By Nick Marchant, Director, March Talent Partners · Published 27 May 2026 · 5 min read
TL;DR. Around eight in ten of the candidates we’ve placed across 49 placements weren’t actively looking. With the supply chain short an estimated 172,000 workers paddock to plate (NFF, 2025), talent attraction in 2026 is sourcing, not advertising. The operators who land the people they want build the conversation before the vacancy opens.
Key takeaways
- Mid-senior management is the hardest band to fill against a 172,000-worker shortage paddock to plate (NFF, 2025).
- Around eight in ten of the candidates we’ve placed across 49 placements weren’t actively looking.
- Reputation among experienced ag professionals decides whether a passive candidate takes the call; it is built in operations, not in marketing.
- The attraction conversation has to be live before the vacancy is.
Most agribusinesses still treat attraction as something to switch on when a role opens. With the mid-senior management band tight and the candidates worth hiring rarely looking, that is backwards. Talent attraction in Australian agriculture is sourcing, not advertising. We’ve covered keeping the people you’ve hired in retention as its own discipline.
Why don’t job ads reach the people you’d want to hire?
Australian agriculture ran at $101.4 billion in gross production for 2025-26 (ABARES Snapshot, 2026), against a supply chain short an estimated 172,000 workers paddock to plate (NFF, 2025). Workforce data has been fragmented for years; the AgriFutures workforce mapping project is the first systematic attempt to consolidate it. At the experienced manager end the shortage compounds, because the pipeline narrows the further up the band you look. Across our 49 placements since founding, around eight in ten of the candidates we placed weren’t actively looking; they were running a property, finishing a season, or thinking about succession on a longer horizon than the next move.
Where do passive candidates actually live in Australian agriculture?
Two answers, both structural. They live inside networks, and they live behind reputations. Networks are sector-specific: field days, processor and gin lunches, industry groups, peers a candidate trained alongside who now run comparable operations. Reputations are operator-specific: how a property is talked about by people who have worked there, supplied it, or left it. Neither shows up on a job board. We’ve written about the experienced-manager supply gap in more detail.
What does a credible first conversation sound like?
A passive candidate decides whether to keep talking inside the first two minutes. The opening is a credibility test: sector knowledge demonstrated, operator context understood, confidentiality acknowledged before they have to ask. Generic outreach from someone who has clearly never set foot on a working property dies before the role is described. A specific opening that names what the operation does and why the role exists now keeps the line open.
How do you build the attraction pipeline before the vacancy opens?
The mechanics are simpler than most operators expect. Map the three roles hardest to replace if they emptied tomorrow. Identify who you’d want to talk to about each if the conversation were live this quarter. Make sure those people know your operation exists, in a context that doesn’t require an open vacancy. That sits inside workforce planning across Australian agriculture and drives building the pipeline before you need it. Operators who do this well aren’t running constant outreach. They are present in their sector in a small number of deliberate ways, and the candidate pool knows them when the time comes.
The brief that lands inbound doesn’t translate to outbound sourcing
Most role briefs are written for the inbound channel: formal duties, culture, competitive package. They read well to a candidate already job-hunting because they are comparing. Re-used for outbound sourcing, they don’t land. A passive candidate isn’t comparing offers; they are weighing whether to leave a role they are already doing. The outbound conversation has to lead with what is different from what they are currently doing: career trajectory, operation specifics, decision authority, upside not available in their seat today.
What separates an attractive operator from an unattractive one?
The split isn’t large versus small or corporate versus family. It is operators who treat attraction as a continuous capability versus those who treat it as an event triggered by a vacancy. The first group runs lighter, faster searches and lands the people they want. The second runs longer ones and compromises.
| What operators reach for first | What actually surfaces strong candidates |
|---|---|
| Job ad on the major boards, posted when the role opens | A live candidate map maintained continuously across key roles |
| LinkedIn InMail to whoever shows up in a title search | Direct outreach via people the candidate already trusts |
| Generic recruiter brief sent to multiple agencies | One sector-credible conversation built around the specific operation |
| Waiting for inbound applications to surface the right person | Knowing who the right person is before the vacancy exists |
| Polished employer-brand collateral built for the website | Reputation built by how the operation actually treats people |
What does it cost to get attraction wrong?
The visible cost is time-to-fill and the compromise hire at the end of a long, ad-led process. The hidden cost is what happens while the seat is empty or held by the wrong person: output drifts, team confidence erodes, decisions get deferred. We’ve covered the financial detail in the real cost of a bad hire. Attraction sits one step earlier in the chain: the easier it is to attract the right candidate, the lower the chance the wrong one gets the offer.
The operators who attract the best people don’t run the best job ads. They’ve built a reputation among the people they’d want to hire, long before the vacancy opens.
March Talent Partners works with farming businesses and agribusinesses across Australia on permanent placements, from operational roles through to senior management. If you want to talk through how to reach the people who aren’t applying, get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
What is talent attraction in Australian agriculture?
Talent attraction is the set of activities that make experienced agricultural professionals open to a conversation about a role at your operation, including those not actively looking. With the supply chain short an estimated 172,000 workers (NFF, 2025) and around eight in ten of the candidates we place not actively job-hunting, attraction is sourcing work, not advertising.
How long does it take to build an attraction capability for mid-senior agricultural roles?
A working version takes a quarter of deliberate effort: identifying the three hardest roles to replace, mapping who you’d want to talk to about each, and being present in your sector in two or three intentional ways. A mature version is a continuous habit, not a project that finishes. Operators who treat it as a project end up back at square one when the next vacancy opens.
How do small agribusinesses build talent attraction without an HR or marketing function?
You don’t need either. You need the principal visible inside the relevant sector network, a clear sense of which roles will need filling in the next 12 to 24 months, and a recruiter who maintains live candidate relationships in your sector and region. The smallest operations that attract well do it through the founder showing up where the candidates already are.
