The Demography of NZ Agribusiness

Adventures in unmapped territories..

Frank ScrimgeourProfessor and Dean WAIKATO MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

NIDEA Launch Symposium November 24th 2010

• “Objective 2: Human capabilities are developed in all aspects of the farm system to achieve, personal, professional and industry goals”

• “On average, hired farm workers are younger, less educated, more likely to be foreign born, less likely to speak English and less likely to be citizens”

The landscape

• Consumer demography– Changing ages and incomes– Changing locations and lifestyles

• Human capital in the farm sector: Agricultural leadership and farm/orchard labour– Ongoing contraction in the number of enterprises

• Human capital in the processing sector– The significance of ethnicity and culture

Some of the big issues

Seasonality in Agriculture

Jun-1999

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20090

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Agriculture, Forestry, & Fishing: Total Filled JobsSource: Statistics New Zealand

Evidence about seasonality (Source Timmins)Kiwifruit

Perm. Seas. Casual Over.

Jobs 14.8 15.0 60.4 9.7

Employ 41.3 11.9 41.3 5.5

Wkers 18.5 14.0 65.9 11.9

Total Horticulture

Perm. Seas. Casual Over.

Jobs 18.1 13.2 57.9 10.8

Employ 48.1 9.9 36.2 5.8

Wkers 24.5 13.0 61.7 10.7

Tenure 1 mth 2-3 mth 4-6 mth 7-9 mth

Veges 28.7 25.9 13.2 5.8

A&P 38.2 34.9 13.6 3.0

Nurs 18.9 22.3 15.0 6.8

Kiwi 36.5 33.1 11.6 4.8

Citrus 50.3 31.3 8.0 2.6

Migration and Recognised Seasonal Employees

Nation 2007/08 2008/9

Kiribati 45 41

Samoa 569 1234

Tonga 610 1361

Tuvalu 99 48

Vanuatu 1067 2523

Total kick start

2390 5207

Other nations 492 1950

Total 2882 7157

Issue– Expectations– Selection– Pastoral care– Competency– Etc.

Sources

Source: Department of Labour

• There is a declining proportion of dairy farm workers with the potential to become sharemilkers or significant managers

• Immigrant workers are crucial to the ongoing success of NZ horticulture

• NZ food marketers have paid insufficient attention to global consumer demographics

• Meat and dairy industry HRM pays insufficient attention to culture

Some General Hypotheses

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Thank you

scrim@waikato.ac.nz

www.waikato.ac.nz/nidea