Operational possibilities for dealing with the shortage of skilled labour in agriculture

Structural and demographic changes lead to skilled labour also becoming increasingly scarce in agriculture. In terms of demographic change, it is the overall demographic development which is the underlying cause of a potential labour shortage. Structural change entails a change in the structure of the labour force in German agriculture and an increased demand for external workers. This study analyses how shortage of skilled labour is perceived in agricultural practice, and how any impending skilled labour shortage will be dealt with, or how it will be countered. The study is based on a written survey of managers of agricultural holdings in Germany. The results show that problems already do occur where the search for skilled labour is concerned, therefore signs of a shortage of skilled labour are already looming. However, the majority do not expect problems for their own farm to be caused by a shortage of skilled labour. Managers of agricultural holdings do not attribute all of the recruitment problems deplored to an existing shortage of skilled labour; they rather think that the problem with recruiting skilled labour is due to low wages and the associated lack of competitiveness of agriculture in cross-sector competition.