Partnership prepares students for careers in agriculture

A nine-week training course pilot project, a partnership between Parkland College, Lakeland College, Keeseekoose First Nation, and Inroads to Agriculture funded through the provincial and federal governments, recently graduated more than two dozen First Nations students into entry level employment in the agriculture and agri-business sectors in the Yorkton-Kamsack area. Participants of the “Introduction to Agriculture” course spent two months learning the basics of agriculture with local farmers and agri-business operators as their instructors. “A lot of local businesses in this area are having challenges finding people with the right qualifications to fill open jobs,” said Darrell Landels, Parkland College’s manager of trades, industrial and agriculture, in a news release. “Also, a lot of First Nations people on reserves or in nearby communities are looking to fill the jobs that are available in the local labour market.”