National Diploma in Agribusiness Management

Waihi farmer Robyn Ruddell says the course has given her more tools to run a business. Picture / Amos Chapple

The Course

The AgIto's national certificate and diploma courses are earn-as-you-learn courses designed for farm workers in, or aiming for, farm management roles.

The four national certificate topics are production management, business planning, financial planning and physical resource management. Students completing them and an agribusiness property report achieve the National Diploma in Agribusiness Management.

The NZQA approved course takes four years of part-time study and is offered throughout the country. Students have a four-hour class fortnightly except during calving and lambing seasons and do about five to 10 hours of private study a week.

Topics covered include business and financial planning, human resources, tax, wages, the legal obligations of employers, farm owners and employees, the management of physical resources, wills, trusts, farm ownership, applying for finance, feed budgeting, goal setting, and business analysis.

Students complete unit standards and the course culminates with the property report, which "ties it all together", says AgIto Waikato training adviser Rachel Kay.

The industry and Government-funded AgIto subsidises fees for students employed in the farming sector. This year's course fee is $495.

The only prerequisite for the course is "a good attitude," Kay says. Additional classes are arranged on demand. Courses start in February and October.

Graduates can go on to study for a university degree in agriculture or business, or move into farm management, sharemilking or farm ownership, or become agriculture industry training advisers.

Depending on the level of responsibility graduates earn from $35,000.

What students think
Robyn Ruddell, 45
Sharemilker
Waihi
Graduated 2002

We are 50/50 sharemilkers and my husband, Owen, always did the budgets.

When an AgIto flyer came in the mail and I saw you could study business planning I thought it would be a chance for me to learn that part of the business.

I hadn't done any study like that before. I did University Entrance and then went to work. I've done our books for ages and I've owned a service station so I wasn't daunted. I had three children at school and a friend offered to look after my pre-schooler so I could study.

I flew through the business planning certificate because it seemed all built around 50/50 sharemilking which I know about.

I don't do the physical things on the farm - I do the calf rearing and some relief milking - so it got harder when I did physical resource management and had to know about the property and soil. It was a real challenge but you get hooked.

Financial planning was hard. I asked a few accountants for help but they do their accounts a different way. Farmers have a different way of analysing their business.

For the property report they select a farmer and you use his property. We had one day to prepare questions and then it was on to the farm for four to five hours to get as much information from him as possible. Then you do a detailed analysis of how he could improve the running of the farm.

You do budgets for one year and three years, and cash flows. Then you choose four options for his farm, look at its strengths and weaknesses and do a year budget.

You go into detail looking at the return on capital and equity. It's very involved and challenging. I've got four kids and it happened smack in the middle of the school holidays and when we needed help on our farm.

I think I did well to pass. The farmer got 15 reports. I guess the real test is whether he uses any of them. But it's teaching you to analyse.

Personally, the course gave me confidence. I probably haven't used it as much as I could but it has given me employment opportunities. I could be a consultant.

Owen did a Diploma of Agriculture 20 years ago at Massey - my course was more about management and was far more involved.

We used to rely on the accountant but we can do more for ourselves now. We're looking to buy a farm and it has given me more tools to run a business.

Twenty-five students started with me but there was a huge drop-off after the first paper on business planning because they weren't 50/50 sharemilkers, which makes it more of a challenge. If you're a farm manager it's hard to put yourself in the shoes of a sharemilker with investments and assets.

Perhaps AgIto needs to gear some of the content toward lower order sharemilkers. The dropout rate, though, wasn't as high on the next paper.

I think the course is great. I really enjoyed it. We encourage our staff to do it.

Hats off to the AgIto. I think they do a good job.

The qualification

National Diploma in Agribusiness Management
Agriculture Industry Training Organisation
Phone: 0800 77 8000
Earning: From $35,000