A new National Agricultural Labour Advisory Committee has been tasked with providing the Liberal and Nationals Government advice on how to secure a sustainable agricultural workforce for the future.

Minister for Agriculture, Senator Bridget McKenzie, said Australian agriculture has its best years ahead of it despite current difficulties caused by drought and bushfires.

“The workforce’s needs are one of the top issues farmers raise with me no matter where I go, from Darwin to Devonport, or what sector they’re from,” McKenzie said.

“If agriculture is to grow to its full potential we need to make sure farmers have access to a fit-for-purpose workforce—that’s the right worker, at the right place, at the right time of the season.

“This important taskforce, promised at the election, will provide the government with critical advice about meeting agriculture’s workforce needs now and into the future.”

“They’ll be looking to give us advice to achieve the best balance of international and national labour and ways to make agriculture a career of choice for our young people,” the Minister added.

“I want Australians to recognise that they can have a rewarding, fulfilling, high-tech career out in rural and regional Australia working in agriculture.”

Minister McKenzie said that the industry experts on the committee will provide the government with advice about the medium and long term ways to achieve the best possible workforce for Australian agriculture and deliver a second election commitment—the $1.9 million National Agricultural Workforce Strategy.

“The 11 member committee will work to assess the current state of Australia’s agriculture workforce and make recommendations to ensure the industry’s future international and domestic workforce needs can be met,” she said.

“Some of that is about showing how rewarding agriculture is—it’s where science meets practice, it’s where computer engineering meets the real world.”

For more information about the committee and its work program go to http://agriculture.gov.au/ag-farm-food/agricultural-workforce