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Pay & Wages

Inghams Pay Rates 2026: Processing, Farm & Plant Pay

2 min read

What Inghams workers should be paid in 2026 — the Poultry Processing Award floor by classification, casual loading, penalties, and where the Inghams enterprise agreements sit.

RM

Senior Workplace Relations Writer · GradDip Employment Relations, Griffith University

Who covers Inghams workers — award or agreement?

Inghams is the largest poultry producer in Australia and New Zealand, with hatcheries, feed mills, farms and processing plants across every mainland state. Processing-line operators, boners, packers, forklift drivers, farm hands and maintenance tradespeople make up most of its workforce.

Inghams bargains plant by plant, and our corpus lists a long set of Inghams agreements (below). The federal safety net is the Poultry Processing Award 2020, tabled below, with farm workers on the Poultry stream of the Pastoral Award and transport on the Road Transport Award.

The federal awards relevant to Inghams roles:

  • Poultry Processing Award 2020 (MA000074)

Workforce snapshot. In its 2024-25 report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Inghams Group Limited declared 6,654 employees — 25.7% casual and 42.4% women, with 212 in management roles. Source: WGEA 2025 Public Data File, data.gov.au (CC-BY 3.0 AU).

Poultry processing award floor (1 July 2026)

The Poultry Processing Award 2020 (MA000074) adult minimums are:

ClassificationPermanentCasual (incl. 25%)
Poultry processing Level 1$26.25/hr$32.81/hr
Poultry processing Level 2$26.95/hr$33.69/hr
Poultry processing Level 3$27.31/hr$34.14/hr
Poultry processing Level 4$27.66/hr$34.58/hr
Poultry processing Level 5$28.01/hr$35.01/hr
Poultry processing Level 6$28.73/hr$35.91/hr

Source: Fair Work Commission modern awards pay database, current-operative rates (1 July 2026 annual wage review). Casual figures add the 25% casual loading.

The Inghams enterprise agreements

Enterprise agreements set rates above the award, with their own classification structures and allowances. Current Inghams agreements in our corpus (57 in total):

Plus 49 more — search "Inghams" in our agreements database.

We don't reproduce agreement dollar figures here — the agreement covering your site, state and stream is the document to read. Find your agreement, then your classification, then your pay point, and compare it with your payslip. The award tables on this page are the floor every one of these agreements must beat.

Common poultry processing pay issues at Inghams

The patterns worth checking on a Inghams payslip:

  • Wrong MI level for the skill actually used — trained boners and slicers paid as labourers.
  • Unpaid knife-sharpening, PPE and clean-down time.
  • Tally and piece-rate systems that fall below the award for the hours worked.
  • Visa workers paid below the plant agreement — the same rates apply regardless of visa status.

What to do if your pay looks wrong

Match your payslip to your classification in the agreement (or the award tables above), and price any gap with our back-pay calculator. Raise it in writing with payroll or your manager first — most underpayments are fixed at that step. Unresolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) recovers underpayments at no cost, up to six years back, and your union can run the claim for you. Not sure which instrument covers you? Ask our AI advisor with your role and location.

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General information and estimates only — not legal, financial or tax advice. Always check your specific award, agreement or contract, or a qualified professional, before you rely on the result.

RM
About Rachel Morrison

Nine years in Australian workplace relations — Queensland hospitality HR, then retail ER in Brisbane and Northern NSW. Graduate Diploma in Employment Relations (Griffith University, 2018). Writes about award interpretation, underpayment recovery, and casual conversion. Member of the AHRI since 2019. Based in Paddington, Brisbane.