On-farm experience program stressed in green certificate program

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Experienced farm workers and young students alike are benefiting from the Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) Green Certificate training program.

The SAF Livestock Development Branch administers the program, which operates like an apprenticeship, with the learning taking place right on the farm.

SAF co-operates with Alberta’s Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Department, which has offered a similar program since 1975.

“We have two types of trainees in the program – students and adults,” says SAF Human Resources Development Specialist Jim Birch. “The administration of the program is similar for each, and the competencies for each are similar, as well.”

The program covers several skill areas, including cow-calf production, feedlot production, sheep production, dairy production, crop production, and irrigated crop production. There are three levels of training available, imparting the skills required for technicians, production supervisors, and managers/owners.

“The trainee receives most of his or her education through on-the-job training under a competent farmer-trainer,” said Birch. “The farmer is also responsible for the major assessment of the trainee’s proficiency in farm skills, while a tester provides verification of the reliability, validity, and uniformity of the training and testing.”

Central Butte is one of the schools that offer the training modules in cow-calf and field production. The facilitator, Kim Paysen, is not only a teacher, but also the operator of a cow-calf ranch and livestock equipment business in the area.

Paysen first offered the program as a special project, but in 2003 it was accepted as a province-wide course elective by Saskatchewan Learning. It is now known as the Agricultural Production Technician curriculum.

More real-world experience is evident in the main tester for the Central Butte area, Deb Oram. She and her husband Mark operate a purebred and commercial cattle operation, and practice dry land and irrigated crop production. The Orams have put their own children through the program.

Pat Jahnke, a teacher and trainee tester from the near Morse, has also been a long-time cow-calf producer. These individuals demonstrate how highly valued actual hands-on experience is for those helping to deliver the program.

SAF officials developed the Green Certificate program after extensive consultation with their counterparts in Alberta. Trainees are allowed to progress at their own rate, and the Green Certificate is awarded only after the trainee has been tested and deemed competent in all of the required skills.

“The specific skills which form the basis of the curriculum were identified by farmers in various specializations,” said Birch. “Training content and proficiency standards were also established with the majority of input from producers.”

One of the objectives of the program is to equip farm owners and managers to train others in the core skills required to be successful in various farming activities. This will create a supply of skilled workers for the industry in the future.

“Training employees can improve their production by improving their self-esteem and their own work ethic,” Birch noted. “It also tends to encourage them to seek further education and training on their own.”

For more information, contact:

Jim Birch, Human Resources Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Phone: (306) 787-8191
e-mail: jbirch@agr.gov.sk.ca