Across the ag industry, there are a surplus of jobs—including those for sprayer operators. That’s why Ivy Tech, Premier Companies, and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development have teamed up to help fill those positions.
“The demand out there is huge. All of the companies are looking for employees that have training, some experience, and have passed the certification exams—that’s the big one,” says Matt John, Department Chair of Agriculture and Precision Ag at the Columbus campus of Ivy Tech Community College.
Companies like Premier Ag have a surplus of sprayers, but not nearly enough men and women to work as sprayer operators. That’s why Ivy Tech’s new Sprayer Certification program was started at their Columbus campus.
“We designed it so it would start that second eight weeks—about the time that a lot of the companies are slowing down with spraying,” according to John. “So, if they have employees who need to be certified and get to pass the exams, that would work out in their slower season and they would be ready to go about the middle of March when our eight weeks of classes end in the spring.”
The program is new to Ivy Tech with a total of four classes and three certification exams. The first two classes are scheduled over eight weeks every Tuesday starting Oct. 24 through Dec. 12. The second set of classes are also scheduled over eight weeks beginning in January. After 16 weeks and passing the three sprayer certification exams, a student can be fully certified and working full-time as a sprayer operator this spring.
“It’s no secret that we have a decline in the number of high school graduates that want to attend a college,” says John. “So, this short-term training program fits the need for a lot of those students who need something beyond high school that gets them right in the career field in a pretty short period of time.”
The program has also received certification through the state and is part of the Indiana’s Next Level Jobs program.
“The Indiana Department of Workforce Development was really interested in working with some agricultural institutions, and so we started looking at making this a state “earn and learn”. So, we brought in Premier Companies as an industry partner, and then put together the training program that includes the four classes and then the three certification exams.”
John says he hopes to grow the program beyond the Columbus campus and offer the full program to students at other Ivy Tech campuses—including Lafayette and Terre Haute.
To find out more about the Sprayer Certification Program at Ivy Tech Community College at the Columbus campus, contact Matthew John at mjohn2@ivytech.edu. You may also reach his office at 812-374-5174.
