Dairy Industry Pathway Attracts Top Recruits

For Immediate Release
16 June 2008

Dairy Industry Pathway Attracts Top Recruits

The pathway of progression in the dairy industry is attracting talented recruits that are quickly proving their abilities, by winning awards in the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.

Awards Convenor Chris Keeping says there had been a noticeable jump in the numbers of entrants in the awards – and winners – from people who had switched careers to dairying.

“The industry is certainly attracting some talented people who are quickly gaining the necessary skills and attributes to do well.”

Ms Keeping says about one-third of the 36 finalists in the 2008 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards had switched careers to become dairy farmers, a sign that campaigns to attract good people to the industry for financial and lifestyle reward were paying off.

“In the top award – the New Zealand Sharemilker of the Year – half of the finalists in the 2008 competition were recent recruits and included former accountants, teachers, civil/structural designers, retail assistants, and agricultural engineers.

“We also had former courier drivers, hair dressers, electricians, and research technicians among the finalists.

“The dairy industry has always been known as the farming sector that provides a well trodden career pathway for young dairy farmers to progress through the industry to ultimately achieve their goals.”

Ms Keeping says the Dairy Industry Awards developed its byline ‘Passion for Progression’, as it accurately reflects that those who enter in the awards have the passion that will ensure their progression in dairying.

“This year’s finalists were highly motivated and moving extremely quickly through the industry –one sharemilker finalist had been dairy farming for just two years!”

The winners in the New Zealand Sharemilker of the Year, New Zealand Farm Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year were announced at a dinner in Christchurch on May 24.

The Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DairyNZ, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda, LIC, Meridian Energy, Ravensdown, and RD1, along with industry partner Agriculture ITO.

Entries in the 2009 Dairy Industry Awards open in November this year.

ENDS

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