With six jobs to every agricultural science graduate in Australia, recent graduates from the University of Tasmania’s Bachelor of Agricultural Science are spoilt for choice and taking their pick of exciting jobs here in Tasmania and around the country.
While the statistic is good news for university graduates, it highlights a significant challenge for the agriculture sector which is struggling to attract skilled workers.
Professor Michael Rose, Director of the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA), said a career in agriculture could be extremely diverse and rewarding, but more needed to be done to raise awareness of career pathways and to highlight the wide range of new and exciting job opportunities.
“A degree in agricultural science develops sought-after skills that could see graduates working in diverse roles including on farms, at board tables, in classrooms, in laboratories, or advising governments.
“We need to do more to promote agriculture to young people and change the perception that agricultural jobs are low paid, back breaking work. Innovative farming practices and new agricultural technologies are transforming traditional farming into an exciting industry and the workforce of the future will need a diverse range of skills in areas including science, digital technology, business, and finance.
“We know that many young people are passionate about addressing climate change and contributing towards a sustainable future, and a career in agriculture provides an opportunity to do this.”
Professor Rose said TIA works closely with industry, government, and community stakeholders to develop a skilled agricultural workforce that is job-ready to meet current and future demands. TIA delivers the state-wide Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours at the University of Tasmania, with more than $250,000 worth of scholarship exclusively offered to agricultural science students each year.
“We are focussed on sustainability transforming the knowledge of agriculture, food production and post-farmgate practices of Tasmania’s agriculture sector. This supports the Tasmanian Government’s goal to increase the annual value of the agriculture sector to $10 billion by 2050,” Professor Rose said.
Dr Harriet Walker is the Student Outreach Coordinator at TIA and visits schools around Tasmania to speak with students about careers in agriculture.
“We find that students are really surprised about what agricultural science actually involves. They often think that agriculture is solely about farming, and that you study agricultural science to become a farmer,” she said.
“One of our main priorities is to demonstrate that agricultural science is a scientific discipline with many facets, including soil health, plant and animal physiology, climatic challenges, and ag technology, that all need to work together under a holistic system.
"This diversity leads to a wide range of disciplines within agricultural science and resultant career opportunities, such as working in entomology (study of insects), viticulture (study of grapevines), food safety, plant breeding and genetics, to name a few. There’s a lot of career pathways and students don’t really know about them.”
Dr Walker also coordinates the annual ‘Feed your Mind, Feed the World’ camp which is a fully funded immersive experience held in North-West Tasmania each year for students in year 11 and 12.
The three-day camp includes taster sessions of agricultural science, and visits to some of Tasmania’s leading agricultural businesses, with the goal of attracting students to study agricultural science.
“The camp was really successful in 2022 and we hosted 10 students from the mainland and 13 students from Tasmania. It is a great way for students to learn more about agricultural science before they decide on studying it at university and it’s particularly valuable for students from non-agricultural backgrounds. It’s so rewarding when this camp helps to inspires students to embark on a career in agriculture,” she said.
Find out more about the the Feed your Mind, Feed the World camp.
This article was supplied to TFGA for the July 2023 edition of Farming Tasmania Magazine.