Student Apprenticeship Program
National Agriculture and Environmental Consultant Certificate / Mentorship Program
VISION
To create and deliver a national agriculture and environment consultant training program that supports career paths in Agriculture and Environmental Consulting, Retail Sales and Customer Services.
OVERVIEW
The goal is to work with Canadian Ag Colleges/Universities to create and deliver a national training program that facilitates the creation of career paths in Ag consulting and Retail sales which:
• Appeals to a broad range of people that are interested in pursuing a career in agriculture
• Trains these people to apply their skills that are both desired by industry and needed by clients
• Creates employment or business "channels" that support possible career paths
The focus of this project is the formation of a National Agriculture and Environmental Consultant Certification/Mentorship program (NAECCM). This new program will provide academic and practical training to students who wish to pursue careers in agricultural consulting, agricultural coaching, retail sales and customer service. The four steams of specialization would be developed that could include agronomy, livestock, ag environment and business management. The new Certification/Mentorship Program would strive to identify students interested in pursuing a career in consulting and retail sales and would "link" these students to consulting or retail businesses that can employ their services. Hence this linkage coordinated by the Canadian Consulting Agrologists Association establishes the mentorship component. The primary role of Canadian Consulting Agrologists Association being the professional body granting accreditation.
Training on the "practical" aspects of Agriculture and Environmental Consulting will be layered on top of, or within, current Ag College/University's existing curriculum. The agronomy and ag environment streams could be further enhanced by the use of selected mentors. The use of practical hands on software, such as education version of MySCP Netware™ (Ag Data Management System), would support selected hands on teaching and management application tools for students. The business and livestock specialties will also use leading industry expertise e.g. Institute of Canadian Bankers', Ag Committee experts, Canadian Securities courses and other selected mentors and software applications.
An Alliance of Colleges/Universities and selected Agricultural Industry groups (e.g. Canadian Consulting Agrologists Association - CCAA, Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council - CAHRC, Canadian Agricultural Educators Network - CAEN) will work together to oversee and support the needs assessments, standards of instruction, development of curriculum, delivery of learning materials and the overall integrity of the national certification/mentorship program.
