Agriculture careers: How young people are filling labour shortage
As farmers continue to struggle to find workers, a batch of young school leavers are helping to plug the gaps on-farm.
Zara Macdonald is part of an army of young Australians who are helping tackle worker shortages in the ag industry.
The 19-year-old, originally from Blighty, NSW, is working on Peter Mullan’s mixed farm at Lalbert as part of a 12-month gap year initiative run by the National Farmers’ Federation.
The program, AgCAREERSTART, matches young school leavers with farmers looking for workers for a year.
Peter, who runs a cropping and sheep operation, said everyone in the industry was struggling to find workers.
“Nobody can find workers, it’s hard work,” he said.
“Backpackers get to choose, they have the control. I’ve been stood up by people who have been offered more money.”
Peter said he had been fortunate in the past to have had some great international backpackers work on his farm. He had remained in contact with some, even attending the overseas wedding of one former backpacker.
But it had become increasingly difficult to find workers.
“My wife saw an ad for the program on social media and we’ve had backpackers and exchange students in the past so we thought why not give a young Aussie a go.”
Zara started work on his farm earlier this year, having grown up on a farm and studied ag at high school.
She said the program had helped solidify her decision to continue with a career in ag, and she was now planning to study a bachelor of agriculture business management at Charles Sturt University next year.
“Ag is something I’ve always been interested in continuing,” she said.
“It’s the reason I did this program, and it has been successful in making me want to stay in the industry and continue in agriculture.”
Zara had helped with tasks including marking lambs and fencing, but Peter said driving the tractor was something she had excelled in, sowing virtually all the 2700ha of crop this season.
Both Zara and Peter recommended the program for farmers and school leavers.
Applications for farmer hosts and participants for next year are now open.
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