Graduates from a horticulture training program at a minimum security prison are proving to be great employees for regional businesses in WA.
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TVTranscript
00:00 The harvest is over, but in the golden hills of Mount Barker, there's still work to do.
00:07 You don't want the fruit too high up, and we like to leave two buds.
00:11 With thousands of vines to prune, one of the biggest challenges is finding enough workers.
00:16 With the mines in competition with us, payment-wise we can't compete.
00:22 So locally and backpacker-wise, very difficult at the moment.
00:27 The solution for this producer, a local prison.
00:30 Most of them have got chainsaw licences, tractor licences, excavator licences, exactly what
00:38 you need on an agricultural property.
00:40 And we've taken two prisoners every year for the last six years now.
00:44 Puddle Up Prison Farm has been training workers for 14 years.
00:48 It's a full working prison farm that supports industries like farming, market gardens, mechanic,
00:54 we've got a maintenance section, a full working kitchen.
00:58 The intent is for them to actually continue on with that employment post-release.
01:01 I've done Cert 2 in agriculture, and I've just signed up to start Cert 3.
01:06 The program is building a reputation for providing reliable workers for primary producers.
01:11 The agriculture industry, as everyone will tell you, is screaming out for workers, and
01:17 we would expect that our people would be able to fill those roles admirably.
01:22 A sentence helping to relieve industry shortages.
01:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]