Farm work: Victoria’s $2500 sign-on bonus gets Aussies picking fruit and vegies

Victoria may have found the secret to getting Aussie workers to pick fruit and vegies, and so far it’s the only state to try the trick.

Matthew Fry has taken advantage of the Victorian seasonal harvest sign-on bonus with a job at McNab Orchards in Ardmona – and now plans to continue working in the field. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Victoria may have found the secret to getting Aussie workers onto fruit and vegetable farms: $2500 in cold hard cash.

More than 95 per cent of participants in the state’s seasonal harvest sign-on bonus scheme say they now plan to continue in seasonal harvest work, according to feedback on the program so far.

With applications to the $10.5 million program to close next month, the Victorian Government and industry are now looking at how to keep attracting local workers to the sector.

Unlike the federal and other state incentive programs geared toward getting Aussies on farms, Victoria’s scheme is the only one to directly give workers a cash payment on top of their wages for undertaking harvest work.

Workers get $810 after completing 10 days, then receive another $1620 at the end of eight weeks.

To date, more than 3000 people have received the first payment and 1900 have stayed on the receive the full bonus.

Feedback from participants shows almost 40 per cent applied for harvest work because of the sign-on bonus; more than half said they had considered ag work previously, but not applied for a job until now.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said indications that 95 per cent of people would continue harvest work was pleasing. While the bonus was “a good marketing gimmick”, the fact they stayed on meant the pay rates were adequate, she argued.

“I think it’s time for politicians and unions who say we suffer shortages because we exploit workers or have a bad reputation to acknowledge the real problem, which is a chronic shortage of people,” she said.

“Likewise, there’s no reason for growers to talk about Aussies who don’t want to work … we need to think about ongoing campaigns or incentives to ensure that 40 per cent who wouldn’t have thought about it before continue to come onto our farms.”

Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said a recent roundtable with 13 industry associations explored ideas for managing the upcoming harvest and building the workforce.

“Thousands of workers have now had experience working in the horticulture industry and our sign-on bonus demonstrates that there are local workers ready and willing to take on the harvest,” she said.

Victorian grower Mitchell McNab with worker Matthew Fry from Cairns. Picture: Zoe Phillips

HARD LABOUR

Matthew Fry always thought about giving harvest work a crack at some stage – and now that he’s done it, he reckons he’ll be in it for the long haul.

The 23-year-old from Cairns is currently working at McNab Orchards in Ardmona, after arriving in Victoria earlier this year.

He’s one of more than 3000 to take advantage of the Victorian seasonal harvest sign-on bonus, though for him it wasn’t his main reason for taking on the gig.

“It was mainly because of the group of friends also doing it … so it was definitely a bonus, I wasn’t expecting the extra money,” he said.

The experience has been eye-opening: Mr Fry says it’s been a lot harder than expected and can be quite demanding, especially when paid per bin.

“You can’t slack off, you need to put the effort in to make your money,” he said.

“It’s good but I also saw a lot of people weeded out for that reason, they weren’t keen to put in the time to get better at it.”

Mr Fry said he plans to stay in Victoria until the next season at least before travelling, and will keep working in the industry over the next five years as he returns to study.

McNab Orchards’ manager and Fruit Growers Victoria chair Mitchell McNab hired about 30 people through the scheme last season and said the sign-on bonus had been ideal to give people extra cash while they learned the skills needed to earn more.

“The retention rate was much higher, it meant we could continue to the end of harvest with a similar group of people … they’ve seen there’s a bit of a lifestyle to this,” he said.