Diploma broadens understanding of regulations

A diploma is a must have for farmers, particularly those who move to Aotearoa from overseas, who work in the agricultural industry long-term, says NZ King Salmon Ltd Tory Channel Te Kura te Au Regional Manager, Salvador Delgado Oro Laprida.

Salvador has worked for King Salmon since 2008 after moving to Picton with his family from the south of Chile which followed 20 years working in the salmon industry in South America and Europe.

But he says despite his vast aquaculture experience, he had a skills gap when it came to understanding the compliance side of New Zealand business regulations.

In 2018 after working here for 10 years he embarked on two years of part-time study towards the diploma through Primary ITO and graduates in 2021.

Salvador says he’s enjoyed refreshing his business planning training, and learning human resources and financial management in particular. “The diploma trains you to apply criteria in the New Zealand context. You get a lot of tools with clear examples on how to use them.”

And he encourages others to take up the study. “Many people in the industry are from overseas and do not have experience with New Zealand law and regulations. Doing this study will open their eyes and help them to understand the system much better as well as to operate with confidence in the agribusiness context of the country”.

King Salmon produces around 65% of New Zealand’s salmon, and the three Marlborough Sounds salmon farms in Salvador’s area produced over half of the company’s salmon in 2020. Salvador manages a team of 25 staff including three team leaders.

Range of farm businesses

You’d be right in guessing that there weren’t too many aquaculture farmers studying the diploma in in his classes. But the course is designed to cover a range of industries and it does.

Salvador studied the four topics of Staffing Management and Planning, Resource Management and Sustainability, Financial Management and Planning, and Business Planning and Management, alongside winegrowers, orchardists, sheep, dairy and beef farmers.

He says the programme was useful for all forms of agri-business. “The impact of the Resource Management Act across the different farm conditions, and the financial, human resources and business planning learning apply to all agricultural industries equally.”

“The only difference is that our farm is on the water and they are farming on the ground. You use the same dollars, you deal with the same people and the complexity of operations has many things in common.”

Salvador says he had studied some of the business planning tools at university before but this course enabled him to apply them. “The teacher explained the same tools from the right perspective relating to agribusiness and that changed my view to a practical angle. I learned to use the tool in the correct way with practical farming criteria."

He says from the financial management topic he learnt how to get clarity on the financial implications of decisions he was taking, while the business planning section broadened the focus away from just considering profit as a marker of success.

“A lot of it can be efficiency – through your relationship with the government and how you manage your employees.”

Support made it easy

Salvador says he appreciated the support of tutors as he worked through the programme.

“They understood that most students were committed to full time jobs during study and would go out of their way to help us reach to our goals. They were always available for a phone call so you felt very well supported.

“The discipline imposed by the tutors and their follow-up was also very good, so no time or opportunities were lost to achieve the objectives of the course”.