Verity Ingham, general manager of regional services at Dairy Australia, says that 22% of dairy farmers were unable to fill open jobs within 3 months, and 40% lost at least one worker.
Working in dairy has its perks.
The Australian national organisation for the dairy industry says that the problem is made worse by Covid-19 and the lack of skilled workers across the country in many fields, not just agriculture. Dairy Australia is starting a new national marketing campaign to promote the benefits of working in dairy farming and encourage Australians to look into a job in dairy. This will help to solve the problem.
Jonathan Brown, who is a dairy ambassador, and 7 dairy farmers will be a part of the campaign. It will talk about why working in dairy is important and highlight things that have been shown to make people want to work in dairy.
Dairy Australia says that these factors include working with animals, being outside, moving up in your career, having a variety of tasks, getting training, having a secure job, and helping the community by making healthy food.
The workforce attraction campaign will be shown on TV, YouTube, radio, social media, and in local newspapers in dairying areas. This will encourage people looking for work to look for jobs in the dairy industry in their area. Farmers will be told to take advantage of the fact that more people want to work on dairy farms and get information on how to do this.
Keeping good people in the dairy industry
Ingham says that the goal of the campaign is to bring people into the industry and keep them there. “There is a lot of competition for jobs in rural areas, so it is important for dairy farmers to find good, reliable people.” It’s just as important to keep them.”
She makes it clear that milk farms need workers to keep the milk flowing. “And for the cheese on the tables and the yoghurt in our lunchboxes. We are really looking for people who want job security, like working with animals and taking care of them, want variety, flexibility, or want to move up in their careers.
Some farmers have decided to milk fewer cows because they don’t have enough workers…
“For dairy farmers, there are also resources for finding jobs and information on how to keep good people,” says Ingham. “I think farmers should take advantage of this chance.”
In Australia, many dairy farmers are increasing wages, giving incentives, and giving performance bonuses to keep and find workers. But some farmers can’t find anyone to work on their farms. Some farmers have decided to milk fewer cows because they don’t have enough workers. Others have switched to beef because it takes less work. Australia has also seen a rise in the number of people who use robot dairies.
“A real brake on company newspapers”
Rick Gladigau, the president of Australian Dairy Farmers, recently said that the coronavirus era had been bad for large-scale milking operations because there were not enough people to do the work. “It really puts a stop to corporate dairies. Not just the big companies, but also the ones in the middle. Depending on the number of cows, the farmer’s age, and other factors, there comes a time when you need to hire an extra person or two or three.”
Australia’s treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said earlier that he is in talks with business about a temporary increase in the country’s skilled migration intake. This comes as the business sector pushes for 200,000 visas to be given out to fill jobs.
There are also problems in the dairy business in New Zealand. Farmers in New Zealand had to work more hours, and some tasks, like managing pastures, were not getting done. Part of the sector’s work is done by people from other countries, but it takes a long time to find foreign workers, get them visas, and move them.
Richard McIntyre, a dairy farmer and spokesman for Federated Farmers, said recently that his industry has been short of workers for a year. “The real problem is that if I get someone to work on my farm, I’m really just taking a worker away from someone else, which makes things hard for them. It’s just that there aren’t enough people.”
