History
The National Farm Chemical User Training program (known as Farmcare Australia) was introduced in 1990 by the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) and the Rural Training Council of Australia. The program was developed in response to the community’s concern with farm chemicals and the need to protect the health and safety of rural workers.
Even though the program was introduced by the agriculture community for the agricultural community it has been enthusiastically embraced by a wide range of users of farm chemicals including farmers, graziers, horticulturists, viticulturists, community organisations, volunteers and employees of local governments, NPWS and Forestry.
To date, over 210,000 users of agvet chemicals have successfully completed the program nationally.
Reaccreditation programs commenced in 1999. Enrolment figures demonstrate that the program continues to meet the needs of industry and confirms the program’s acceptance by industry.
The program changed its name to ChemCert Australia in 1999.
The success of the program is due to the ongoing commitment and input from industry bodies and dedicated primary producers and farm chemical users across Australia.
The program has been described as the most successful and important training program ever introduced into rural Australia proving that barriers to rural participation in training programs can be overcome if courses are managed and endorsed by industry and peak advisory bodies.
The organisation was established to provide training in the use of agricultural and veterinary chemicals. It is becoming more and more important to the future of rural Australia and it is now impacting on all industry sectors and commodity groups as well as non agricultural industries.