How to attract and retain the agricultural workforce

Hort Innovation is part of the AgriFutures Australia’s Community Perceptions and Worker Experiences Program, which aims to deliver insight into community perceptions on working in agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries, and explore worker experiences and the impact they have on workforce attraction and retention.

The AgriFutures Australia Project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and is a component of the Australian Government’s AgATTRACT initiative.

The Community Perceptions and Worker Experiences Program captured detailed and accurate insights from past, current and prospective rural industries workers, as well as members of the community, through quantitative and qualitative research.

A key component of the program has been gaining a comprehensive and accurate understanding of modern agriculture and its workforce, through in-depth research activities and analysis. The program’s quantitative research has established a baseline for workforce perceptions that inform drivers of workforce attraction and retention opportunities in the sector. The qualitative research component of the study has developed a knowledge base around the experiences of prospective, existing and past workers in rural industries.

Key insights from the research

Attraction

Attraction to working in a rural industry is informed by job characteristics and the extent to which rural industries meet social expectations (e.g. managing environmental issues effectively). In addition, most of the key drivers of attraction are mediated by trust in rural industries to act responsibly.

In addition to the main drivers, there is a strong perception among community members that working in a rural industry requires moving to a rural area, with a lack of infrastructure cited as a key reason for this reluctance to move away from cities.

The main positive drivers of attraction are:

1. Connection to land and heritage.
2. Trust in rural industries to act responsibly.
3. Procedural fairness.
4. Distributional fairness.
5. Good working conditions.
6. Effective environmental management.

Negative drivers of attraction are:

1. Physical demands of jobs.
2. Negative work culture.

Retention

Current workers are committed to remaining in a rural industry, with more than 50 per cent of workers surveyed intending to stay for 10 years or longer in their current industry.

There is high overall satisfaction among current workers, which includes their current role and their attitudes towards most aspects of rural life, rural industry jobs and careers, and industry performance on issues such as environmental management, which are more positive than those of general community members.

Areas for focus to improve retention and worker experience include improving work culture (e.g. race and gender bias, bullying), which varied significantly by industry, procedural fairness in the way worker issues are managed, and helping workers to understand more clearly the career options and pathways available to them. There are mixed feelings about new technologies and what they mean to the future of the workforce.

The main drivers of retention are:

1. Procedural fairness.
2. Connection to land and heritage.
3. Meaningful careers.
4.  Importance of rural industries to Australia.
5. Meeting work expectations.

Case studies

Case studies were developed to complement and ‘bring to life’ the results of the quantitative research. Inspiring individuals shared their experience in the rural industries workforce to educate and encourage others to consider a career in agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

Meet Georgia Beattie, CEO at Bulla Park, Australia's largest organic mushroom farm

After growing up in metropolitan Melbourne, Georgia Beattie embarked on a career in technology. Working in rural industries had not entered her mind until she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, which led her to research different foods and how they were produced.

A steep learning curve and a greater understanding and appreciation of where our food comes from became a passion for Georgia.

Having studied entrepreneurship, she applied her knowledge, organisational experience and technological skills to lead Australia’s largest organic mushroom farm, Bulla Park, at Diggers Rest on the north-west outskirts of Melbourne.

As CEO of Bulla Park, Georgia runs the company in a similar way to how she would run a technology business. About two-thirds of her 80 staff have IT degrees.

With its short crop cycle of 32 days, mushroom production allows Georgia and her team to apply an agile methodology, where something can be applied, measured and learned relatively quickly.

“We play around with our own in-house robotics, and the idea is we are able to start to automate in order to create efficiencies and be more competitive at the farm,” Georgia said.

“Whether it’s picking, packing, counting or moving things around, where we can put a robot in there to support our staff, the better.”

The business leverages automation, robotics and genetic manipulations within multiple grow-houses to enhance its produce, boost production efficiency and address or find gaps in the product market.

Georgia attributes the success of Bulla Park’s worker attraction and retention to its core values – applying sustainable practices, a desire to continuously improve and a commitment to a better world.

“We usually attract younger people based on our values of wanting to do a better thing for the environment. And the way we are going to do that in agriculture is through efficiencies and data-led changes.”

As well as heading up Bulla Park, Georgia is a director of the Australian Mushroom Growers Association, sits on the National Farmers’ Federation Sustainability Committee and is a member of the Hort Innovation Mushroom Strategic Investment Advisory Panel.

She said her experience proves you do not need a background in agriculture to carve out a successful, exciting and rewarding career in the industry.

Georgia particularly encourages those with technology experience to seriously consider the sector. Her firm belief is that the future of agriculture will increasingly be driven by data.

“The industry welcomes new people. It is not about handing things down from generation to generation and it being a family thing,” she said.

“You are the driver of your career and the impact you want to make on the world. So get out there.”