Maranoa & Balonne Regions

Irrigation

Irrigation is a complex and scientific requirement critical to most other industries.  Apart from farming, other sectors include installers, contractors, farmers, local, state and federal government.

Training opportunities:  as irrigation is so important, it has it’s own nationally accredited Certificate III (AHC32419) and is now a ‘trade qualification’.  You can also complete around 11 skillsets (short courses) to make yourself even more attractive to employers.  Irrigation Australia is a registered training organisation (RTO), meaning they can conduct training to Australian standards and issue you a certificate that meets national guidelines.

Training search:

• Irrigation Australia training
• Centre of Irrigation Excellence

Job search:  

• Get trained with Irrigation Australia, as they promote their graduates to industry members.
• Look under the Employer’s Tab here at FarmReady

Cotton

Cotton Australia is the peak body for Australia’s cotton growers and has a team of staff located in major cotton regions to support farmers.  Cotton is a very important Australian industry and employs around 12,000 people.   Cotton is the fibre used in the majority of our fabrics and clothing like jeans and shirts – its a very sought after and versatile crop.

A career in cotton can involve machinery operation, bug checking, irrigation, farmhands, crop consultants, drone operators and scientists.  If you are after casual seasonal work, the cotton industry requires workers on a seasonal basis for jobs such as irrigating where the syphons are stated manually (see work videos). The availability of this work will depend on the amount of cotton being grown which fluctuates on an annual basis depending on the availability of water for irrigation.

Visit Cotton Australia to read more about the industry, markets, growers, news and events.

Training:  visit the Cotton Classroom to find out more about scholarships and educational opportunities:

• Educational resources (Cotton Classroom)
• Lessons in cotton
• Scholarships
• The Clontarf Foundation
• PIEFA

Job Search:

• Look under the Employer’s Tab here at FarmReady

Beef, sheep, wool & grains

Agforce is a peak organisation representing the Queensland broadacre industries of cattle, grain, sheep and wool.   Although all these types of farm exist all over Queensland, they are concentrated around the state as follows:

• Sheep Meat & Wool – mainly produced in the Burdekin and Southern Downs areas across to Traprock and out to St George.  Also in the Longreach area including Blackall and Barcaldine.
• Beef Cattle – is statewide, however, the larger stations are located in Queensland’s Central West and the Gulf Regions (north).
• Grains (wheat, sorghum, barley etc) – usually grown away from the coastline in regions such as Darling Downs, Western Downs, Central Qld, South Burnett, Warwick, Dalby.  Grain crops are seasonal and are usually rotated throughout the seasons.  Wheat is usually followed by Barley and grown in winter.  With Sorghum in summer.  Other legumes and canola are also becoming popular.

Job Search:

• Look under the Employer’s Tab here at FarmReady

For more statistics and info:

• Visit Agforce