National Certificate in Rural Servicing

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

The course The National Certificate in Rural Servicing is a new course with a long heritage. It was developed by the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation (AgITO) from the old Stock and Station Association qualification.

The two-year programme has two strands - livestock and rural servicing - and is offered by training providers contracted to AgITO, currently the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT).

The course is taken by staff of rural servicing companies and is offered only when there are a minimum of 12 people available to study. Representatives of four North Island companies are taking the course now, with some staff close to graduation.

Companies allow their staff time away from their jobs to attend workshops of three days for an agri-chemical course, and eight days for the rural services programme. They must also provide assessors for on-the-job practical assessments.

Students, who take the course at no cost to themselves, are given pre-course work a month before each workshop, which requires study time of an average of three hours a week for four weeks.

Workshops are held at times that fit in with companies' seasonal staff requirements at venues of their choosing. AgITO advisers liaise between the company and EIT tutors.

Topics studied include health and safety, crop production and livestock health, retail sales policies and procedures, business calculations, fencing materials, soil properties and interpreting soil tests, the role of fertilisers, and advising growers on crop production.

The NZQA-approved course can be the first opportunity for rural service company staff to gain a qualification in their field and is designed to give them the knowledge to assist and advise customers. It can lead to further study for such qualifications as the National Certificate in Agri-chemical Distribution, and the National Certificate in Stock and Station Business.

Companies gain staff who can "talk the talk" and, in the case of handling and storage of such products as agri-chemicals, enable them to meet legislative requirements.

What students think

Jason Finnerty, 22

RD1 assistant store manager

Matamata

Graduating 2004


My company, RD1, offered to make the course available, and they pay for it so I put my hand up to do it. Our human resources people organised the workshops and our accommodation.

I started at the end of 2002 and have gone to four workshops in different places - Rotorua, Whangarei, and Taupo but mostly Hamilton. You have to do exercises before the workshops but it's a comfortable timeframe.

We studied things like health and safety, crop production, selling and good service, manners on the phone, policies and procedures in the workplace, business calculations, stock-taking, livestock health, soils, fertiliser, and agri-chems. It was really intense.

I've been with RD1 three and a half years. I started straight out of school in Rotorua, pretty much doing the heavy lifting. I became assistant manager in Reporoa where there are four or five staff and it was a promotion to come to Matamata because it's a big store.

The course has helped me understand where customers are coming from. I'm from a farm but the course is at a different level, with more theory. I can follow up on crop requirements and make recommendations. The course is a good stepping stone and makes you want to go a bit further. I may do a diploma.

What employers think

Steve Mason

RD1 store manager

Maungaturoto


I've done the course and so have my two staff. It's not an easy course and there's a heck of a lot of homework - about 150 hours of it over the two years.

The EIT tutors really know their stuff and they are very accessible. It gives you confidence talking to farmers because of the product knowledge you gain. I knew a lot of it but it formalised it for me.

I've been to many sales and product seminars but the course was a huge boost in product knowledge. It brings young workers, especially, right up with it.

Farming is a business, rather than the way of life it once was, and farmers are really clued up. When you talk to them you have to know what you are talking about. It's our business to offer solutions.

National Certificate in Rural Servicing

Agriculture Industry Training Organisation

Venue chosen by participating companies

Contact: Tom Holden, AgITO Industry Manager

Ph: 06-870-7586

Earnings: vary according to position