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the australian farmer
Educating Future Leaders of the Ag Workforce Australia must prioritise the education and up-skilling of future leaders in our primary industries to effectively meet the growing demand for food and fibre.
Dr Simon Livingstone and Luciano Mesiti
Australia’s agricultural sector in the coming years. This funding is critical for farms, infrastructure, and facilities, such as food pro- cessing centres, if we are to cap- ture our share of this enormous and burgeoning market. The real challenge for the agri- cultural sector will be securing human resources with the divers- ification of skills and education to work in all areas across the food and fibre primary production spectrum. Much of the educa- tion and training undertaken in the rural sector has traditionally been on-the-job, but as the world population and subsequent food demand increases, so to do the educational requirements of those involved in agriculture. There will always be demand across the agricultural sector for workers with a range of educa- tion qualifications. Many manual roles can be mastered with on- the-job training, but in order to progress to future roles in the primary industries, such as farm managers and other leaders within the supply chain, further education is necessary. The education of our future
There is excitement among politicians and primary indus- tries organisations about the future of Australian agriculture – and food production in par- ticular. Much of this excitement is driven by the opportunity to have a leading role in feeding an increasing world population which is already experiencing issues with supply chain reliabil- ity, from paddock to plate. It is imperative that our national in- terest and resolve maintains an important focus on agriculture in the critical years ahead. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation esti- mates the number of inhabit- ants on this planet will reach 9.3 billion by the year 2050. Much discussion, both politically and in our primary industries, is fo- cusing on how this rapidly rising population will be fed. Australia should acknowledge the various opportunities and challenges it now faces to meet the growing demand for food within our borders, and further afield, including Asia and be- yond. Many experts now say that significant capital is required for
agricultural leaders is now a high priority for both government and primary industries. A na- tional, coordinated approach to assist high schools to encourage interest in agricultural careers through structured programs, will have meaningful, long-term impact. Programs offered by or- ganisations such as the Primary Industries Education Founda- tion Australia fulfill this function, through supporting food and fibre education and the promo- tion of agricultural careers at a high school and tertiary level. Productivity Commission re- ports have identified that a key source of productivity growth in Australian agriculture has been the recent generation and adop- tion of new knowledge or tech- nologies. Productivity growth has come about as those in- volved in agriculture have made better use of available technolo- gies and management practices, with this knowledge typically ob- tained in a formal learning con- text – high school or university. High performing agricultural managers along the various sup- ply chains often need to make
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