Goulburn Valley farm work: Locals register for ‘Pick Shepp’ but don’t follow through

More than 1300 locals registered for a Goulburn Valley fruit-picking program, but an astonishingly low number followed through.

Growers in the Goulburn Valley are finding it hard to attract workers for the picking season.

JUST 3 per cent of people who registered for a Goulburn Valley-based fruit-picking campaign have taken up the harvest jobs.

Fruit Growers Victoria says while more than 1300 people expressed interest in the ‘Pick Shepp’ program since it launched in January, only about 40 have followed through to work on farms.

The program, run by FGV and City of Greater Shepparton for a two-year trial, aims to hire more locals to fill the harvest jobs left vacant due to the ongoing worker shortage.

The results so far have echoed governments’ attempts to attract more Australian workers to farm jobs. The Victorian Government’s program has seen fewer than 1 per cent of out-of-work Victorians put their hand up for harvest jobs, while federal government incentives are so far largely going unclaimed.

FGV’s Michael Crisera said the biggest problem was the lack of certainty that the people registered would show up.

He said on some days, 11 people might be registered to complete the induction – designed to show people the best picking technique and save farmers time training new recruits – but only one or two would turn up.

Of about 100 who were placed on farms, about 40 are still in the jobs.

“There are genuine people who want to help farmers and have a go at it,” Mr Crisera said.

”We respect people who think it’s not for them – it takes a certain type of person who’s good with their hands, and we’ve found some diamonds in the rough.”

The biggest barriers to taking up the work, he said, were transport, with half the pickers not having their own cars; finding accommodation; and the casual nature of what was physically demanding work.

Apple and Pear Australia chief executive Phil Turnbull said the figures were “remarkably consistent” with those seen across Australia.

“For every thousand expressions of interest, maybe 10 per cent attend induction and less than 5 per cent of those actually begin work in the orchard,” he said.

Mr Turnbull said new harvest technology such as picking platforms could help attract more local workers by making the job less strenuous.

“Obviously the platforms are a major investment … but they do offer a very different experience that’s far more attractive to people who could not or would not sign up for the traditional physical demands of picking,” he said.