Strong job prospects in organic farming

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The organic farming industry is forecast to provide a swag of jobs in the next five years.

BOOMING organic farming is one of five industries forecast to provide good employment prospects in Australian in the coming five years.

Industry and market research company IBISWorld has placed organic farming equal third in employment growth over the next five years behind salt, lithium and other mineral mining and the digital advertising sector.

At 8.2 per cent annualised job growth, organic farming ranked equal with online food ordering and delivery and well in front of performing arts venues on 7.1 per cent.

Employment in small mineral companies was expected to grow at 9 per cent annually and digital advertising was 8.7 per cent.

Although Australia had the largest of organic farmland in the world — mostly due to cattle farming in northern rangelands — in terms of production value, the industry was relatively small at $2 billion, compared with $64 billion in Australia’s total agricultural production.

But IBISWorld senior industry analyst Matthew Reeves said research showed revenue from organic farming was expected to grow at a rate of 14.6 per cent a year for the next five years.

Mr Reeves said that rate had tapered off a bit from growth in the past few years but was still high.

He said most of the rise was driven by consumer demand and a willingness to pay higher prices for food.

“It’s fair to say awareness around environmental issues, particularly among Millennials and the generation below, is where most of the growth is coming from, but not exclusively,” he said.

“We are seeing a real trend moving towards organic produce due to issues such as animal welfare and the popularity in vegan diets.”

Mr Reeves said farmers were switching from conventional farming practices to organic in a lag phase to keep up with demand.

And with the rise in organic farming came jobs.

He said employment in the organic farming sector was expect to rise about 8.2 per cent annually to more than 8200 employees by 2026.

He said that included owner-operators of organic farms.

The new jobs included farm workers, farm advisers, sustainability co-ordinators and agricultural technicians.

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