Produce World has hired its first two agri-food trainees as part of a new scheme with the University of Lincoln to find the next generation of fresh produce employees.
Will Shields and Tom Collison will work for Produce World, beginning at the company’s Sutton Bridge site, while also studying for a degree in Food Manufacture BSc.
Shields, who is from Moulton, does not have a farming or fresh produce background though his mother is a food technician. “I saw the scheme advertised and thought it looked really good,” he said.
“The opportunity to get experience at the same time as a qualification appealed to me, and obviously you come out without the normal mountain of student dept. I know the industry doesn’t have the best image with some teenagers, but I think it’s a really important sector to be involved in, with plenty of variety.”
Collison’s family grow cut flowers and farm sheep near Kings Lynn, and he said he was due to apply for a traditional agricultural college before hearing about the scheme.
“What I like is the fact that we will be able apply what we are learning in the classroom as we go along, but also that we will be able use our work experience as up-to-date case studies,” he said.
“A lot of case studies used for teaching are at least two or three years out of date. Agriculture is moving at such a fast rate that the techniques will be out-of-date by the time we get to apply them.”
David Frost, Produce World Group’s HR director, said: “We are delighted to have appointed two excellent candidates to the first places on this scheme. They are enthusiastic about the opportunity they have been given and I look forward to seeing them develop over the next three years. At Produce World we need outstanding talent to help us to continue to grow and develop as a business, and one solution is to grow our own.”
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