More than you see… How diversity in decision-makers is benefiting rural businesses

The Diversity in decision-making in rural industries research was conducted by Victoria University in 2016-17, and looked at diversity in gender, age, language, culture and the Indigenous status of decision-makers in a broad cross-section of rural enterprise types and sizes, as well as international research.

AgriFutures Australia Managing Director, John Harvey, said, “In today’s challenging production and trading environment, Australia’s rural industries must keep the innovative edge that they are renowned for.

“The nation’s workforce, and the way people work, is changing. Decisions made ‘the old way’ just won’t sustain our rural industries into the future.”

Mr Harvey said the image of a “white older male” as being typical of a farmer and rural decision-maker is rooted in data, with the 2011 ABS Census recording that 72 per cent of Australian farmers were male.

“We therefore tend to define ‘diversity’ as anyone not sharing this profile. Historically, Australian agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors have been characterised by low levels of diversity in its decision-making ranks,” he said.

“This research highlights how individual farms and agribusinesses, as well as industry organisations and corporate agriculture, can harness diverse groups in the Australian economy in leadership roles across all parts of the decision-making spectrum within their operations. By ‘diverse’, we mean in professional background, culture, gender and age.

“We know from this research that diverse decision makers have flow-on benefits, because as individual people and businesses benefit, so too do their rural and regional communities.”

The research found that diversity in decision-makers is a long-term business strategy, and not exclusively the domain of Human Resources departments, because existing rural industry leaders are key to diversifying their own bases, although this will be a significant challenge. Turnover in decision-making roles is low, so opportunities to introduce diverse candidates are limited, hence another reason why the commitment of industry leaders is crucial to a diversity strategy.

Mr Harvey said, “Globalisation, technology and digital platforms are helping to hasten the pace of change and drive businesses to look outside the square for edges in innovation. The data shows that diversity in decision-making will help give businesses this edge – something that AgriFutures Australia is keen to see accelerated so the sector can make the most of those benefits now.“

However, he said the research showed it was important that any diversity objectives were a long-term business strategy based on merit, and not just a human resources role with a target number.

“The research details two strategic approaches to advancing diversity in rural industries’ decision-making roles: one that focuses on removing barriers, while the second is an industry-wide strategy to harness diversity.

“Rural and regional enterprises are constantly innovating to remain competitive, and as we know from this research, there is definitely ‘more than you see’ when agribusinesses have diversity in their leadership and decision-making, so just imagine the potential for Australian agribusiness as a whole if diversity goals across agriculture were embraced and achieved?”

To read the full report visit:

Diversity in decision-making in rural industries