Continuing professional education is a requirement to retain registration in many occupations.
Farmers don't have to be registered, nor do they have a professional body that requires them to meet standards, but the wise ones ensure they keep educating themselves.
There are plenty of field days, which help with knowledge on new equipment, methods and techniques, and good farmers will usually share what works for them. But these sessions usually concentrate on the paddock and practical matters.
There is a lot more to modern farming, with its increasing complexities and competitiveness, than that. Farmers need better business and personal skills to help improve and grow their operations. One of the most respected courses in these areas is Rabobank's executive development programme for primary producers.
It consists of two six-day residential modules. Held in Sydney, it attracts top producers from Australia and New Zealand, who learn from business professionals, agricultural specialists, academics and each other. In between modules, participants complete a management project on an aspect of their business.
Programme director John Morris graduated bachelor of agricultural science from Lincoln. He followed that with an MBA in marketing and finance from Cranfield School of Management and a PhD in food marketing from Cornell University. His career has included extensive international experience in retailing and food marketing and professorships at leading universities.
He has been director of the EDPPP since it started in 1999 and his qualifications and experience are at least matched by his personal skills, which include an enviable ability to remember people's names and to get the best out of everyone in a group.
The course looks at management theories as they apply to agriculture to help participants enhance their management skills, explore growth strategies and develop business strategies.
The EDPPP provides business and personal development. The interactive sessions cover a wide range of subjects, including personality and work style preferences, understanding effective management and leadership, techniques and strategies for attracting, retaining and managing good people, understanding and planning for sustained growth, financial management, marketing, negotiation, risk management, communication, succession planning and work-life balance.
The course is restricted to 36 participants. Partners are encouraged to attend some sessions and are welcomed to alumni courses.
I haven't met anyone who has taken part in the EDPPP who has anything but praise for the course and what it has done for them. It's not just what they learned, but who they met. The inspiration from, and networking with, participants and presenters is of immeasurable value.
The EDPPP promises participants will be inspired, challenged and stimulated, and it more than delivers on that. If farmers are looking to continue their professional development, I can think of no better way to do it.
• Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer.