The Poultry Hub launched this month and provides training and hands-on work experience to the region's unemployed to set them up for a job at Baiada.

The pandemic, mouse plague and bushfires left many in the community displaced and without work, Department of Education, Skills and Employment New England North West employment facilitator Rechelle Leahy said.

"It's all about getting people back into work in Tamworth where we know there's a lot of jobs available," she said.

"The whole point of the program is to connect people with what working at Baiada looks like, people might just be thinking about chicken processing but not the beginning to the end of the supply chain.

"There's a lot of opportunities within that supply chain."

The World Health Organisation predicts there will be a worldwide food shortage by 2050, highlighting the need for agriculturally rich countries like Australia to increase its capacity to produce food.

But locally, the region's poultry industry is struggling to fill job vacancies and the problem is set to worsen with the planned expansion of chicken meat farms in the area across the next few years.

The employment program runs in 51 regions across Australia in a number of different sectors.

Poultry Hub Australia (PHA) is a not-for-profit at the University of New England in Armidale, that focuses on challenges in the poultry industry and how to solve them.

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An important aspect of its activities is to build capacity in the industry, PHA associate professor Tamsyn Crowley said.

"We recognise two-way communication between potential employees and the industry is essential to sustainably building the industry's capacity," she said.

"PHA is committed to building capacity through mentoring and coordination of poultry programs across Australia, through activities that connect potential employees with industry.

"The solution we are proposing provides engaging hands-on training and work experience to attract people to employment within the poultry industry and provide these participants with the necessary training and knowledge to enable them to be poultry job-ready."

Anyone who is interested in taking part in the program can contact Rechelle Leahy at rechelle@nenwfacilitator.com.au.

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