Dairy is facing ongoing challenges in workforce development. As one solution to this, a state approved dairy apprenticeship was recently created. An apprenticeship combines hands-on work experiences with classroom instruction that leads toward valuable job skills and a recognized certification. Any farm in NY is eligible to participate in this program. The goal is to create a viable training pathway to attract and grow employees into middle management careers in dairy farms. There are various state funds available to help support this program.
As a way to introduce this program, any employee with interest can enroll in pre-apprenticeship opportunities. Enrollment creates no commitment to participate in the formal apprenticeship, this is designed to help encourage the pathway into dairy. Recently, pre-apprenticeship funds were made available for any female employee who MAY be interested in pursuing the dairy apprenticeship. These funds can be used to pay the registration fee for female employees to attend the Northeast Dairy Management Conference in Syracuse on March 9-10, 2022.
There are several requirements to access the funds:
- Employee must LIVE OR WORK in the following counties: Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Otsego, Schoharie, St. Lawrence, Tioga, and Tompkins counties.
- Employee must be female.
- There is no commitment to pursue the dairy apprenticeship-these are pre-apprenticeship funds-but it would be best if this was a manager or middle manager that you may want to consider for the apprenticeship program.
To enroll, please contact: Sommer Edwards, Pre-Apprenticeship WANTO coordinator, sedwards@working-solutions.org
For more information about the new dairy apprenticeship please contact:
- Richard Stup, Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development, rstup@cornell.edu, or,
- Julia Smith, Cayuga Marketing, jsmith@cmingredients.com
