The survey, the latest edition of the Rural Directions Pty Ltd Farm Salary Survey Report, covered farm businesses from South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia.

Rural Directions agribusiness consultant Carlyn Sherriff said the purpose of the survey was to enable farm businesses to benchmark wage packages against the Award minimum as well as undertake comparisons against other similar roles within the industry.

“Employers of family and non-family labour can utilise the results within this report to review and improve their people management,” Sherriff said.

More than half of the positions reported in the survey were farm operations assistants (61%) and of the positions reported, the majority were filled by non-family employees (77%) and were full-time positions (74%).

The key findings from the 2016 Farm Salary Survey were: 

• Wages paid (on average): Based on the hourly rates paid, on average, employees were paid above the Award minimum as outlined in the Modern Pastoral Award (2010).
• The highest annual cash component was paid to Farm Managers ($73,237) but due to the high average hours worked (53 per week); the average hourly rate was lower than that of Assistant Farm Managers.
• Farm Managers were paid $26.42 per hour.
• Assistant Farm Managers were paid $28.14 per hour. 
• Farm Operations Assistants were paid $24.39 per hour. 
• Farm Managers worked 53 hours per week on average, which was the role with the highest average hours worked per week which was analysed.

The Rural Directions Farm Salary Survey is conducted biennially and provides farm employers and employees with useful information about their positions within the broader marketplace.

More details HERE