Archive, Industry News

Slim Pickings for horticulture workers

Australia’s fruit and vegetable growers are facing major challenges in their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic – and at present, there’s no silver bullet solution.

 

With the significant drop in overseas workers, farmers have struggled to find the labour to harvest crops

 

It has been just over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic started being felt in earnest  across the world, and Australia’s horticulture sector is still struggling to recover.

Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) estimate the gross value of horticulture production will fall to $12.8  billion in 2021–22.

Across the industry, much of the anguish stems from the overall shortage of workers; a problem which itself stems from the closure of Australia’s international and domestic borders.

ABARES industry economist Charley Xia says the issue has been exacerbated due to the large percentage of horticulture workers that are either backpackers or seasonal overseas workers.

“Overseas workers, especially backpackers, were the majority of those employed but their numbers have fallen sharply since the beginning of the pandemic,” says Xia.

“With the international borders unlikely to open in the short term, we don’t think there will be enough local workers to make up for the loss of backpackers in many regional areas.”

The impact of the pandemic saw a 64 per cent drop in working holidaymakers, which equates to around 61,000 people, and regional farms situated away from major capital cities are set to be more affected.

 

Charley Xia

 

For fruitgrower Gavin Scurr, who owns Piñata Farms, labour shortages have meant a lot of tasks are unable to be fulfilled. 

Fewer crops are being planted and, in some instances, some crops haven’t been able to get harvested and instead are left to rot away in the ground.

“Backpackers are crucial and it’s not uncommon for us to have a few hundred backpackers during the peak of the season.

“With the closure of the borders because of COVID-19, a lot of the backpackers have gone home and obviously no more are coming in,” says Scurr.

“Because of the labour loss on our farms, harvest has obviously become a priority.  Whatever available workers we do have are prioritised for the harvest.

“What this has led to is significantly reduced plantings because we don’t have enough  abour to plant the crop but also because we may not have enough labour to harvest the crop either.”

 

Gavin Scurr

 

Figures from the National Lost Crop Register, produced by vegetable and potato grower industry association AusVeg, estimates the value of crops lost as a result of labour  shortages equates to over $38 million across the 2020 calendar year.

With cross-border movement likely to remain limited until at least the end of 2021, labour shortages could cause ramifications throughout the industry, however many are insisting the current horticulture landscape is also one of opportunity.

The Australian government has sought to alleviate some pressures for horticultural farmers through initiatives such as temporary changes to visas, so workers already here can stay for longer.

It has also added agricultural skills to the list of skills exempt from travel restrictions and restarted the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS), albeit on  a small scale.

Under the relaunched SWP and PLS, workers will be allowed to re-enter the horticulture workforce in Queensland on the proviso that they complete a 14-day quarantine either in a hotel, on-farm or under an industry-led arrangement, which sees large numbers all isolate in one regional place.

On top of this, the government has provided $15.4 million to assist in the relocation and accommodation of people who wish to take up an agricultural job; and another $16.3 million has been allocated to encourage young Australians to choose farm work through short-term changes to the student youth allowance and AbStudy criteria.

The many recommendations were outlined in the government’s National Agricultural Workforce Strategy, released in early March, which aims to attract, upskill and modernise the agricultural workforce.

AusVeg chief executive James Whiteside says solving the problem will require the involvement of many stakeholders.

“Industry has said time and time again that solving the industry’s labour shortage will need a multi-pronged approach to heed concerns,” he says.

“Growers will always have a preference to use local workers, so it’s crucial that government and industry work together to enact some of the recommendations to increase the skill and size of the workforce to ensure horticulture businesses have the workers they need to grow.”

ABARES predicts horticultural production will fall in 2021–22 and 2022–23 before production is forecasted to increase nominally at a small yet steady rate as the supply of overseas labour upturns.

While the road to salvation for horticulture is some way off returning to its pre-COVID levels, the steps taken should help the burden faced by many farmers over the past 12 months.

 

The National Agricultural Workforce Strategy aims to attract, upskill and modernise the agricultural workforce

 

Send this to a friend