Career Spotlight: Agriculture and environmental studies
Diverse job opportunities
There is more to agriculture than just working on the land. While farming is a big part of the industry, careers in agriculture can branch out to food processing, aquaculture and forestry and horticultural operations. Becoming an agricultural or forestry scientist is also a potential career path for those who want to combine research with a passion for the environment, while entrepreneurs may be drawn to the possibilities in agribusiness. This industry also requires workers from areas that you wouldn’t immediately correlate with agriculture – think sales executives, logistics experts and product managers.
Location, location
If you have nomadic tendencies, a career in agriculture could be a great fit for you. Whether you’re training cattle on a livestock farm or studying grapes at a vineyard, the agriculture industry provides the opportunity to travel and work in several different environments. Agriculture is a thriving industry in many corners of the world, presenting you with plenty of career options both at home and abroad. Even though it’s often regarded as a rural industry, you’d be surprised to find that many job opportunities in agriculture are available in urban areas.
Significant and rewarding job
It’s simple - without agriculture, we’d have no food. Farmers, labourers and other employees help the world go round, as they continually manage natural resources to produce the food and beverages that we consume every day. Knowing that you contribute to not just the economy, but the lives of Australians on a daily basis, makes a job in this industry an incredibly satisfying one. Food and drink can bring joy to so many, and seeing your hard work have this effect on people makes it all the more rewarding.
Innovation
With the population booming and more mouths to feed than ever before, technology has begun to weave its way into the agriculture sector. Drones, computerised irrigation networks and GPS-driven tractors are just some of the innovations appearing in the industry, creating exciting opportunities for workers. If you’re an innovative thinker with an interest in the environment, your knowledge and enthusiasm could be crucial in helping to craft the solutions needed to sustain an ever-changing industry.
Prediction of growth
Job Outlook data predicts growth for many jobs in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry up to 2023. In particular, agricultural scientists and operators, animal attendants, nursey propagators and shearers are projected to experience strong employment prospects. Plenty of other occupations have moderate or stable growth on the agenda, with mixed livestock and crop farmers and livestock workers being the only occupations facing decline. The pay rate for jobs within this industry is also quite solid, with agricultural scientists earning a median weekly rate of $1,473, product quality controllers pocketing $1,149 a week and livestock farmers hovering around the $980 mark.
