Foreign investment in Australian agriculture is a polarizing issue. Much more than just a debate among the agricultural community, it is now a high-stakes political one too.

At the centre of the furore is the government’s recent changes to the way the Foreign Investment Review Board is now looking at foreign entries into land and business interests, which is either going too far, or not doing enough, depending on which camp you listen to.

The second major change is the introduction of a comprehensive register of all foreign-owned land assets. This is generally praised as a step in the right direction, as it gives the industry a better understanding of who owns what, and in what proportions.

So why all the debate? Surely the government has Australian farmers’ best interests at heart?

To shed a little light on the situation, we’d like to share our own experiences of what the farmers on the land are actually doing and saying.

When times are tough, any opportunity is better than none

The Agri Labour Australia team spend a lot of time talking to primary producers about their businesses. In the course of our dealings with them, a pattern has emerged, and it speaks directly to the issue of investment – to be precise, where this investment is coming from.

To put in bluntly, there is an overwhelming majority of farmers (especially smaller, family-run operations) that are feeling the pinch, and in the absence of local Aussie investment injections, they’re turning to foreign investors.

We’ve seen a noticeable rise in farmers – often 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th generation farmers – banding together to form consortiums. They want to increase their land size and portfolio, giving them a better chance of securing foreign investment.

The old notion of the co-operative is alive and well. Where agricultural operators have been struggling to pay down their debt and remain profitable, foreign investment now gives them the breathing space they need. It’s a second chance: a fresh start.

No one can argue that farmers aren’t within their rights to source funding from wherever they can. And yet this is where the political debate is occurring.

Some say it’s great to inject foreign capital and breathe new life into our agricultural industry, while others say we’re selling the farm.

Are we ‘selling the farm’?

The term ‘selling the farm’ is an extremely simplistic way of looking at this issue. In some cases, yes, farmers are selling portions of their land or business holdings to keep cash flowing.

This has been happening forever, and so has foreign investment in Australian agriculture. It seems that the root of the uproar isn’t because farmers are selling assets – it’s because they aren’t selling them to Australians.

Maybe some of them are ‘selling the farm’. But if buyers aren’t coming from within Australia, where are our farmers to turn?

The bigger political picture

Once we start talking about large swathes of our economy, it’s inevitable that politicians get involved.

For example, Bob Katter has put himself in the middle of the debate, stating that this is now a political issue and that the only solution is political.

Katter criticises the Sino-Australian Free Trade Agreement, saying that Chinese workers are allowed into Australia to work at unregistered Chinese-owned farms. He says that neither major party is standing up for Aussie farmers.

This is where it gets confusing. If farmers are themselves choosing to accept foreign investment, aren’t they standing up for themselves already? Aren’t they aware of the benefits and risks involved in bringing large-scale foreign interests into Australia’s food bowl?

Aside from our little guys teaming up to secure investment, what about huge companies like S. Kidman & Co also hunting foreign buyers? What about their portfolio of 11 cattle stations, including the 23,000 square km Anna Creek Station (the largest in the world) going to a Chinese buyer?

When this amount of money and food security is involved, it’s no wonder that this has become such a politicised issue.

Is foreign ownership such a big deal?

Much of Australian agriculture’s recent success has come from new markets such as Indonesia, and elsewhere in South East Asia. Net export means revenue, and this is what we’ve seen.

However, some are fearful that we’re giving too much of our assets away. They’re worried that everything will be snapped up by foreign money, and all those profits will start being funnelled out of Australia.

This is a legitimate concern, and it’s why the ATO’s land register has been implemented. Until the final figures come back, all we have to go on is the ABS.

In it’s last Agricultural Land and Water survey (which was criticised by some), the ABS reported that just under 90% of all farmland is owned by Australians, while 99% of businesses were fully Australian owned. No statistically significant number of Aussie farmers have water access issues either.

At the moment, most Aussie farms are still Aussie-owned and Aussie-run, but this isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing – it’s just the current state of the industry. And it varies from sector to sector, from grain to dairy, from fruit to cattle.

When you get to the bottom of this issue, it becomes clear that the arguments are more about economic protectionism than about protecting farmers’ ability to make ends meet.

Let’s not forget about the farmers

If a farmer sells off some of his assets to a foreign buyer (and getting to that stage is within itself an achievement) then he’ll have to take their interests into account.

He’ll need to have all his books together, he’ll need tighter budgeting and cashflow planning, he’ll need measurable marketing, and the list goes on. In short, he’ll need to operate at the business-oriented level that his investors demand.

In the long run, this can only be a good thing, at least operationally. But the price he’ll pay is that he’ll see less share in the profits, and he’ll have less control over the decision making.

Again, it comes down to the source of the money. If it cannot be found in Australia – then he has no choice but to look overseas unless he wants to go broke and shut up shop.

From a bank’s perspective, having a foreign investor is a form of mitigating risk. It means they aren’t the only one with equity at stake. Some say that the injection of foreign money is a shot in the arm that’ll help our farmers stay afloat – and they seem to agree.

Which is more important: the farmer or the industry?

Perhaps we’re looking at this from the wrong angle. Perhaps the government should be doing more to protect farmers from making short-term decisions with long-term ramifications.

What we do know is that the future for Australian agriculture is going to be busy. As the food bowl for Asia and beyond, we’re going to have to meet an increasing level of demand.

The introduction of the foreign land ownership register is a good step towards finding out where we stand right now, but the decisions it helps make in the future need to account for not just the industry, but the farmers too.

Agri Labour Australia has earned a place as an official finalist in the 2015 Telstra Business Awards.

Competing in the Queensland Small Business category, Agri Labour Australia is accompanied by five other great businesses from the Sunshine State.

Telstra Business Group Managing Director and Telstra Business Awards Ambassador Will Irving said the Queensland finalists are a “unique group of businesses making an important contribution to local communities… as well as the state economy.”

The winners of the 2015 Telstra Queensland Business Awards will be announced at the Sofitel Brisbane on 30 July.

Queensland winners will then proceed to the national Awards, which will be held in Sydney on the 20^th of August.

Agri Labour Australia Managing Director Casey Brown said he was excited to be recognised in the Queensland finalists stage.

“It’s humbling to have made it into the finals. We’re up against some impressive businesses, and I can’t wait to find out how it all turns out,” he said.

The full list of Queensland Small Business finalists is available on the 2015 Telstra Queensland Business Awards webpage.

Australia’s population and workforce are growing in both number and average age. It’s estimated that within 40 years or so, there will be 38 million of us, with more than double the current proportion of people aged 75 and over (6.4 to 14.4%).

This demographic shift will pose big problems for the Australian economy. Pensions, healthcare and aged care spending will require an extra 6% of national GDP that doesn’t yet exist, and this number will keep going up.

With ongoing improvements in national health and work fitness, people are expected to work longer into their later years. However, for older and returning workers, gaining employment isn’t easy.

The fact is that in most of Australia’s labour markets, there’s an unspoken but very real culture of preferential hiring based on age – and it’s causing the fastest-growing segment of our workforce to go to waste.

However, there’s one industry that already embraces older workers, and that would benefit greatly from a timely injection of ready, willing and able employees. That industry is agriculture, and it has the oldest average worker age in Australia: 53 years old.

Mature workers and agriculture: A perfect fit?

The general consensus among rural employers and labour providers is that mature workers are a better fit for regional (and particularly agricultural) employment.

The main reasoning behind this opinion is, to put it bluntly, the fact that older generations are generally more accustomed to hard work.

These workers grew up in a different generation than the current youth; they understand and appreciate the land and what it means to Australia. Typically, they know someone, or someone that knows someone, who worked the land growing up.

Compared to the current youth labour pool, mature workers also demonstrate a phenomenal work ethic – there’s lower absenteeism, lower turnover, and a higher commitment to performing in tough conditions. This doesn’t mean there is not a significant number of young workers who work hard, but the trend certainly points to older generations being especially well suited to the rigorous demands of agricultural work.

Mature workers who genuinely appreciate how important agriculture is for this generation and the next are, in the long term, an indispensible educational and opinion-leading resource. They need to pass on their message to influencers and younger generations if agriculture is going to survive into the future.

We must however be careful not to over-generalise, in my experience I’ve found there to be three main types within the mature worker demographic working in the agricultural industry.

The 3 types of mature worker:

1. Lifelong workers
2. Relocated mature workers
3. “Super Boomers”

Lifelong workers are those who have stayed in the country and have grown up on the land. They possess a unique skillset and are the main contributors to the high average age in rural employment.

Relocated mature workers are those who come from other areas; they don’t usually possess the same rural skillset as the lifelong workers, though they would have some relevant skills and experience from past work – especially if they previously worked in a trade or production-related role.

Super Boomers are coming from a different financial and/or socio-economical place than the lifelong or relocated workers. They are sea changers who are more interested in seeing the country and living a free, unencumbered lifestyle than in relocating specifically for work.

Harnessing the mature workforce

It is clear that the demand for rural labour is far greater than what our lifelong workers can accommodate.

The ageing population in rural and regional Australia isn’t due to older workers flocking to the country; it is the result of younger jobseekers evacuating these areas in search of other opportunities.

A key driver of this migratory trend is the ongoing PR and reputational crisis surrounding regional and rural work and culture (hard yakka for little reward), while on the other side of the coin there have in recent years been almost endless opportunities for work in the resources sector, particularly in high-paying FIFO roles.

To effectively address rural labour shortages, it is necessary to harness the super boomers and mature jobseekers who are willing to relocate.

These workers’ comparative age and freedom as compared to younger employees is a bonus. They are largely unencumbered, they need or want to work, and they have a wealth of experience and enthusiasm.

Rural employers need to embrace the situation at hand

While mature jobseekers from towns and cities can experience barriers when applying for work, regional employers don’t appear to subscribe to these same types of preconceptions.

In agriculture, mature workers are the norm. It’s therefore important for rural employers to continue to embrace them and make the most of the situation at hand.

Health is improving, fitness for work is improving, and yet the agricultural labour shortage is not improving. The young are flocking to the cities and mines, and our willing mature jobseekers are being turned away often on the basis of their age.

Agri Labour Australia is 100% behind older workers getting back into the saddle, and in helping promote their value to employers throughout the agribusiness and food supply chain. If they are going to be healthier for longer, and if they want the work, it’s a no brainer.

If you are a mature worker looking for regional work to suit your terms, your needs and your lifestyle, enquire within and we will do all we can to help you continue to demonstrate your unique value to our nation.

As young Australians who work in the Agricultural sector, myself and my brother are a rarity. We aren’t special and we don’t think we are, but we’re part of a dying breed: young Aussies who still work in ag.

The labour shortage in rural Australia isn’t a recent development – it’s a chronic blight that worsens every year, and it’s proving hard to treat.

According to the ABS, the median age of ag workers is now 53 years, compared to the national average of 40. This is a huge difference.

This figure looks even more worrying when we consider that we don’t have enough young successors to replace our ageing workforce when they retire.

To understand how to address this issue, we have to look at what’s causing it. And when we do, the harsh but simple way of framing it is with two words: money and careers.

Money

Globalisation, maturation of our economy and Australia’s growth as a professional centre are all good things. However, this positive direction with its uni degrees, great pay and air-conditioned office jobs has sapped a lot of our young workforce.

So-called ‘rural’ work also pays excellently if you work in the resources sector, and this financial incentive has consistently drained much of our young and ambitious talent over the last decade or more.

I’m not faulting anyone on their choices – considering the options, it seems like a good decision. They can either buy or work on a farm, suffering through long hours and tight profit margins, or they can jump on a FIFO plane and be on six digits without so much as a machine ticket.

The problem is that the part about “long hours and tight profit margins” isn’t really true or representative of what an ag career is. Which leads me to the next issue.

Careers

For the most part, the general public simply don’t ‘get’ what a career in ag is – including many kids who are from the country themselves.

“Agriculture” isn’t “farming”. Or I should say, it isn’t just farming. It’s the entire food production and supply chain, from lab research on grain varieties to industrial designers and engineers creating efficient harvesting machinery.

It even includes recruitment companies who help supply the workforce that keeps the industry moving.

But the public – young or old, urban or rural – don’t seem to understand this. When they think of agriculture, they think of wise and weathered old blokes like the guy on the Bega commercial.

They don’t think of the opportunities in ag (maybe because they don’t hear about them), especially the non-financial ones, like work-life balance, the fulfilment you feel as a food provider, or growing to appreciate the land that we call home.

What ag needs

Is a healthy, well-staffed ag sector an unobtainable pipe dream? I don’t think so. If I did, I wouldn’t be doing what I do.

I do think it will need some work to get it going though. Some organisations like the NFF are doing a stellar job of promoting ag to the youth market, but just like any cause-related initiative it seems that the correlation between PR/advertising budgets and success is more than coincidental.

That said, here’s my humble opinion on what our ag sector needs:

As many brilliant minds have already established well before me, education is the key: education of the public, and formal education for the next generation of ag professionals.

I’d like to see the media focus less on portraying the old-fashioned storybook version of ag, and instead focus on the modern, multi-disciplinary industry that it is today.

We as a nation need to look at the ag sector’s successes. All we seem to hear about is the doom and gloom. I understand that only certain types of stories sell, but for the sake of our nation’s food security and rural communities, I’d like to see us paint a more balanced picture of what a career in our sector is.

I’m not leaving the farmers out either – they are the people that put food on our plates. However, unless you’re born into it, farming isn’t a cheap industry to get into, and unless you know how to run a farm, the learning curve can be unforgiving.

But aren’t these challenges the same for any business? Thousands of young tradies and uni graduates get out there and start their own businesses every year. Maybe the government could put some money into incentivising young Australians into owning profit-turning farms. They’re already doing it for first homes; it’s worth thinking about.

As for formal education, certain interest groups and NGOs are doing their part to promote our industry via scholarships and foundations. This is a great start, and it’s something I’d love to see more of.

I would however suggest one tweak: these uni’s and training organisations need to recategorise “agriculture”. As a blanket term, we already know it doesn’t conjure up the right image in people’s minds. Maybe they should be putting more ag-related courses as electives within major non-ag degrees. At the moment we’ve got Ag Science… and that’s about it.

We have a long and hard road ahead of us. Myself, my brother and our company are trying to do our part to keep Aussie farms well staffed and profitable, but in the end we’re just a drop in the ocean.

I’m not simply throwing my hands up and asking the government, uni’s and media to fix our ailing industry either.

I’m asking the whole country to fix it, one step at a time. We like to dream big, us country boys.

Agri Labour Australia would like to congratulate fellow Darling Downs business, Total Ag Services, for their success in winning the Agri Labour Australia sponsored Agriculture Services Award at the Lowes Petroleum Business Awards.

Total Ag Services were selected as winners from a diverse field of industry service providers.

The event provided a fantastic occasion to showcase the outstanding achievement of local businesses in the Goondiwindi region.

Agri Labour Australia Managing Director, Casey Brown was proud to sponsor the local business event.

“Being from Goondiwindi myself, the strength of local business on the Darling Downs is something that is truly important to me on a personal level. It’s brilliant to see the success of the small business community in Goondiwindi, with so many people working hard to innovate and improve the Ag sector,” said Mr Brown.

For more Agri Labour news follow us on Twitter @AgriLabour

Agri Labour Australia has won the Agribusiness category of the 2015 Australian Small Business Champion Awards.

The prestigious national award, sponsored by True Local, recognises outstanding small businesses and the role they play in Australia’s communities, culture and economic development.

Managing Directors and Co-Founders Casey and Luke Brown attended the award presentation gala, which was held at the Westin Hotel Sydney on April 18^th.

During the judging process, entrants were individually assessed against a number of criteria including company growth, turnover, promotion, customer service, community activity, achievements, training and sustainability, to name just a few.

Other competitors in the Agribusiness category included a tractor importing company and a manufacturer of nutritional products for livestock.

“We’re proud to have been able to accept the award on behalf of our wonderful team”, said Casey.

“Thank you everyone for your hard work. It’s thanks to you that we’ve earned this recognition,” he said.

Since it opened in 2009, Agri Labour Australia has grown from one small office, into a network that stretches across the Australian continent and as far as Taiwan.

Agri Labour Australia has also been nominated to enter the similarly prestigious Telstra Business Awards. Wish us luck!

Mature workers are increasingly adopting a key role in meeting skilled labour gaps in Australian agriculture.

Changing ageist perceptions and embracing workplace diversity, will enable Australian agriculture an opportunity to engage the fastest growing labour segment in Australia.

Regional Australia Institute CEO, Su McCluskey spoke of the positive opportunities a mature workforce can deliver regional Australia,

“It’s time to change our thinking about what an ageing population means to Australia. The next generation of older Australians will be the most educated, diverse, wealthy and experienced to reach the traditional retirement age. Our conversations around ageing need to reflect this by acknowledging not just the challenges, but also the opportunities.”

2014 KEY FACTS

• Mature workers make up 39 per cent of total regional workforce
• Fastest growing labour segment (ABS, 2009)
• Mature workers lifestyle aligned with cyclical HR demands of Agriculture
• Mature workers less likely to experience work-related injuries (ABS, 2006)

Acknowledging the significant value of workplace diversity, Agri Labour is proud to continue our commitment to enabling mature workers equal access to employment opportunities in regional Australia. “Amid the challenging labour climate of Australian Agriculture, mature workers contribute a broad range of knowledge, skills and abilities which improves the total quality and productivity of our harvest teams”, said Casey Brown, Agri Labour Director.

With the retirement age likely to raise to 70 in the near future, Australian agriculture is well positioned to engage a growing number of experienced Australians who will be seeking their next career challenge.

To find out what it’s like to experience working all over Australia as a mature aged worker meet Wayne Kennedy

We are excited to announce that we have expanded our operations to achieve national recruitment capabilities.

On the 1st of July, 2014  Agri Labour Australia officially launched our Western Australian office to service the Western Australian agriculture sector. Our first harvest teams are currently underway in Manjimup and Pemberton and are achieving high levels of quality and productivity.

According to Luke Brown (Director, Agri Labour Australia),

“Although some sections of the agricultural industry might continue to use illegal immigrants and adopt unfair payment practices, there is a clear demand in WA for a service that was compliant with Federal award payments, safety and immigration legislation.”

“It’s a huge time-saver for the farmers if they do not have to find, interview and screen people themselves, let alone if the labour does not have the right skills or attitude. In a sense, we serve as a human resource department and enable farm business to achieve increased productivity.”

Following recent strong performance by our harvest management teams in Victoria, Northern Territory and Tasmania, this recent expansion represents an additional strategic advantage for Agri Labour Australia. We are now able to retain our skilled personnel by offering diverse employment opportunities nationwide. Account Manager, Liam Palmer said,

“The expansion into WA and the seasonal requirements of the agriculture industry were complimentary to Agri Labour’s national approach. We have a team doing the strawberry harvest with a client on the Sunshine Coast. When that draws to a close, we can place the best pickers to work in WA for the harvest which is now underway.”

For further information regarding our harvest and food processing teams in WA please contact Luke Brown via [email protected]