Labour shortage bites as harvest ramps up

For farmer John Ferrier it’s always a challenge finding workers, but Dookie college students have stepped up to help.

Students from University of Melbourne’s Dookie campus have stepped up to help out with harvest as labour shortages slow down an already difficult season.

For first-time header driver and agriculture student Dom Oswald, the 2022 harvest has been a challenging introduction to the industry.

“It adds a bit of an edge with all the water around and the weather conditions that have been hitting us the last couple of months,” he said.

Dookie college students Angus Backwell, Noah Gordon and Dom Oswald are helping Birchip farmer John Ferrier with harvest this year. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Mr Oswald has worked at GrainCorp in the past, but this year is his first in a header.

“It’s a lot of buttons. It’s a lot of responsibility. It’s a very expensive machine,” he said.

Mr Oswald, originally from Melbourne, joined the harvest team at John Ferrier’s Birchip property at the end of November. He is studying a bachelor of agriculture with a major in economics and is hoping some on-farm experience will help him work out what he wants to do when he has finished his degree.

For farmer John Ferrier “it’s always a challenge finding workers” but Dookie college students have helped him out the past few years.

“They come without much experience but we give them experience, and hopefully they’ll come back,” he said.

Grain Producers Australia southern region director Andrew Weidemann said a shortage of labour was slowing down harvest for some growers.

Weather across Victoria was starting to warm up this week after a cool start to the harvest season.

“That will put more pressure on the supply chain to try and get (harvest) done quicker. And of course, labour is a huge factor in that. At the moment, I’d say it’s the limiting factor as to how quickly we can really get the crop off,” he said.

John Ferrier at Birchip has started harvesting canola and has three students from Dookie helping him. Picture: Zoe Phillips