Renewed Support For ‘Get Kiwis On Farm’ Initiative

Federated Farmers and the Ministry of Social Development are pleased to announce another round of support for the "Get Kiwis on Farm" project, one of the government’s most successful worker placement COVID initiatives.

The initiative started in 2020 and to date has helped 605 people get jobs in farming.

MSD Industry Partnerships provides $323,000 of funding for 100 ‘starter kits’, to get the right gear in the hands of wannabe farm workers, and it also goes towards support with recruitment and pastoral care for those people.

New recruits get free farm and wet weather gear from Northland-based Kaiwaka Clothing, aimed to make them feel comfortable from their first day at work on the farm. Affording the right clothing was identified as a barrier for young people looking to work in farming.

There are dairy farm and general farm starter kits for arable, sheep and beef, and deer workers.

The recruits also receive pastoral care and the first year of a Young Farmers’ membership free. The employer gets the price of the employment contract refunded and opportunity to apply for the flexi-wage subsidy.

Federated Farmers employment relations spokesperson Richard McIntyre thanked MSD for their ongoing contribution to the Initiative.

"The primary industry needs new recruits and we will always support getting more Kiwis on farm."

MSD’s Director Industry Partnerships Amanda Nicolle says the real success of the initiative has been its ability to get Kiwis to work on farms.

‘We are really pleased to continue to partner with Federated Farmers to remove some of the barriers for employing people who are new to the sector and support New Zealanders into meaningful and sustainable work in communities across the motu."

Participation in the initiative is restricted to Federated Farmers members.

As there are only 100 kits available, Federated Farmers members are urged to visit http://getkiwisonfarm.nz to check eligibility and apply now.

© Scoop Media