Frequently Asked Questions FAQ

Muka Tangata is the Workforce Development Council (WDC) for the food and fibre sector – we work on ways to enhance vocational education and training to meet industry needs. For information about us and the industries we represent, check out About Us. The food and fibre sector is of huge importance to our country. Aotearoa is known around the world for our high standards of food growth and production. To ensure we continue to have a food and fibre sector that flourishes and is sustainable into the future we need to make sure industries have access to a skilled workforce. Muka Tangata have developed 14 industry specific Workforce Development Plans for the industries we represent.

These are a starting point for further engagement and discussion for businesses and organisations to make critical workforce planning decisions for the future. The plans have been developed in partnership with industry and Māori. We have engaged with industry organisations and employers, including Māori owned businesses, providers assessing standards and delivering programmes in the food and fibre sector, and government agencies involved in the food and fibre and VET sectors to find out about the current and future needs of the workforce. In these plans, you’ll find a snapshot of what your industry workforce currently looks like and what it could look like in the future.

Workforce development plans sets out a plan for how Muka Tangata will partner with industries to support them with the skilled workforce they need. The plans consolidate feedback that we’ve heard over the past year about the current and future needs of the food and fibre workforce. This is supported by existing data, research and analysis on our industries, workforces and learners. These plans are a starting point for further engagement over the next year. We will use these plans in discussions with industry, providers, learners and tangata whenua to develop advice to government on what skill development to fund. 

The remit of Muka Tangata is set out in our Orders in Council and covers 14 different industry groups. We represent 14 industries including dairy, sheep, beef, deer, pork, poultry, and other livestock farming; arable farming; vegetables and fruit growing; viticulture and winemaking; forestry; seafood; apiculture; equine, dogs and racing; veterinary; nursery, turf and gardening; and food and fibre support industries. 

For more details of what is included in each industry group please click here.

The trends and analysis section provides a snapshot of the current workforce outlook and learner profile. The opportunities section highlights the opportunities that have been identified by each industry and what Muka Tangata are doing about it. The roadmap section outlines what’s on our work programme and the time for delivery.

We welcome all feedback – please use our contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. We want people in our sector to have access to good information and understanding to take action on workforce and skills issues. We welcome all feedback, please go to our Get Involved email to let us know your thoughts

Industries were divided between Workforce Development Councils based on Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) class codes (reference to our order in council). The ANZSIC class codes assigned to Muka Tangata, and the 14 industry groups - Ngā Rourou- are detailed here Our industries - Muka Tangata.

The ANZSIC is used by Stats NZ for standardized collection, analysis and dissemination of economic data on an industry basis. The ANZSIC is a hierarchical classification with four levels; Divisions (the broadest level), Subdivisions, Groups and Classes (the finest level). Click here to find out more about the ANZSIC. Where feasible we report information at the ANZSIC class level, however for some data collections, such as the Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED) held by Stats NZ, information is only available at the ANZSIC group level. There also may be instances where in our research, we use different levels of this hierarchical classification.

While ANZSIC class codes are the most detailed industry classification available, these classifications vary in their precision. For example the class code A017100 for ‘poultry farming (meat)’ is very specific, where code A052900 for ‘other agriculture and fishing support services’ includes businesses undertaking lots of different types of activities. This can mean it is not always immediately obvious to industries which ANZSIC class code they belong to. A full list of what is included and excluded from each class code is provided as part of the ANZSIC classification The detailed classification | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au).

The New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) is a subject-based classification system for courses and qualifications at universities, polytechnics, wananga and private training establishments in receipt of Government funding. NZSCED was designed to improve the quality and consistency of statistics collected by the government agencies in relation to tertiary study, and to improve New Zealand's international statistical reporting compliance. NZSCED codes exist on a broad, narrow, and detailed level. These codes are useful for providing a standardised way of presenting education data relating to provision and performance over time. To find out more about the NZSCED classification click here.

As a starting point, we have primarily reported information using the detailed NZSCED classification. The detailed NZSCED groupings can cover a wider topic area than a single industry group. The NZSCED codes are not designed to be industry specific, they are designed to group up similar subject areas. For some of the education data we have access to, specifically education performance indicators for people undertaking provider-based training, information is only available at this detailed NZSCED level.

There are detailed NZSCED codes that sit across multiple industry groupings:

• NZSCED 050301 refers to Horticulture, which can include programmes, courses and qualifications related to several of our industry groupings – Ngā Rourou - Fruit, Vegetables, Grapes and Wine, and Nursery, Turf and Gardening. Horticulture qualifications contain multiple strands – for example the New Zealand Certificate in Horticulture (Level 3) has strands in Amenity, Arboriculture, Cemetery, Fruit Production, Garden Centre, Indoor Crop Production, Landscape Construction, Nursery Production, Outdoor Crop Production, Post-Harvest, Sports Turf, and Wine Growing.
• NZSCED 050105 for Animal Husbandry, which can include programmes, courses and qualifications related to several of our industry groupings – Ngā Rourou – Dairy farming; Sheep, Beef, Deer and Wool; Poultry, Pigs and Other Livestock Farming; and Equine, dogs and Racing.

We are currently working to report more specific data for industries where possible and will be providing more specific learner data for all our 14 industry groups - Ngā Rourou, as we have started to do for Pork and Poultry (Learners » Muka Tangata Workforce Development Council (workforceskills.nz). We may only be able to report more industry specific information for learners undertaking industry based training.

For learners undertaking industry training (not provider-based training), it is possible to use ANZSIC class codes based on where the learner is primarily employed to calculate performance indicators. These are included in each Workforce Development Plan, where applicable.