Southland farmer Tangaroa Walker has teamed up with Southern Institute of Technology’s (SIT) agricultural campus, Telford, to provide dairy farm workers with recognised qualifications while on the job. 

The new pilot programme at Telford will see dairy industry workers able gain a Certificate in Farming Systems and Equipment (Level 3) Dairy strand while utilising Farm 4 Life, an online educational platform created by Walker. 

Walker has been a dairy farmer in Southland for nine years, and created the Farm 4 Life as an educational social media platform three years ago, after seeing the need to educate workers in the dairy sector. 

Farm 4 Life covers many aspects of dairy farm work, from helping cows to calve, through to putting up electric fencing. 

Walker says a key focus is making industry a friendlier place for entry-level workers. 

“I started filming the videos because there was nothing like that when I started out – if there had been, it could have fast-tracked my career by a couple of years,” he says. 

Farm 4 Life has now evolved into an online hub, with a video learning platform containing thousands of clips on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of dairy farming. 

Walker calls the videos ‘edutainment’ – there is a humorous element in the way he presents the learning material, and the videos have clocked over 80 million views in total. 

Dr Sally Dobbs, Head of Faculty at SIT2LRN and Telford Campus, says SIT was interested to work with Walker given his ability to get people enthusiastic about education.

“The reason we got involved with Tangaroa was his positive attitude and love for the dairy industry,” she says.  

“Tangaroa’s Farm 4 Life videos provided training, but there was no industry-recognised accreditation. We thought we could partner with him, making use of his material, but most importantly, participants would get a recognised qualification at the end of it.” 

Dobbs says the process of using Farm 4 Life material and aligning it with a SIT qualification began in October 2021.

The pilot programme will start on May 30th, with a limited number of students selected from Farm 4 Life subscribers. 

The qualification can be studied from anywhere in NZ. 

“We want to take the time to make sure it’s done right, and the pilot will allow that to happen,” says Dobbs.

“We’re really excited that Tangaroa’s work will be aligned with a qualification. We see the potential of it in the future is huge.” 

Walker says he is excited that there is now an opportunity for kids who struggle with reading and writing to learn and upskill through observing and watching.

“The NZQA qualification brings a whole lot of legitimacy to the [Farm 4 Life] hub and what I do,” he says.