A career in agriculture doesn’t just make good sense to young farmers and regional school leavers – it’s opening up an array of opportunities for young migrant Australians, too.
The language skills and international experience needed in farming’s fast expanding export markets have created attractive pathways for young graduates whose backgrounds are far from the cattle-sheep-wheat farming origins generally associated with agribusiness jobs.
“I grew up wanting to be a flight attendant, but I love this job,” said Thai-born Tukta Taisanthiah, a double degree University of New England graduate.
“I’ve really found a passion for agriculture and learning about what’s going on in agribusiness.”
Ms Taisanthia works with National Australia Bank (NAB) in Armidale, learning the ropes as an agribusiness banker.
She is one of several recruits with overseas backgrounds who joined NAB’s agribusiness division early this year as part of a graduate program which takes about 60 trainees annually.
“Agriculture is absolutely an export industry and we need staff who really understand different languages and cultures to be part of our business,” said NAB’s agribusiness manager, Khan Horne.
“Our graduate intake is far more likely to include people who have travelled fairly widely overseas, or have overseas family connections, than was the case a decade ago.
“Some level of second language experience will be extremely useful, particularly in Asia where farm sector businesses of all sizes are building trading relationships.
“I can almost see it being an imperative by 2020.”
Mr Horne noted 20 years ago farm sector exporting was dominated by government regulated marketing boards providing the main links between farmers and farm product buyers overseas.
Today, however, it was not unusual to find farmers dealing direct with offshore customers.
Some were selling small consignments or belonged to marketing groups shipping big volumes of meat, grain, wine, dairy products, nuts or other horticultural produce.
A whole new tier of supply chain export and import businesses had also emerged with partners or customer relationships in valued non-English speaking markets.
Australia’s agricultural exports are growing in value about five per cent annually, effectively doubling since the start of the century to be worth almost $50 billion a year.
Agriculture directly supports about 500,000 jobs, with about 60pc of the nation’s farm output exported.
“All of these overseas connections rely on people with second or third language skills, and an empathy for the culture and business customs in other parts of the world,” Mr Horne said.
“If you’re talking payments, or currency arrangements, or product specifications, you can’t afford to be at the whim of some random interpreter who doesn’t really know agriculture, or your Korean or Indonesian customer’s translation skills.”
NAB, which banks about a third of Australia’s farm sector, seeks out agri-banking recruits with a mix of training in agriculture and commerce, but also backgrounds which could help customers develop export or import relationships.
An empathy and enthusiasm for work in regional Australia is also a prerequisite for joining the team.
Ms Taisanthiah migrated to Australia aged seven with her mother, older sister and Australian stepfather, to live on the NSW Central Coast, eventually studying both agriculture and economics.
She agreed, people with Asian heritage and a close understanding the cultural sensitivities of the region were more likely to help open doors and build confidence and trust for Australian businesses.
Originally from a rice farming district in north eastern Thailand, her early career ambitions focused on gaining skills in Australia which could potentially develop into tourism opportunities to help the economy in the poor community she had known as a child.
“I decided I didn’t really like hospitality, but agriculture seemed quite useful and interesting,” she said.
“Technology is still very basic in much of Thailand. Fertiliser and crop management would benefit greatly from the sort of experience we have in Australia.”
Other graduate recruits in the same NAB intake included Tichaona (Tich) Pfumayaramba, who came from Zimbabwe last year after seven years of teaching agricultural economics in South Africa.
Jazz Calalang arrived in Australia aged 17 from the Philippines, where her family farmed poultry and bananas.
She studied agricultural economics and accounting at the University of Sydney and this week moved to the Cooma-Canberra area to begin her agri-banking career.
“The Asia-Pacific region has an emerging bunch of people who are really aware of how limited and relatively unhealthy their diet is,” she said.
“I know from personal experience, they want better choices and tastes and they welcome contact with Australia markets and ideas.”
“I’m absolutely enjoying the agribusiness experience and contact with Canberra’s peak industry organisations will be stimulating, too.”
Mr Horne, himself a graduate agri-banker 25 years ago, said 11 of NAB’s 25 regional agribusiness managers had come from the graduate program.
This year, 60pc of the first graduate intake was female – up from past averages around 47pc.
Western Australian, Alyce Lang, said a month-long NAB training program at Albury with others from similar and diverse backgrounds had been an interesting and rewarding learning experience.
“We all want to forge careers in agribusiness – we’ve got a passion for farming.”
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
