PPH highlights UMaine Extension Horticulture Apprentice Training Program
The Portland Press Herald featured University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Horticulture Apprentice Training Program, designed to produce entry-level workers who might stay in the profession for many years. The courses will be conducted online through March, taught by teachers from the participating high schools, and professionals from UMaine Extension; the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry; the Maine Landscape and Nursery Association; and other lecturers. Two schools, Portland Arts and Technology High School and Skowhegan Area High School, are partnering with the program this year. Rebecca Long, an Oxford County-based sustainable agriculture and horticulture professional with the UMaine Extension, said that graduates of the Horticulture Apprentice Training Program could fill a big need. “It’s sort of going back to the days when high schools had shop class and auto-repair courses, so students had a leg up when they graduated,” Long said.