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Cheese industry seeks bigger slice

1 April 2009

The State's cheese industry is positioning itself for a bigger slice of the international action with a new program aimed at establishing South Australia as the leading cheese skills centre in the nation.

The Cheese Industry Skills Fast Track Project seeks to boost the sector by providing extra skilled staff and innovative technical support.

It's been jointly announced by Agriculture, Food & Fisheries Minister, Paul Caica, and Employment, Training and Further Education Minister, Michael O'Brien.

Backed by the cheese industry and State Government - through the SA Food Centre, DFEEST and the Food, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Skills Advisory Council SA - the program will help cheesemakers who are struggling to find sufficient numbers of skilled staff.

The State Government is providing almost $300,000 towards the 18-month project and industry is providing almost $330,000.

Minister Caica says it was also designed to build the dynamic South Australian cheese industry and help provide structure to support long-term industry growth.

"Cheese is the highest value-added product of the South Australian dairy industry," he says.

"It's a major local and export product for the Australian dairy industry, with local sales valued at A$1.4 billion or 180,000 tonnes and export sales of 202,650 tonnes, worth more than A$966 million in 2007-08.

"In South Australia, an estimated 25 companies make cheese or cheese-related products, employing up to 300 people.

"However, many cheesemakers cannot currently keep up with demand, and are unable to source adequately skilled workers. The program has been specifically designed to assist in filling these gaps."

Minister O'Brien says the project will boost the skills of more than 100 specialist cheesemakers, cheese industry workers and more than 30 new industry recruits.

"Currently, the only specialist cheese skills development training program available here is a five-day program delivered at TAFE SA's Regency Campus," he says.

"Many cheesemakers have therefore resorted to bringing in expertise from overseas or travelling overseas themselves to gain professional development opportunities."

A key aim of the program is to establish a "Cheesemakers in Residence" program, which could attract fee-paying students from interstate and overseas.

"A Cheesemaker-in-Residence will be engaged for six months to drive technical and specialised training programs for 30 specialty cheese makers and six food technical graduates from South Australian universities and TAFE SA," Mr O'Brien says.

"An industry-wide Training Needs Analysis will also be undertaken to identify the key skills required for foundation, skilled and master cheesemakers."

The Cheese Industry Skills Fast Track Program includes:

  • Intensive up-skilling of 30 current cheesemakers
  • Professional development of 50-100 other cheese industry employees
  • Entry level training for 30 potential industry recruits through a schools articulation project to enable greater recruitment to the cheese industry
  • Engagement of 4,500+ consumers with industry, providing exposure to cheese as a potential career through CheeseFest activities
  • The opportunity to offer up-skilling of six food technology graduates from Adelaide University/Regency TAFE SA
  • Provision of workshops to approximately 50 assistant cheesemakers, food technologists, University & TAFE SA staff and students
  • Identification of critical skills for Master, Skilled and Foundation level Cheesemakers to improve career pathways.

"The cheese industry is a sector with critical links to other major South Australian products and industries, such as wine, tourism and hospitality, and this project offers opportunity for both economic and social development particularly in regional areas, including the South East, Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Murraylands," Minister Caica says.

Ms Kris Lloyd, Chair of Cheese SA and Director of CheeseFest said she is pleased that this program, developed in conjunction with Cheese SA, has had strong support from the South Australian Government.

"It demonstrates that the Government recognises the value of this fabulous high-quality, regional based and growing food industry, and supports the South Australian Food Plan," she says.