The Whangārei A&P Farm Intern programme has wrapped up their second year with 14 interns completing their course and more motivated young people showing a keen interest for the February intake – applications are still open!
The Whangārei A&P Farm Intern programme has wrapped up their second year of the programme with 14 interns completing their course and more motivated young people showing a keen interest in farming this year.
Applications are still open for the February intake. Learn more and apply here.
The two-year, full-time farm internship programme is an opportunity for young people interested in a farming career to get hands on experience for free whilst also working towards completing their New Zealand Certificate in Agriculture levels 3 and 4.
The programme peaked with 21 enrolments during 2021, and ended with 14 interns completing their course work. A couple of these interns have been granted an extension into next year to finish off one or two components of the programme.
This year, there is already eight interns locked in for the Mid and Far North and eight in Whangārei. It is likely more interns will join the programme in the next couple of months.
B+LNZ is proud to support a grass roots capability building initiative of this calibre.
Chris Mason Chief Executive of the Whangārei A&P says, “A huge thank you to the farmers who hosted an intern in 2021 – we know for some of you this worked out exceptionally well and your intern is staying on farm with you.”
“We have continued to review the programme during 2021 and this year we will see some more improvements including being able to provide host farmers with a generic training programme employment contract and agreement.”
The COVID-19 Protection Framework (Traffic Light System) and lockdowns in 2021 impacted the ability for Land Based Training tutors to conduct their on-farm visits and practical signoffs for the interns.
“This meant for a very consolidated effort in the last two months of 2021 to get everything done and marked off. But it was worth it!”
Learn more about the Whangārei A&P Farm Intern programme
The programme takes a flexible approach. Some interns are living and working on farm, while others are commuting.
- You can learn more about the intern programme on the official website.
- View the programme’s prospectus on the Whangārei A&P Farm Intern programme website.