EDUCATION
including whether an agriculture
diploma program was even needed in
Manitoba. The answer was a resounding
yes, but everything else was up for grabs
except a two-year farm management
project introduced earlier. Groups agreed
the two-year diploma needed to be wider
in scope because of profound changes
sweeping the agriculture industry.
“One of the things that came up
(in the focus groups’ discussions) was
change, change, change,” Rogalsky said.
“Everything is changing, and the rate
of change is faster than it’s ever been.
What skills can we offer students to
respond to change?”
According to surveys, 80 per cent
of graduates eventually go back to the
farm. The remaining 20 per cent become
employed in agribusiness. Even those
who do return to the farm often work in
industry for a few years first.
So, besides discussing ideas among
themselves, the focus groups met with
industry stakeholders to ask a critical
question: What did they need from grad-uates
who sign on with them after com-pleting
the program?
“What we heard from them was,
we do an excellent job teaching pro-duction
skills and farm management,”
said Thea Green, program manager with
KAP, a 2013 diploma graduate and later
an instructor. “But if they had a request
to make, it would be to develop more of
the fluid skills.”
Green says fluid skills are what used
to be referred to as “soft skills,” which
involve relationships, leadership, the
ability to work in teams, problem solving,
and making evidence-based decisions.
Together with production
practices came classes in critical
thinking, decision-making, validating
information, agriculture policy, social
media, stress management, and
communicating with the public.
New courses include precision
agriculture, with a focus on technol-ogy
applications. Farm machinery is
still covered, but the emphasis is now
on technological applications instead
of straight mechanics.
Williment said a farm machinery
manufacturer speaking to his class
summed it up succinctly, “He said, ‘Our
business is no longer the steel of the trac-tor.
It’s the technology inside the cab.’”
Another new course covers sus-tainable
agri-food systems, includ-ing
a holistic approach to water and
land management.
“Farming’s so complicated and com-plex,”
said Rogalsky. “You’re addressing
the environment, you’re addressing eco-nomics,
and you’re also addressing the
social impact on rural communities.
We’re trying to have students look at
those big picture issues.”
There’s also an elective course called
Exploring New Opportunities in Adding
On-Farm Value. Rogalsky says some
graduates who want to farm, but lack
a family farm to return to, start their
own small acreages and produce spe-cialty
crops. One grows and sells flowers.
Another has a strawberry farm. Still oth-ers
market organically grown vegetables.
All profit from training in direct farm
marketing, which the program teaches.
Colin Penner, a program instruc-tor
who farms near Carman, Man., says
courses used to be strictly knowledge
based with facts about such things as
seeding depths and fertility rates. They
still do, but now they also deal with
where to find information on how to
grow crops.
“The common values are exactly the
same,” said Penner. “But it’s evolved to
meet the times – where technology is
going, where farming’s going.”
Penner, a diploma graduate in 2008,
teaches the program’s capstone course
on farm management. Stretched over
two years, the program requires students
to develop a business plan for a commer-cial
farm or agribusiness. Students may
use their own family farm as a template.
If they don’t have a real farm, they are
given a case farm. They run this farm
on paper for two years, dealing with all
aspects of planning, financial analysis,
and applied farm management. At the
end, they assemble their presentation
and present it to a panel of agricultural
industry representatives.
Martens says she took full advan-tage
of a human resources class to devel-op
an on-the-job training protocol and
applied the principles to her own farm.
Her work came in handy when the fam-ily
hired a young woman, also a diplo-ma
graduate, as a full-time employee
this past spring. Martens’ sister Clarice,
26, with an agronomy degree from the
University of Manitoba, is also a full-time
employee.
To show that the program also
deals with delicate matters, Martens
says guest speaker Gerry Friesen, a
farm consultant, gave a talk on farmers’
mental health and stress management
“Everything is changing, and the
rate of change is faster than it’s
ever been. What skills can we offer
students to respond to change?”
– Michele Rogalsky, School of Agriculture, University of Manitoba
28 § Manitoba Farmers’ Voice § Summer 2020