The New Zealand dairy industry, along with many other industries, is finding it difficult to source the quality and quantity of skilled staff required to meet the current growth of the industry. In particular dairy farmers want mature skilled people to work within the farm business.
Often these mature skilled people are individuals (couples) who have decided to change career and are often successful in progressing through the industry rapidly.
In order for the dairy industry to attract more career change people in the future we need to understand what motivates and drives these people and what attributes they have.
This report is a detailed analysis of personal interviews with 17 people who have changed from an urban background to dairy farming with little or no farming experience. The objectives of this research are;
- To identify what drives and motivates people to change careers.
- To identify what kind of people and what attributes these people have that make them so successful at changing careers.
- To establish what attracted these people to dairy farming as a career choice and how they went about making that decision.
- To establish/identify useful information that will assist people to make this career change in the future.
The main findings of this report are that in order for people to change career they go through a process which starts with a crisis that forms the catalyst for change. Most people choose dairy farming due to a positive farming experience earlier in their life, for example visits to their grandparent’s farm. They believed that farming, and specifically dairy farming, could offer them, first and foremost, a lifestyle unattainable in the city. The opportunity to own their own your own business and be financially secure was also a factor that attracted these people to dairy farming.
Getting the first job often involved little more than answering ads in the paper. Getting the right first job with employers that were willing to teach and support the career change people was essential for a successful start.
Once in the industry the interviewees soon realised the potential the industry had to offer as they quickly moved along the career path and gained valuable equity. All interviewees when asked to reflect on their decision to change careers to dairy farming said they could never see themselves doing anything else. Dairy farming was meeting all their needs, both in a lifestyle and a business sense.
The industry needs to continue to promote dairy farming to counteract negative perceptions.
The challenges that the dairy industry face include; the fact that young people no longer spend holidays on their grandparents farm and that most young people have never had any contact with a country experience and hence have no “experience” to recall at a later age when they are looking to change careers. Also as farms get larger the lifestyle attraction may be lost and it may become increasing harder to attract people into dairy farming.
Irene Nolan Fowler