The Centre for Agribusiness Training and Education is on the Move

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

The Centre for Agribusiness Training and Education (CATE) is enhancing the services it offers on the Internet. CATE is an initiative of the Saskatchewan Council for Community Development (SCCD) designed to connect those seeking training in agriculture and agribusiness to the relevant training programs.

CATE consists of a website (www.agtraining.ca) and a toll-free CATE phone line for those who may not have access to the Internet or need assistance in finding specific training information.

“CATE’s mandate is to establish that critical link between rural residents and training and career development opportunities," explains Verona Thibeault, CATE's co-ordinator. "We have gone beyond the initial mandate of exclusively agribusiness and on-farm education and training, to offering a broader range of training opportunities."

Thibeault describes CATE as “a on-line gateway or information clearing house of all the opportunities and courses available to farmers in North America."

“Once you bring up a particular course on the website," she says, "CATE will tell you whether it is a workshop or a distance-education opportunity. It will connect the person to the institution, so he or she can see if it is the right fit.”

Courses range from agribusiness accounting to Chinese traditional medicine, and many of these courses are already, or likely to become, eligible for financial assistance if taken by rural residents, says Thibeault.

CATE recently entered into a partnership with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF), the delivery agent for the Canadian Agricultural Skills Service (CASS) program in Saskatchewan. Through this partnership, on-farm residents can access training opportunities that are eligible for funding.

"We work with SAF on a weekly basis," says Thibeault. "They inform us of courses they have approved. We upload those courses to the website, and attach a little symbol to show that they have been approved by the Saskatchewan CASS program. With the website, you can quickly see which courses are available, and then go through the application process.”

Funding for the website and the CATE toll-free line pilot project is provided by the Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development in Saskatchewan (CARDS) Program and Saskatchewan Learning.

To find out more about CATE, call the toll-free CATE line at 1-800-641-8256.

For more information, contact:

Verona Thibeault
Co-ordinator
Centre for Agribusiness Training and Education (CATE)
c/o Saskatchewan Council for Community Development
Saskatoon SK
(306) 975-6850
Thibeault@sccd.sk.ca