Vegie growers survive tough 2021 rain damage, but cost crisis looms

The horticulture sector has dealt with floods, worker shortages and market shutdowns, but there is hope on the horizon.

Vegie grower Catherine Velisha on her Werribee South farm. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The widespread rain may be reason to cheer for some, but the soggy year added insult to injury for vegie producers, who have been slammed by worker shortages, food-service shutdowns, export market disruption and soaring input costs.

Despite the challenges, and an 8 per cent drop in the number of workers employed on farms, the industry managed to supply near record levels of fresh produce this year.

Ausveg chief executive Michael Coote said it was testament to the hard work of growers and workers.

“Had the industry been able to source the workforce it needed, or even had pre-pandemic worker numbers, it is likely we would have seen significant growth in the horticulture sector,” he said.

Werribee South grower Catherine Velisha said the challenges forced producers to be more flexible, and highlighted why the industry needed to change its recruitment approach.

“What Covid has really done is shone a light on where we need to lift as an industry,” she said, “We believe that is the marketing of the industry and trying to create new workers and excitement around horticulture. We need to get local people involved.”

Gippsland lettuce producer and Ausveg chair Bill Bulmer said back-to-back crises of bushfires, Covid and floods had taken a severe toll.

“There haven’t been any highlights,” he said. “In the last financial year, our business, Bulmer Farms, was down 30 per cent overall … and for the first quarter of this year, with Victoria and NSW being in lockdown, we were down 50 per cent.”

The skyrocketing costs of agricultural inputs were a huge concern.

“Being able to obtain our inputs for our businesses is going to be the critical thing for the next 12 months,” he said.