Congratulations to the three place getters in the Young Fruit Grower of the Year competition run by HBFA. Liam Sykes who was runner-up and Corey Simpkin who was placed third, are graduates of the Level 4 Certificate in Horticulture run by EIT. The staff of the Primary Industry School are very proud of their achievements.
Year 1 trainees are now fully involved in the fruit support structures classes practicals, which involves the students creating and fixing end assemblies and wire tying. Our graduates tell us this is a very useful skill. This cohort has been recently added to and the numbers are excellent. We have had a number of enquiries about when the next intake which unfortunately won’t be until January 2022.
Year 2 trainees have a number of assessments on the go. Most have now completed the EIT requirements for pruning and just need the on job attestation. Most have also competed the Harvest Quality assessment and are also waiting for the on job attestation for that. Soils has also begun, and whilst they cannot complete the assignment yet, they should be working on it. The second soils class is on the 25th of June. They also should be collecting weeds for their collection.
The 12 Level 3 trainees who started this year are also completing fruit support structures this week.
Year 3 trainees have now completed Human Resource Management. Brian tells me that the trainees have done an excellent job with their role plays and sorting out conflict situations. This week they also complete the class work for pruning. We have an all day field trip planned to look at different training systems, their advantages and disadvantages and in particular the different pruning cuts that need to be made. As of this week, half the delivery and assessments will be completed and the majority of the trainees are on schedule. Well done.
Level 5 Fruit Production have now completed their horticultural business skills course and the Crop Production block course is to be delivered next week. Dave Tanner is the industry expert delivering this course which is about plant physiology and how to manipulate trees regarding timing and quality of the fruit. It is not too late to enroll providing the applicant is working towards a planning and managing level. At the time of writing this news item, the outside temperature is 19 degrees. So good luck with achieving sufficient winter chill! This course will help with making decisions around timing.
As always if you have any queries or concerns please get in touch with EIT Tutor Gordon Reid greid@eit.ac.nz , 06 8301851 or 027 3940410.
