After 18 months of living through the challenges of COVID-19 and experiencing the issues created by horticulture labour shortages first-hand, a fresh produce wholesaler and retailer have teamed up to create a new business and training program.
David Zahlan, Director of Alexanders' Fruit Market and his close friend Thomas Panna from Mattina Fresh are preparing to launch National Farming Education Australia, and its farming skills endorsement, known as the Green Card to the rest of the industry, ensuring workers are fully trained in foundational farm procedures and processes before they arrive on the farm, which will ultimately provide better productivity to farmers.
"I was listening to Tom and he was nearly pulling his hair out, not knowing where he was going to find staff," Mr Zahlan explained. "But not only how he was going to onboard the staff but also get them up to scratch, with a lot of them newbies and seasonal workers. We then had a look around to see what was already existed to help with that, and we couldn't find anything. That was the start of the concept, basically two mates talking about the problems that they had to live through and deal with.
"My background is construction, and many years ago they implemented the 'White Card' program, where every person involved in any building site had to do a course to show they understood the safety requirements and were up to date with the basics and fundamentals. (In horticulture/farming) we found that there were Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) programs, for example, but they were light, or people were ticking boxes without being taught enough. What we found was farmers were taking on huge portfolios of staff at once and overnight they had to get them up to date with regulatory requirements, educate them with packing and picking and get them onboarded into a system. That's where this all began."
Photo: Thomas Panna from Mattina Fresh (above); David Zahlan from Alexanders' Fruit Market (below)
So far it has been benchmarked and tested through Mattina Fresh's stone fruit season, and Mr Zahlan says the courses will be tweaked, adjusted and finalised in the off-season, where other growers will be encouraged to implement the upskilling program on their farms. Specifically, all growers in the Cobram District Growers Association will soon have access to the program. The next stages of expansion will also involve meeting with industry bodies in other fresh produce categories and gaining feedback on their workforce needs, so individual modules can be tailored to ensure individual companies are getting the most out of the system.
"At this stage, the way the course is set up, it is designed to be done in one day," Mr Zahlan said. "Then there will be an opportunity for ongoing membership, and as we update modules or industry changes, they will constantly be updated and be able to stay up to date as critical things happen. This course is ongoing evolution over time that will build as industry changes. The Green Card program is designed for a constant level of improvement. Input from industry is mandatory for us because it is created and designed to be a part of what they need. Our expansion process is to sit with industry and then build the program around them. Nick, the owner of Mattina Fresh is driven to be an industry leader and has the foresight to see what is needed in the future and work towards that."
Mr Panna adds there are two problems facing the industry at the moment; one is a lack of labour and the other is the lack of skilled labour. So, the Green Card will not just lead to more workers filling numbers on farms, but a better quality of worker, which will lead to better productivity, produce quality and ultimately company returns.
"It has been a challenging year in regards to labour," Mr Panna said. "The whole industry, and the whole country, is aware the challenges that are out there with not having enough people to work in our industry, and not having any real type of skillset or skills for entry for new people. There was a challenge initially to look at what the data really looks like because at one stage 90 per cent of staff at our business was new. So, we continue to have a focus and drive on the upskilling and educational process. We have one of our major contractors who ran his staff through the course as a training exercise in supplying staff to our business, and over the period of time, we have seen productivity up by 25 per cent. That investment is an enormous contribution to our business; and the culture shift, being supportive, and not turning them over rapidly. We have given them a level of support that often isn't there in our industry."
He says that many of the workers who turn up on the farm have no experience or understanding of what they are doing, and some people have been given little to no details of the actual job description.
"We are trying to create a new culture shift as well as education and the upskilling component," Mr Panna said. "It is a shift that has been needed for decades. We want the industry to become more professional - because we see that companies invest heavily in infrastructure, packaging, machinery, facilities and trucks, there are millions of dollars being spent. But the key fundamental of how all these businesses operate is the people. There is often little to no investment back into the people, apart from their wages, within our industry. It's sad because other industries do it, and it's not innovation that's needed, we just need to catch up to the rest of the world. In addition, we saw some statistics the other day where our industry takes up two per cent of the jobs within Australia, but our industry also takes up 30 per cent of national 'Worksafe' claims. So, we are obviously lacking proper processes to induct and operate in a safe environment. The way we have built our software is that we are adaptable and can implement changes in line with industry standards and regulations - as every year there are changes. The industry has been starving for this."
The program will be rolled out nationally within fresh produce businesses, but Mr Panna admits it could evolve and have an international focus one day, in that it could train people overseas so they are arriving in Australia as a long-term skilled worker, as opposed to a temporary seasonal or Ag Visa.
"Our courses are being translated into seven different languages, and we definitely see the need for the seasonal worker programs to offer us workers who are hitting the benchmarks of what we need," Mr Panna said. "Even the seasonal worker programs up until now have been unsuccessful in bringing over the necessary skillsets that will actually help us. Yes, it is putting bodies in the business, but it is not effectively assisting us in what we need on a day to day basis. As a third-generation, and 20th year in the industry, this is probably the most pivotal moment, and a moment that I am actually proud of. We have done extensive work on this and it actually started pre-COVID, and the pandemic only enhanced the need for it. This is probably the most important thing that I have achieved, from a professional perspective. So, to create it, co-found it, develop it and offer it out to industry with my best mate - it's my best professional achievement."
For more information
Tom Valcanis
National Farming Education Australia
tom@nfeaustralia.com
www.nfeaustralia.com
Thomas Panna
Mattina Fresh
Phone: +61 419 315 030
thomas.panna@mattinafresh.com.au