TERTIARY agriculture students are entering jobs with starting salaries equivalent to lawyers.
The statement chimed in the already pricked ears of listeners at the 2015 National Horticulture Convention on the Gold Coast yesterday.
The statement's creator, Professor Neal Menzies says ag graduates face a smorgasbord of options after they conquer the books.
The University of Queensland dean of agriculture was one of the early speakers yesterday at the Convention which brought together vegetable, apple and pear growers for the first time.
Professor Menzies began his address with some sobering statements about the lack of tertiary ag throughput.
In terms of other industries, agriculture is not attracting graduates.
"How well educated is our workforce? The message isn't that great," he said.
"We remain behind the general community as a whole. We're in trouble here and we really need to be doing something about it."
He said agriculture is barely on the radar for career-hungry university students. Among those, horticulture struggles to get even a passing consideration.
"The kids aren't coming from school to study agriculture. The plant part of ag is worse than the animal part of ag," Professor Menzies said.
The figures displayed shown decreasing horticulture enrolments between 2001 and 2012 across nine major Australian universities.
With less than 800 graduates for more than 4000 jobs, Professor Menzies said it was not surprising that those who chose to enter ag were starting off on attractive salaries.
"Salaries for ag graduates are gradually tracking up. Ag graduates now start on the same salary as lawyers," he said.
He said Australia boasts some of the best agriculture university courses in the world, stating our ability to deliver an education remains extremely good.
He said it largely came down to what young perceive agricultural work to be- long hours, dirty, using chemicals and affecting the environment.
"We have an image problem. We need to remake our image, remake the image of our industries," Prof Menzies said.
It was time to start embracing media attention, including social media, and portraying a positive, attractive industry, he said.
He gave an example of the farmers and farming groups appearing on television complaining about issues.
"They make the mistake of thinking they are speaking to the government when they are on camera when really they are talking to future students," he said.
"Sell your industry as a wonderful place to work."
Despite the challenges, he said the timing for getting into agriculture couldn't be better.
"We are at the start of a new and good time for agriculture," Professor Menzies said.
"My expectation and all the data available to me is that ag is entering a boom period."
Professor Menzies's comments about starting salaries may have been perfectly timed with more than 40 year 11 and 12 students attending the Convention yesterday.
The students participated in a specially designed program to highlight the career opportunities available in horticulture.
Students from Loganlea, Beenleigh, Merrimac and Noosa District State High Schools took part in the program which showcased the dynamic nature of Australian horticulture and the breadth of opportunities available to young people looking to begin their careers.
Ausveg spokesperson Callum Howarth said the students were able to hear from international horticultural experts at the Convention as well as exploring the Trade Show and engaging with local and international horticulture industry representatives.
“They also had the chance to not only learn from the presentations by these illustrious horticulture figures, but also engage with growers, business owners, researchers and innovators to develop connections in the industry,” Mr Howarth said.
“We hope that by providing them with this opportunity that we have given these keen, intelligent young Australians the foundation for a fruitful career in horticulture.
“Most of the jobs this generation will undertake, especially in horticulture, do not even exist yet.
"We hope that giving these bright young adults a taste of the industry has sown the seeds of innovation, which will reap benefits for the industry in decades to come."
*Follow @GoodFruitandVeg for live Twitter updates throughout the National Horticulture Convention.
