New Zealanders fill gaps in farm worker shortage

In a reprieve for Australian farmers, our neighbours across the Tasman are filling roles as farm managers and shearers, while backpackers continue to head bush.

A critical worker shortage across Australian farms has improved as New Zealanders and backpackers fill job vacancies as shearers, farm managers, fruit pickers and packers.

Drover Ag managing director John Boote said his agricultural recruitment business had witnessed a big swing in job applications from New Zealand.

“I’m talking to lots of New Zealand candidates every week now, they’re wanting to come to Australia to work in ag,” he said.

Mr Boote put the trend down to the bigger salaries offered by some Australian farming businesses as well as a way of escaping the negative sentiment towards farmers felt during Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government, which was the first in the world to propose a tax on farmers for their livestock’s methane emissions.

“Here we have a lot more opportunity and financial incentive. They’re filling in farm hand (roles), very senior management roles,” Mr Boote said.

Data collected by the federal government’s Department of Home Affairs show a record 9876 New Zealand citizen permanent visas granted in 2022-23, up considerably on the most recent high of 5517 in 2018-19.

While access to labour has improved for many farming sectors, with many relying on the return of backpackers following a covid hiatus to fill unskilled roles, Mr Boote said access to workers was still challenging.

“It’s most definitely the dairy and horticulture industries who are desperate and more reliant on those unskilled working holiday maker visa holders,” he said.

United Dairy Farmers president Bernie Free said backpackers had eased a bit of the burden, but many businesses were still looking for a range of employees, from cow milkers to farm managers.

“It’s eased up a little with more backpackers but we’re still looking for inexperienced workers all the way up to experienced managers,” Mr Free said.

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock president Scott Young said the industry relied heavily on backpackers “coming to fill jobs at harvest or lambing or shearing time”.

A new NFF survey has found farmers rely on backpackers for a third of their labour requirements.

But mooted changes to the WHM visa scheme – including the removal of a requirement to spend 88 days in agriculture or hospitality in regional and remote Australia to qualify for a 12-month visa extension – has farmers fearing the worst.

Three in five surveyed farmers said its removal would have a “catastrophic” impact on their business, while more than half of the 385 who took part in the survey said they would consider changing commodities or leaving the industry.