struggle to read and write – they’ll be able to learn and upskill through observing and watching,” he added.
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