Short courses for all visa holders
Primary ITO has a wide range of work-based training options to help you grow the skills and knowledge of your staff in 2025.
Dairy farming is a hands-on industry, but Frankie Stevens discovered that understanding the theory and business practices that underpin a farm is the key to success, comments Primary ITO.
Stevens worked all her life on New Zealand dairy farms as a herd manager and contract milker, but says she got new insight while studying in 2011 for Primary ITO’s Certificate in Production Management and in 2016 for its Diploma in Agribusiness Management.
“It was like all the lights had come on. Getting all these results from the cows, getting it down on paper and seeing it all make sense was so enlightening.
“I learned many useful things in the diploma course -- taxation, cashflows and budgets, and working out operating profit. I enjoyed the financial side of things.
“And then there was HR. I’d had an HR toolkit since 2011 and it sat on my bookshelf.
“Now I know it inside and out thanks to my diploma. Whenever we need to employ people now, I have a plan I actually use.”
Stevens did not enjoy school and struggled with dyslexia. She was forced to take over milking her parents’ herd on the West Coast at age 15 when her father was injured in a motorbike crash.
At age 18 she went to Telford Rural Polytech and completed a Certificate in Agriculture but her employers, fearing that more studies would interfere with her work, held her back.
Many years later she resumed her studies, discovering that her passion for dairy farming and keenness to learn sped her through her diploma course in just 18 months.
“I did two modules at a time. When I hear other people say the diploma is a lot of work I laugh because I was doing it twice as fast but still contract milking 350 cows with the support of my partner and raising my son.”
Stevens says the diploma course covered topics like resource management and included working out how to convert a sheep and beef farm to dairy. Risk assessment taught her how to deal with payout volatility, climate change, biosecurity, etc.
Understanding financial and accounting paperwork, tax requirements and different ownership structures has added to her expertise.
“Many people go into contract milking or share milking with no idea about issues like taxation, accounting, dealing with banks or how to handle staff.
“So we lose a lot of people from the industry because they burn out. They don’t have knowledge to support them in their journey and ensure they’re successful.
“In self-employment you need to do budgets and know if you’re actually going to make any money.
“You need to know what you’re doing so as to avoid silly mistakes like not putting enough aside to cover your tax bill. I understand those issues now.”
Stevens says being able to talk to farmers in a business sense is another advantage in job interviews.
“I know all about how to increase profit and production, and how to decrease their expenses. Without having studied for the diploma I wouldn’t be able to have those conversations.”
Primary ITO’s courses are designed for adult-directed learning and offer a mix of hand-written notes, whiteboard sessions, class interaction and internet research.
Federated Farmers supports a review of the current genetic technology legislation but insists that a farmer’s right to either choose or reject it must be protected.
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
New tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump signal an uncertain future, but New Zealand farmers know how to adapt to changing conditions, says Auriga Martin, chief executive of Farm Focus.
A global trade war beckons, which is bad news for a small open economy like New Zealand, warns Mark Smith ASB senior economist.
Carterton's Awakare Farm has long stood as a place where family, tradition and innovation intersect.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
OPINION: Is it the beginning of the end for Greenpeace?
OPINION: The good times felt across the dairy sector weren't lost at last week's Beef + Lamb NZ annual meeting.