The Green Certificate Program now features a new specialty: the Poultry Technician certificate. Alberta Agriculture and Forestry works in partnership with the agriculture industry and Alberta Education (via the off campus education policy) to offer the Green Certificate Program to Alberta-based high school students.
Green Certificate is an agriculture training program that focuses on workforce development in the primary production sector. It is currently in 300 Alberta communities and averages 1,300 to 1,500 active registrations at any given time. The agriculture primary production sector provides approximately 200 testers (agriculture professionals and owner/operators) to assess the competencies of Green Certificate trainees.
Trainees select a specialization, and under the guidance of their trainer, work towards mastering all of the skills within their training program. “There are 11 ag-production, technician-level, focused specializations offered,” says Green Certificate coordinator Raelene Mercer, “Including our newest specialty, poultry.”
The Poultry Technician certificate will allow students to develop and demonstrate their skills in areas such as bird biology, animal welfare, safety and employability skills. They will also learn poultry nutritional and handling requirements and poultry barn environmental systems. Within the Poultry Technician certificate there are specializations available. They are Broiler Chicken, Hatching Egg, Table Egg and Turkey. In addition to the skills above, “The Table Egg specialization focuses on learning table egg production, how to prepare birds and facility for bird ship out, as well as maintaining the facility,” says Mercer.
If you are interested in viewing the curriculum or would like to become a tester, please contact Raelene Mercer at 780-968-3551.
Source : Alberta Agriculture and Forestry