Farms are desperate for labour. If they can’t get it, what next?

Fruit left to rot on trees; crops dug back into the ground; general maintenance neglected… this is the scenario facing our farmers.

Fruit left to rot on trees; crops dug back into the ground; pruning and general maintenance neglected… this is the scenario facing our farmers. It’s not quite a national disaster but if the paucity of labourers and fruit pickers persists then it will reach crisis levels. The closure of international borders has exposed a long-standing issue in our food producing industries – we rely on foreign workers and backpackers to harvest our fruit and vegetables.

The trickle of Pacific Island workers allowed back in can’t fill the vacuum and it remains to be seen whether government incentives to mobilise reluctant local workers will have any real impact. Industry groups are coming up with their own solutions: recruiting senior high school students to work on farms in the holidays, scoping out local SES or other volunteer organisations to do fundraising harvests. But about 26,000 workers are needed right now. It’s in all our interests to get this sorted.