Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture to offer apprenticeships at Elliott and Forthside

The University of Tasmania and the state government joint venture is currently on the lookout for new apprentices.

Elliott's Ashley Crawford is six months into his three-year apprenticeship and is completing a Certificate III in Dairy Production.

"It's all been hands-on learning about the running of the farm and how everything works and it has been pretty good to learn all of that," Mr Crawford said.

"In a lot of ways, I am learning all the stuff practically before I'm going to TAFE.

"It's made the book work a bit easier in a way because I have already learned things and already done the hands-on stuff."

TIA livestock production centre leader James Hills said introducing young people to the industry through apprenticeships had multiple benefits.

"We don't have enough people coming into the industry and we have a shortage of young people," he said.

"Giving people the opportunity to really appreciate what the industry can do and what it offers, I think helps encourage them to do further education, further develop their skills and so forth.

"It's extremely important because we need the workers but it also sets them on a good pathway to be able to add to the industry."

TIA research fellow Pieter Raedts explained the importance of giving young people the opportunity to learn both on-farm and research skills.

"What I personally hope is we can keep on training apprentices on a regular basis and give them a good understanding of what happens in the dairy industry and give them a good knowledge base," he said.

"If we have this set up and running well, over time, I hope we have a fair number of apprentices flowing through and gaining knowledge here.

"Then they'll move into the industry and help other farmers."

The apprenticeships are open to anyone interested in the sector and Mr Hills said the university would be offering 'summer-ships' for students studying agriculture.

"We will be bringing them here to expand their horizon and encourage them to try and look at what's available," he said.

"Over a six-week period, we will bring students in to experience the industry and we will be probably be doing that linking with other people within the industry, like processors for instance.

"So the students can come up and experience it at this end and then go and experience some of the work that happens post-farm gate."

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