It's on again!
Theme Three: Keynote Abstracts
THEME FOUR: Careers and Workforce in Primary Industries
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Dr Livingstone has worked for 28 years in the vocation and higher education sectors. His most recent employment was 19 years as Principal of Marcus Oldham College. Marcus Oldham attracts students who study tertiary courses in agriculture, agribusiness and equine management. He has held senior positions at agricultural colleges in both Queensland and Victoria. Dr Livingstone’s PhD is in higher education and he holds degrees in School Management, Further Education & Training, Business and Agriculture. He has served on the Victorian Higher Education Advisory Committee and is a past Board Member of Independent Higher Education Australia. His early years included working for eight years on large cattle stations in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
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Professor of Agriculture | Charles Sturt University
BIOGRAPHY: Jim is Strategic Research Professor of Agriculture at Charles Sturt University. He graduated with BSc and PhD degrees from the University of NSW and took up an academic position at Wagga Wagga where he has been since 1972. He was Foundation Dean of Science and Agriculture at Charles Sturt University from 1990 until 2006 when he was accorded Emeritus Professor of the University. Jim has taught courses in agronomy and related areas, He has supervised more than 20 PhD students to completion and has published five books, written 27 book chapters published more than 100 journal papers and more than 100 conference papers in conservation farming, weed management, herbicide resistance, self-weeding crops, and agricultural education. He completed a Ministerial Review into Agricultural Education and Training in NSW (2012-13).
He is a former President of the Australian Society of Agronomy and former Vice President of the International Allelopathy Society. He has served on the Boards of the Cooperative Research Centres of Viticulture, Sustainable Rice Production, Weed Management Systems, and Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity as well as a member of the NSW Primary Industries Ministerial Council. He currently serves on the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian Farm Institute, the Board of the RAS Foundation of NSW and is the secretary of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture.
He is a Fellow of the Australian Society of Agronomy, a recipient of the CAWS Medal (Leadership in weed science), The Cameron Archer Medal for services to Agricultural Education and recipient of the international Molisch Award for continued excellence in allelopathy research. He was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2019 for services to agricultural education, research and advisory.
KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: Agricultural Workforce – The Paradigm Shift
The Australian agricultural workforce is currently in ‘critical shortage mode’ and it is getting worse. The same ingredients have been present for more than two decades but have been brutally exposed by the Covid pandemic which restricted the availability of international itinerants and even domestic labour who were unable to mobilise to work sites. Since the pandemic has eased, it has become a reality that agriculture is not the only sector in the economy that has workforce shortages. The difference is that the other sectors have valued education and training for a long time and so are mainly in a better place to entice new participants compared with agriculture, which still seems to yearn for a continuation of the itinerant worker who can be paid little and, in some cases, exploited – minimising the cost rather than seeing the investment. Why then is this still the case? Hopefully we can make some sense through our consideration of this conundrum.
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Livestock Sustainability Manager | Australian Rural Exports Pty Ltd (AUSTREX)
BIOGRAPHY: Kari Moffat is the Livestock Sustainability Manager at Australian Rural Exports Pty Ltd (AUSTREX) based in Darwin. She has over 8 years of experience in the livestock export sector, with a focus on animal welfare standards, compliance, and sustainability. Kari holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business (Agriculture) from Marcus Oldham College and is currently studying a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture from Charles Sturt University. Kari is actively involved in industry, through the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework Steering Group and the Indonesia Australia Red Meat and Cattle Partnership. She is also a founder and previous Chair & Secretary of the Young Livestock Exporters Network (YLEN) and an executive committee member of the Queensland Livestock Exporters Association.
KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: Navigating the Beef Industry: Opportunities, Networks, and My Career Path
Kari Moffat, Livestock Sustainability Manager at AUSTREX, will share her career journey to date, including her work onboard live export vessels and overseeing animal welfare compliance for livestock in Sou-East Asia. Kari will also discuss the importance of networks in the agricultural industry and how they can lead to opportunities and career growth. She will share her experience as a founder of the Young Livestock Exporters Network (YLEN), including stepping out of her comfort zone and leading a network of over 300 young members around Australia.
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Senior Research Officer, Agricultural Education and Extension Research Cluster | CQUniversity
BIOGRAPHY: Nicole McDonald holds a PhD in the Vocational Psychology of Agriculture, and started her research career investigating agricultural workforce job satisfaction, work engagement, adaptability, and the future of work. In 2020 she joined CQUniversity’s multi-disciplinary Agricultural Education and Extension cluster. Working in this team has expanded her contributions to include career development projects for primary and secondary school students, developing and delivering digital skills training for future and existing workforce, and scoping studies on diversity and inclusion. The team has also launched the SHIFT project, which aims to develop the findings from her last 8 years of CRDC-funded work with the cotton industry and deliver tools, strategies, and resources for best practice to manage future workforce skills. Nicole was the recipient of the 2019 Career Development Association of Australia’s Excellence in Research Award.
KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: Building the Agriculture Talent Pipeline: Attraction, Development and Retention of People in Agriculture
An ageing workforce, the rise of digital agriculture, low unemployment rates, and a global pandemic are some of the complex factors impacting today’s agricultural workforce. A lack of adequately skilled and motivated workers is a production-limiting factor and a ‘wicked problem’. We must move from ad-hoc, intuitive approaches to strategic, evidence-based interventions that address the mechanisms that lead people to choose careers in the agricultural industry.
Career development theory and practice can help us to build the talent pipeline required to ensure a sustainable and productive agricultural industry while also delivering opportunities for the next generation to pursue meaningful work. The metaphor of the career pathway is no longer fit-for-purpose. Instead we need to consider how we give people a compass to navigate the ever-evolving opportunities in agriculture. Connecting individuals’ skills, strengths, values, and interests to the world of agricultural work requires ongoing engagement and connection between industry and educators.
Simultaneously, we need to be working with employers to create the workforce structures and cultures that retain people. Doing so will develop an authentic attraction story that lead others to aspire to careers in agriculture.
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Chief Executive Officer and Director | Australian Country Choice Group
BIOGRAPHY: Anthony Lee is Chief Executive Officer and a director of the ACC Group, the world’s largest paddock-to-plate family-owned and -operated cattle and beef business. He joined the Lee family business in 1994 and has worked across most parts of its operations. He holds a Bachelor of Business Management from the University of Queensland and is the proud father of four children.
KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: Industry-generated solutions to Australia’s ag-education gap
Workforce gaps are an increasing challenge for Australia’s food and fibre producers, as is decreasing social licence to operate. Concurrently, there is evidence of growing agricultural illiteracy among the nation’s consumers. Education has the capability to address all these problems, but the current frameworks are not effective. Agricultural education in Australian schools is delivered too late in the curriculum cycle. The content is too diverse and the delivery too haphazard. Focussed discussions with more than 50 leaders of industry organisations across a wide range of commodities have revealed some potential approaches to these challenges. These will then be further developed in an industry-led forum in late April 2023.
Agriculture, along with mining, is Australia’s pre-eminent export industry and should be afforded greater focus in the nation’s classrooms.
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Training Manager | UQ Skills
Higher Degree Candidate | Charles Sturt University
BIOGRAPHY: Mr Manser has a strong education and working background in science and education. Mr Manser transitioned from working in Animal Health to teaching, beginning his teaching career at Beaudesert State High School where he became Head of Department and implemented the national curriculum along with other developmental projects. Mr Manser moved to The Rockhampton Grammar School in 2015 for the position of Head of Department for Agriculture till 2022. He was involved in the development of the new senior Agricultural Science syllabus in Queensland, was an independent reviewer for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, and various international and national syllabus reviews and resource development initiatives. Mr Manser is the former President of the National Association of Agricultural Educators and the Queensland Agriculture Teacher’s Association. He is currently completing a higher research degree in Agricultural Education at Charles Sturt University looking at educations role in developing the Agricultural Workforce, and is currently training manager at the University of Queensland’s vocational arm, UQ Skills.
KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: Have we really defined the role of Agricultural Education in supporting industry requirements?
The wicked problem of doubling world food production by 2050, or at the very least achieving the federal governments Ag2030 objective of becoming a $100 billion dollar industry through productivity increases while maintaining financial, social and environmental sustainability, poses significant challenges for food security and the Australian economy. Workforce requirements have and will continue to change in coming years, and Agricultural Education is a tool naturally suited to support industry in this challenge through the development of the next generation. However, is Australian Agricultural education fit for purpose, and indeed, has its purpose been clearly defined?
With only 3% of Australia’s workforce being engaged in the Agricultural sector, and an increasing rural urban divide, Mr. Manser will share his experiences from the secondary and tertiary sectors to explore the question of capacity and role, while proposing first principal definitions to support the development of the next generation of Australians and the skills required to grow the next generation.
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