New and revamped courses are in preparation to attract more apprentices to the farming and machinery sectors, which are facing increasing labour shortages.

Minister for Education Richard Bruton has announced six agricultural apprenticeships among the 26 proposals approved to be rolled out next year. Five will be run by Teagasc, including a two-year farm technician Level 6 course (equivalent to the Green Cert) and a four-year farm management Level 7 apprenticeship.

Government drive

The new apprenticeships are part of a Government drive to double the number of young people trained through alternating workplace and college learning periods by 2020.

Meanwhile, a new version of the agricultural mechanics apprenticeship overseen by SOLAS will be rolled out to future apprentices, IT Tralee’s head of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths department Dr Pat Carney told the Irish Farmers Journal. Dr Carney’s department delivers two of the seven training phases in this apprenticeship, and developed a degree-level agricultural mechanisation course in conjunction with the FTMTA.

Mechanics

Following coverage of the labour shortage in agricultural mechanics in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal, an apprentice in the mechanisation course at IT Tralee said that conditions were putting candidates off, with pay of just €5/hour on work placements and unpaid overtime. He added it was hard to find work placements and that the computer skills acquired were not of the right standard. An experienced farm mechanic in Co Carlow confirmed similar pay rates and tough conditions for apprentices and said at least one-third of his 2005 class of 36 apprentices had left the trade to work in the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr Carney said the work placement arrangements including payments are between the sponsoring dealer and the student.

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Agri mechanics wanted