(supplied photo/Saskatchewan Polytechnic)

By Alice McFarlane

hands-on education in farm equipment repair

Training the next generation of Agriculture Technicians

Dec 7, 2023 | 11:59 AM

Saskatchewan high school students are learning more about the Agricultural Technician Program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Saskatoon, Sask. this week.

The one-day ‘boot camp’ is part of the Agricultural Equipment Technicians or Parts Technician courses offered through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre. Roughly 100 students from dozens of rural high schools are enrolled. The course also includes 50 hours of online learning and 50 hours of work placement at a farm equipment dealership.

Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre CEO Darren Gasper said there are many career opportunities ranging from technicians, parts, and sales that are close home for many students.

“It’s really exposing them to a fantastic career that’s often right in their local community. If you think of how broad Saskatchewan is, it’s really rewarding to see kids find a great career locally,” Gasper said. “When we think about the viability of our small towns, this is a great program.”

Keegan McPherson is a high school student from Indian Head who recently completed his work placement at South Country Equipment in Emerald Park. He compared the SaskPolytech boot camp to the dealership setting.

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“It’s a little bit busier and they have a lot of tractors and they have a lot of equipment. They have apprentices there and a few new guys, but it’s very similar. Just everything there is John Deere,” McPherson said.

Students can work on several brands of equipment. Chris Thomson leads the Ag Equipment Technician Program. He said green, red, and blue are just some of the colours in the SaskPolytech shops. He said they work with dealerships to provide all types of tractors and equipment for the students to work on.

“Some of the red ones have been a donation partnership agreement with Young’s Equipment. The green ones come from our relationship with John Deere Canada and the John Deere tech program. They bring us about $7 million of equipment a year,” he said.

Funding has come from the federal government and other sources, according to Thomson.

“We’ve been really trying the last number of years to broaden out our color of equipment to make sure that all dealers are represented,” he said.

High school students can choose from 13 different agriculture courses through the Learning Centre. This includes a new precision Agriculture course that will be available in February.

The North American Equipment Dealers Association has a five-year agreement with the Learning Centre. Its goal is to increase the number of trained professionals in the future as current staff begin to retire.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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