Waikato farmers are looking to dust off the old farmer cadet scheme and introduce it to fill the widening gap of skilled workers.

The Ministry of Primary Industries predicts by 2025 the dairy industry will need eight thousand 300 qualified workers.

Federated Farmers' Chris Lewis told Rachel Smalley what's lacking is hands-on experience.

"At the moment, the government pays for bums on seats, and that just produces lots of graduates with very low skill levels - not what the industry wants," he said.