Food production industry welcomes career changers

Fruit Growers Tasmania | Wednesday, 6 November 2019, 6.00pm

Trainee name: Keelan Spottswood

Keelan Spottswood is thriving in his new role at The Westerway Berry Farm. His previous experience mainly involved working as a chef, but he has since found a passion for working in the great outdoors and learning how to grow food.

“I really like working outdoors and learning how to grow food. There’s a lot more to growing food than what I first thought and I’m really thankful to the Westerway Berry farm management team and TasTAFE for teaching me,” said Keelan.

The Westerway Berry Farm have shown their confidence in Keelan by giving him more responsibilities on the farm and in the fruit processing facility.

“I really like the variation of work on the farm. Most of the time I help on the growing side but during harvest I will be mainly working in the fruit processing facility which is really unique. It’s great to be able to see the crop from planting all the way through to value adding” said Keelan.

The Westerway Raspberry Farm is situated on the fertile river flats of the Tyenna River, running through the Derwent Valley in Tasmania’s rugged Western Wilderness Region. Owned and operated by the Clark family, Westerway Raspberry Farm has been supplying fresh and frozen raspberries, blackcurrants, blackberries and other seasonal soft fruits to Tasmanian and Australian markets for over 25 years. With over 40 ha of land under berry and soft fruit production, The Westerway Berry Farm is one of Australia’s largest in ground soft fruit farms and is also Australia’s only large-scale blackcurrant producer.

“When we decided to put on a trainee, it was because we recognised the importance of training the next generation of skilled farm staff. I am a firm believer in giving keen and hard working people a go. We knew Keelan was the right fit because he was extremely keen. Despite not coming from a rural background, Keelan possessed all the core characteristics we were looking for. His past work experiences in the hospitality industry also provided him with skills which were transferable to the berry industry, such as team work, time management and a good understanding of food safety. I would urge anyone looking for staff to consider someone looking to change from another industry” said Tim Gebbie, Berry Operations Manager, Westerway Berry Farm.

“Tassie’s berry industry has grown rapidly in the last 7 years, and is now estimated to be worth around $150-250 M to the state’s economy. The speed of this growth has been staggering, with the value of the industry growing at a rate of 30-35% p.a. over this period, said Stuart Burgess, CEO of Fruit Growers Tasmania.

“This has resulted in a lot of new plantings going in, and berry growers are constantly looking for keen and capable people like Keelan to join their businesses, even if they don’t necessarily have an agricultural background.”

The traineeship that Keelan recently started is a Certificate II in Production Horticulture which covers topics including soils, irrigation, biosecurity, plant nutrition, chainsaws, chemicals, weeds, pests, diseases and beneficial insects. The course involves attending block training at TasTAFE Clarence Campus for hands-on practicals and theory classes. Guest speakers are commonly used for expert input as well as field trips to see industry best practice.

“Keelan is a top student, has a great work ethic and attitude. We are lucky he chose the food production industry as a career change. It’s a privilege to be involved in his training and to help him shine,” said John Jeffs, Trainer with TasTAFE.

For more information contact;

John Jeffs

Trainer and Assessor

Production Horticulture

TasTAFE

E. john.jeffs@TasTAFE.tas.edu.au

M. 0409289019