AgriFutures Australia is seeking an appropriately skilled and experienced service provider to scope and deliver Phase 1 of the project to map the current and future state of the Australian agricultural workforce.

Request for Quote closes 12pm (AEST) Wednesday, 12 July 2023

Briefing to be held 10:30am (AEST) Wednesday, 28 June 2023 – email programs@agrifutures.com.au for invite details.

Background

The Emerging National Rural Issues (ENRI) program exists to explore emerging issues in Australian agriculture, form cross-industry partnerships, progress multi-sector collaboration opportunities and invest in research that informs and improves policy debate via the National Rural Issues Program. AgriFutures is the facilitator of the ENRI forum, however this is a joint Research Development Corporation process, a genuine collaborative forum.

At the most recently held ENRI Forum in Canberra, May 2023, the theme of “Workforce” was collectively identified by participants as a common challenge across all rural industries and a top priority to respond to. Australia’s rural industries must attract, retain and develop skilled workers to not only meet the sector’s current workforce demands, but to support and drive future expansion and growth of our food and fibre industries. Beyond the agriculture industry’s ambition to exceed $100 billion in farm gate output by 2030, the world population is also expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. Supply of skilled workers will be an underlying pillar that supports Australia’s ability to produce and supply trusted produce locally and internationally, but how can our rural industries quantify the number of workers needed and the type of worker needed to reach future targets?

Consistent, relevant, enduring and publicly available agricultural workforce data can underpin the agriculture sector’s ability to respond to growing demand for agricultural workforce. Fit for purpose workforce data informs narrative, program, policy and strategic approaches using an evidence base. Currently, available agricultural workforce data lacks workforce characteristics for agriculture and does not allow for industry to predict future workforce requirements, nor measure progress.

There is the need for the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors to align and coordinate on workforce data collection. Currently, a range of organisations collect workforce data including the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), individual Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), State and Federal Government agencies, employers and industry bodies. An opportunity exists for cross sector collaboration amongst data collectors and rural industries to align on workforce data collection and improve existing datasets.

Additionally, sound data collection would allow for rural industries to measure progress, for example, in gender and cultural diversity in rural sectors.

This project will determine what agricultural workforce data currently exists, consult with key stakeholders to identify the data gaps and what information is needed to support future workforce development and propose a solution to the gaps found. The findings of this project will be used to inform & deliver future research aimed at collecting, measuring & analysing fit-for-purpose agricultural workforce data, capability frameworks and strategic workforce planning.