Group of Dryland Farmers
A group of 5 Queensland farmers and their agricultural consultants completed the three training modules for ISO 14001. For Modules 2 and 3 the group were joined by the owner of a quite large Darwin based cleaning company doing ISO 9001. Having a mix of industries and some people who do not know each other was helpful in expanding the participant’s view points.
The training consisted of three separate four-week modules with a couple of weeks off between each module plus an occasional week when one property had a 6metre deep flood. Each module delivered both written material and downloadable audio files because some people learn better by reading, others by listening and most with a mixture. Busy people on the move were able to download the audio onto an MP3 player and listen in their cars and tractors
Additionally there was a weekly teleconference to reinforce the major tasks for the week and get feedback, answer problems and questions and develop some form of assessment of how they are going.
The participants said that because they had previously done grains EMS and MLA, it was not new knowledge but they had not taken it on to ISO 14001. They found this training was an orderly process that concentrated on why and prevented them from getting bogged down in paperwork. It helped them to understand the importance of process and how integrate the EMS into their business rather than adding a layer on top of it.
They also commented that they want to go on and integrate quality ISO 9001 into their system once they have completed their certification because this is equally important to their business. They were aware of the ease of integration because the cleaning company that joined the group for Modules 2 and 3 had done the quality module instead of the environment for Module 1 as he is implementing ISO 9001. This worked because the process in Module 2 is to build a system to implement the plan developed in Module 1 and every business in any group will have a different plan.
The group included two agricultural consultants who work as part of the team with the farmers and they felt that the consultants and farmers all needed to be in the same place with their management concepts.
One of the two consultants in the group commented that the training style took time and commitment and challenged some of their previous thinking but that the results appeared better because the outcome was an understanding of ‘why is it so”. They felt that the continuous improvement and feedback loop helps them to deliver a more professional service to their clients and to overcome inefficiencies in their businesses and deliver a better product for their clients.
The group said that the training helped them to think globally and to develop a good understanding of what a management system is. They believe that a global outlook is very important especially in these times of climate change when primary producers need to be thinking globally. They felt that it was a safe learning environment and all commented that they found the audio files a particularly helpful way of learning.