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Research Resource

Search our Research Resource for case studies, research papers, reports and sources of data relating to building capability, including PICA-commissioned research.

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Showing all 131 research papers:

2019 Forestry Labour Requirements Survey

Published: March 2019

In 2018, Te Uru Rākau, the Forest Owners Association, and the Forest Industry Contractors Association surveyed the commercial silviculture and harv...

2030 Roadmap - Australian Agriculture’s Plan for a $100 Billion Industry

Published: January 2018

The National Farmers' Federation, in consultation with members, industry stakeholders and government, has developed the 2030 Roadmap. The Roadmap i...

A National Analysis of School-Based Agricultural Education Involvement, Graduation, STEM Achievement, and Income

Published: January 2018

The progression of research on school-based agricultural education (SBAE) has been limited, in part, due to a lack of nationwide, student data deta...

A Workforce Development Strategy for the Cotton Industry

Published: July 2015

This is the Cotton Workforce Development Strategy and Action Plan for 2015-18. It is based on a substantial body of high quality research, case stu...

ASEAN Youth Technology, Skills and the Future of Work

Published: August 2019

Based on a survey of 56,000 youths aged 15-35 years old from six countries in the South-East Asia region (ASEAN), this report analyses the views of...

Agricultural Education in an Urban Charter School: Perspectives and Challenges

Published: January 2014

Urban school districts are viable recruitment sources for higher education in agriculture and have the ability to play a significant role in effort...

Agricultural Engagement with Education

Published: June 2005

What could the UK learn from the New Zealand and Australian agricultural sectors about engaging directly with schools? How well set up is the UK ag...

Agricultural education and employment for the future

Published: June 2014

There are great people in agriculture, and we have some terrific younger generation members who are bright and motivated to achieve, coming through...

Agriculture training and education - Spoilt for choice but is it hitting the mark?

Published: March 2014

As an employer of farm staff in New Zealand we are spoilt for choice for training and education options for new and current employees, with more of...

Agritech Industry Transformation Plan

Published: July 2020

This document captures an overview of the agritech sector in New Zealand and outlines a series of actions to accelerate its growth. Agricultural t...

Attainment, attrition, retention and completion of students at tertiary education providers and through industry training 2010-2019

Published: January 2019

Statistics relating to: achievement in workplace-based learning, including industry training and Apprenticeships; qualification completion for indu...

Attracting Youth into Agriculture: Developing a strategic framework to encourage young people to pursue a career in agriculture

Published: June 2020

This report aims to provide a unique perspective on the current international issue of how to attract youth into agricultural careers. As a teacher...

Attracting and Retaining Young People in the Sheep Industry

Published: September 2020

For the sheep industry to reach its greatest potential, it needs to have the right young people in the right places to help drive it forward. This ...

Australia's Farmers: Past, Present and Future

Published: June 2005

Analysis of the demographic change in Australia's farm sector between 1976 and 2001. Considers the impact of age related entry to farming and exit ...

Briefing Paper on Agribusiness within New Zealand Secondary Schools

Published: January 2016

This brief provides a rationale for the introduction of Agribusiness as an Achievement Standards based, University Entrance (UE) accredited and Sch...

Briefing for Incoming Ministers - Primary Industry Skills Programme

Published: February 2017

Briefing prepared for Hon Louise Upston (Associate Minister for Primary Industries), providing information on the capability needs in the primary s...

Building the Agricultural Workforce of the Future - The Australian Government response to the National Agricultural Workforce Strategy

Published: December 2021

Australia’s agricultural production is forecast to reach $73.0 billion in 2021-22 and the sector aims to achieve $100 billion in farm gate output b...

Can we make stone soup for rural wellbeing

Published: 2019

Mental health and wellbeing is a wicked problem for New Zealand. This report serves to explore if there is sufficient interest within the agricult...

Career and Skills Pathways: Research into a whole-of-system approach to enhancing lifelong career support mechanisms for all Australians

Published: June 2017

Australia needs to transition to a career support model that works for all people, no matter what their life stage and circumstance. Given the acce...

Current knowledge on workforce issues in Victorian agriculture

Published: September 2015

There has been a recognised problem accessing labour in agriculture which can have dire consequences for the productivity and profitability of Vict...

Developing Agribusiness Achievement Standards

Published: January 2014

This report provides a rationale for the recommendation of the introduction of Agribusiness Achievement Standards at NCEA Levels 2 and 3. The subje...

Developing student interest in the agriculture sector

Published: December 2017

Qualitative and quantitative exploration of youth (late secondary, early tertiary-aged students) in Western Australia - drivers of career choice, d...

Do current extension methods cater for farmers with dyslexia?

Published: January 2021

Many of us who work in the agricultural industry will know farmers with dyslexia. Many of whom have tried to hide it rather than embrace it. Often ...

Does Workplace-based Industry Training Improve Earnings?

Published: September 2009

This report forms one of the initial outputs from a project between the Ministry of Education, the Department of Labour and Statistics New Zealand ...

Drawing the Future: Exploring the career aspirations of New Zealand children

Published: February 2020

This report presents findings from Drawing the Future, a research project that explores children’s career aspirations and the influences that shape...

Dream jobs: Teenagers’ career aspirations and the future of work

Published: January 2020

With young people staying in education longer than ever and the labour market automating with unprecedented speed, students need help to make sense...

Education and training challenges for the Australian forestry sector: An analysis based on recent trends in university and vocational education and training (VET) completions

Published: December 2010

As in other Australian primary industry sectors, there has been increasing concern over the past decade about the skills shortages evident in the f...

Emerging technologies in agriculture: Consumer perceptions around emerging Agtech

Published: August 2018

Emerging technologies have already proven be a key driver in the future sustainability and profitability of Australian agriculture. With the sector...

Employee Engagement: The key to retaining talent and passion on New Zealand’s Dairy Farms

Published: 2020

Historically Dairy farming was seen as an attractive career path where hard work and dedication was rewarded with the trophy of farm ownership, but...

Encouraging students into the primary sector

Published: December 2013

New Zealand sits in an interesting position. It has a reputation as a worldleading, innovative food producer and has around 60 per cent of its expo...

Environmental Scan of the AgriFood Industry 2015

Published: January 2015

Each year, AgriFood Skills Australia develops the Environmental Scan, the 'early warning system' for Australia's vocational education and training ...

Envisioning the Future of Education and Jobs: Trends, Data and Drawings

Published: January 2019

The report looks at the future of education and jobs and the challenges and opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It conclud...

Evaluating the effectiveness of support interventions for adult dyslexic learners in New Zealand’s multiple learning environments

Published: October 2018

An evaluation of the interventions designed to benefit dyslexic learners, helping them navigate the education system and into the workforce as full...

Exploring Elementary Students’ Scientific Knowledge of Agriculture Using Evidence-Centered Design

Published: August 2017

The public is more disconnected from agriculture than ever. Americans are now two to four generations removed from the farm with a majority of Amer...

Food & Fibre Careers Promotion and Pathways

Published: May 2019

The Great South Coast Food and Fibre Council is responsible for promoting growth and addressing industry capacity constraints within the Great Sout...

Food and fibre workforce: snapshot

Published: April 2022

This report draws on the best available data to paint a picture of the food and fibre workforce and draws together what we know about the current w...

Food, Fibre and the Future

Published: October 2011

Primary Industry plays a vital role in Australian’s economy and society, but the gap between rural and urban communities is growing, contributing t...

For Love not money: Insights on the Career Choice of Early-Career Agricultural Scientists

Published: June 2009

There is concern about the declining number and quality of people entering careers in agricultural science, a situation which may reduce the human ...

Forestry and wood processing labour force survey

Published: July 2021

The purpose of this report is to inform the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the forestry and wood processing sector, along with other int...

From Education to Employment: Megatrends affecting NZ's working environment

Published: June 2018

Technological change is ushering us into the biggest transformation of the working environment since the Industrial Revolution. Our modelling estim...

Future Farm Workplaces

Published: May 2020

Agriculture is awakening to the challenges of an ageing population and those entering the workforce with a new or differing attitude to work and li...

Future capability needs for the primary industries in New Zealand

Published: April 2014

Human capability is a core asset underpinning the achievement of each industry’s strategy. This report provides an analysis of sector trends and em...

Generation Z - Attraction and Retention Guidelines for the Food & Fibre Sectors

Published: August 2020

The latest generation is transitioning into the workforce. This cohort comes with its own set of values, motivations and workplace expectations. ...

Generation Z and the environment – how can we use their passion to attract them into food and fibre sector.

Published: July 2021

The Food and Fibre sector in New Zealand can be a great place to work. However, Gen Z (those born between 1995 and 2010) does not always see the op...

Getting the best from your investment in training an apprentice - A Competenz research paper

Published: October 2015

This study asked employers in companies which train apprentices in the industries Competenz supports: How do you get the best from your investment ...

Graduates in agriculture

Published: March 2014

Headlines such as ‘A dearth of agriculture graduates is threatening food sustainability’ in the United Kingdom, ‘Concerns over shortage of agricult...

Health and Wellness of New Zealand Farmers - Initial findings from research into the wellness of, and wellness behaviour patterns of, New Zealand farmers

Published: August 2017

Health and wellbeing of New Zealand dairy and sheep & beef farmers compared with those working in other industries (both rural and urban). Better u...

Helping Māori and Pasifika learners build their skills in the workplace - A Competenz research paper

Published: August 2014

This study looks into Maori and Pasifika workplace training. Outside forestry, Māori learners are enrolling in industry training at a rate that is ...

Hidden Links, New Opportunities - How big data and job clusters can improve the 1.2 million job matches in NZ each year

Published: August 2018

This report seeks to improve matching in New Zealand’s highly dynamic labour market. Using big data to uncover hidden links between jobs, it provid...

How can the NZ dairy industry design workplaces to attract the best of the next generation?

Published: July 2021

This research project investigated what is being done in our industry and how we can learn from industry leading employers, and out of industry lea...

How do agri-processors engage entry level labour?

Published: July 2021

The issue of worker engagement is not a new one and as New Zealand strives to create more value from agriculture without increasing land footprint ...

How do we successfully manage multicultural teams in the agriculture sector?

Published: July 2021

The focus of this report is to understand the management of multicultural teams in New Zealand agriculture. The history of New Zealand agriculture ...

Human capability in the primary industries: Part 1 2004 to 2019 – an overview

Published: March 2020

This report builds on the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Future capability needs for the primary industries in New Zealand (Future capabilit...

Human capability in the primary industries: Part 2, 2004 to 2019 – qualification analysis by region

Published: March 2020

This report builds on the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Future capability needs for the primary industries in New Zealand (Future capabilit...

Inquiry into agricultural education and training in Victoria

Published: November 2012

This report presents a vision for the future of agricultural education and training in Victoria. It provides a framework for the strengthening of V...

Insights into teachers’ needs in order to improve student engagement with Primary Industries

Published: 2021

This research report takes a deep dive into the world of educators in Australia, to better understand their needs when it comes to primary industri...

Inspiring Gen Z to Consider Careers in Agriculture and Food

Published: November 2016

To fully address the labour shortage in agriculture, we need coordinated collaboration between education (schools & education organizations), youth...

Jobs of Tomorrow Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy

Published: January 2020

Through new data sources, we can gain unprecedented insights into emerging opportunities for employment in the global economy, and granular underst...

Just for the Health of it – enhancing the wellbeing of employees in the post harvest-kiwifruit Industry.

Published: July 2021

This report explores ways that well-being can be enhanced in the post-harvest kiwifruit sector. The kiwifruit industry has expanded substantially o...

Key factors in developing a culture of high performance within a senior management team in large scale dairy organisations.

Published: December 2019

The research in this report was based on four organisations with a structured interview designed to identify the key features of the culture of eac...

LEAF Teenage Years Engagement Survey

Published: October 2018

The twelve-month research programme, commissioned by LEAF Education and supported by Rothamsted Research, comprised a survey of over 1,000 12 to 18...

Life after Study

Published: January 2018

Statistics relating to the impacts of tertiary education on life after study including: income, employment, rates of return, living standards and o...

Measuring the impact of GrowingNZ - Indicators to monitor change in New Zealand's primary sector workforce

Published: May 2017

An important role of the Primary Industry Capability Alliance is to monitor trends in the workforce size and capability as these provide key indica...

National Agriculture Workforce Development Plan

Published: June 2014

The overriding goal of this workforce development plan is to enable the agriculture sector to remain competitive by retaining and recruiting a skil...

New Blood - Attracting the best young people to agriculture

Published: June 2009

Producing more food as well as some of our fuel and continuing to improve our landscapes, soils and wildlife are a huge challenge for the agricultu...

New Entrants to Australian Agricultural Industries: Where are the young farmers?

Published: February 2014

This report explores the declining numbers of young farmers in Australian agriculture, and is based upon a time series analysis of Australian Popul...

New Zealand farmer and grower attitude and opinion survey: Analysis by sector and management system

Published: October 2007

The core of the ARGOS research design is a longitudinal panel study. Panels of 12 farms were selected to represent conventional, integrated and org...

New Zealanders' views of the primary sector

Published: October 2017

A repeat of the 2008 study that looked at rural and urban New Zealanders’ views of rural New Zealand and the primary sector, and their comparisons ...

New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting Series: Our land 2018

Published: April 2018

This publication reports on the state of the soil, and the state of indigenous biodiversity and ecosystems in New Zealand. The aim is to provide an...

New models of tertiary education

Published: March 2017

The report is a broad-ranging inquiry into how well New Zealand’s tertiary education system is set up to respond to emerging trends in technology a...

Non-completers in industry training

Published: October 2016

This research explores the reasons why some industry trainees do not complete their qualifications. It was undertaken between November 2014 and May...

Opening gates: Staff attraction and retention on New Zealand’s meat and fibre farms

Published: 2019

This is a research paper into how future employees, current employees and the employers of both, feel about their current situations in their in to...

Opinion of Primary Industries - May 2020

Published: May 2020

Results in this report are based upon questions asked in the UMR online omnibus survey, which is a nationally representative sample of 1,077 New Ze...

Opportunities and Barriers Perceived by Secondary School Agriculture Teachers in Implementing the GPS Cows Learning Module

Published: January 2019

Within the agriculture sector the use of digital technologies is rapidly expanding. There is a growing shortage of skilled people considering a car...

Our Rural professionals – Are we supporting the people who support our farmers?

Published: July 2021

Our Rural professionals are passionate people that are out having day to day interactions with our Food and Fibre Producers. Our rural community is...

Participation in tertiary education in New Zealand

Published: January 2018

Statistics relating to: field of study of the courses studied at tertiary education providers; participation in Industry Training; participation in...

Pathways into Primary Industries - Phase One Report

Published: February 2021

The Pathways into Primary Industries (PiPI) project brings together the activities of a broad range of stakeholders into a clear direction for trai...

Pathways into Primary Industries - Phase Two Report

Published: August 2021

The Pathways into Primary Industries (PiPI) project brings together the activities of a broad range of stakeholders into a clear direction for trai...

People Powered - Building capabilities to keep New Zealand’s primary industries internationally competitive

Published: June 2014

Key findings from the "Future capability needs for the primary industries in New Zealand" report, and summary of the expected capability needs for ...

Perceptions of Careers in the Tourism Industry - Quantitative Research Findings

Published: August 2018

This robust online research project builds on the qualitative focus group research undertaken by the research agency Angus & Associates, covering f...

Primary Attraction: understanding student awareness of primary sector career opportunities.

Published: June 2017

Review of school leaver knowledge and awareness of primary sector career diversity. Research was gathered via an 18 question questioner surveying ...

Primary Industries Workforce Scan

Published: March 2017

Qualitative and quantitative research (including labour market insights) to develop an evidence based Workforce Scan for the Primary Sector. Primar...

Primary Sector Science Roadmap

Published: June 2017

Te Ao Tūroa – the Primary Sector Science Roadmap (the Roadmap) has been designed to strengthen New Zealand’s bioeconomy. It provides an integrated 10…

Primary sector workforce skill projections - Analysis of dairy farming, beef & sheep farming, and the forestry production industries

Published: August 2016

Report showing how the skills of the workforce in the dairy farming, beef & sheep farming, and forestry production industries are projected to chan...

Principles of an Indigenous CommunityBased Science Program

Published: January 2018

This paper describes a set of principles found within existing indigenous community-based science programs, identified as possible contributors to ...

Professional Agriculture – A Case of Supply and Demand

Published: February 2012

The agricultural industry is at the crossroads in terms of workforce capacity. Evidence is presented that there is a sizeable job market in agricul...

Profile & Trends - New Zealand’s Workplace-Based Learners

Published: September 2017

This is the third of six reports to be published in the Profile & Trends 2016 series. The report contains information on industry training and othe...

Profiling Career Changers

Published: June 2018

Previous research has identified "career changers" as an important source of highly valuable recruits. They make up the largest group of new entran...

Project Kāmehameha - A summary of research to inform design and delivery of career resources for Māori

Published: March 2016

Project Kāmehameha is a research programme that will be used to drive the development of digital tools and resources to respond to the changing car...

Rebuilding the Agricultural Workforce

Published: January 2012

A scoping study that reviews the effectiveness of current interventions designed to increase the number of people with higher education qualificati...

Recruitment into Agricultural Careers: Strategies to Increase Enrolment in Agricultural Colleges and Universities, in order to meet the Growing Number of Job Opportunities.

Published: October 2009

This study looks at strategies various colleges and universities across Canada, the United States and Europe use to recruit new students into agric...

Red Meat Profit Partnership - Talent Attraction Final Report

Published: March 2020

Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) is a programme to help the pastoral red meat livestock sector in New Zealand increase its productivity and profi...

Retention of skilled migrants in the New Zealand Dairy Industry

Published: January 2016

The retention of skilled migrants is a key issue facing many industries. This study focusses on factors that enable and hinder retention of skilled...

Returns from training in the dairy farming industry. Part A: The relationship between formal qualifications and employee income

Published: September 2016

This analysis explores the relationship between formal qualifications and the individual income of segments of employees in the dairy farming secto...

Returns from training in the dairy farming industry. Part B: Modelled impact on business performance

Published: July 2016

Estimation of the financial benefits of a range of formal training options available to the dairy farming industry. These are determined using a mo...

Review Into Agricultural Education And Training In New South Wales

Published: July 2013

This Review was initiated because of concern about the shortage of young people choosing careers in agriculture. It follows parliamentary enquiries...

Room to Grow - Challenges for the future of food and fibre education in Australia

Published: April 2018

A comprehensive review to identify current issues related to education in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry in Australia, with a view to identif...

School leavers destinations

Published: August 2017

Destination of school leavers after leaving secondary school. Each year, around 60,000 students are leaving the schooling system and moving on to f...

Seven Questions about Apprenticeships: Answers from International Experience

Published: January 2018

After a period of relative neglect in many countries, apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning are experiencing a revival. Their effe...

Skills Students Need in the Real World: Competencies Desired by Agricultural and Natural Resources Industry Leaders

Published: November 2017

The competencies addressed by undergraduate agricultural education programs should be assessed so programs are effective in supplying a well-prepar...

St Paul’s Centre of Excellence for Agricultural Science and Business Developmental Evaluation - 2017 Full Report

Published: December 2017

This report details the results of the 2017 survey completed with students in the Agricultural Science and Business and Agribusiness programmes at ...

St Paul’s Centre of Excellence for Agricultural Science and Business Developmental Evaluation - Progress Report

Published: November 2016

The focus for the developmental evaluation of the Centre of Excellence for Agricultural Science and Business/Agribusiness programmes at St Paul’s C...

Staffing Solutions for Primary Industries

Published: 2003

Agribusiness has to adopt a professional approach to Human Resource management. As employers we must upgrade our skills and be seen as employers of...

Student Perceptions of Workforce Readiness in Agriculture

Published: September 2018

The purpose of this study was to examine postsecondary agriculture students’ perceptions of and their personal competence in various workforce read...

Suburbanites' Perceptions About Agriculture: The Challenge for Media

Published: January 2018

As urban dwellers become more isolated from the original sources of their food, their dependence on agriculture becomes less vivid. Information fro...

Survey of Rural Decision Makers - understanding decision makers in primary industry

Published: September 2018

The Survey of Rural Decision Makers is a resource to help policy makers, regional councils, industry groups, and businesses to explore questions re...

Taking Stock. Defining an Excellence Framework for Vocational Education: An international literature review prepared for the Food and Fibre Centre of Vocational Excellence.

Published: November 2021

This literature review traverses recent international studies looking at aspects of good and excellent practices in vocational education and traini...

Tasmanian Primary Industries Workforce Development Scan 2015-16

Published: September 2016

The purpose of this Scan is to build a comprehensive picture of the landscape of Tasmania’s primary industries sector, from the education sector to...

TeacherFX - Building the Capacity of STEM, Agriculture and Digital Technologies Teachers in Western Australia

Published: January 2019

Whilst agriculture is Australia’s fastest growing industry, the negative perception of career opportunities by high school students and the lack of...