While the agricultural sector has faced a raft of challenges in the past two years, a new report shows farm employers across the sheep and beef, dairy, and arable sectors have continued to invest strongly in one of their greatest assets – their staff.

The 2024 Federated Farmers-Rabobank Farming Salaries Report, shows that since the last report in 2022, the average salary for a farm worker has increased by $7480 to $71,411.

It also found the weighted average annual salary across the 13 surveyed on-farm position categories has grown by 13 per cent.

Richard McIntyre, Federated Farmers national board member and employment spokesman said for some more senior roles, the increases had been “significantly higher”.

McIntyre said the average salary for a dairy herd manager was up 19 per cent to $74,185, while a sheep and beef farm manager was earning an average 22 per cent more than two years ago ($88,381) and the average income for an arable farm manager was up 28 per cent to $101,264.

He said the increases were impressive, especially in light of the headwinds farmers contended with over the past two years, including Covid, severe weather events, red tape, inflation and roller-coaster commodity prices.

“And these upward salary movements underline that careers in agriculture are not only satisfying but also pay-competitive,” he said.

This 2024 report is Federated Farmers and Rabobank’s 14th Farming Salaries report.

It collates the results from a remuneration survey conducted by independent firm Research First in early 2024, and the findings cover data collected from 529 farm employers relating to nearly 1800 employees.

The report shows that between 2022 and 2024, weighted average salaries rose by 11 per cent for dairy sector roles, 17 per cent for sheep and beef roles, and 14 per cent for arable roles.

McIntyre said the report also highlighted strong growth in Total Package Values for farm employees.

“The salary figures do not include the range of other benefits provided to farm employees, which can include things like vehicle usage, meat, firewood, phone and power allowances,” he said.

For many farm employees, those extras can add up to several thousands of dollars a year, McIntyre said.

“For example, the average Total Package Value for someone working in the sheep and beef sector rose to $76,296, nearly $3700 more than the salary.”

The report shows the average weekly hours worked on farms is below the International Labour Organisation’s recommended maximum standard weekly total of 48 hours.

The average number of hours worked by a permanent dairy staff member was 46.3 hours.

On a sheep and beef farm, it was 44.4 hours and on an arable farm, 46.3 hours.

Rabobank general manager for Country Banking Bruce Weir said the low unemployment environment was one of the factors driving on-farm salaries higher over the past 24 months.

“Many farm owners have found it incredibly difficult to source skilled labour over recent years, and this has played a key role in lifting wages as employers have had to pay more to attract and maintain good staff,” he said.

Weir said the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), was another major driver of salary growth – particularly for the dairy sector which had a greater reliance on overseas workers.

“Introduced in mid-2022, the AEWV requires employers to pay at least the median wage to international workers as a condition of the Visa, and this has lifted pay for international workers higher.

“This in turn has led to increased pay for domestic workers as employers have increased salaries for this group to ensure pay parity with their international counterparts.”

Weir said while growth in on-farm salaries increased costs for farm owners, it was crucial to help attract young people into agricultural careers.

“We know that remuneration is a key consideration for this group when they’re thinking about career pathways and, if we want to attract good young people into the sector, it’s vitally important that growth in salaries for on-farm roles keeps pace with, or exceeds, what is happening across the wider employment market.”

Weir said Statistics NZ data showed that Labour Cost Index wage growth across all New Zealand sectors in the 24 months to December 31 last year was around 11 per cent.

“So it’s good to see salaries for most of the surveyed on-farm positions growing at this rate or quicker over the same period.”

This article was originally posted on the NZ Herald here.