Fox is employed by host farmers Becs and Josh Dondertman at a Dairy Holdings farm near Dunsandel, Canterbury, where they milk 1100 cows.
Fox said it was a supportive learning environment.
“My host farmers are dedicated to teaching me, taking the time to explain things, and providing feedback when I need to improve.”
This has proven valuable for Fox.
“The training days not only focus on farm skills but also teach us about financials, wellbeing, and how other farms operate — knowledge I can apply later in my own career.”
Becs Dondertman has helped shape the NextGen programme, working with other farmers and Dairy Training.
Dairy Holdings also provides support, information and industry knowledge, which helps support programmes such as this and farmers new to the sector.
“Josh and I have always been keen to help people develop,” she said.
“People have helped us through our career, and we want to return this by supporting others in their careers, too.”
Dondertman said the dairy sector was no different to others struggling to attract and retain young people.
NextGen student Matthew Fox (middle) with host farmers Becs and Josh Dondertman.
“Part of our ethos is that we don’t believe you can be frustrated about something if you’re not willing to try being part of a solution.
“This programme is a trial, but it is a possible solution to a challenge dairy faces, and we don’t know how it will work if we don’t try.”
Dondertman said she hoped more farmers would put their hand up this year to be a host farm and help provide more opportunities for students to join the programme.
“If we invest this money into the next generation of farmers like Matthew, and at the end of the six months, they still enjoy farming and want to continue, then we have a fulltime employee, and that investment was worth it.”
Dairy Training head Hamish Hodgson said the programme was designed based on farmer feedback, with pre-employment training focused on what farmers believed new entrants to a dairy farming career should know.
“We set out to see how we can promote pathways into dairy from high school, and we formed this programme concept alongside farmers.”
Hodgson said ensuring students were set up for success on and off the farm was important.
Canterbury dairy farmer Josh Dondertman is supporting NextGen student Matthew Fox with on-farm employment and learning.
“Dairy Training Ltd is focused on offering practical, easy-to-access training that is designed with dairy farmers, for dairy farmers, to support the long-term success of our sector.
“We have seen this approach to training go from strength to strength, with course enrolments having increased by 500% over the past five years.”
The NextGen Dairy Farmers programme is one of seven training courses offered by Dairy Training, the others are focused on enhancing the skills of workers already in the sector.
It includes a three-week pre-employment training, followed by six months of on-farm employment with weekly training sessions and ongoing pastoral care and support.
Applications for the next intake of the NextGen Dairy Farmers programme are now open, with applications closing on May 30.
The programme is looking for Year 12 and 13 students interested in pursuing a career in dairy farming and host farmers in Canterbury willing to support the development of future dairy farmers.
