Both State and Federal governments are concerned about the looming skills shortages occurring in Australia’s rural areas.

Droughts are one cause of a decrease in the number of people working on farms and as a result, when the season picks up there will be a lot to do but not so many people around to do it.

While that may be a short-term issue, the long-term issue of the aging farming population is even more difficult to deal with, reports Cameron Archer in the September edition of Agriculture Today.

Even though there will be strong demand for graduates in agriculture and related fields in future, Australia’s universities are not enrolling as many people in full time study to undertake rural and related careers, nor are the vocational colleges.

The notable exception is Tocal College at Paterson where record enrolments have been taken for 2006.

Tocal has bucked the trend in this direction and as a result Tocal graduates will have a choice of jobs into the future.

The demand will not be just for people to work on farms but also for people to be employed in rural service industries.

With the increasing sophistication of farms, the demand for well trained people for service industries will grow.

The real effect is less people on farms but more people servicing them from country towns and related businesses.

The need to produce sustainable food and fibre in a healthy environment has brought a gradual merging of agriculture and environmental matters and this will continue to increase.

Agriculture is really one way of managing the environment through contrived and productive means to produce food and fibre.

Managing natural areas for natural resource outcomes is a different business but invokes many of the same principles.

Therefore agricultural graduates can find themselves in natural resource management situations just the same as environmental science graduates can find themselves involved in purely agricultural situations.

For anyone with a love of the outdoors and an interest in nature and natural environment, the opportunities are good for the long-term.

There will be a shortage of graduates who know things about our landscapes and what happens in them.

As a result, anyone contemplating this type of career should be aware of the good opportunities that lie ahead.

The skills learnt for rural and related jobs are always transferable to urban situations.

Embarking on a career in rural areas never cuts off opportunities to work in urban areas.

This story appears in the September edition of Agriculture Today.

Further information: Tocal 02 4939 8800

This story appears in Agriculture Today.