Agrifood workers need training: report AGRIFOOD may be one of the "super-waves" capable of saving Australia from a mining slump. But the industry is full of under-qualified workers and the problem is getting worse, a new report has found. The Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency's Food and beverage workforce study, released yesterday, found that just 40 to 45 per cent of the workforce had post-school qualifications, compared to a 62 per cent average across all industries. The report covered agriculture, which the federal government classifies as one of Australia's five economic "pillars," and food processing, which is the country's largest manufacturing sector. The report found that training in food-related fields had risen just 2 per cent in the past six years, compared to general growth of 6 per cent. Increasing apprenticeship and traineeship completions in agriculture and horticulture had been offset by declines in food processing, meat industry and seafood training. Less than a third of food-related training course are completed, the report found. AWPA chairman Philip Bullock said the food industries were constrained by limited potential to expand their domestic markets. "The future lies in finding new customers in rapidly growing and highly competitive Asian markets," he said. The ongoing restructure of the industry resulting in larger farms and the growing use of new technologies in the agriculture and food processing sectors is also requiring workers to have higher level skills. The report's recommendations include developing and using the skills of the existing workforce, encouraging more employers to invest in training, and increasing industry involvement to ensure education and training is industry-relevant. Earlier this month consultants Deloitte identified agrifood as one of five "super-growth industry sectors" likely to take up the slack as the resources boom waned.