A level of change is occurring within the most basic of agrifood jobs, for example, pig farm hands are evolving into piggery technicians who typically manage feeding operations, monitor growth, insemination, animal health matters and scheduling resources.
This change is also consistent with technology improvements in sectors such as viticulture where automatic pruning and harvesting machines are replacing the small army of seasonal workers that are increasingly hard to locate. The new technology needs smart viticulturists who can operate and maintain machines, as well as manage the logistics of grading and getting the product to market.
Many job roles within the agrifood industry are evolving with people needing to be more highly skilled and across a greater breadth of functions. This means that in many cases the reading, writing and numeracy skills required to do the job have increased as have the need for effective learning strategies to cope with demands on the job and in the training environment.
However, there is no single definition of literacy.
What it means to be literate is constantly changing. Of course the old three R’s are still important – reading, writing and arithmetic – because these are core skills that help an individual in their everyday life and in the workplace. But these days it is not only about having these skills but also about using these skills to:
In the agrifood industry this might be about reading the latest information on the web about breeding techniques or analysing weather pattern data from satellite images.
It might involve using two-way radios to call in boundary reports or using Skype technology to talk online to a co-worker overseas. It may involve the comparison of machine part costs from two different suppliers or calculating the acidity of soil samples.
Or it may be about writing to the media or local authorities on a critical issue that is affecting business or putting a case to management for a change in workplace processes.
The introduction of new technologies into the workplace means that new literacy and numeracy demands are placed on workers. For example, many farmers and land managers used paper ‘maps’ for years to navigate their land.
Now, global positioning systems (GPS) require them to ‘read’ and ‘calculate’ in a different way even though it is still about using maps effectively.
Many food-processing workers use machines that have an analogue dial (clock face) as part of their operations. When new machines are installed, they often have digital readouts. This requires workers to ‘read’ the important numbers and data in new ways.
When challenges like these come along, workers need to be supported to learn new skills. Many existing workers may not want to admit that they find learning news skills difficult.
Literacy changes in different contexts – different literacy skills are used in different personal and work situations, literacy requirements also vary between and within workplaces.
Sometimes there is a difference between how information is collected and stored and communicated between different parts of a business.
The quality of produce might be marked in chalk on the side of a crate by one worker, figures on crates might be tallied on a whiteboard in a produce shed by a second worker and then this information compiled into a formal report on the computer by a third worker. The literacy differs - but the overall goal is the same.
It is important to recognise that people speak and communicate in different ways but may well be talking about the same thing. Workers are often comfortable discussing problems with work processes among themselves but may baulk at the idea of reporting these to management in a boardroom situation.
Sometimes, support is needed to get two groups communicating effectively and recognising the value of each other’s perspective.