arthur blewitt - agrifood skills australia - building highly skilled and robust regional futures –...
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Arthur Blewitt delivered the presentation at the 2014 Skilling Australia Summit. The 8th Annual Skilling Australia Summit considered the current policy framework and examined state and national challenges for skilling the Australian economy at this time. Current skilled shortages within industry groups were addressed and debated. For more information about the event, please visit: http://www.informa.com.au/skillingoz14TRANSCRIPT
Our vision is a globally compe33ve and sustainable agrifood industry through world class enterprise capability and leadership
An independent company funded by government responsible for driving the na7onal skills and workforce
agenda across 5 key agrifood sectors.
Our services ● Opera7ng as a broker, facilitator and translator for partnerships across industry, government and training providers
● Driving industry driven competency standards for skills and job readiness
● Advising and suppor7ng industry sectors and enterprises on skills and workforce development
● Advocacy on na7onal policy change
Strategic Directions ● Building enterprise produc7vity and profitability
● Suppor7ng high quality delivery and assessment of skills
● Improving industry's image and career pathways
● Driving industry leadership and sound policy
Industry profile ● Agrifood industry highly important to Australia’s future
● accounts for around 825,000 jobs
● generates $230 billion pa
● capacity to produce food for 60 million people
● accounts for about 18% of Australia’s export earnings
● covers 60% Australia’s land mass
● 90% of enterprises are small
321Market factors
Policy environment
External influencers
ShiQing epi-‐centre of global consump7on
Resurgent western economies
Higher $AU dollar/ commodity vola7lity
Retail duopoly and shortening supply chains
High input cost produc7on – labour, energy, fuel, water and waste
Changing business models -‐ corpora7sa7on, alliances, contrac7ng
Empowered consumer – ‘value, values, health and indulgence’
Social media & social ac7vism
Independent cer7fica7on systems
Automa7on, technology, ICT, advanced robo7cs, gene7cs, remote
sensors, GPS
Expanding Asian middle class and consumerisa7on
Climate variability & climate change
Soil degrada7on, falling water tables
Urbanisa7on of world popula7on
Food security of world na7ons
Ageing agrifood workforce
Ageing Australian popula7on
iGenera7on
Globalisa7on of work
Hyper-‐connec7vity
Free Trade Agreements
Five-‐pillar economy
Red/ green regulatory burden
Animal welfare codes and guidelines
Biosecurity
Drought reform
Agricultural White Paper
Marine Protected Areas management plan review
‘Green Army’
State/ Territory Agrifood plans
Reduc7on in government RD&E
Student en7tlement and marke7sa7on
2012 Student profile ● 90,736 students enrolled (down 828
from 2011)*
● 28,068 students completed (up 3,967 from 2010)
● 63% of learners based outside of the major ci7es
● 80.4% of all agrifood students study part-‐7me
● 56% of learners defined in socio-‐economic terms as being in quin7les 1 and 2 (most disadvantaged)
● 54% of learners aged 25+
● 67% of learners are male
● 84% of delivery at Cer7ficate III or below
● 31.6% of learners are trainees or appren7ces
● Indigenous Australians comprise 8% of agrifood students
● All states decreased in enrolments except Victoria (1,539) and SA (+1,527)
* Appren&ce/ trainee numbers increased by 237 in the same period
Environmental Scan 2014 - Key findings ● A harsh, unforgiving business environment
• Increasing input and regulatory costs, no real liQ in returns, thinner margins
• Producers struggling to keep pace with the sophis7ca7on demanded of shortened supply chains (branding, innova7on, business exper7se and nego7a7on skills)
• Business models changing but few can match the pace of change in the external environment – changing customer tastes, technology/ automa7on adop7on, innova7on
• Within each company visited, remarkable poten&al … but business/ marke&ng and product development skills needed
Environmental Scan 2014 - Key findings continued…
● Asian market -‐ s7ll an intangible for most
• Changing market demand – from raw commodi7es to niche products
• More urgency for regulatory reform – reduc7on of red/green tape
• Market access and FTA – discussion needs to convert into commercial gain
• Resurrec7on of western economies – reduced gap between east and west growth rates
• Innova7ve businesses are focusing on niche or scale
Environmental Scan 2014 - Key findings continued…
● Flavour of the month
• Five pillar economy + state industry plans
• Inter-‐agency policy responses to support agrifood lacking across jurisdic7ons (government priori7es for agrifood need to be backed up by educa7on and training policy for industry)
• Growing tension between individual student en7tlement and building capability of key industries (macro-‐economic reform)
Six key priorities 1. Building world-‐class business management capability
2. Airac7ng a new genera7on of mo7vated, skilled and smart workers
3. Building higher level knowledge and skills within the exis7ng workforce
4. Increasing industry adop7on rates of new technologies and research outcomes
5. Opening up educa7on pathway – Schools ! VET ! HE ! VET
6. U7lising the skills of exis7ng workers and liQing reten7on rates.
Key themes - industry ● Tradi7onal processing plants struggling in Australia -‐ “transport is cheaper than labour”
● ShiQ from ‘commodity’ to ‘product’ with producers pushing to move up the value chain
● Biosecurity and animal welfare are paramount to future success and profitability of Australian agrifood
● ‘100% pure New Zealand’ … Australia needs equivalent branding to capture Australian producers’ values and aiributes
Key themes – industry continued…
● Rise of the individual consumer
• Increasing demand for evidence of a social ‘license to operate’
• Value, quality and convenience taken for granted
• Business use of social media and its opportuni7es to harvest data, lagging behind consumer adop7on and ‘connectedness’
Key themes – industry continued…
● Labour force
• Less noise about worker shortages, pressure point is exis7ng worker capability, par7cularly around managers/supervisors/technology
• Ongoing reliance on seasonal and casual workforce – demand calendars
• “Workforce development” and “skills” are now part of the conversa7on around capability, including enterprises developing their own ‘codes of prac7ce’ to liQ professionalism
• Opportuni7es to link business development capability to industry reform to build resilience and strategic capability eg. drought reform
Key themes – tertiary sector
● Ter7ary sector has a significant role to play … but only with the right policy sepngs
• But silo concept educa7on pathway changing – VET in Schools!VET!HE!VET knowledge transfer means the ter7ary sector needs to change to enhance its relevance to business
• Limited use of non-‐tradi7onal partnerships to create unique, high-‐value proposi7on to industry
• Lack of na7onal agreement on Skill Sets remains key policy constraint
• Poten7al labour pathways into industry not being op7mised – migrant refugees, resource sector workers, cross-‐industry workers
Issues relevant to AgriFood 1. Increasing demand for brokering rela3onships,
partnerships and informa3on flow between stakeholders
• Non-‐tradi7onal partnerships – oil & gas + seafood
• Non-‐tradi7onal alliances – Collabora7ve RTOs + industry bodies = driving industry wide capability on key issues, for example, business management
• Non-‐tradi7onal pathways into industry – Bridging qualifica7ons into the industry for specific groups: resource sector workers, indigenous Australians, migrants/ refugees
Issues relevant to AgriFood continued…
2. ‘Employer of choice’ prac7ces
3. Resolving seasonal worker induc3on challenge – digital record for seasonal workforce, cross-‐industry workers, contractors
4. Thought leadership on linking industry reform to building capability (skills) … leverage off drought reform approach
Issues relevant to AgriFood continued…
5. Opportuni7es for integrated qualifica3ons with universi7es and short programs to support technicians/ para-‐professionals and increased demand for business management capability
7. Na7onal need for partnerships with industry bodies and associa7ons to: • Build their understanding of workforce planning/ skills policy and
applica7on
• Develop resources and prac7cal advice for their members
• Work with AgriFood to extend reach and stakeholder input
Issues relevant to AgriFood continued…
7. Brokering partnerships between CRC/ RDCs and CSIRO, and the VET sector to drive greater flow of research outcomes into the student cohort (webinars, development of resources, guest lecturing, site visits)
Issues relevant to AgriFood continued…
Required research
8. Analysis of the changing business models and structures across the agrifood supply chain and implica7ons for work organisa7on, workforce composi7on and job roles;
9. Development of a na7onal brand strategy for promo7on of agrifood job roles that establishes agreed set of messages and value proposi7ons for use across agrifood sectors (co-‐branded with industry bodies);
Issues relevant to AgriFood continued…
10. Development and valida7on of a contemporary, flexible employment based training *model that would be airac7ve to both agrifood employers and poten7al employees in a wide range of sectors, including its aiributes, likely job roles and cri7cal success factors;
* ‘Employment based training’ is the term used to describe the scenario where an employee undergoes on and off-‐the-‐job training under a formal agreement
Issues relevant to AgriFood continued…
11. Scoping study of AgriFood's current knowledge transfer model including formal learning and widespread non-‐formal and informal/social learning synonymous with agrifood. Includes: I. iden7fying the bodies involved in providing each type of learning
experience and their roles; II. Iden7fying opportuni7es that exist for collabora7on and
leverage; III. Analysing current policy direc7ves and economic drivers with
implica7ons for workforce planning and skills development and how the exis7ng model needs to respond in support.
AgriFood National Regional Initiatives (ANRI) ● Based on a cross-‐industry trial conducted in north west NSW
● Independently assessed 3.2% labour produc7vity improvement 33% net reduc7on outward migra7on
● Involved partnership with key stakeholders in industry, enterprises, RTOs, governments, research agencies, regional communi7es and universi7es
● The successful aspects of that trial are the founda7on of the industry and community-‐driven strategy
Food in the Australian Curriculum Funded under the Na7onal Food Plan through the Department of Agriculture – Focus on city-‐based primary and secondary students to agrifood industries and economic significance.
Aim:
To enhance the teaching and learning of the agrifood industries in Australian schools, par7cularly in science, history, geography and technology
Food in the Australian Curriculum continued…
The Deliverables:
● Na7onal presence
● Presenta7ons to 8000 students na7onally in years 4 to 7
● Teacher professional development workshops to 800 teachers and 500 trainee teachers
● Development of teaching materials to support classroom learning
● U7lise RDC websites and educa7on materials
● Independent evalua7on
“Agribusiness has such a bright future in Australia, if it can unite and rise to the challenge. Right now, perhaps that’s
where the challenge truly lies.”
Phillip M Napier Sector Leader, Agribusiness, KPMG