Yarrawonga cropper Evan Ryan said he found hiring younger people paid off.
“They might be light on skills but they come in with a great attitude and are more loyal than an older person who’s chasing dollars per hour and willing to drop and go over one problem,” Mr Ryan said.
“I’ve got a guy who’s worked for me for five years and he’s turning 21 soon.
“I’ve got another young guy from Shepparton and his family are happy to drive him up for work.”
Lachie Danckert runs cotton, wheat, canola and cattle across 1200 hectares of irrigated farmland around Deniliquin and Hay.
Predominately a cotton farmer, Mr Danckert said he didn’t prioritise experience when hiring workers.
“I’m going down to the high school level,” he said.
“Many of those kids aren’t happy in school or are leaving school and they want to work.
“Deniliquin is an ag-based town so a lot of the kids are interested in ag, so I’m lucky there.
“I’d love to see them finish Year 10 because they are sharp little kids, really nice and well behaved, but for some reason the teachers are having problems and want them out.
“I recently found out about the Cert II agriculture courses at the Deniliquin TAFE and I’ve started going in and offering those trainees full-time jobs.”
Mr Danckert said sourcing and retaining staff was increasingly becoming a bigger job for him.
“It’s the biggest hurdle in front of us for sure,” he said.
“I’m putting more effort than ever into recruiting kids.
“There is one young boy who’s really keen on metalwork for example, it was his favourite class in school, but he was even asked to leave that class last week because the teachers can’t handle him.
“To me there is a real issue with the system that’s turning these kids away.”
A TAFE NSW Certificate II in Agriculture can be completed in five to 12 months and has a traineeship option so students can count workplace hours as learning.