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Agricultural advisors and those working in salinity management
or related fields will soon be able to take advantage
of the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ (NSW
DPI) nationally accredited salinity training program.
NSW DPI salinity advisory officers are developing this
program in response to demand from public and private
agricultural advisors participating in their state wide
salinity workshops which began in 2002.
By developing and delivering a nationally accredited
program, the NSW DPI will be able to provide participants
with formal recognition of training. Many organisations
and businesses require employees to meet annual training
targets for insurance and quality assurance purposes.
National accreditation for the salinity training means
future workshops will provide participants with the required
standards to meet their training targets.
To obtain national accreditation the NSW DPI salinity
advisory officers have worked with assistance from TAFE
and the NSW DPI education and training division. Accreditation
involves following the National Training Framework to
develop national competency standards in salinity. The
resulting salinity training program which has already
been tested and refined using participants’ feedback
over the past three years, is designed to provide professional
qualifications in landscape recognition; and salinity
assessment, evaluation, and management.
Qualified trainers are required to deliver nationally
accredited training programs. All NSW DPI salinity advisory
staff and many other advisory staff have now completed
Certificate IV in Workplace Training, Assessment and Evaluation
to meet this requirement.
To date over 230 agricultural advisers throughout the
state have taken part in salinity management training
workshops. As these advisers will take part in follow-on
training, their prior learning will be tested and recognised
within the accredited training program if requested.
These salinity workshops have been well received with
NSW DPI extension and research staff working in partnership
with Landmark and the Cooperative Research Centre for
Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity when training
Landmark staff.
‘This training provides a great opportunity for
Landmark agronomists to tap into recent research findings
and establish contact with the NSW DPI’, said Kevin
Graham, Coordinator of Landmark training. ‘Significant
land management and land use change may be necessary for
some producers in their efforts to maintain productivity
and address environmental concerns such as salinity.’
In November, Mr Graham also supported the development
of an accredited salinity training program by participating
in an accreditation panel which assessed the program before
it is reviewed by Australian National Training Authority.
Panel members who dedicated a day to this process included,
Martin Blumenthal, Sid Clarke, Kath Bowmer, Mike Lee,
Geoff Fishburn, Len Banks, John Francis, Francis Stone,
Ian Nuberg, Lee Hedberg and John Friend.
Landmark agronomists from Armidale, Moree and Tamworth
completed their second round of salinity management training
in November 2004 building on their initial introduction
to salinity course. Round two progressed to detailed salinity
related research and salinity management strategies with
support from Namoi Catchment Management Authority and
Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources
staff.
Further information
Kevin
Graham
Salinity Project Manager
Landmark – an AWB Company
Office (07) 3842 7732 Mobile 0418 411 351
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