Kate Scott: Horticulture NZ CEO on the call for tertiary education reform to match food and fibre sector demands

The Food and Fibre sector claims the education system is letting it down. 

Leaders from farming, forestry, horticulture, and seafood have joined forces to launch a Food and Fibre Workforce Capability Strategy. 

They’re pushing for tertiary education reform —with an employer-led, work-based learning model— to match real industry demands. 

Horticulture NZ Chief Executive Kate Scott told Mike Hosking the current model isn't working. 

She says it tends to favour the volume of learners rather than the value. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The food and fiber sector want a bit of a
reform in the tertiary sector. They're chasing what they're calling
an employer lead work based learning model to match real
industry demands. So what does all that mean? Kate Scots,
the Horticulture New Zealand Chief Executive, and as with us,
Kate morning, morning mate. So the pathway as we sit
now leads me from where to where and what do
you want changed?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, So at the moment we've got some proposed reform
that the government is looking to implement and look at
the moment, that approach tends to favor a volume, So
the number of learners based funding model over perhaps the
value and if you take the whole of the food
and fiber network, now we have a significant contribution to

(00:42):
make to this country. But at the moment the pathways
for our learners to access work based place learning is
under threat. And as it probably comes as no surprise
to you, some of the very best learning for people
working across the food and fiber sector comes from learning
on the ground and in the field rather than from

(01:04):
the classroom.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Do we have a skills issue or a job specific issue?
So would you want somebody to lined up to say
I want to be X by the time I get
to the end of this, is that what you're aiming
for or is it broad based skills?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
It's broad based skills. So you know, many of our
food and fiber sectors, and if I talk specifically for horticulture,
we are facing significant workforce challenges, you know, including shortages
and an aging workforce. And you know, if we aren't
or if we're undermining that work based learning, then that's
only going to increase the issue and threaten the sustainability
of an industry where you don't have a pool of

(01:38):
capable people with skills coming through.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Surely, Penny Simmons and I mean, surely the government understand
this and get this, don't.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
They well, look to be fair at this point in time,
we have some reservations and that is why, as a collective,
we have worked together to create a Food and Fiber
Workforce Capability Strategy, which is industry lead and basically sets
out a series of relatively succinct recommendations around ways that
the government could actually ensure that they are delivering based

(02:09):
pace learning for our learners across the primary sector.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
I find very hard to believe they weren't on board
with it. Having said that, how much of it's about
you and the industry doing this for yourself versus at
some point you've got to involve the tertiary side of
the equation to get a piece of paper that's legit.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, there needs to be there needs to be a
collaborative approach. We can't do all of that on our own.
There needs to be you know, getting qualifications and standards,
which is the government's role, and so there needs to
be a joicte approach here. But what we're saying is that,
you know, we need to see some uptake and not
just focus on a classroom based learning model because that's

(02:45):
not going to deliver all that we require.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
While I've got you this this regional debate that's on
at the moment, there's a lot of people a bit
angsty about some of the courses being dropped in regional areas.
And if you don't train regionally, you won't stay regionally.
Do you worry about that?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Look, we do worry about that, and that's because the
many of the people that work across our food and
fiber and seafood sectors simply don't live in our cities.
And if we don't have access to a combination of
both classroom based learning and that's sometimes delivered regionally, as
well as the work based place learning, then there's a
large part of our productive sector has potentially been cut

(03:21):
off from accessing education.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, so what do we need to happen now, I
mean you put this to the government. Presumably you've got
some sort of timeline or expectation that something might happen.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, Look, we have put this to the government. We
are looking forward to the opportunity to meet with Minister
Simon so that we can talk about those practical actions
that we've identified that we think need to be happening
so that we can deliver for the whole of the
food and viber sector. It's one of the probably the
way i'd frame that is, you know, we're being asked

(03:50):
to step up to help to contribute to the government's
goal of doubling expert value by twenty thirty five. To
do that, we need a really strong capable workforce and
me we need to and that people need to be trained.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Did right, Go well with it. We'll stay in touch,
appreciate it. Cat Scott, who's the Horticulture New Zealand chief
executive and a conversation findly enough, there are three members teachers.
I can name you three members of my wider family
who are about to graduate to become teachers. And so
suddenly that it just suddenly struck me all, you know,
collectively together that whole thing about number of teachers and

(04:22):
you can't get enough teachers, And suddenly the number of
people wanting to be teachers has increased exponentially. Of late,
there's three in my family alone. So something good's happened, there,
isn't it. For more from the My Asking Breakfast, listen
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