Tasmania’s agricultural sector is booming and there is a clear need to turbo-charge training and workforce development to grow the sector and address the current skills shortage.
As part of our election commitment, the Hodgman Liberal Government will invest $5 million to establish an Agricultural Centre of Excellence in Tasmania’s North-West to provide the skills needed for Tasmania’s agricultural sector.
The Centre of Excellence will be based around TasTAFE’s Freer Farm at Burnie and will include TasTAFE course delivery, plus extended delivery through partnerships with Agritas and the University of Tasmania.
Today we welcome representatives from key agricultural peak bodies and businesses to Freer Farm to further discuss the School of Excellence as the first step of the consultation process.
This is a chance for the Tasmanian Government to listen to agribusiness leaders and industry and get their ideas and views about how the centre can maximise their workforce development needs.
The centre will be driven by industry with strong industry and business input into how training is delivered, so its success will depend on strong partnerships state-wide and a shared vision of our goals.
The Centre of Excellence will deliver qualifications from specific industry-led skills sets, through to Certificate and Diploma qualifications, and up to Associate Degree qualifications in agriculture, natural resource management and agribusiness.
The Tasmanian Government will also invest in Freer Farm to update its ageing infrastructure and equipment and to build a contemporary farm-based learning space.
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