Can Mackay Capitalise On Movers By Offering An “Agrarian Dream?”

A global trend of “capital to regional” migration during the pandemic has continued in Australia as new figures show city dwellers moving countryside – could this be a boost for Mackay’s aging agricultural industry?

This quarter’s Regional Movers Index reported migration from major cities to regional centres remained higher than pre-COVID levels and had even increased from the height of the pandemic by 16 per cent.

The Regional Australia Institute and Commonwealth Bank report suggests that “inflationary pressures, lifestyle benefits and job creation in agriculture and services” are luring people out of cities.

Commonwealth Bank’s regional and agribusiness executive general manager, Paul Fowler, said that if the regions can “sort out housing” it could lead to a period of sustained growth.

“Regional centres should, in the meantime, prepare for continued growth for the foreseeable future,” Mr Fowler said.

With a perceived “simpler way of life” than the fast-pace of cities, a counter-culture movement of younger generations to smaller towns has been steadily growing for a decade – even being coined the “Great Relocation”.

Now Mackay farmers are wondering if the exacerbated Great Relocation of the pandemic could be a potentially “Great Supplementation”.

The Sugar City suffers from the same affliction as the rest of the country, its farmers are old and getting older: the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports the average age of farmers across the nation as 58.

Mackay’s agricultural industry could be getting a facelift courtesy of young city dwellers taking the road less travelled.

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The Sugar City may capitalise on the increased movement of people from cities to the country

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