Nicholas Rupolo, Narrandera Argus

The NSW Farmers Association has grown tired of the state and federal government’s inaction on agricultural labour shortages.

Farmers have been pleading for access to labour since before the states lockdown and are now staring down the barrel of millions of dollars worth of lost income.

According to the NSW Farmers Association, up to 16,000 workers are needed in the state.

The Federal government has attempted to rectify the issue with over 50,000 labourers under the Pacific Labour Scheme but it has been criticised as being too complex and slow to get boots on the farm.

“We need up to 16,000 farm workers and we need them now, not in two or three months’ time,” Mr Jackson said.

“NSW Farmers has been warning of labour shortages since the pandemic started and while you’d think our state and federal governments had learned the lesson last year here we are again.”

The state’s grain harvest was forecast to be worth $6 billion to the state economy but harvest forecasts have been revised down as a result of worker shortages.

Damien Maloney from Croker Grain in Coolamon employs about 30 labourers for his upcoming harvest.

He’s been fortunate enough to fill his vacancies but knows a lot of other growers aren’t having as much luck as him.

He also sees higher costs of getting skilled labour into his harvest.

“I think this happens every year for farmers,” Mr Maloney told the Narrandera Argus.

“COVID-19 has created challenges, people have committed to work but they realised they couldn’t come if they weren’t fully vaccinated and that there were other restrictions.

“I know a lot of our growers are struggling and it’s difficult to find truck drivers and other workers for those roles.

“It’s quite expensive to get a truck licence, in the old days people had a truck licence to work a harvest on annual leave, each time it’s (thousands) to sit a test (for the licence).”

Grain production is worth over $60 million to Coolamon’s economy and Leeton is responsible for the most jobs in grain harvesting in NSW.

Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall, in a statement to the Argus, said the NSW Government has provided support including quarantine subsidies and initiated a labour taskforce.

“The NSW Government has worked closely with industry throughout the pandemic to help primary producers overcome the workforce shortage exacerbated by border closures,” the Minister said.

“While there is no silver bullet, NSW has done more than any other state or jurisdiction in the country to ensure farmers have the workforce they need.

“This includes providing $3.8 million in hotel quarantine subsidies for more than 2,500 foreign workers, launching the ‘Help Harvest NSW’ website that connects out-work Aussies with farming businesses of all sizes, implemented the unprecedented ‘Harvest Leave’ scheme for more than 4,500 Department of Regional NSW staff and more.

“From this week, we have also removed quarantine requirements for international arrivals, clearing financial and logistical barriers for the ag industry to bring in foreign workers to help keep our supermarkets shelves stocked as they have all through the pandemic.”

The inability to access labour is made worse by growing costs associated with harvesting that have proven to be a major issue.

Shadow Agriculture Minister Mick Veitch MLC believes the state and federal governments have failed farmers and need to address other costs.

“This did not creep up on the state or federal government,” he said.

“They should have done a darn sight more to make sure we had a workforce available to pick fruit and harvest our grain.

“We risk having fruit and grain rot on the ground, farmers missing out on getting income and therefore prices going up at the shop.

“If you look at that process from when you pick (fruit or grains) and put it in the bins and into the silos there is a chain of other occupations involved.

“The harvest operators, getting staff to operate at silos, there is a shortage along the whole chain.

“We don’t just need fruit pickers but we need skilled labourers, we can’t drop Pacific Islanders into a truck or a large harvester.

“The more skilled it is the harder it is to fill the vacancies. There needs to be a long term plan put in place for our agricultural sector (which involves) skills training and financial incentives so this problem can be someway fixed.”

The NSW Farmers Association is particularly concerned about small to medium sized farming families and their ability to access labour.

The group released a 10-point agricultural labour plan earlier this year which included calls for the establishment of a network of coordinators to centralise information and be a point of reference for farmers and businesses.

Mr Veitch agrees with the Association in identifying the potential for smaller farm operations to miss out on critical resources that get sucked up by the bigger businesses.

“If you are a small operation you do the work yourself, at the same time you try to secure the workforce you require,” Mr Veitch said.

“Larger enterprises have people employed to do that and in a tight labour market where there is a shortfall, those who get in first get the workers.

“We don’t want them missing out, we need them to get dollars into the bank and spend money in their local communities.”

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 18 November 2021.