Investment company KPMG sifted through census, tax office and industry survey data to identify popularity among occupations.
While technology, chefs and truck drivers were in the top 10 fastest growing jobs, farmers sat in the bottom five.
In 2014, there was about 167,000 farmers and in 2024 there was 144,800 — a 22,000 decrease — which KPMG said was due to corporate farms claiming land over generational farms.
“Farmers are an interesting case,” KPMG planning and infrastructure economics director Terry Rawnsley said.
“The significant decline in the number of farmers, who run the day-to-day operations of the farm, has been offset by a 10,700 increase in farm workers, which suggests that we are seeing a shift away from smaller, family-run farms to larger farming operations.”
Australian Census data corroborated the analysis, with farm manager numbers decreasing from 2011 to 2021, while farm labourer numbers skyrocketed.
The 2011 census data showed 4218 managers and 1217 labourers in Shepparton, while 2016 reported 3802 managers and 1500 labourers.
The most recent census, 2021, reported 3698 managers and 1813 labourers.
VFF president Brett Hosking said he had noticed the trend.
“We see a consolidation of farms across the state as farm sizes are getting larger and the number of farmers reducing,” he said.
“This results in larger family farms looking to employ more skilled labour to support the business growth.”
He didn’t chalk it up to solely corporate takeover, instead he took a holistic view of the changing landscape in Victorian farming.
“Whilst corporate agriculture does have a presence in Victorian agriculture, we are not really noticing any significant growth or decrease in its presence within Victoria,” Mr Hosking said.
“There is always a level of ‘churn’ with corporate agriculture as investment cycles reach maturity and, as a result, properties are bought and sold.
“There is a definite increase in the complexity of Victorian farm businesses, resulting in many cases in an increase in workload for many farmers as well as a greater need for skilled labour to support the farm business.
“A number of successful years has perhaps increased the capacity of farm businesses to employ extra labour to strengthen and support business growth.
“The challenges that come with seasonal variability and rising cost pressures will and does add pressure to the ability of farm businesses to continue to support these extra labour units on farm.”
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