Quoting the hard hitting  blog from Agricultural Appointments,

It has been widely acknowledged that Australia faces critical skills shortages in the agribusiness sector according to a raft of government enquiries, a growing chorus of academic reports and just about anyone who has ever tried to find highly-skilled candidates for agribusiness job vacancies.

It’s not overstating the case to suggest that these critical shortages threaten the ability of the agricultural industry to continue to grow and respond to rising global demand for food and agricultural services.

So where are the key shortages and what are the consequences of not addressing them? See the article here to find out where 

Young Farming Champion Ben Egan recently feature in The Land here  and on Win News here  is calling on farmers in the cropping sector to  fill in this survey

Ben who is a cotton and grain grower believes there is a critical training gap in his industry with limited courses available for those working at ‘paddock level’.

An initiative of the New South Wales Government in partnership with the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and Cotton Australia has allocated $14.7 million over three years to increase staff skill levels and attract newcomers to the grains and cotton industries.

The GRDC and Cotton Australia are now conducting an industry-wide training needs survey to help track the immediate and future training needs of growers, on-farm staff and the broader industry. The results of this survey will inform the rollout of the AgSkilled project across NSW.

Ben is a cotton and gain grower believes there is a critical training gap in his industry with limited courses available for those working at ‘paddock level’.

The young grower is farm manager at Kiameron Pastoral Company, an 8000 acre family operation with 1750acresof irrigated cultivation, 1400 acres of dryland farming and 4850acres of grazing country.

“At Kiameron we rely heavily on backpackers and casual labour, but finding people with the skillsets we need can be a challenge. 

I am constantly looking for opportunities for both my permanent and casual staff to develop and improve their skills and knowledge.

It seems as though we can get access to middle management through university training, but we struggle a lot with getting skilled assistance in that leading hand, irrigation worker type space,” 

I have undertaken further training at TAFE, but better training across all levels of the cotton and grains industry could really drive our productivity and profitability.” Ben  said.