A special Ag2050 Symposium: the wrap-up
Our recent symposium, Imagining the Future of Agricultural Work, was held in-person in Canberra and virtually. I’m delighted to share that over 80 people participated from all over the country, including participants from both state and federal government, industry and universities.
The chair and speakers included:
- Katie Ricketts, CSIRO, Principal Research Scientist
- Sarah Whitnall, CSIRO, Visiting Researcher & UC Davis Postdoctorate
- Margaret Jodlowski, Ohio State University
- Alexandra Hill, University of California, Berkeley.
The event was a fantastic opportunity to bring together our team’s research on heat stress and farm productivity, UC Berkeley’s insights on regulated overtime and well-being, and Ohio State’s work on job satisfaction and the human experience behind labour migration and workforce patterns.
Overall, the symposium painted a picture of agricultural labour markets and rural workforces in significant transition. As economists, I walked away convinced that CSIRO has a unique role to play in this transformation if we want to have better labour market outcomes and productive and equitable food systems.
The recording of the Symposium is available for watching here: Imagining the Future of Agricultural Work.
The symposium was part of our Ag2050 Agricultural Labour Futures work package, which is delivering research at the intersection of food security, labour markets, and climate change.
Simply put, we’re interested in the world of agricultural work: how it’s changing and the current and future scenarios that might affect the health, livelihoods, and welfare of the people who produce, pick, package, process, and transport our food.
By Katie Ricketts, Ag2050 Agricultural Labour Futures work package lead