Ag education plea from ACC's Anthony Lee at Ekka RPC breakfast

Anthony Lee, director and chief executive of big Queensland-based beef producer, feedlotter and processor Australian Country Choice, delivered the prestigious Malcolm McCosker Memorial Address at the Rural Press Club of Queensland Ekka breakfast.

Speaking to an audience of 700 farmers and agribusiness representatives, Mr Lee advocated for a a single body that represents all agriculture nation-wide with a remit to support the development and implementation of ag education starting from a young age.

Pooling just one per cent of levies paid out to the 15 rural development corporations that cover every sector from red meat and horticulture to forestry would amass a sizable war chest, he said.

Without making a move on the labour shortage plaguing food and fibre farms and supply chains, agriculture had no chance on meeting its target of being a $100 billion industry by 2030, Mr Lee argued.

Just as importantly, however, was the need to address "a curriculum being filled with negative messaging about agriculture from the uniformed."

ACC is a third-generation cattle and beef company that employs 1500. It operates 42 properties totalling 1.8 million hectares, with a herd of 300,000 cattle.

It's three feedlots, with 55,000 head on feed, all service a Brisbane processing facility with 350,000 head per annum. Half the beef supplies the domestic market and half is exported via high quality brands to more than 40 markets.

"I love this industry and the job we do and I challenge anybody to come up with a business that is more secure in the long term than one that feeds people," Mr Lee said.

But, like every industry, ACC was now battling a limited ability to find a suitable workforce.

"The recent pandemic effectively terminated agriculture's international labour pipeline yet the agricultural workforce demand continues to grow and, at the same time, is changing to require greater skills due to evolving technology, market complexities and business acumen imperatives," Mr Lee said.

"Increases in the proportion of corporate farming, corporation-style management of family farms and the general increase in farm size are all adding to the 'professionalising' of agriculture.

"Employment offerings, both on and off-farm, are increasing. However the number of graduates per year in agriculture is relatively constant and projections based on intakes suggest that this is unlikely to change.

"Not only do we have insufficient people to fill positions, there is an increasing number of people, mainly external to our industry, who are dissatisfied with agriculture's supposed poor environmental credentials which unfortunately is likely to exacerbate our skill shortages in years to come."

Mr Lee quoted the Dean of Penn State Agriculture Science in the United States Rick Roush: "Students avoid agriculture because of the stain of climate change."

"Whether we agree or not, this is the world we live in and it is of concern. Skills shortages and our declining social license are linked issues," Mr Lee said.

But solutions were achievable and, importantly, within our control, he said.

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In 2011 an Australian study of 150 year six students found that 25pc thought yoghurt was from a plant and about 75pc thought cotton socks came from animals.

In 2020, a Woolworths survey of more than 1000 children, aged under 14, found that 55pc had never visited a farm and only half could recognise vegetables such as beetroot and leak.

Mr Lee presented these studies, saying while past generations had family farming links, now the closest many modern kids get to agriculture is a computer game.

Urbanisation was a barrier that could be overcome, he said, and the secret was in what people are learning and when.

"Any sort of real agricultural study does not commence until year ten and even then, it's only an elective," Mr Lee said.

"That's too late. Our industry's ability to educate and effect a young person's life is being totally missed."

On the other hand, mining had an industry-wide, coordinated, education platform which it invested millions every year on.

The National Rugby League starts at grass roots, with the Munchkin League for 3 to 5 year-olds.

"Ag does not do this effectively," Mr Lee said.

His idea for a single and focused body, the conduit between industry, government and the education institutions, could be funded by RDCs.

"In 2021, $800 million was paid out to 15 agricultural RDCs, of which $500 million was paid by us, the businesses," Mr Lee said.

"Agriculture is a very large industry and a lot of the skills are cross-commodity. We have the money, and governments love multi-sector initiatives as long as we are united. Skills shortage is an industry-wide issue, so we're best to tackle it with an industry-wide approach.

"Mining sets aside around $3m per year for its school development programs. If each of our RDCs set aside just one per cent of available funds that would equate to $8m.

"For those who say this money is set aside for research and development - capability building is an RDC imperative and I say the development of great people will enable the development of great technology."